Stay Home Tonight

BANG!

The front door slammed hard enough to rattle the framed family photos in the hallway.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

Claire’s voice cut through the house like broken glass. She stood in the foyer in heels and a black leather jacket over her short dress that barely covered her booty. Cheeks flushed from cold and fury.

Daniel didn’t answer immediately. He shut the deadbolt with an air of peremptoriness.

That made her even angrier.

“OH MY GOD,” she laughed, hyped up. “You actually chased him off.”

“He left on his own.”

“After you threatened him.”

“I didn’t threaten anybody.”

Claire stared at him. “You told him if he touched me again, you’d make sure he regretted it.”

Daniel cut her off with a sharp gesture. “Maybe next time don’t bring some sleazy drunk idiot into this house at one in the morning.”

“He was my date.”

“He was wasted.”

“So am I.”

“That’s supposed to help your argument?”

His voice stayed low. Controlled. That calm, disappointed tone that had infuriated her since she was sixteen. Ever since he’d become her stepfather.

Only now she was twenty-two, and somehow that made it even worse.

Claire threw her purse onto the console table. “You know what your problem is?”

“I’m not doing this tonight.”

Daniel exhaled through his nose and started toward the kitchen.

“No, you are doing this tonight.” She glowered.

He stopped.

The silence between them tightened. Somewhere upstairs, a hair dryer was humming. Elise—her mother preferred to stay out of it, as always.

Claire folded her arms. “You do this every single time.”

Daniel turned slowly. “Do what?”

“You interrogate every guy I go out with. You stare at them like they're being grilled by CIA or something. You make comments. You embarrass me.” Her voice sharpened. “And if they survive that, you scare them off afterward.”

“That’s not true.”

She barked out a laugh. “Seriously? Ryan? Oliver? Mateo? You hated all of them.”

“Because they were losers.”

“Are you trying to say that it's my fault? That I always end up picking losers?”

Daniel’s jaw flexed.

Claire suddenly noticed how tense he looked. Wound tight. Like he was holding something back with both hands.

She exhaled deeply.

Quietly: “You think I don’t notice?”

“That’s enough.”

“No. I’m serious.” She stepped closer. “You act like every man on earth is trying to steal something from you.”

His expression hardened instantly. “Watch it.”

There it was again.

He wasn’t protective or concerned.

Something uglier.

Claire felt the realization move through her slowly, almost physically. Like stepping into deep water and discovering the bottom had suddenly disappeared.

Daniel had always been strict. Ever since he married her mother six years ago. Curfews. Lectures. Vetting boyfriends. The constant hovering.

She’d rolled her eyes at it as a teenager.

But now? This felt different. Tonight, when Daniel had opened the front door and found her kissing Evan in the entryway, his reaction hadn’t looked parental.

It had looked personal.

“You know what I think?” Claire said.

Daniel crossed his arms. “I don’t particularly care.”

“I think you’re jealous.”

The words landed hard. Daniel actually blinked.

Then his face shut down completely.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?”

“Yes.”

He answered too quickly.

Claire watched him carefully now.

And every memory rearranged itself in her head:
the impossible standards,
the criticism,
the hovering,
the way no boyfriend was ever good enough.

Not because Daniel thought she deserved better. Because he hated seeing her with them. It was the first explanation that had ever truly made sense.

“You’re unbelievable,” Daniel muttered.

Claire tilted her head slightly. “Am I wrong?”

Daniel stepped toward her now, tall and imposing in that quiet way he had. “You brought a drunk stranger into this house. I can't accept that. You're too precious for me.”

The words came out rougher than he intended.

Interesting.

A dangerous little thrill crept into her chest.

She moved closer until barely a foot separated them. She should have been disturbed. Instead, she felt suddenly, intensely curious.

Daniel turned toward the kitchen, clearly trying to end the conversation.

Claire watched him walk away.

A wicked smile played across her lips.

This opened up possibilities she intended to exploit to the fullest. She would make Daniel beg her—

—on his knees.