Daddy's Best Friend Secret (Daddies and Babies Book 2)

by Lauren Wood

  Why had he even come on this trip if he didn’t plan on being here? To use up my father’s money and go on a free vacation? What a great friend he was! I could care less that he wasn’t here if I was being completely honest with myself, but it was the principle that bothered me.

  My father hadn’t wanted to eat until everyone was present, but Klaus decided never to show up. We waited over an hour before my dad realized that he wasn’t going to be joining us for dinner. How hard would it have been to send a text message that said, ‘hey, won’t be coming for dinner, but save me a slice of cake’?

  Instead, we waited like idiots because neither me nor Shae had the courage to tell my dad. Our food was cold by the time we finally ate it. Everything that they said about Klaus, in the magazines, was true. He was a selfish jerk who cared about nobody else apart from himself. Why my father was even friends with him, I didn’t know. He should invest in finding himself someone better to spend his time with rather than that good for nothing.

  Even once my father did realize, he said that it was nothing and laughed it off. He and Shae were making jokes about it, and my father told me that it was just the kind of person that Klaus was. How could the most perfect looking guy be the complete opposite of perfect? And how come he never suffered any repercussions for his actions?

  Because he was good looking? That wasn’t a good enough reason, not for me, and it shouldn’t have been for anyone else, either. He couldn’t get away with whatever he wanted just because he had a dazzling smile.

  I was furious. I’d been forced to eat cold food, and they were laughing about it. This vacation wasn’t even meant for Klaus. We were supposed to be here to have a good time, and if he was going to interfere with that, maybe I should tell Dad he shouldn’t stay with us anymore. Because I didn’t want our vacation ruined by such a bum. I just had to make sure that dad saw it my way.

  Klaus could find plenty of women who would open up their doors, and their beds, and their legs, for him. He didn’t need to be here, anyways.

  When I woke up the next morning, I felt extremely groggy and still tired. I stretched my legs and my back before getting out of the bed to go to the private bathroom attached to my room. Just about all of the rooms in this house had private bathrooms.

  I wasn’t surprised to see the bags and heavy circles underneath my eyes. That tended to happen whenever I went to sleep upset or frustrated. I woke up feeling bad and annoyed. Maybe that was the reason why they told people never to go to bed angry. I would have to start taking those warnings seriously.

  It wasn’t usual for me to go to bed with any other emotion that wasn’t happiness or relaxed. But I wasn’t surprised that the person who could change that was Klaus. I didn’t know what it was about him, but he, somehow, managed to get under my skin in a way that nobody else had ever done before.

  Maybe I should have thought more about that, but in my eyes, there wasn’t much to think about. He didn’t mean anything to me.

  I ran my hand over my face and noticed how dry it felt. I thought I could squeak by vacation without having to do such an extensive face care regimen, but I was wrong. My skin definitely needed it. I sighed, as I pulled out all of the things that I was going to need.

  After setting up everything on the counter, I turned the shower on. I felt like taking a shower, and besides, the steam always felt amazing on my face and did wonders in making it relax and not feel so tight!

  The hot water felt amazing on my skin and was just what I needed to get me out of the bad mood that I’d been in. Klaus disappeared from my mind while I washed my entire body, paying special attention to my breasts. When was the last time that Brendan had looked at them, let alone touched them?

  He’s busy. I had to keep reminding myself of that fact. Once school was over, I knew that he would be an entirely different boyfriend. I tried not to let Shae’s words get to me, as I turned the faucet off and opened the shower door, the air filling with steam.

  I went through my facial care routine, taking my time through each step. Cleanser, toner, face scrub, face mask, moisturizer. I wanted my face to be supple, clean and soft. For a moment, I wondered if I was doing all of this for a certain someone.

  Of course not! Why would I go through all of this work to impress Klaus when I didn’t even like him? I was doing this for myself because I wanted to be able to enjoy my vacation, and that was all.

  Keep trying to convince yourself that. I pushed my thoughts away.

  Once I finished everything that I needed to do regarding my face, I went to my nightstand and picked up my phone. I was expecting to see a response from Brendan but felt my lips move downward into a frown when I realized that he hadn’t sent me a message. I knew he was busy, but I would have thought he would have managed to respond to a message that I sent a night ago. ‘Don’t be so damn needy, I’ll respond when I get to it’. I remembered what happened last time I’d sent him a second message to remind him of the first one. He had been far from pleased, so I didn’t bother. My eyes glanced over the message that I had sent.

  Hey Brendan, I know it’s last minute and that you hate doing things last minute, but we’re at the beach house that I sent you all of those pictures of. I figured maybe if you won’t get too behind on schoolwork, you can come and spend some time with me, my dad, and Shae, just for a couple days. I would really love it if you could come, so just let me know, okay? I’m sending my address just in case you decide to stop by.

  Did I sound whiny and needy? I could practically smell the desperation reeking off of me. I didn’t mean to act like this, but it was like I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t know anything about ‘normal’ relationships, and I could hardly ask Shae because she wouldn’t know anything about them, either.

  I enjoyed being able to see Brendan. I just wished that we were able to spend more time together. I felt like I didn’t get to see him nearly as much as I should, considering that I was his girlfriend. But I wasn’t going to bring it up to Brendan. I knew he would get frustrated and talk about the fact that I brought that up all the time… even though I didn’t.

  But he wouldn’t see it that way. He never did.

  And what did I expect? When the two of us had first started dating, Brendan had made it clear that he had no intentions of allowing our relationship to get in the middle of his schoolwork. I hadn’t taken his words seriously at first, but now I did.

  Was this really what I wanted out of a relationship? School was important, yes, but I didn’t want to be valued below it. I was his girlfriend, and I wasn’t saying that I had to be the most important thing in his life, but I thought that I would at least be ranked above the books. An education was imperative to him, but that didn’t mean he had to spend his time studying around the clock!

  When everyone warned me from dating the guy that everyone called a nerd, maybe I should have heeded their warnings instead of trying to find out the truth for myself.

  But I really wanted to talk to him. I bit into my bottom lip while I looked at the phone that I had, in my hand. Would it really hurt so much if I just decided to call him? And why was I so nervous? I was his girlfriend for goodness’ sake. I should be comfortable doing things like this instead of running around with my tail tucked between my legs.

  I was better than that. I pressed his name and called him. I had to force myself to let out deep breaths while the phone rang, waiting for him to pick up. Except that he didn’t. It went to the voicemail that I’d gotten used to hearing. It’s Brendan. Leave me a message, and I’ll try to call you back.

  Except he never did, because Brendan was shit when it came to calling me back.

  Disappointment filled me, and I was about to put my phone down before the screen lit and his name popped up. This was a surprise. My face cleared, and I answered the phone. He never called me back so early. What if he was just about to call or text me to say that he was here? My heart warmed at the thought.

  “Brendan…” I started.

  But he cut me of
f. “What do you need, Clara?”

  “I was just trying to call to ask if you’d seen my message last night?” I sat down on the bed with my legs hanging off the side.

  “Yes, I saw it.” He sounded nonchalant about the entire thing.

  “What did you think?”

  “You know that I care about you, Clara, but to ask me to drop everything so that we can go skinny dipping and eat seafood is rather selfish of you,” he commented. “I have a life, too, and I don’t particularly enjoy wasting my time. And you shouldn’t either when we have exams right around the corner.”

  My heart dropped. Just like every other conversation that I’d ever had with Brendan, this one involved him once again lecturing me about not being nearly as good of a student as he was. Could my vacation get any worse? Why had I thought it would be a good idea to invite him, in the first place?

  “I’m sorry to have disrupted you,” I apologized, my voice low and sad.

  “Don’t say it like that, Clara.” His voice was almost scolding. “I’m looking out for what’s best for you.”

  “Do you ever think that maybe I don’t need you to do that?” I snapped. I was sick of being treated like yesterday’s trash by him. “I don’t need you to look out for me. All I need is for you, for once, to be a good boyfriend. I want you to put me above everything else, and if that makes me selfish, then so be it. I guess I’m selfish, and maybe, you should find a girlfriend who isn’t.” I ended the call.

  That had felt good, better than good actually. I never spoke my mind to Brendan, but he deserved to hear what I said. I waited, for a second, to see if he was going to call me back, but he didn’t. Whatever.

  For the rest of this trip, I was going to be happy, and I wasn’t going to let anyone rain on my parade.

  I slipped on my house shoes and opened my door. The smell of breakfast hit my nose pretty fast, and I let out a delighted sigh. Aromas of bacon, french toast, and eggs filled the air, and I followed the smell all the way from the bathroom. My stomach growled the second that I saw the food. It looked delicious.

  And I knew one thing for sure. I didn’t care what Dad said. I was not waiting on Klaus to eat. This food was going to be much too good to sit around and wait for it to get cold.

  Our housekeeper, Nina, was cooking away. My father had hired her years ago, and she was honestly the best. She was only in her forties, but she had the personality of a grandmother, very warm and gentle. And for someone without grandparents, she was the closest thing that I had. She may have worked for my family, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t be friends.

  “Good morning, Nina,” I greeted her with a smile on my face. She was frying up some sausages and turned around to smile at me.

  “Good morning, Clara. How did you sleep, pretty girl?”

  Since Nina had come into our lives, she’d always called me ‘pretty girl’ and told me that it was because she felt like I was just the most beautiful girl in the world. She was wrong, but it was flattering. Now, it was just a habit of ours.

  “Not great.” I took a seat, at the bar, in front of her. “I woke up with some dark circles.”

  “You can’t see them. Good job covering them up,” she commented. “Who were you upset with?”

  She knew me so well. “Dad’s friend.”

  “Klaus?”

  “Yes.”

  “What reason do you have to be upset with him?”

  “I just think he’s a pompous jerk,” I told her. “Anyway, enough about him, can I help you with breakfast?” If I kept myself busy then it would stop me from being able to think too much.

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “No.”

  Nina never let me help her cook after what happened when I was thirteen. I’d managed to catch my hair and half of the kitchen on fire. Since then, it had been game over for me, in her eyes.

  I laughed. “Nina, I’m twenty years old now.”

  “That’s not a great argument.”

  That was true. Age, unfortunately, had not turned me into a better cook. “Well, you can’t say I didn’t try.”

  “Just sit there and wait on your food, you goofball.”

  I laughed and pulled out my phone to scroll through it while I waited on the food.

  “Good morning, ladies.” My jaw locked. I didn’t have to turn around to recognize that voice. Klaus.

  4

  Klaus

  I was happy that I had managed to get away from Megan, the woman that I had slept with the night before. As bad as it sounded, and as bad as it made me out to be, she wasn’t anything like how I thought she would be. She’d made herself out to be this nonchalant, uncaring woman with big balls who could take care of herself.

  Was it possible for a woman to catfish with her personality? Because that woman had definitely managed to fool me. A part of me had actually liked her because of how laid back she was, but I should have known that she was just like every other woman? Why had I even thought about trusting her?

  That was a mistake, on my part, that I was never going to make again.

  I glanced down at the piece of paper that I had in my hand and had to stop myself from shivering while I tore it to pieces. There was no way that I was going to be using it. It had all of her personal information on it, and it made me wonder when she had even gotten the chance to write it all down.

  Her full name, including the middle. Her nickname, in case I couldn’t find her. Her address, and the address of the beach house. Where she went to school, where she got her nails done, because apparently she was there constantly, so often that it was necessary for me to have it.

  She was crazy, plain and simple.

  Last night could have been the biggest mistake that I’d ever made, and I could only be happy that I made sure to use a condom over and over again. I made it a habit to avoid women who I thought would be clingy or overly affectionate and annoying. When I was with a woman, there was an agreement between the two of us.

  This was for one night only.

  It seemed like Megan had understood that, even wanted it that way by the way that she came up to me. She, even, assured me that I had nothing to worry about. Then, she went and did a complete one-eighty, which almost made me think that she was an entirely different person. How did women do that?

  I’d made the rare, and fatal, decision to sleep over at her place, despite the little part of my brain telling me not to. I’d done it because it was already late, and she had offered me dinner. Afterwards, she’d led me back to her bedroom, and we’d gone at it all over again. That was good.

  Things didn’t get bad until this morning when I woke up, and she was wrapped around me like some kind of cat. I’d tried to leave, and she insisted that I had to stay, telling me all about her daddy issues. Why he wasn’t there, and why she thought the two of us would be a good fit. She showed me her true colors, and I’d been desperate to get away from her.

  It took me a long time to figure out where Antonio’s beach house was, but I finally made it. The instructions that he gave me were complete crap, and I would have to make sure to tell him that, in the case that he tried to give the same ones to anyone else. I didn’t understand why he’d even bothered instead of just sending his location through a text message.

  This man could get lost going to the grocery store in a city that he’d lived in for over three years. I should have known that I wasn’t going to be able to follow his directions. But hey, at least he tried.

  My plan was to go inside and go to bed. Megan was a terrible person to sleep with, besides being nuts. She moved the entire time, and when she wasn’t moving around, she was complaining and talking in her sleep, like a crazy person. Or kicking me. And then there was the time that she kept stealing the covers.

  Maybe, I should have taken a hint and left that night. But I hadn’t.

  I tried to remember the bedroom that Antonio had said was mine, but I had no clue. So much of what he said went in one ear and out the other. I found that he could be like a chatt
y girlfriend if I let him. He never stopped talking, but I hardly found it annoying. It was funny if anything.

  I stopped caring. As long as I went into a room that nobody else was in then I deemed that it was good enough. But before I could head into one of the rooms, I was distracted by the sweet smell of blueberry muffins, right into the kitchen. I was tired, but I was just now realizing that I was hungry more.

  And breakfast sounded spectacular, especially since whatever Megan had made last night hadn’t been good. She said that it was lasagna, but it looked, and tasted, more like play dough to me… although I hadn’t said that. I wasn’t going to make a woman cry and then be forced to comfort her because of that.

  Seeing Clara wasn’t a part of my plan, but it definitely wasn’t unwanted. She was gorgeous. I had thought so the first time that I saw her, and my opinion hadn’t changed. In fact, it had probably become more predominant. She was an alluring girl, and I had to keep reminding myself that I couldn’t have her because she was Antonio’s daughter.

  She didn’t look happy to see me. In fact, she didn’t even look up when I entered the room, and Clara looked annoyed. It couldn’t be at me, right? What could I have possibly done when we’d only met once before?

  Maybe she was having a rough day, and she was just letting out her frustrations, on the people around her. I had to resist the urge to let her take out her frustrations on me, sexually.

  Either way, I didn’t think too much about it. What had I expected her to say? We weren’t friends, and she didn’t know me. Hell, I didn’t know her. The only two facts I knew about her were that I wanted to rail her into the ground and she was my best friend’s daughter. So for me, it was like she was wearing a giant ‘off limits’ sign around her neck.

  My attention turned to Nina. “Can I have a strip of bacon?” I asked her. She narrowed her eyes at me, but I didn’t let it dishearten me. “Please?”