Page 60 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

“As you probably know by now,” my dad said, “I’m Scarlett’s father.”

“I wouldn’t mind calling him Daddy,” some girl whispered behind me.

Now I was the one fake-retching.

My dad either didn’t hear the comment or just chose to ignore it. He started talking about the curriculum instead.

“Do you think any of our classmates know about how your dad met your mom?” Sophie asked. “You know…the whole professor-student relationship thing?”

Yeah, I knew what she meant. “God I hope not. That means they’ll think they have a chance. Which they don’t.” My parents were overly affectionate in my opinion.

“Still. As soon as that rumor gets out, the girls in this class are going to lose their minds. I obviously don’t want to bang my uncle, but I’m not blind. He’s clearly good looking. All the girls in the school are going crazy over him.”

Why the hell did my dad think it was appropriate to start teaching at my school?

***

I waited until the rest of the students filtered out of the classroom before going up to my dad. “Can you please just undo whatever you did?”

He looked up at me from his desk. “What do you mean?”

“Please, Dad. You can’t teach here. There are like a million schools in the city you can teach at if you suddenly want to teach high schoolers instead of college students. Or better yet…just retire because you don’t need the money.”

He smiled. “I only took this job for a year. You’re going to be going off to college next fall. I just wanted to spend more time with you.”

Honestly that was kind of sweet.

“And it’s a good thing I’m here too. Better to keep an eye on Axel and Jacob this way.”

So much for sweet. He was just here to scare guys off from dating me. Wait. “Why do you need to keep an eye on Axel and Jacob?”

“They were both staring at you during my lecture.”

Were they really? “It’s not called a lecture, Dad. We’re not in college. It’s just class.”

He shrugged. “Same difference. You ready to head home? You’re grounded starting right now, so you better get comfy in your room.”

“Dad!”

“I told you not to roll up your skirt. And what happened to your other perfectly good shoes?”

“You saw what the other girls wore to your classes all day.”

“But you’re not like the other girls, pumpkin. You’re better than them.”

I folded my arms across my chest. I knew he was being nice. But I wanted to fit in with the other girls. “You’re trying to ruin my life.”

My dad sighed. “No. I’m just being your dad.” He put his arm around my shoulders and led me out of the classroom.

This was mortifying in so many ways. But at the same time, it was actually kind of comforting that he was here.

The rumor was probably already spreading that he was my dad.

Maybe that would make Gigi leave me alone for once.

But I didn’t think his arm was around my shoulders to protect me from Gigi.

He was doing it to keep Axel and Jacob away from me. Axel and Jacob.

It wasn’t like he was buddying up to Liam in the hallways. Not that Liam would care. Apparently he was adjusting to high school just fine. He probably wouldn’t think this was embarrassing at all.

We stopped by my locker so I could grab the books I needed. “You should have heard all the rumors going around the school today,” I said.

“Oh you mean like that call me Daddy comment?” he said with a laugh. “That was funny.”

“It wasn’t funny. It was gross. And what would mom think?”

“She’d laugh too. She knows my heart belongs with her.” He spotted Sophie in the hallway. “Do you need a ride home, Soph?” my dad asked.

“Nope.” She shuddered, holding back another gag and then ran into the bathroom.

“Are you sure she’s okay? Should I call her dad?”

“No, she’s fine. She’s just having trouble swallowing some news.” Ew. Why did I word it that way?

My dad shrugged. “Well, this is going to be a fun year,” he said as we made our way out of Empire High.

I froze in my tracks. “Wait, you said you only took this job for a year. Where are you teaching next year?”

“We’ll see what happens.” He smiled down at me.

Hell no. “You can’t follow me to college, Dad.”

“Who said anything about following you to college? That would be very controlling of me. And I’m certainly not controlling.”

He was the definition of controlling. Why else would he be here?

“Come on. Your mom has ice cream waiting for us. She had a feeling you’d need it after my surprise. I don’t know why.”

I laughed. Because there was nothing else I could do.

There was no way my dad was going to quit teaching here.

If anything, my stupid outfit had solidified his need to insert himself into my life.

And the fact that both Axel and Jacob had been staring at me during class.

Had they really been? Or was my dad just overreacting?

“This is going to be the best year ever,” my dad said as he opened up the car door for me.

That’s what I’d thought at the beginning of the day.

But I wasn’t as convinced now. My dad teaching here was kind of a disaster.

And Axel kissing Gigi was an epic mess. But he’d given me his varsity jacket.

And Jacob had stared at me in a way that no one ever had before.

I had no idea how to feel about any of it.

As I climbed into my dad’s car, my phone buzzed.

I pulled it out and saw a text from Sophie: “This is going to be the worst year ever. Your dad is totally going to cock block me with Mr. Halifax, isn’t he?”

I shook my head. It was definitely going to be either the best or worst year ever. I just didn’t know which one yet. But I didn’t think my dad was going to interfere in Sophie’s love life. I looked down at Axel’s varsity jacket. He was 100% going to interfere in mine.