The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy 2)

My pride wouldn’t let me ask about money. I didn’t feel right with that option.

So that meant option two. I needed to get a job.

“Bailey.”

I sucked in my breath. I hadn’t realized he was there, until I saw my father striding down the hallway toward me. Guards were positioned at the ends of our hallways, with a few standing between him and me. People, other students, other professors, other staff came out and stood there, watching a legend in their world walk by them.

I got it.

There was still a little of a fangirl inside of me. She’d been in there since I was little and I grew up worshiping Peter Francis, like everyone else here. He had opened so many doors in our world.

Now that I knew he was my father, and he was sleeping with my mother, it clicked in. I knew what my feelings were on that matter.

He drew abreast and I shared those feelings. “Don’t hurt my mother.”

He stopped abruptly, his face tightening. He smoothed down his tie. “What?”

“I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. It’s why I’ve been ducking her calls. But now I know. I’m worried, and I’m feeling some daughter claws coming out. I know you’re sleeping with Chrissy. Kash said it won’t work and that Chrissy knows the score. The score being that you’re weak when it comes to women. Do not hurt my mother. Just don’t.”

Peter’s gaze skirted around us and he stepped closer. “Bailey.”

I moved back, but I lowered my voice. I didn’t want this spread, either. “Let her go if you’re not serious about her.”

My throat was burning.

I didn’t want to question why my throat was burning.

He straightened. “What if I am serious about her?”

“Then go to therapy. Get your problem in check and never hurt her.” I held up a finger. “That’s the key part of this whole thing.”

His face was still tight, but his eyes softened. “Okay. I will.”

The burning eased up.

“Just like that? You give in? You’re going to therapy?”

His eyes zeroed back on me. “If you go, too.”

“What?” I took a step back, hitting the wall behind me. I hadn’t seen this turn coming.

“I’ll go to therapy if you go back to therapy, too.”

My throat started burning again. “Is that why you wanted to see me? To tell me to go to therapy again?”

“No. I wanted to talk to you about the internship at my company. I can’t offer it to you, since you’re my daughter.”

Damn. Dammit. That hurt more than I thought it was going to.

I averted my eyes. “That makes sense.” Because of course it did. Of course. I’d been foolish to think for a brief second that I was a shoo-in. There hadn’t been a lot of thought put into it. A lot of other things had been happening, but one time I’d considered it.

I shouldn’t have.

Just like that, I was back to the first few years. Always applying for a job or an undergrad internship with Phoenix Tech and never getting approved. They gave me scholarships, but no job. No commitment.

I still wasn’t good enough.

I wasn’t looking at him, but I muttered, “Okay. That’s fine. I can get an internship somewhere else.”

He didn’t say anything.

I jerked my head up, still not fully seeing him. “We done here?”

He flinched.

I saw that.

His face got a twisted look on it, and he spoke funny. “I guess. I’d like to have lunch with you. You haven’t been around lately. Ser and Cy miss you.”

I flinched this time. “I miss them, too.” But Payton was there.

“I do have another matter I need to talk to you about, but we can do that at lunch. You’ll have lunch with your old man?” Peter’s eyes warmed.

He meant to be teasing, but the pain still sliced me.

“I’ll have lunch with my old man.”

He smiled. “Good. I’m looking forward to it.”

* * *

It truly was Peter Francis Day.

We walked into that room and the lesson stopped midspeech. I’d started to get used to the attention. I hadn’t realized until just then, but it barely fazed me when all eyes came to Peter and me. He had a hand on my shoulder, a loving smile on his face, and he squeezed briefly before walking to the front of the lab. The instructor was all smiles and welcoming. Everyone was welcoming, even Hoda, though she was more reserved than the others.

Dax. Shyam. They were gazing at my dad as if he were their dad.

He gave a speech, one that was motivating and moving all at the same time. He talked about a few new programs he’d been key to creating and how Phoenix Tech was hoping to work on even better programs in the next year. He talked about how they were close, and they had exciting new opportunities as well. Everyone was aware they employed undergraduate interns. I knew this. He was excited to announce that they not only had a slot for their usual graduate internship but actually had slots for two graduate interns.