by Nikki Wild
Specifically, she’d beat the shit out of some bitch talking shit across the VIP section. She’d smashed her champagne flute right over her head, and even worse, she hadn’t stopped once she saw the blood.
Tired of those fuckin’ skanks, she thought, grabbing the wall to catch herself as she wobbled on her too-high heels. I needed to send a message…
But perhaps that message needn’t have been written in the girl’s blood. Unlike all the other times Kayla had gotten into altercations at various public venues, the staff just couldn’t ignore this one, which had required an ambulance to ensure the girl she’d busted up didn’t have a concussion. That meant the police had shown up, too, and not long afterward, Kayla had found herself in the back of a cruiser and on her way to jail.
Again.
Thankfully, the officers had merely stowed her in the drunk tank, as usual, and called her stepfather, Carter Farthing. That name carried a lot of weight at the metro PD, and pretty much anywhere else Carter went, which also meant that Kayla rarely dealt with any punishment more severe than court mandated therapy sessions and a scolding from both her parents.
She doubted she’d hear from her mother this time. She was off jetting around the world again, leaving Kayla in Carter’s care. That wasn’t terribly unusual, but at twenty-one years old, it was beginning to get a little old.
She had wanted to move out of her stepfather’s estate the day she’d turned eighteen, but that wasn’t something Carter would allow. He treated her like some precious commodity, like another one of his fancy cars or expensive tech toys. He wanted her around to show off. It was part of his image, his status as a billionaire. He was a “family man,” even if Kayla wasn’t technically “his” family.
And without her stepfather’s money, it wasn’t as if she could just pack up and leave. Until she finished college and secured a career, Kayla was doomed to remain at home with Carter and her mother.
That didn’t mean she had to be some goody-two-shoes, though, as tonight—and so many others—had proved.
“Jesus,” her stepfather muttered, quickly pulling open the passenger’s side door to let Kayla collapse inside. She was still drunk. Her head was swimming, and balance had suddenly become a major issue. “Look at you. This is no way for a young woman to behave.”
“What’s the matter, Daddy?” she sneered. “Are you afraid I’ll embarrass you?”
Carter stared down at her, his lips pressed into a thin line as he looked her over. For a moment, his steely gaze caught on her skirt, and when Kayla looked down, she saw that it had hitched up around her upper thighs when she’d sat down. With her legs splayed, her sheer pink panties were completely visible.
Why is he looking at me like that? she wondered as she pulled down the hem, watching Carter avert his gaze. It almost looks like he likes it…
She banished the thought immediately, chalking it up to her inebriated state as she managed to swing her unusually heavy feet into the car. Carter shut the door, walked around to his side, and got in, scowling as he turned a key, the big powerful engine roaring to life.
“Buckle up,” he told her sternly.
Kayla once again rolled her eyes, but inevitably obeyed. She might have been reckless in many ways, but she certainly didn’t want to end up flying through the windshield should something go wrong.
She snapped the seatbelt into place and leaned her seat back immediately, stretching out as best she could in her stepfather’s luxury sedan.
“Your antics are costing me a small fortune, you know,” Carter muttered as he pulled into the limited traffic at this hour. “God only knows what I’ll have to do to convince this girl not to press charges.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing you can’t handle,” Kayla replied, closing her eyes as the interior of the car began to spin. “Not unless the money’s dried up while I was waiting for you to show up.”
It was Carter’s turn to roll his eyes. “Sorry I didn’t drop everything sooner to rush to your aid. I do have a life outside of cleaning up your messes, you know.”
“Right, your second wife,” Kayla said, referring to the company her stepfather owned. “I’m sure she’ll understand.”
Kayla didn’t know why her stepfather was acting so put out. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been awake, anyway. Part of being a billionaire was hard work, contrary to popular belief, and she knew Carter was up until the wee hours of the morning most nights. She could tell it was beginning to wear on him, too. The dark circles under his eyes easily betrayed that.
She got the feeling there was more to it than that, however. Lately, her stepfather had seemed more aloof and stressed out than usual. While normally calm and collected, she’d been on the receiving end of a few uncharacteristic tantrums the past few weeks. She’d often wondered if it had something to do with her mom.
Thankfully, her stepfather seemed too tired to devolve into theatrics right now.
“I don’t know why you can’t understand how important it is not to tarnish your public image,” he said, gripping the leather steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. “When I eventually turn my company over to you, it will be imperative for your reputation to remain as unsullied as possible.”
“What if I don’t want the company?” Kayla said, startling as her stepfather made a sudden stop at a traffic light. The red glow washed over his face, turning his stormy eyes a strange shade of maroon.
“You don’t have much of a choice in the matter,” he told her. “I have no other heir to give it to.”
“So make another one,” Kayla huffed, adjusting her seatbelt to get the strap off of her throat. “You’re still young… ish. It can’t possibly be that hard.”
Carter chuckled ruefully, shaking his head as the light turned green. “You’d be surprised,” he murmured at a volume Kayla was sure he’d meant to be inaudible, and yet she’d heard every word of it.
She frowned, looking over at her stepfather as he drove through the desolate streets. Every time they left the warm glow of a streetlamp, the shadows that passed over his face seemed to grow darker and darker. Is this why he’s been so distant? she wondered. Mom has been gone a lot, lately. And if they were trying for a baby…
She shook her head, trying hard not to imagine her stepfather engaged in the throes of passion with her mother. But it was no use. Kayla couldn’t help but to envision Carter’s strong, hard body stripped down to his naked flesh, each powerful, coiled muscle rippling as he threw her mother onto his bed.
A little shudder coursed through her. She’d never had those thoughts before—or at least, not in such detail—but she knew that overall, they were normal. It wasn’t all that odd that she should be curious about his physique. He was an objectively attractive man, after all, and closer to her age than he was her mother’s.
Still, this had to be the liquor’s doing, and she did her best not to think on Carter’s body any further as he pulled into the driveway of his manor.
“You could’ve just sent your driver,” she told him, fumbling with the door handle. “If coming to get me was such an imposition, I mean.”
Carter sighed deeply and shook his head, unbuckling his seatbelt. “You’re still my daughter, Kayla,” he told her, and now she could really hear the weariness in his voice. “Family matters should be attended to on a personal level, don’t you think?”
“Stepdaughter,” she reminded him, though she wasn’t sure if she was saying it for his benefit or her own. “But anyway… thanks. I guess.” She just couldn’t resist adding in that last bit. She didn’t want to seem like she was getting mushy all of a sudden.
With her stepfather’s help, she stumbled into their home, her heels clacking noisily on the marble floor of the foyer. She kicked off her shoes as soon as she was able, sighing with relief as her arches relaxed. Then, knowing she could go no further, she shuffled into the sitting room and threw herself down on the long sofa near the fireplace, moaning in pain as the feeling returned to her feet.
> “You shouldn’t be wearing shoes like that,” her stepfather scolded. She’d expected him to retreat upstairs to his office or bedroom, but he surprised her by sitting down on the opposite end of the couch and pulling her to him by her ankles. “They aren’t good for you.”
Kayla lifted her head and was just about to turn to look at him over her shoulder when Carter pressed both his thumbs into the pads of her right foot. She bit her lip and groaned, pressing her face into the plush cushion as he massaged her aching toes.
“Men always say that,” she began, squirming under her stepfather’s unexpectedly pleasant touch, “but they don’t really believe it.”
Carter arched a jet black brow. “I certainly do.”
“Bullshit,” Kayla replied, carefully turning onto her back with a slow, gradual motion she hoped wouldn’t send her flying off the edge of the couch. “I’ve seen your secretary. She wears heels.”
“That’s her choice,” Carter said, but Kayla shook her head.
“No. It’s what you expect of her. And that’s the problem. Heels aren’t just considered ‘classy’ or ‘sexy.’ They’re also considered professional, which is why you have a bunch of execs in pencil skirts and pumps wincing with every step. They don’t perceive that they’ll be taken as seriously if they wear flats or more ‘sensible’ shoes.”
Carter chuckled softly, now kneading into his stepdaughter’s tender arches. “That’s awfully insightful of you. I suppose you must be getting something out of college, after all. But, to make a point, I’m telling you now that I don’t expect you to do things that hurt or make you uncomfortable without any tangible benefit. Perhaps I should extend that same courtesy to my staff, as well.”
“Maybe,” Kayla murmured, her voice muffled against the couch. She sighed softly, curling her toes as Carter began to massaging her heels, then her ankles. “God, Daddy. That feels good.”
It felt so weird to call him that. She didn’t make a habit of it, but somehow, the title had spilled from her lips—most likely again the fault of all that liquor she’d drank down. Carter seemed uncomfortable with it, too, though she couldn’t tell exactly why that was. He shifted beneath her, clearing his throat as his strong fingers danced along her skin.
“Good,” he said simply, though his tone seemed strained. She looked over at him, wondering how long it had been since he and her mother had been intimate.
As much as she loved her mom, Kayla had to admit that she was a rather cold person. She was almost as much of a shark as Carter was. That should have brought them together, but it was easy to see that their similarity was tearing them apart. They both tended to prioritize their careers over all other aspects of their lives, which meant that having a baby wouldn’t be easy. Carter would expect her mother to quit or cut back during her pregnancy, and that was just something her mother wasn’t capable of.
Kayla knew this all too well. She had firsthand experience with how her mother raised her. She didn’t recall her as nurturing, or even particularly attentive, though she had always managed to be there when Kayla needed her most. She supposed she couldn’t complain too much about her upbringing, although she had always secretly desired the type of mothers her friends had all had, something she made sure never to admit out loud, no matter how angry she sometimes got with her mom.
She knew that kind of information would destroy her. No matter how guarded her mother seemed, Kayla knew that inside was a warm, beating heart, and the last thing she wanted to do was break it.
Still, this all posed a problem for her and Carter. Carter was a younger man with a younger man’s wants and needs. She couldn’t imagine he’d hang on too long if they weren’t able to reconcile what they both wanted in life, especially if Carter really wanted a child. She knew he cared for her, but she also got the impression that he would like a chance to father his own flesh and blood. It must have been tearing him apart that things weren’t working out that way as of yet.
Kayla let out a long sigh as she gazed up at her handsome stepfather, shaking her head. It’s not fair…
“What’s not fair?” he asked with a frown.
Kayla felt a scorching heat rise in her cheeks. Had she really just said that out loud?
“I… uh…” she began, desperately searching for the right words to explain herself. Her head was fuzzy with drunkenness, and she found the task even more difficult to accomplish than usual. “I was just thinking… um…”
Carter frowned at her, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. “About what? We’re not really going to have this conversation about the company and your behavior again, are we?”
“No,” Kayla said. “No, really. It’s nothing like that. I was thinking about something else.”
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense,” Carter said, smiling faintly as he trailed his fingers over her bare calves. He looked so weary. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”
Kayla hesitated just a moment more, but she knew it was no use. As tipsy as she was, she was practically a fountain of truth. The words came bubbling up past her lips as she sighed, powerless to stop them.
“I feel bad that… that Mom doesn’t pay more attention to you,” she said slowly, trying to carefully choose her words despite the fog shrouding her brain. “I feel bad that she’s gone so much of the time, and that even when she’s here, it’s like she’s… not really here. You know?”
Her stepfather nodded solemnly. “I know,” he said, “but it isn’t that simple. Your mother is as dedicated to her job as I am, and…”
“But she doesn’t need to work, does she?” Kayla interrupted. “Not with you taking care of her.”
Carter took a breath. “Well, that’s not the only reason she works, sweetheart. She has a… drive. A desire to do something more.”
“What about your desires?” Kayla asked him. “Don’t they matter?”
“Everyone has to look out for their own wants and needs,” Carter said, though from his tone, it was clear he didn’t entirely believe it. “You can’t rely on somebody else to fill that void for you. And your mother knows that. That’s part of the reason why she works. She finds it fulfilling.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t want to be anything like her,” Kayla said, folding her arms.
Carter smiled. “Oh, you could stand to learn a thing or two from your mother,” he told her. “If you were more like her, you’d get anything you wanted.”
Kayla squinted at him, trying to discern his meaning. She got the feeling there was something more to what he’d said about being more like her mom, and the look on his face all but confirmed it. He averted his eyes, cleared his throat, and rested his hand on her knee, obviously embarrassed.
“Well,” she said slowly, looking her stepfather up and down. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I could stand to learn a thing or two from her… if it gets me what I want.”
He shifted again, wetting his lips and shooting a sideways glance at her. “And what do you want, Kayla? Obviously, you don’t want to run the business.”
She sat up on her elbows, thinking. “I’m not sure, honestly. I’ve always been into art—illustration, in particular, but… you always told me that wasn’t a viable career option.”
“Well, not if you aren’t independently wealthy,” Carter said, though his voice now held a certain tone, almost as if he’d intended on saying more, but hadn’t.
Kayla caught on. Or at least, she thought she did. Carter was always encouraging her to take risks when it came to business dealings, and she was pretty sure that was exactly what this exchange with her stepfather was turning out to be.
“But, we are wealthy…” Kayla began, but Carter just laughed softly.
“Sweetheart, there’s a big difference between being wealthy, and being independently wealthy. I’m a slave to my own wealth, working to maintain the empire I’ve built, and one day you will be part of that machine. It is bigger than us. Tens of thousands of people depend on us to keep the balls in the air. One day I will pass you the reins t
o my company, and you will understand.”
“What if there was an option. I mean, what if I was independently wealthy,” she said, “like, if there was another heir to take over the family business, then I could pretty much do whatever I wanted. Right?”
“I suppose that’s true,” Carter said with a little shrug. He seemed like he was actively trying to seem noncommittal, like there was a great battle raging inside of him that he desperately didn’t want anyone to know about, especially his young stepdaughter. “If you weren’t running the company, you would have the time and the money to pursue your own dreams, but there is one obvious problem here. You’re an only child, and at this point, I’m pretty sure that’s not going to change...”
There was a very awkward silence between them and Carter sized her up. Kayla had a feeling they were fighting much the same war, albeit for entirely different reasons.
If I could give my stepfather a baby, I could be free, she thought, her heart beginning to pound. Free to do whatever I wanted to do. Free to be exactly who I want to be.
