Page 39 of One Night With My Grumpy Professor Daddy

The tension in the room escalates, my outburst setting the tone for a heated exchange. I can see the principal struggling to maintain control as tempers flare.

“Can we all please just calm down?” She says, but I’m already on my feet.

I can feel my frustration mounting. In the end, that meeting did squat except crank up the tension and leave a pile of unresolved grudges.

I take a deep breath, referring to everyone. “I think we should reschedule this meeting. I don’t think I’m in the right state of mind to have this conversation.” I add a few apologies and head out with Zoe. I drop her off in class with a kiss on her cheek and a reassuring look into her eyes.

Leaving the school, I’m torn between Zoe’s well-being and the damn chaos in my own life. I step outside into the harsh sunlight and can’t help but think, everything is spiraling out of control.

Although the university is the last place I want to be right now, I have to pick up the remnants of my time as an honorary professor. The fiasco of yesterday’s meeting still echoing in my head, my nerves rubbed raw from the confrontation with those people and, of course, the other obvious situation.

Entering the building, the echoes of my footsteps seem to mock me. The halls are empty, a stark contrast to the energy they held the last time I was here. One of the law professors is having a book launch, and I’m sure that’s where everybody is.

I manage to slip out of the faculty room without being noticed, thankful I don’t have to deal with any questions about my resignation. Almost out of the building, I spot her…Ava, standing at the end of the hallway. I can’t figure out how she’s feeling. My heart pounds in my chest, and my feet take me to her without a second thought.

“Ava,” I murmur, my voice heavy with longing, as I reach out for her.

But she recoils, shrinking away from my touch. The hurt in her eyes strikes me like a dagger to the heart.

“Hello, Mr. Armstrong.”

She spits my last name with so much bitterness that my eyes widen. Is she trying to put distance between us? To put on a façade because we’re in school or to remind me that I’m a father?

I attempt to bridge the gap, to understand, but the words that escape my mouth are laced with frustration. “Is it really that bad that I didn’t tell you I had a daughter?”

Her eyes briefly register confusion, and then slowly, they ignite with anger as she interrupts me. “Is that what you think this is about? The fact that you’re a single father?” She seethes.

I nod, my assumptions weighing heavily on my shoulders. Now, I’m really confused. “I thought you were angry because of Zoe. You’ve been acting this way since you saw us together that night.”

Ava’s laughter is bitter, a harsh reminder of my ignorance. “Mr. Armstrong, you have no idea, do you?”

She levels a penetrating gaze at me before delivering heavy words. “To save us both this drama. Why don’t you Google your last name and mine in the same search to see what I’m talking about?”

The words hang in the air, a challenge I can’t ignore. Calmly, I pull her into a lecture room and close the door behind us. The last time I did something like this, she was shaking in orgasm, her fingers buried in my hair, and her legs wrapped around my waist. The contrast between the two situations is palpable.

I typed her family’s name into the search engine. The results that populate the screen are a damning revelation.

I’m hardly shocked by the extent of the scandal, but I can’t fucking believe it has to do with Ava. I mean, honestly, what are the chances another one of Daniel Strongs shit storms spills over onto someone else I care about. The pain and betrayal etched in Ava’s eyes are suddenly crystal clear.

Before I can process the magnitude of it all, Ava turns on her heel and walks away, leaving the door open and her footsteps echoing down the empty hallway. The truth has unraveled right in front of me, exposing my father and the dark secrets of my family while I’m left standing there, grappling with the reality of our tangled lives.

Chapter twenty-three

Ava

My life’s a whirlwind of emotions I can’t escape. Drake’s father’s actions have cast a long shadow over my existence, one that now affects my relationship with Drake. I didn’t expect to see him this soon, not after revealing the painful truth about my family’s scandal and his family’s twisted involvement in it.

So when I step out of my classroom a week later and I find him standing there, I’m taken aback. He’s dressed casually in blue jeans and a white shirt, two buttons undone. I hate myself briefly that I still find him as attractive and breathtaking as I always have. Of course, a few students glance at him, but he keeps his eyes on me, and I hate that it makes my stomach flutter. I should hate this man.

Why?

It’s his father who hurt my family, not him. But I shake away the voice of reason in my head. If his father did it, it’s as good as if he did it too. I walk faster, attempting to walk past him. A few of the students greet him, and I plan to use the distraction to pass by. However, the second I walk past him, he reaches out to me.

“Can we talk, Ava?” he asks, his voice laced with a vulnerability I’ve never seen in him.

My heart aches at the sight of him, the memories of our stolen moments together flooding back. But I can’t let myself be swayed so easily. “I don’t think there’s anything to talk about, Mr. Armstrong.”

He cringes at the name but doesn’t let go of my hand. He takes a step closer, his presence commanding yet gentle. “Let’s find a quiet place to talk, please.”

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