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“Well, I am,” I lied, watching as she moved to the file cabinet and thumbed through it, making entirely too much noise. Just when I was ready to bark at her to get the hell out, she pulled out a stack of transfer paper. After making a production of shoving the filing cabinet door closed with her hip, Layla skirts around the chair across from me and dropped down into it. “I can see that you’ve got shit on your mind, bossman. I’m a really good listener, lay it on me.” I lifted a brow. Was she fucking kidding?
“Go on,” she waved her hand for me to get on with it.
“Fuck it. What do I have to lose?” Blowing out a breath, I steepled my hands in front of me and gave her the rundown of what happened at King’s party. Her eyes almost popped out of her head when I got to the part about P’s daughter and how I was the father. It was the look she got when I told her Paisley took off and had been ghosting everyone since that annoyed me. I hated pity. Didn’t need that shit from anyone.
“I — uh — congrats?” she sputtered.
“Thanks, but save that for Paisley.” There was no way I’d saddle a kid with having me for a father.
“What do you mean?” She frowned.
“I’m not father material, Layla. Paisley and her kid deserve better than me.” I shrugged. Saying the words out loud hurt, but it didn’t make them any less true. P deserved the best of the best, so did the kid, and that wasn’t me.
“Oh, I see. She’s one of them stupid bitches.” The hair on my neck instantly stood on end.
“The fuck did you just say?” I leaned forward, sure that I hadn’t heard her right.
“Paisley. She’s one of those women who’s not real bright.” Scooting my chair back, I stood, ready to toss her out on her ass. We’d been good to Layla. Gave her a job and a place to crash. Whatever the fuck she was playing at, I wasn’t having it. Her disrespect of P was something I wouldn’t tolerate.
“Watch it, Layla. You don’t fucking know Paisley. She ain’t stupid!”
“What do you mean? You clearly think Paisley couldn’t possibly be smart enough to make up her own mind about what shewants. That’s why you’re being a martyr and doing it for her, yeah?”
I dropped back into my chair like a ton of bricks. “That’s not — I don’t think that P can’t make her own choices — I just — fuck!”
“Let me ask you this. Do you think Paisley will be a good mom?”
“The best.” I believed that with every fiber of my being.
“Do you think she’d do anything to put her daughter in danger?”
“The fuck? Of course not!”
“Then trust her to know what andwhois good for her baby.”
I jolted again, for an entirely different reason this time.
“I can see the dots starting to connect.” She smirked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yeah,” I grumbled. And they were, which only scared me even more. I didn’t know the first thing about babies.
“Well…” Satisfied with flipping my world on its head, Layla clapped her hands together like she’d just tackled world peace without breaking a sweat and hopped to her feet. “My work here is done.”
And mine was just beginning.
Chapter Two
PAISLEY
“No, Max. I’m fine. I swear. I’m just tired.” I sighed, regretting my decision to answer his call. His heart was in the right place, and I knew he meant well, but I’d been dodging his calls because I knew what he’d say, and I didn’t need him to micromanage my life.
“You need to stop being stubborn and talk to Crow. You’re going to be parents, P.” I looked down at my belly that felt like it’d dropped in the last day or so.
“Max, I told you to leave it alone. I’m a grown woman.” My brother has a knack for sticking his nose in my business and trying to take over. It drove me nuts.
“She’s got you there, honey,” I heard Arizona say from somewhere in the background.
“See, she gets it.” I sighed. I didn’t know Arizona all that well, but I could see she was good for him. He smiled more, and I was pretty sure was a huge part of why he was taking things so well.
