After his meteoric rise to superstardom, Jim O'Brien is no longer a small-town boy who plays in bars and dreams of success. His handsome face is plastered on the covers of celebrity gossip magazines, and his voice alone is enough to make girls swoon...
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Big boys had their condos for a reason. The reason was called privacy, a.k.a. no fathers walking in on them and no need to stuff themselves into minuscule closets.
Not that I regretted it. I would've done anything if that meant getting some alone time with Ava, but from now on, I'd rather have her at my place all to myself without interruptions.
Alan was a cool guy, but now, he wasn't just Alan. He was the dad of the girl I desperately wanted to make mine.
That was why the puzzle night thing baffled me. As Dec picked me up and drove me home from Ava's, I couldn't stop replaying the convo with Alan, wondering if I missed something.
As soon as we arrived at my apartment complex, I said goodbye to my chauffeur and took the elevator to my floor. When I entered my condo, I headed straight for the couch and plopped down on it.
There was only one person who could help me out. I took the phone out of my pocket and made a call.
"Jim," Dad said, failing to hide the surprise in his voice.
"Hey, Dad. You busy?"
Judging by the music playing in the background, Dad was at the garage.
"Not anymore," he said. The noise faded. He must've entered his office in the back. "What's up?"
"It's all good. I just need advice."
"Okay."
I decided not to waste time and get straight to the point. "I'm going out with a girl. Her father invited me to a puzzle night he has with his buddies twice a month."
There was a pause. Then, Dad asked, "Puzzle night?"
"See, I also thought that shit was weird. Glad it's not just me."
"I need details."
I sank into the soft cushions and stretched out my legs. "Yeah, so he almost caught me...you know. I hid in the closet, and the guy's smart, so I had to crawl out. He's cool. A surgeon. I've known him for a while, just didn't know the girl I was dating was his daughter."
"I see," Dad muttered. "So, he invited you to that puzzle thing right after seeing you with your pants down."
"They weren't down, for fuck's sake. Nothing happened."
A faint chuckle pushed past my father's lips. "You're a smart boy, Jim. I'd say it's a rite of passage. The guy wants to know what you're made of. But, ya know, some call it fishing, some call it hunting, some call it doing puzzles."
"So, I get a bottle of some good shit."
Dad laughed in earnest this time. "The best you can find."
***
The following evening, I spent a ridiculous amount of time in my walk-in closet. In the end, I dressed in a light blue button-down and some jeans. If I tried too hard, it would show, and I was already nervous enough.
