Page 27 of A Bossy Surprise

“I’m sorry. I just need you to know that I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You didn’t mean to, but you did. You treated my sister like all those other girls you played with. Actually, you treated Kayla worse, because you never left any of those girls pregnant.”

“That’s not true. You have to believe me. That night, Kayla and I clicked. We bonded over similar interests. In fact, we spent quite a bit of time talking about you and how much we cared about you.”

He huffs. “Yeah right.”

“Even though we didn’t spend that much time together, I could tell she wasn’t like any of the other girls in our grade.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Yes, because it means I didn’t defile your sister like you think I did.”

“Adam, I think you should leave.”

This is when I start to get angry. “Don’t you think you’re being a little too dramatic about this?”

He laughs a little too hysterically. “Dramatic? You had sex with my little sister, got her pregnant, and ran off, and I’m being dramatic?”

“I just told you, I didn’t run off. I didn’t know Brady even existed, and quite frankly, I don’t understand why you are so determined to be mad at me. Kayla and I slept together seven years ago. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that you promised me you wouldn’t touch her.”

“Kayla said we had no business making deals concerning her in that manner, and I think she’s right.”

“You would feel differently if you had a sister.”

“Well, I don’t and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Lucas closes his eyes and takes a few breaths. “Adam, you are Brady’s father. I can’t change that. You are going to be in all of our lives for the rest of our lives, but I can’t deal with you right now. So can you just leave?”

“So what? You’re going to end our lifelong friendship over this?”

“Please, just go.”

I can’t think of anything else to say to shake sense into him. So I leave.

He’s right. I don’t have a sister. So I don’t know what it feels like to be him right now, but I honestly think he’s taking this a bit too far.

He knows me. He’s my best friend. He should know that I didn’t mean any harm by this. Plus, we were all kids back then.

I drive around town for a while trying to clear my head. When that doesn’t work, I head back to GNN HQ.

I knock on Arthur’s door and poke my head in.

When he looks up from his computer and sees me, he looks at the watch on his wrist. “What are you doing here so late?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Good.” He opens his desk drawer and pulls out two glasses and a bottle of whiskey.

“What do you mean ‘good’,” I walk into the office and park myself across the table from him.

“I mean, you’ve been on the warpath for the past couple of days and I’m glad you finally want to address whatever has been eating you up.”

He pours both of us two fingers each of brown liquor, then hands me my glass. I clink mine to his and down the whole thing at once.

“I really needed that.”