Page 2 of Bad Daddy

He said it was to ensure Danny wasn't throwing away his tuition money. Danny was pretty sure it was more that it gave Clint another avenue of control over Danny’s life. But whatever. Clint thought that Danny wanting to be a paralegal was “cute,” and he was willing to entertain Danny’s stupid little dream, as long as Danny entertained him.

Fine. It was paying Danny’s bills. That was the deal.

And yeah, okay, Danny knew he didn't have it in him to try law school, not with how he could barely read, but he wanted to do something in law. Act as a support in a Family Law office that actually did good work. Maybe do his best to make a difference in some kid’s shitty-ass life.

The kind of difference he never got.

He wasn’t going to be working for a lawyer like Clint, he knew that for absolute certainty. Danny spent enough time under people like Clint as it was.

He slowly scratched out what he hoped were the steps to the right answer, taking his time to make the numbers as neat as possible. He just had to make it to graduation. He’d been out of school for almost three years trying to scape by without an education before he’d started at Oakland Community College. Now he was working his ass off to get up to speed on classes, but in his first semester he’d only been able to manage a 3.6 GPA. That had still taken hours and hours bent over notebooks and computer screens trying to make the letters and numbers he was reading stay still long enough for him to read them, gritting his teeth against tears of frustration. But he’d done it. All by himself.

He’d been kind of proud, at the end of his first semester, to get that little letter in the mail letting him know he’d made summa cum laude status by getting over a 3.5. He hadn’t had anyone to share it with because he certainly didn’t care about telling Clint, but that didn’t matter. That letter was proof that he was actually sort of capable, even if only a little bit.

If he could just finish out community college with a good GPA, he could take the test to become a certified paralegal. If he did that, he could actually work in the field. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to think that he could manage some sort of entry-level job somewhere. Leave Clint behind. He could do it.

He just needed to last for a couple more years. Make sure Clint didn't get bored of him in the meantime.

“You’re doing that thing again,” Lily said.

Danny tore his eyes away from his notebook. “What thing?”

“The thing where I can’t tell if you’re concentrating or spacing out,” Lily said, chewing on the end of her hair. “Like, I don’t care which one it is, but just let me know when you’re done, cause I have something to tell you.”

Danny fought the urge to shake his head. Fuck, he was so tired. “You could tell me now.”

Lily nodded, but now looked a little guilty. Danny tried not to let his hackles rise. “You know how I said I’d help you find someone to help you with your business law classes?”

Danny gave her a confused look. “No, you didn’t?” He had mentioned that business law was a little hard for him, but it wasn't because of the actual work—that was kind of fun, doing the logic of figuring out how to make the law work in his favor. It was just that reading all the text was a struggle for him. Which was something he definitely hadn’t mentioned.

It was bad enough he was so stupid he could barely read. He wasn't about to share just how dumb he was to the literal smartest person he had ever met.

“No, no,” Lily said loftily, waving a hand and looking incredibly suspicious now. “I totally did. I said, oh yeah, I bet I could figure out a way to make it easier. And then I said I knew a guy who could help.”

“You... definitely did not do that,” Danny said, staring at her. “I would have remembered us having this conversation. Also I would have said something along the line’s of, ‘no, it’s fine, I’m good figuring it out on my own.’”

“Anyway,” Lily continued, completely ignoring him. “My brother’s friend is a lawyer, and he said he’d be happy to tutor you.”

Danny flushed, at once embarrassed and ashamed. A part of him appreciated Lily wanting to help. He had never had anyone really want to help him before without wanting something in return.

Still. “Look, that’s—that’s really nice,” Danny started. “Thank you for thinking of me. But I don’t need help.” Certainly not from an actual lawyer, not before Danny knew a bit more about how to work around his reading issues. All he’d do was make a fool of himself.

“It’d be good practice,” Lily said reasonably. “He’s all fancy and stuff. He like, has to wear a suit to work and everything.”

That was exactly what Danny was afraid of. He wanted to work for lawyers, sure. But after he knew enough to not flounder and look stupid. People talked, he knew that. If this guy didn’t like him, he could make all sorts of trouble for Danny in a couple years when Danny was actually looking to enter the field.

He already had concerns about what Clint might do, once Danny was in a position to end their arrangement.

“Look,” Danny said, a bit desperately. He didn't want Lily upset with him either. “I’m grateful, I am. Thank you for trying to help. But I’m fine. Really.”

“Oh,” a smooth voice from behind him said. “So that’s a no on the tutoring, then?”

Danny flinched and turned.

Nothing came out of his mouth as he took in the man before him. A tall, broad-shouldered Asian man with a personable smile, and Danny’s throat clicked as he swallowed, in the face of that smile.

It looked…kind? Maybe a little bemused, but open and friendly. Like it didn’t matter that Danny was turning him away. Like he wasn’t angry or annoyed at coming all this way only to be told “no.”

Danny took the man in, still stuck speechless. His hair had a streak of white, but he had a young face. Thirties maybe? And just going gray young? He was standing there in the little study room holding his coat over his arm, with one hand tucked in his pocket, exuding an easy-going confidence. Like he knew he looked good.

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