Page 63 of Challenged by the Single Dad

Chloe sighed and buried her face in her hands. “This is really bad, you guys. What if the island gets wind? You all know it’s a rumor mill.”

“I still don’t see the problem here,” Vica said. “Dom’s hot, you’re hot, the sex was probably hot. Just because he’s your boss doesn’t mean it couldn’t work out.” She shrugged. “I also think you’d make a perfect addition to our girls’ club.”

Justine and Brooke both nodded.

“You’re not helping.” Chloe glared at her. “I should go talk to Dom. Maybe double-check that we are in agreement that it was a huge mistake, and we need to just pretend it didn’t happen.”

“Riiiiight,” Justine said with roll of her pretty brown eyes, “because that always works.”

Chloe growled and bunched her fists at her side, which just made Justine snicker. “Well, it’ll work this time.” She checked her phone. “The pub hasn’t opened yet, but I know he’s there. I’m going to go talk to him.”

“The room with the safe isn’t soundproof, and it’s small, but it’ll work in a pinch if you decide you’d rather do it again than avoid him like your loins aren’t a complete inferno around him,” Brooke said as she and the other two headed for the door.

Chloe joined them and locked up. “My loins are a regular temperature, thank you very much. And they will remain a nice and non-boiling ninety-eight-point-six, even when I see him.”

“Me thinks the lady doth protest too much,” Justine said.

“The lady protests just the right amount.” They reached the back door of the pub kitchen and they all half-heartedly wished her good luck.

“You’re not helping,” Chloe said again.

“Because we’re actually shipping you guys pretty hard,” Vica said before turning to Justine. “I said that right, right? Shipping?”

Justine nodded. “You did.”

Vica beamed.

Chloe glared at all of them, growled, then disappeared into the kitchen. She said hello to all the staff, while earning a curious look from Wyatt as she passed him on her way through to the front of house. But she hesitated at the door, not only because in the past she’d slammed it hard into Dom’s face and hurt him—twice—but also, she needed to mentally prepare herself to see him again.

With her hand on the door, she pushed it open just a little, only to hear Dom speaking with someone else.

“You’ve got skills, I’ll give you that.”

“Thanks,” the younger male voice said. “I like bartending. I like people.”

Dom snorted. “I like bartending, but I hate people. What does that mean?”

The other guy laughed. “I don’t know.”

Dom inhaled deeply through his nose. “Start from the beginning, Logan. What happened? I feel like we got the abridged version earlier. But I’m gonna tell you right now, I don’t trust easily. I don’t care if you’re family, you’ve got to earn my trust. And you’ll get there faster by telling us the whole truth.”

“Logan sighed. “Yeah … that’s fair. Well, Mom and Dad let me take two years to ‘go find myself’ since I really didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school. They didn’t like that I didn’t go straight to college, but they also knew the shoes left behind by my siblings were near impossible to fill. So I traveled. I became a diving instructor, a surf instructor, I got my yoga teacher training. I volunteered, and took a month-long vow of silence at an ashram in Tibet. I took cooking classes and met some amazing people. Then, after two years, they told me to come home and grow up. The decision was made for me that I would go into business school like my parents and sister. So I did. And it was the worst three years of my life. I was so fucking depressed. I got a job bartending just so that I could find a bit of joy again. I hated everyone in my cohort. Pretentious, trust fund, frat boys with no accountability.” Dom made a noise of agreement deep in his throat.

“Yeah … I know I have a trust fund too, but that’s been taken away now. And I never touched it.”

“Go on,” Dom said softly.

“I met Leila when she came to my bar. Honest to god, she looked twenty-two. She acted like it too.”

Oh shit.

“She was a smart girl with a wild side. She finished high school at sixteen, which was why she was legit a college sophomore at eighteen. I never knew her dad was a senator until she told me about the baby. I mean, her last name is Johnson. It’s not like it’s unique and one I would immediately associate with a senator. Her dad flipped his shit and sent guys after me. Claiming I needed to marry her or he’d make me pay. I said of course. But then, she lost the baby, and by that point, my parents were already livid with me. Leila’s dad shipped her off to Europe to go live with family there and I took ketamine to cope with everything I’d lost. Then I wrapped my car around a pole and dropped out of college.” The kid’s voice was strained with emotion and the backs of Chloe’s eyes stung with unshed tears. “I don’t totally remember, but I feel like I did it on purpose.”

“Did what on purpose?” Dom asked.

“Drove into the pole while high.” He exhaled and dropped his voice lower, the next words coming out painted with shame and agony. “I just … I didn’t want to live with all that pain. And when I woke up in the hospital, with nobody at my bedside—my parents didn’t even come to the hospital once, and wouldn’t let my siblings come either—I wanted to die then too.” He sniffed. “I saw a social media post about the island. Somebody I follow had come to San Camanez this summer and just raved about it. That’s when I remembered that I still had family out there. Family who might not disown me because I chose a different path. So, I packed up as much as I could and flew out here.”

“Fuck,” Dom breathed. “Logan, I’m really sorry. That’s … that’s some heavy shit, man. And … I know I speak for my brothers too when I say, you’re family and you’re welcome here. Just …”

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