Daddy’s Best Friend Secret by Lauren Wood
Clara
Nothing was worse than a parent saying that they were disappointed in you. My dad could be as mad or as upset with me as he wanted, but when he said ‘disappointed’, it hurt because it made me feel like I’d let him down majorly, in some way.
My father was a dramatic man, but even he knew not to use the word unless he absolutely meant it. But this time I wasn’t working to fix it because it wasn’t my problem to fix in the first place. In fact, it didn’t really have much to do with me at all.
“Why would you say that kind of stuff to him?” My dad asked. He’d been scolding me for the last ten minutes and was beginning to repeat himself. It was annoying, and there were so many better things that I could be doing.
“Because he deserved to hear them, Dad. In case you don’t know, the world doesn’t revolve around him.”
“And you felt the need to make that obvious?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Because I made you eat cold food? How about you take your frustrations out on the right person, Clara.”
“I did!” I exclaimed.
“Do I need to remind you what this man has done to help me?”
“Yes, he invested in your business. You like to mention that all the time. How could I forget?”
“Because you owe your lifestyle to him, Clara!”
“I didn’t ask for this, Dad,” I snapped. “You did.”
“So you’d rather live in poverty then?” He asked me. “You want to go back to barely making it day to day? Because, that wasn’t a pleasant way of living, Clara, and you deserve more than that. I deserve more than that, and you need to be grateful and count the good deeds of what we’ve experienced. Don’t turn into a spoiled rotten brat, because that’s not the daughter that I raised.”
“Don’t turn this around on me, dad,” I growled. “I didn’t sign up to like him.”
“And you don’t have to like him,” my dad countered. “But he’s still my friend, and I expect you to respect him.”
I wasn’t a troublemaker. In fact, I was far from it. I didn’t like to cause drama where it wasn’t necessary, but I couldn’t help but to feel like this wasn’t fair. I was getting blamed for something that wasn’t uncalled for. My dad should know me enough to realize that I wouldn’t have said what I had if I didn’t think that I was in the right. But it was clear that he was finished listening to me.
My father, although an angel to me, wasn’t exactly the nicest man. He did deal in business after all, and to survive in that world, he had to be tough. I’d seen him handle business before, and he wasn’t a guy with much patience. That’s why I was so surprised at the fact that he was letting Klaus walk all over him, like he was just a carpet.
If anyone else had stood my father up, I didn’t have a doubt that he would have been furious, quite frankly. But wherever Klaus was involved, my dad bowed down like he was some kind of king. Just because he’d invested in his business once upon a time ago? It was absolutely ridiculous, and I wasn’t going to let anyone treat my dad badly because that wasn’t fair to him. He needed to stand up for himself.
Klaus wasn’t any more special than any other man, and it was about time that my father realized that.
“If I agree, can we end this conversation now?” I asked him. I didn’t mean to be rude to my father, at all, but I was too old to be scolded and besides that point, he needed to understand that I had been the one, in the right.
My father didn’t have anything else to say to me. He shook his head and left. I watched after him, knowing that he was still upset with me. I sighed. I was going to have to amend things between us, later. I would make sure that he cooled down before I said anything else on the matter, and then we could put the whole thing behind us.
Everyone was on the beach, and I decided to join them. Just like the day before, I didn’t have any plans of swimming or catching a tan. I enjoyed cuddling up with a good book, and today wasn’t going to be any different.
I slipped on a black bikini and then grabbed a towel before picking up the latest romance book that I’d started reading. I was obsessed with erotica novellas because I felt like they had the fire and passion that I felt like I was missing out on in life.
I took the ponytail holder off of my hair and freed my mane. I ran my hands through it and shook it to make it looser. I would leave it down for the time being because it would be easiest to deal with, in the case that Shae decided I would be going into the pool, with, or without, my consent. I always had to be prepared with her.
When I went outside, it wasn’t hard to spot my group with the sun beating down. The beach wasn’t nearly as populated as it had been the day before, but I liked it better with less people. It gave me the opportunity to lounge around and do what I wanted without having guys catcall me, or, better yet, having to look away when Shae catcalled them.
I grabbed the empty seat by Shae and made sure to set up my umbrella to lower the risk of me getting a tan. She was laying on her back, fully embracing the sunshine. I guess she did stop talking about boys every once in a while. Then, I heard her little snores and realized that she was asleep. I laughed but wasn’t surprised.
My eyes darted over to where my father and Klaus sat, a little distance away from Shae and me. They seemed like they were deep in conversation about something. Me, maybe. If this was still about me apologizing to that jerk, then my dad had another think coming. I was not apologizing when I wasn’t wrong.
Almost as if sensing someone was looking at him, Klaus looked up, and our eyes met. He sent me a look, not a mad one but… something else that I couldn’t explain. I frowned at him and turned my attention back down to the book in my hand.
I didn’t realize how tired I was still before my eyes were opened with the book I was reading sprawled across my face. I frowned. I didn’t remember going to sleep, but I wasn’t surprised that I had. I was exhausted from last night and this morning’s emotional conversations. Considering that this was supposed to be a vacation, it was not very relaxing. In fact, I was pretty sure that it was stressing me out more and causing grey hairs.
I moved the book off of my face and pushed it aside, letting out a rather big yawn. The nap had felt nice, but my body was aching from the way that I’d slept in the chair. I would have to add that to my list of things never to do again.
“I guess we both took a nap,” I commented, my eyes turning to find that Shae wasn’t in her chair anymore. I started looking around, trying to find her before I saw the culprit. A tall and handsome brunet. Shae was talking to him with a huge grin on her face. It was apparent that she’d found someone to spend her time with, not that I was shocked. This was Shae after all.
If I went over them and attempted conversation with the stranger, I knew that Shae would be upset with me. She, constantly, loved to remind me of how much she didn’t need a sidekick or a wingman. It wasn’t that I wanted to help her, either. I just wanted to join in on the conversation, but with her, who knew what the hell they could be talking about.
My guess was something sexual.
So, I’d make things easy and just stay by myself.
The chair was making me extremely uncomfortable, so I decided to lay on a towel instead and stretch out my legs. “Ah, that hits the spot,” I sighed, happily, as I laid on my stomach. I reached onto the chair and yanked my book down, so I could read it, ignoring everything else that was going on around me.
I’d always been a reader since I was a kid. In middle school, I was obsessed with fantasy and mythology and the little romances that were weaved throughout them. Then, in middle school, I couldn’t help but to love thrilling romances like Divergent or The Hunger Games. And Twilight had been pretty high up on my list.
But the more I grew up and felt like something was missing in my relationship with Brendan, the more that my tastes changed to something else. At first I just read romance books, whatever genre they might be, but then I started reading books with some steamy scenes because it felt like that was what I wanted.
And I still wanted it, to experience what those women felt. But there was no point telling Brendan. He wouldn’t care.
“Excuse me.” A strange voice that I didn’t know interrupted me. I turned around, and there was a guy standing beside my feet. He was offering me this lazy smile that I was sure usually made the girls drop to their knees and do anything that he asked them to. But unfortunately, for him, I wasn’t like those other girls.
He would be considered cute, I guessed. If he’d been talking to Shae, she would have been drooling all over him. He had ginger hair and facial hair that made his pale skin stand out a bit more. His eyes were brown, and he had an array of freckles. His shirt was off, and he had an impressive physique that made all of the girls swoon, I was sure.
If that was what he was looking for, he’d have better luck somewhere else.
I sighed, and my eyes went back to my book. “Is there something that I can help you with?”
“Do you mind if I sit down?”
“Do I own all of the chairs at the beach?”
Usually my snark was enough to drive off unwanted attention, but this guy wasn’t getting the hint.
“My name’s Paul.”
“That’s great, Paul, but I don’t know what you want me to do with that information.”
“What’s your name?” He was insistent.
“Clara.”
“Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”
“Then I’m happy my father chose it.”
“Can I be honest with you, Clara?”
I didn’t like the way that he said my name. It made me uncomfortable and uneasy. I sighed and made sure he noticed that he was bothering me while I put my book down. “Sure, Paul,” I said sarcastically, blasting him with fake happiness.
He didn’t catch on to that, either, or he was choosing to ignore it. “I don’t usually do this, but you’re probably the most beautiful woman that I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t ask you out and try to get to know you.” He sent me a dazzling smile that was more annoying than anything else.
Paul would have much better luck trying his chances with a girl who actually wanted to be with him.
“As sweet as that is, I’m going to pass.”
Paul’s eyes widened. “Wait, what?”
This boy had obviously never been rejected before. “I’m sorry, let me make it a little bit clearer for you.” I sat up and looked him dead, in the eye. “I don’t want to go on a date with you. Did you hear me a little bit better that time around?”
“Why not?” He asked me. “I’m a lot more fun than I look, and most ladies think that I’m sexy. Don’t you agree with them?”
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.”
“Playing hard to get, huh?” He laughed. “Don’t worry, I can wear you down.”
“I’m not playing anything,” I told him. “I just don’t want to do anything with you.”
Paul was quiet, for a moment, as if he was at a loss for words. Men like him annoyed me immensely because they had this feeling of empowerment like they could get whatever they wanted. It was like they deserved everything in the world just because they were good looking.
Klaus was one of those kinds of men.
“Look, baby, I know you’re not trying to hurt my feelings,” he said. “So, I’m going to give you another chance to find out how amazing of a guy I really am. Trust me, you won’t regret going on this date with me.”
“I can’t regret something that I don’t do.”
This made Paul angry. He grabbed my arm. “I’m trying to play Mr. Nice Guy, and you’re not making that easy, baby.”
“Stop calling me that,” I snapped. “And let me go.”
“Not until you agree.”
“I suggest that you let her go.” Klaus’ voice made me turn around, and he was towering over Paul. He yanked his arm off of me and pulled me against his chest. His strong, muscular, sexy chest. I cleared my thoughts. The last thing that I needed to be thinking about was how attracted I was to this man. “That is if you want to keep your hand?”
Paul stood up, but he looked like a boy compared to Klaus. I bit into my bottom lip, as I wondered why Klaus was helping me after how nasty I’d been to him. I could have handled Paul, in my own way, but not as well as Klaus could. Had my father sent him over here? No, if my father had witnessed this, he would’ve come over himself.
“What are you, her boyfriend?” Paul laughed. “Come on, I don’t believe that for a second.”
“You don’t have to.” A voice stopped Klaus before he could say anything. “Because that’s not her boyfriend. I am.”
My face scrunched up into a frown, and I turned around to see Brendan. I was surprised, considering how much he’d told me that he hadn’t wanted to come. But it looked like he had changed his mind and decided to drop by after all! I was so excited that I didn’t know what to do.
I tried to pull out of Klaus’ arms, but he looked dismayed at the sight of my boyfriend. “He’s telling the truth,” I commented before pulling harder until Klaus let me go.
I ran over to Brendan and wrapped my arms around him.
