Page 67 of Easy On Me

Anger burned down my nape. “Are you always an asshole?”

“Yes.” He shrugged. “What does she want?”

“Me to marry her.”

He snorted. “Bet she was fit to be tied when you told her you already were.”

A frisson moved down my spine, icy under the embarrassment and irritation. Elizabeth was unpredictable under the best of circumstances. “Yeah.”

He flicked another glance up at me, and I shrugged.

“She said I'd be sorry.”

“Really.” He made another note, and this time the small noise he made dripped disdain. “That little girl has serious delusions of power.”

“Because she didn't have any when she was little.” The words spilled before I realized I'd thought them. “You know, her mama and daddy's mess.”

I darted a look at the door toward where Hannah was working on something at her desk with her headphones in. Hannah had grown up in that, too, but she hadn’t turned out vindictive and wanting to hurt people. Maybe because she’d been older, so she’d had less time with their mama and more time with their daddy. Ted wasn’t the best parent, but at least he wasn’t a narcissist, either. Scott waited, simply watching me.

“She wants attention. Validation.” I ran a hand over my hair, scuffed my nape. “But it wasn't enough just from me. That channel . . . and then there was power that came with it. You saw what she did to Hannah.”

“I did.” He nodded, a slow, considering dip of his chin. Hannah had this job with him because he’d witnessed that. This place had become a refuge, helping her rebuild.

“Her mama will have a fit if she's having a baby outside of marriage.” Although a string of affairs outside of marriage was okay. Had to keep up those appearances, though. My stomach sank. If that baby was mine . . . Patricia would be grandma. How was I going to counteract that, with occasional visitation? At my mama and daddy's?

Shit.

Fuck.

I scrubbed a hand down my face.

“What do you want?” Scott asked quietly.

I sucked in a harsh breath, thinking hard. “Firstly to know if it's mine.”

His pen scratched on his pad.

“Then... “ My brain hit a brick wall. I'd never considered a life where I wasn't in the house with my kids every day, being a daddy. I didn’t know how to envision that.

And what the hell kind of mama was Elizabeth going to be? Not the Elizabeth I'd first known, the one who loved her sisters and loved me, the one who was a little spoiled, yeah, but had loved on her newborn niece and . . .

That Elizabeth didn't exist anymore, I didn't think, had been drowned out by influences that stoked dreams of power and ambition and dangled crowns of likes and views in front of her. That Elizabeth could have been tender and loving with a child.

The Elizabeth I knew now, the one I’d stepped away from?

That one had nothing to offer but gall.

Scott waited, and I shook my head.

“Then I don’t know.”

“Maybe you don’t have to yet.” Scott tapped his pen on the pad. “One step at a time. Confirm paternity, then go from there. Gives you an opportunity to consult with your wife.”

My shoulders sagged. “Yeah.”

He leaned back in his big chair, leather creaking. “We can talk about some options—“

“Jase.” Hannah spoke from the doorway, her voice low and troubled. Unease tickled up my spine. She ventured into the room, phone in hand. She flicked an unhappy gaze between us. “You need to see this.”