AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Biting my lip, I keep pressing him. For what? I don’t know.
Validation, I guess. Like, I’m priming him for the big talk.
Surprise, Dad. I’m already in love, and it’s with your protégé and, hopefully someday, business partner. Please don’t kill him.
“Yeah…but I don’t want to see the world alone. I want to experience all the great things in life with someone I really, really like by my side.”
“Yes…but you won’t know for sure someone is right for you until you discover yourself first.”
The thing about my dad is that he’s just as stubborn, if not more so, as me. So when we get into these littlediscussions,they tend to be never-ending.
“But what if I meet someone when I’m young? I’m supposed to just push them away until I’m thirty?”
His head spins in my direction. “Why? Did you meet someone?”
Oh, shoot.
I quickly look away, keeping my eyes forward while I feel his gaze practically drilling into the side of my face.
“No,” I mutter. “I have no social life. I’m either with you or Nettie or at your office, making lunch runs with Clay.”
See? There’s my in. I just bring up his name casually to carefully plant a few seeds—just to make sure they don’t explode.
I glance up at him to see his reaction.
He doesn’t really respond. He just…huffs. Which is weird.
“What was that for?”
“Nothing. It’s just… It’s guys like Clay I worry about.”
Something queasy and uncomfortable blossoms low in my belly. His words are like acid.
“What’s wrong with Clay?” I mumble, afraid of what answer I might receive.
“Nothing. I love Clay. He’s a great guy. You know I’m training him to make him partner eventually, but he’s a charmer, Cupcake. It’s honestly what makes him good at his job too. He can sell anything with a smile, but everything he does has a motive.”
No. This is not Clay at all.
It’s just the version of Clay he projects. But my dad wouldn’t know that, and I certainlyshouldn’tknow that, so I can’t defend him, and it’s painful to keep quiet.
In my silence, my dad continues.
“All I’m trying to say is, guys like Clay will dazzle you into some situation that you’ll end up regretting further down the road.”
Again, I don’t speak, and at this point, it’s noticeable. But I couldn’t possibly voice a word past this lump building in my throat.
Clay hasn’tdazzledme into anything. I wish I could say that. It’s actually been me doing the pushing and the convincing and the charming.
When I still don’t respond, he turns toward me. “Everything okay, Cupcake? Clay hasn’t…tried anything with you, has he?”
Remember those seeds I planted by bringing up Clay in the first place? Well, they are currently exploding. And it’s a big, stupid mess.
I can’t lie to my dad. And I don’t want to.
“Clay has been nothing but nice to me. I promise.” I force a smile as I squint up at him from under my baseball cap.
In the back of my mind, I remember that Clay is currently with Eden. And what’s strange is that deep in my gut, I’m not as angry about that as I probably should be.
