Page 59 of Bratty Badboys

I choked on water and coughed. Wiping my mouth, I said, “We met at Aaron’s wedding.”

“Aaron? The kid you kissed when you were dating Emma?” His stern voice was back. He was still disappointed that I had done that, and rightfully so. I regret nothing in my life except that kiss and the practice match before finals, where my knee popped.

“Yeah, that Aaron.” I decided to tell him the truth. “We were dating in college for a while, then he met his now-husband and started dating him. I didn’t know at that time but… Anna turned out to be his mom.”

Dad was putting back the weights when he stopped and turned around to fix me with a stare. His words were slow when he asked, “His mother, Caleb, really?”

I pouted. “I didn’t know at the time!”

“If you had known she was Aaron’s mom, would you have flirted with her?”

“Yes.” I thought about it and said, “She’s hot.”

Dad sighed, putting away the weights, so I continued talking to his broad back. “And she’s my teenage crush. I couldn’t just let the opportunity go. Anyway, then I met Kyle, who turned out to be her neighbor, so we all… talked. And we are dating.”

“Talked. Is that what Gen Z is calling it these days?” Dad asked, his deep voice sounding funny as he continued saying all the Gen Z slang, “Netflix and chill, IMAX and climax, ramyeon meokgo galrae?”

“Dad. Stop.” I covered my face and groaned hearing my dad say hook-up lines. “Please.”

He huffed and made his way upstairs to the kitchen as I followed him. He opened a cabinet where I put my protein powder and oats and started making two smoothies, while I pulled out six eggs to make scrambled eggs for us.

“I’d like to meet them if you’re that far in the dating stage,” he said after a while, handing me a glass of smoothie.

I took it and served the eggs on two plates. He added a handful of cherry tomatoes to both the plates and sat down at the island. Would Anna and Kyle mind meeting my dad? Probably not. I had already met Jem, Kyle’s sweet grandma, whenever she came over to ‘babysit’ Alice but wanted to spend time with her, and she once even cooked delicious lasagna for us.

“I’ll ask them about it.” I swallowed food before adding, “Anna has a six-year-old daughter, Alice. She’s very sweet.”

“Strange,” Dad said, finishing up his food before leaning back on the stool. “Never thought you liked kids.”

I shrugged. “Alice wants me to be her mom’s hot boyfriend, so I like her.”

“What about Alice’s father?”

If I had known I was going to get interrogated like his previous clients, I’d have prepared more before telling him about my relationship.

“She divorced him and he’s out of the picture. Alice spends time with him once or twice a month, but she likes me and Kyle more.” I cleaned the dishes and continued, “Although Aaron’s dad was present at the reception, and he’s someone I’d look out for further trouble. He didn’t respect Anna.”

Cillian hummed and said, “Send me his full name. I can run a background check on him.”

I smirked. “Already one step ahead of you, Dad.”

He nodded. “Good. Send the file to me, I’ll ask Elena?—”

“Also, ahead of you.” I wiped my hands and leaned back on the counter. “I sent it to her IT, but I doubt they found anything more than I did.”

He seemed pleased but said, “Stay on the legal side of your work, kid. I don’t want you to go to white collar prison.”

I sighed, rolling my eyes internally because if I did it in front of him, he’d ask for a taekwondo match, and even though he was twenty years older than me, I’d lose. He had broader shoulders, and his scar and tattoos made him look mean, like a predator, when he was serious about the match.

“Yes, Dad, I’ll be careful.”

“I’m sure you already ran a background on Anna and Kyle, but let your heart guide you about your feelings. Not your head.”

I hid my surprise and blinked at Dad, his obsidian eyes soft before he went upstairs to take a shower in his room. I stayed there thinking about the folder saved on my computer and the secrets they had that they hadn’t shared with me, but I still knew since I was a nosy motherfucker, and… I should follow my dad’s advice.

Let my heart guide my feelings.

And right now, my heart wanted to eat out Anna when Kyle filled her mouth.

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