Page 26 of Don't Call Me Daddy
I shove my phone in my pocket. “Just forget it. Can you just drive a little safer this time? Use your blinkers and go the speed limit?”
She sucks in a gasp. “You think I’m a bad driver? I was rushing on purpose because I didn’t want you to die, but don’t worry; this time, I promise to obey all traffic laws. I’ll even slow down at yellow lights if you want.”
“It’s notif I want; that’s what you’re supposed to do.” I yank my seat belt across my chest.
She narrows her eyes. “I think it’s more of a situational judgment call.”
“No, it’s not. It’s literally the law?—”
“What’s your address?” she interrupts, swiping open her navigation app.
I suppress the urge to scold her for cutting me off and tell her the address.
I also hold back from commenting on the conditions of her dirty, bug-splattered windshield, clamping my jaw shut and gripping the door handle as she pulls onto the highway.
And to my surprise, she actually uses her blinker before pulling out across two lanes of traffic.
In the short drive from the hospital, I’ve learned a few things about this woman.
The background check I ran on her came back squeaky clean … apart from a few outstanding parking tickets and a small lapse in insurance coverage.
1. She prefers riding with the top down to using the air conditioner—though that might be because her air conditioner doesn’t work. I don’t have enough evidence to support this theory.
2. She can’t listen to an entire song all the way through before switching it, and her playlists are more chaotic than the current state of her back seat … which is really saying a lot.
3. She appears to be fearless—at least behind the wheel of a vehicle, going ten miles over the speed limit, driving like Evel Knievel.
4. She’s only twenty-two.
Yeah, not exactly the best look to be romantically involved with a woman thirteen years my junior—I can’t imagine what people with think about that—but it’s not like we’re reallyengaged. I don’t have any intentions of sleeping with her, so maybe we’ll be able to sweep that minor detail under the rug.
Who am I kidding? In this town? I think I have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than something like that going unnoticed.
Even if I did have the time and energy to devote to being in a relationship—which I absolutely do not—she couldn’t be more wrong for me. She’s too young, too bubbly, and way too much of a mess to fit into my carefully curated life.
A woman like that needs attention … and as much fun as it might seem to be, I’m already stretched too thin. Hell, I can’t even handle the job I have without landing myself in the emergency room from stress.
I learned a long time ago that I can’t have it all, that there’s pain in showing people the real me. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes, mistakes I’ll spend the rest of my life paying for, and I’m not naive enough to believe it can be any other way. Not anymore.
Instead, I’ve spent the last decade unattached and focused on creating safety systems so nothing like a manual error can ever cause such devastation ever again. My cause is so much bigger than my desire for love—or whatever the fuck people get from relationships.
Besides, to say that I’m not good with balance is the understatement of the century. I’m not interested in a watered-down vanilla relationship, no matter how badly I wish I were.
So, I’d rather spend my time and energy working toward my goal of becoming CEO because it’s the only way I’ll be able to have complete control. It’s not that I don’t trust other people to take care of our employees—I’m sure Carl would do a fine job—but there’s not a single person who cares as much as me. Probably because they don’t have the blood of sixty-three men on their hands.
There’s nothing that fuels you quite like that, trust me.
That’s why I’ve got to find a way to change my father’s mind. It’s the only way I’ll ever know peace and my only chance at having a halfway-fulfilling life.
Which is why I don’t have time for any distractions.
No matter how beautiful or tempting they might be.
This can never happen, if only for her sake. I might be a selfish bastard, but I won’t make the same mistakes twice.
That much I am absolutely certain of.
So, maybe this is a good thing?
