Fight Me, Daddy (Dangerous Daddy Book 1)

Chloe

Chloe counted to ten before throwing the covers off. Walking over to the door, she looked out the peephole. The hotel hallway was empty. Grabbing her jeans off the floor, she stepped into them as she reached for her t-shirt. She didn’t know how long Logan would be, but she needed to be far away before he got back.

Tears filled her eyes at the thought of leaving him. She knew it was purely him and not the thought of being on her own. She had already lived through escaping a dangerous situation with the possibility of a pissed off gang on her heels. Granted this time was worse and the stakes way higher, but still. The tears were for Logan, her daddy.

The fact that she had found herself in this position before was why she was leaving.

You may not be able to escape your past, but you can make damn sure you don’t repeat it.

She had already been to this rodeo. Falling for the dangerous guy, the bad boy. Loving the excitement. Relishing in how her life wasn’t just some ordinary nine-to-five drudge. The problem was it would end badly. She couldn’t imagine a scenario where it didn’t. She thought back to all those country songs. Fuck the white picket fence. It wasn’t in the cards for her.

Chloe swiped at the tears as she pulled on her sneakers. Damn him. Damn him for making her care. Damn him for making her actually feel something again. Damn him for chasing away the numbness. Damn him for making her feel protected and actually cared for. It was all a lie anyway. She’d seen a glimpse of his ID when he’d put it back in his wallet. He’d tried to keep it from her, but she’d seen it. The first name did not begin with an “L”. It looked more like “Jo”. John? Joseph? Goddammit. Not only had she never even gotten his last name from him, now it looked like she didn’t even know his first!

How?

How the fuck had she gotten herself into this kind of mess again? First Chad and now Logan.

Chloe’s erratic thoughts paused. Even in her hurt and anger, she knew she was being unfair. Logan was nothing like Chad. Chad was a thug, a corrupt cop…a bully. Sure, Logan had been brutal and even downright mean at times, but she’d learned later it had actually been to protect her. His methods, while unorthodox, were apparently just what she needed. Finally, because of him, she could let go of the guilt she’d felt about that night in Louisiana. Instead of constantly beating herself up, trying to turn herself into something she wasn’t, it was because of him, she could now learn to accept all her twisty, messed up sides, the dark and light ones.

She wasn’t perfect, and the crazy thing was, she honestly believed that is what Logan liked about her. Maybe even loved. Her beautiful fucked up imperfections.

Hell, the man had actually covered up a murder for her. And at this moment was meeting with his client to arrange it so she was never bothered again by anyone.

So why was she running?

Because she had already been to this rodeo, that was why.

It was a fun, dramatic, heart-pounding thrill ride, but eventually you got bucked off, and you found yourself face down in the dirt.

No, Logan wasn’t like Chad. He was far more dangerous.

She’d never thought of Chad as anything more than a boyfriend. She’d always known eventually she would wise-up and ditch his ass. Probably when the fun stopped, and it definitely had stopped that night. She couldn’t imagine the same scenario with Logan. Strange, but she didn’t even think of him in terms of boyfriend. That term was too lighthearted, too commonplace, too vanilla. He was something deeper, more intense, more raw than simply a boyfriend.

Chloe’s hands stilled.

No he wasn’t a boyfriend. He was a daddy.

A man who protected and disciplined. A man who cared for her, and not in that superficial way, but about everything from whether she was safe to whether she ate her vegetables and dressed warmly. A man who was doing everything possible to shield her from the harsh realities of the world as well as the consequences of her own mistakes; past and present. A man who had filled her life with passion as well as real affection.

Her daddy.

Problem was he had done too good of a job. She now recognized she’d been hiding from herself, from life, up at that cabin. It was time to get back to the living, to actually create a real life for herself. It didn’t have to be a boring nine-to-five drudge, but it also wasn’t going to be following around some mercenary on dangerous jobs. She figured that was what Logan had to be. A hired killer. The kind of person you turned to when you didn’t want to get the law involved. He got paid to…how did he put it? Clean up messes.

Well, she was a mess. He’d cleaned her up. His job was over.

Besides, it wasn’t like he was really serious about wanting her to stay by his side. He had bad boy loner written all over him. As soon as the excitement of this job was over, he would probably split anyway. Back to some femme fatale named Nikita or Sasha.

Chloe could hear Logan’s amused voice in her head, teasingly reminding her once again that this wasn’t a Hollywood movie, and real men didn’t date women named Nikita. Well, he would probably say that, after he was finished punishing her for cursing so much…even in her thoughts.

Her stomach twisted. Was she doing the right thing? Should she stay and at least talk to him about how she was feeling?

No. It would only make their parting more difficult, awkward. It would probably even ruin her memories of him. She risked him telling her that the whole daddy-thing was a sham, a game to get her cooperation.

Deep down, she felt that was wrong. It had been real. Well, maybe it was or maybe it wasn’t.

She had made mistakes before. Her past was riddled with them. What was one more?

Chloe grabbed her bag and headed for the door. Thinking better of it, she turned back. Throwing her bag on the bed, she rummaged through the desk till she found the hotel’s pad and pen. After a few failed attempts to get the pen to work, she finally scratched out a quick, completely insufficient, note. Chloe then dug through her gym bag till she found the one thing which she hoped would help him understand. She left it on top of the note.

How odd. The most intense experience of her life and it ends with an “I’m sorry” note scratched out on a hotel notepad.

It seemed a mistake to do it this way, but then that is what she was good at…mistakes. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FindNøvᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Chloe picked up her bag and left.