Professor Daddy: A Dark Daddy Romance (Dark Daddies Book 5)

by B. B. Hamel

  “Everyone, unfortunately, it’s come to my attention that our current track is unfeasible. We can’t keep going forward with the current system. I took yesterday to double-check and test everything, and I tried just about every possible scenario, but nothing works. We’re going to need to give up on what we’ve done and begin again.”

  They stare at me. Alan looks confused, Parker looks shocked, and Coop…

  Well, Coop looks hungry.

  But it’s Howard that I pay attention to. Howard’s staring at me like he can barely believe what I just said.

  “Wait,” Howard finally says out loud, breaking the short silence. The guys stare at him, horrified. “Hold on. You’re saying… we’re giving up on the backwards implementation?”

  “Correct,” I say. “I’m sorry. I know you guys worked hard, but it’s too taxing. It’s not getting us where we need to be.”

  He blinks. “But it can work. I mean, I know we can make it work. The idea is sound.”

  “Maybe,” I concede. “But not with our resources. I’m sorry, Howard.”

  Howard leans back in his chair, looking shocked. “We’re giving up on my idea,” he says softly. “All that work, it’s all gone.”

  “Not all gone,” I say. “We’ll reuse some of the old code. Some of the stuff you guys did will still be really useful, just not in the way we originally pictured.”

  Howard sits there for a little bit. I let them take all that in.

  Coop raises his hand.

  “Yes, Coop?”

  He clears his throat. “Ah, uh. Do we have enough time to start over? The semester’s ending, and, well…”

  I shake my head. “I’m sorry, Coop. Unfortunately, you guys have gone as far as you’ll go.”

  Howard’s hands slam down onto the desk. Clara jumps and I move toward her almost instinctively. Nobody seems to notice, since they’re all too busy staring at Howard.

  His face is red when he looks at me.

  “It’s a good idea,” he says. “It’s a goddamn good idea, but you’re giving up on it. I don’t understand why.” He looks at Clara. “This has to be your fault.”

  “Howard,” I say, warning him.

  He stands up. “She sabotaged me. She sabotaged me, god damnit.”

  “No, I didn’t,” Clara snaps, and I wince. “You sabotaged yourself by not listening. I tried to tell you, but you blew me off.”

  “You lying bitch!”

  He takes a step like he’s going to dive between the computers, across the desk, and attack her.

  I move faster. I walk right up to him and grab him by the arm.

  “You’re out of here,” I say to him. “Do you hear me? Get out of my room.”

  Howard looks shocked as I drag him to the door.

  “I’m, uh, I’m sorry,” he says, but I push him out the door and into the hall.

  “Get out of here,” I say. “You need to cool off. Clara didn’t do anything wrong. Hell, you didn’t do anything wrong either, until you acted like this. Go cool down.”

  He hesitates in the hallway, glaring at me, but finally storms away.

  I turn back into the room. I probably shouldn’t have touched Howard like that, but I think it was justified, given the situation.

  Everyone looks shell-shocked. The guys are staring at Clara and she’s staring at the floor.

  I sigh. “Okay, we’re done for the day,” I say to them.

  Nobody moves.

  “Go home,” I say again. “There’s nothing to be done today. We’ll finish some more later this week.”

  Alan looks up at me. “But the conference?”

  I blink. I forgot all about the fucking conference.

  “I’m taking Clara and Howard,” I say, and stop as their eyes go wide. “Well, I was going to take Howard. Now I’m just taking Clara. You’re all dismissed.”

  The guys hesitate but slowly they get up and filter out. I watch them go. Clara’s the last one in the room.

  When the door shuts behind Coop, I stand and walk over to her. I throw my arms around her without a word, pulling her close to my chest.

  She lets out a single sob.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay,” she says, clearly fighting tears. “I’m fine.”

  “Listen, he just needs to calm down. It’ll be okay.”

  “He was going to… I mean, the look on his face…”

  “I know,” I say. “But it’s okay. It’s okay.” I kiss her softly, holding her tight.

  And that’s when I hear the door shut.

  I pull away from her. Howard’s standing there, his eyes wide.

  “My stuff,” he says stupidly. “I need my stuff.”

  I stand there awkwardly. He just fucking saw me kiss Clara.

  Holy shit. He just saw me kiss Clara.

  Howard moves first. He walks over to his computer, grabs his bag, and turns back to the door.

  Before he leaves, he looks back at the two of us.

  “Makes sense,” he says, shrugs, and leaves.

  Clara’s sob comes out strangled. “Jason,” she says.

  I turn to her, horrified.

  Her eyes are wide.

  “He’s going to…”

  “No,” I say. “I won’t let him.”

  “Fuck,” she says. “Oh, fuck.”

  I pull her against me. I hold her, even though it’s stupid, even though the others could come back, too.

  It doesn’t matter.

  Howard’s not going to keep this secret. I don’t think I have enough money to buy him off, even if I wanted to.

  This is the end of everything, fucked, destroyed in a single moment.

  17

  Clara

  I watch Jason leave the room without a backwards glance at me. “I’ll be back,” he says.

  I stand there, feeling like my life is falling to pieces.

  I can still feel his arms around me, holding me tight like nothing bad could ever beat us, even after Howard walked in. I hug myself, curling up in a little ball and sitting down in front of a computer screen, trying to pretend like that didn’t happen.

  But it did, it happened. Howard caught me kissing Jason, and there’s no way we’ll get out of this one.

  I want to die. No, not die.

  I want to disappear from the face of the earth.

  If I could just melt away, slip down beneath the dirt, and cease existing, that would be ideal.

  It’s not just me that I care about. Jason has way more to lose than I do. Sure, I might get a bad reputation at school, but I’m going to leave here. I’m going to graduate and move on with my life.

  But Jason, this is going to follow him. Nobody will remember my name.

  Everyone will remember Jason.

  This is going to break him, ruin him. All because we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.

  I sit there in that room for nearly two hours before I finally get up. Jason hasn’t come back, and I don’t expect him to.

  Maybe he’s being smart and running. Or maybe he’s doing whatever else he can to protect himself by distancing himself from me.

  I wouldn’t blame him. Let him throw me under the bus. I want it, honestly.

  I feel simultaneously abandoned and happy that I’m abandoned as I leave the empty room. All those computers back there, all that hard work, all those good memories, it’s all tainted for me now.

  None of it matters, anyway.

  I don’t know what we were even doing back there. Hours spent writing programs, working on this vision that Jason has, and it’s all for nothing. Howard’s going to blow it up, all because of his failed idea.

  I walk through the halls of the building, out into the mild afternoon sunlight, and I start back toward my apartment. I don’t bother going to class today.

  It just doesn’t seem important.

  I get back home and go right to bed. I curl up and even manage to sleep for a few hours.

  Mac�
��s there when I finally manage to drag myself out of bed. She’s in the living room and looks surprised when I stumble into the kitchen.

  “You’re home?” she asks.

  I grunt at her and pour myself some water.

  “What are you doing here?” She gets up and walks over to me. “Have you been in your room?”

  “Sleeping,” I say.

  She frowns. “It’s, like, five. Barely after five.”

  I shrug a little. “Had a rough morning.”

  “What happened?”

  I hesitate, but fuck it. What do I have to lose now?

  “We got caught.”

  She stands there staring at me for what feels like a really long time. I finish my water and put the glass in the sink before she finally answers.

  “How?”

  I tell her the whole story, starting with Howard’s idea, up through his failure and that awkward moment with the group.

  “So when everyone left, Jason and I were talking, and we kissed, and that’s when… that’s when Howard came back in.”

  She groans. “No way.”

  “Seriously. He saw it, saw everything.”

  “Jesus.” She shakes her head. “That’s so…”

  “Horrible.”

  “Stupid,” she corrects.

  I blink, surprised. “What?”

  “You two were kissing out in the open in like the most dangerous place imaginable. How could you be so stupid?”

  I stare at her for a second and I feel a little anger rising up in my chest. “You weren’t there,” I snap at her. “You don’t know.”

  “You’re right,” she says, shrugging. “But it was still stupid.”

  I stare at her, feel my anger peak, and slowly let it all fade away.

  She’s right. I know she’s right. We were stupid, reckless.

  We took too many risks.

  Jason’s right about risk. It feels good, really good, it makes everything that much sweeter.

  But it’s addictive. It’s dangerous. Risk only works if it doesn’t come crashing down in your face like it did earlier.

  We got addicted to that risk, and it destroyed us.

  Mac’s right. It was stupid to kiss in that room, especially knowing Howard could come back at any moment. It was a stupid, stupid risk.

  “I don’t know what to do,” I admit to her. I can feel the despair pushing in again.

  “Well, first of all, quit feeling so bad for yourself,” she says.

  I bite my lip. “I ruined everything, Mac.”

  “Nothing’s ruined,” she says, waving that away. “You and Jason are both consenting adults. So what, so he’s your professor? Maybe he’ll get in some trouble, but if you really want to be with him, you can.”

  I shake my head. “No, there’s just no way.”

  “Clara, stop.” Mac glares at me. “You’re stronger than this.”

  I don’t know what to say. “Maybe I’m not.”

  “You are. If you want this man, then fight for him.”

  “He left me waiting for him,” I say softly. “He didn’t come back. It’s over, Mac.”

  “It’s never over.” She sighs, shaking her head. “I don’t know why I care. I guess I liked him, and I know how you feel about him. I just hate to see it end like this.” She touches my arm as she turns to leave the kitchen. “You’ll be okay, Clara. I promise.”

  I watch her sit back down on the couch and I lean up against the refrigerator, her words ringing through my mind.

  It’s never over…

  But it has to be. There’s no way we can come back from this. He didn’t come back for me, which means things are even worse. He went after Howard, probably tried to bribe him.

  But there’s not enough money in the world for that. Not when Howard finally could see his revenge.

  I feel my hatred rise up again. Howard, that fucking asshole, that petty little bitch. He’s going to take the best thing that’s ever happened to me away, just because his idea didn’t work out.

  That sexist little bastard. I hate him so much, I can barely control myself.

  My hands clench into fists. For a second, I think I’m about to smash the wall.

  When there’s a knock at the door.

  I hesitate, look at Mac. She shakes her head. “Not for me,” she says.

  I walk slowly over. The knock comes again, sharp and insistent. My mind runs through a bunch of possibilities.

  Police, SWAT team, here to arrest me. The dean of the college, here to kick me out. My parents, here to shame me for being so stupid.

  Mac gestures at me. “Go ahead,” she says. “What’s the worst that it could be?”

  I groan and whip open the door.

  He stares back at me.

  The absolute worst-case scenario.

  “Hi, Clara,” Howard says.

  I don’t know what to do. I don’t move. I just stare at him, eyes wide, as the anger slowly grows.

  “What are you doing here?” I finally manage to ask.

  He shifts from foot to foot. “Can we… talk?”

  I shake my head. “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

  “Look, I know I’ve been a bastard to you, but please. Just for a second.”

  I think about slapping him. I think about running away.

  But the smarter thing is to hear him out. I mean, he has all the power here, after all.

  “Fine,” I say. “Come in.”

  We walk inside, moving past Mac. She looks a little surprised but doesn’t say anything as I lead Howard to the back of the house and into the back yard.

  I sit down on the back steps as he looks around and shoves his hands into his back pockets.

  “Go ahead,” I say. “I’m listening.”

  He looks away. “I’m here to apologize. I wasn’t very nice to you and I took some of my frustrations out on you. I shouldn’t have done that.”

  I frown a little. “Okay, thank you,” I say. “But why are you apologizing?”

  He hesitates a second. “It’s part of the deal.”

  “Deal…?”

  A million ideas run through my mind, but there’s only one person that could’ve pulled something like this off.

  “But I really do feel bad,” he says quickly. “I was an asshole. You’re good at what you do, Clara. I shouldn’t be such a dick all the time.”

  “Right,” I say. “Thanks.”

  He grins at me. “But Jason? Sleeping with your professor? Jesus, Clara.”

  “I know.” I look away. “It just happened. I never meant… I don’t know.”

  “Hey, whatever. I don’t care anymore, seriously. I’m not judging you.”

  I glare at him. “Like you’d have any right to.”

  He shrugs. “Yeah, probably not.”

  I sigh and look down. “Look, I guess I appreciate you coming out here and doing this, even if you didn’t want to.”

  “Can you blame me? Nobody wants to admit they were being an asshole.”

  “Yeah,” I say, smiling despite myself. “But, uh… you’re the one with all the power here.”

  “True,” he says, smiling even more. “But Jason is very persuasive.”

  I frown. “He didn’t… offer you something, did he?”

  “At first, it was money,” he admits. “A lot of money, actually. A stupid amount of money. But I turned him down.” Howard paces away, shaking his head. “I was really pissed.”

  “I get it,” I say softly. “I would’ve been mad, too.”

  “But then I spoke to Parker. He told me that Jason said he was going to bring me the conference.” Howard looks back at me. “He was going to bring both of us. So even though my idea didn’t work out, he appreciated it anyway.”

  “Of course he did,” I say softly. “It was a good idea. It just didn’t work out.”

  He nods sharply. “So after that, I kind of… rethought things. I cooled off. And like a half hour ago, I went to see him.”

  “What did he o
ffer you?”

  “A job.”

  Hope starts to bloom inside of me. “A job?”

  “Not with him,” Howard says. “But at Google. I start as soon as I graduate. I have the paperwork already. He works fast.” Howard laughs a little bit.

  “He got you a job at Google?”

  “And some money.” He grins at me. “Less than he originally offered, but this job… it’s worth so much more than money.”

  I smile a little. “Congratulations.”

  “This isn’t how I wanted it to happen, but I don’t care. Google! It’s my dream job.”

  “Good, that’s great.”

  “So anyway, he told me to come here and tell you. And to apologize to you. And now I did.” He’s grinning, clearly still excited about the job offer. “I guess it’s done with.”

  “Right.”

  “Anyway, good luck, Clara. Your secret’s safe with me.”

  “Thanks.” I stand up and he walks past me, back through my apartment. I follow after him, drifting on clouds.

  “See you later,” he says, and leaves.

  I stand there like a moron, staring at the door.

  Mac’s silent for about thirty seconds before bursting out: “Well, what did he say?”

  “He’s not telling anyone,” I say softly. “Jason… got him a job. Bribed him into silence.”

  “Wow,” Mac says, laughing. “No shit. How’d he manage it?”

  “I don’t know,” I say, opening the door. “But I have to go talk to him.”

  “Good luck!” she calls after me as I run down the steps, out to the sidewalk, and hurry toward Jason’s house.

  I’m out of breath as I bound up his stoop. I knock on the door twice and it opens almost immediately.

  “Clara,” he says, surprised. “I was just about to—”

  I throw myself at him. I toss my arms around his neck and pull him against me, kissing him deep and slow.

  He kisses me back, pulling my body against his.

  We break apart after a moment. “Come inside,” he says softly.

  I follow him into his apartment. He shuts the door behind me, smiling. “I’m sorry I left you hanging,” he says as I turn to him.

  “You asshole,” I say. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”