Not Daddy Material (Billionaire's Contract Duet 2)

Derek ignored him. “London, come on. Why don’t you watch the show with me? Leave this jackass.” His hand lunged for me.

“No. She’s my date. We’ve both asked you to leave—nicely.” Beau stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Derek.

“Then why did you leave her here?” Derek stood his ground.

Beau leaned forward and I could hear the low murmur of his voice, but I couldn’t make out any of his words. I didn’t see what happened next, only Derek tunneling through the crowd and out of my line of sight.

“You ok?” Beau looked worried—the kind of worried that made me melt.

“I’m fine. I could handle him.” I had to shout over the instrumental bars. The band was starting up.

“Good. I won’t leave again. Sorry.” He turned toward the stage and threw a fist in the air, then leaned toward my ear. “See? I knew he was a jerk.” I thought I saw a smile sneak across his face. He immediately focused on the stage. The Bayou Brothers were ready to start.

I looked at Beau. I wasn’t sure if he was sorry he left me standing alone in a pit of guys, sorry that Derek was being an ass, or sorry we were broken up. The banjo sounds filled the room and one of the brothers with the longest beard I had seen, struck the strings on his fiddle. This was no place to think through anything.

“Good concert?” Beau asked as we walked outside.

I stood on the sidewalk, hugging my jacket tightly. “Yes. They were awesome.” They were so much better in person than on the radio. “Thanks for the date.” I waited, hoping he would ask me to get coffee or a drink. Almost all of our dates were two parts.

“Cool. See you in class Tuesday?” His hands were in his front pockets and he was backing up.

“Yes. See you Tuesday.” I waved. Shit. It was only a one-part date. I guess I would be spending the rest of the night with my roomies and zombies.

I closed the front door behind me, expecting Nina and Candace to be waiting for me in the living room.

“Hello?” I called out in the quiet house.

“Oh, hey, babe. It’s just me.” Candace was in the kitchen retrieving a bag of popcorn from the microwave.

“Where’s Nina?”

“Derek texted her about thirty minutes ago. She went over to his place.” Candace dumped the popcorn in a bowl and threw a second bag in the microwave.

“What? She’s with Derek?” My stomach flipped. I wasn’t prepared for how I was going to tell her what happened with him tonight, but I intended to let her know what a royal asshole he was. I couldn’t let my best friend waste another second on him. He was officially disgusting.

“You look like something’s wrong, London. Was the date that bad?”

“Yeah. I mean not the part with Beau. Something bad happened. Candace, there’s something I have to tell Nina.”

“Let’s go in the living room. Here’s your popcorn. The zombies can wait.”

I followed her to the couch, grabbed Ugly Quilt, and told her how Derek pounced on me at the Bayou Brothers concert. I didn’t want to think about how far it would have gone if Beau hadn’t shown up.

“Holy shit. This is bad, London. And by the way, he is slime. Not even slime. What’s lower than slime?” Candace looked horrified.

“I know. It makes me sick. But I have to tell Nina. And she’s over there with him right now—probably—you know.”

“Ewww.” Candace had stopped eating her popcorn.

“What should I do?” I realized it had been months since I had been alone with Candace. I couldn’t think of the last time she had helped me through a crisis. It was always Nina. This time Nina was involved in the crisis. Candace couldn’t have chosen a better time to reemerge.

“We can’t call her now.” Candace made a face. “But first thing tomorrow, you have to tell her.”

“She is going to freak out. She has been in love with Derek since our freshman year.”

“He is such a loser. Maybe we should go over there right now. I don’t care what they’re doing.” Candace was getting worked up.

“No. No. Tomorrow morning will have to be soon enough. Will you do it with me? You don’t have to tell her, of course. Just be here?”