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“Mind your own fucking business,” Ben yelled.
“You are my business, you asshole. You’re drowning yourself in booze, and if you don’t sober up, you’re going to lose the best shot you have at saving your father’s legacy and your own damn life.” She was right about that.
“Who says I want my life? Maybe I want to drown.”
“I’m trying really hard to feel empathy for you, but you’re a selfish bastard.”
He sneered. “Finally, you get it. Now get out!” He leaned closer to her. Close enough that I couldn’t risk him hurting her.
I strode in. “Okay you two, break it up.”
Alex glared at him, and then rushed past me out the door.
“Good riddance,” Ben called.
“You know, she has a point,” I said, watching as Ben swayed back to his desk. “Alex is rarely wrong about important matters.”
“You all can take orders from that little girl, but I’m not interested.”
“Little girl? She’s older than Beth. She’s definitely more mature than you.”
“What do you want, Raven?”
“Ideally, for you to get your shit together. But if you’re not going to do that, at least don’t make everyone else’s life around you miserable.”
“Get out,” he sneered at me.
Knowing I wouldn’t fare any better than Alex, I walked out. I had my own shit to sort out.
I went to my own office and locked the door. I laid on the couch and tried to figure out what the fuck to do. Morgan was pregnant with another man’s child. Was that man in her life? Was he going to step up? One part of me wanted to use my fists to make him do what was right, but another part of me hoped he was long gone. Because, goddamnit, I wanted to step up.
But I couldn’t figure Morgan out. One minute, I thought she was into me and we could see where this thing would go. The next, she was running away and ignoring me.
A knock on my door had me sitting up. “Come in.”
Alex walked in. “You didn’t need to intervene with Ben.”
What the fuck? This was the last thing I wanted to discuss. “Next time I won’t.” I got up and went to my desk. When she was still standing there, I asked, “What?”
She shrugged. “Nothing.”
“You asked me to help, I tried. Now you’re telling me to stay out of it, Alex. It would be nice if for once people knew what the hell they wanted.”
“People?”
“Never mind. Is there anything else?”
“No.” She turned and left, leaving me wondering what was wrong with the world.
Deciding I needed coffee to help me finish the day, I headed to the breakroom. Hunter was there cursing at the coffee machine.
I stood next to him, waiting for him to make coffee or give up.
“What?” he growled. “No snarky comment.”
“I’m out of snark for today. Check back tomorrow.”
He frowned at me. “This machine was your idea, right? Maybe you can make me a cup of coffee.”
I nodded, and stepped up to the machine while he went to sit at one of the tables to wait. I brewed us both a cup and sat with him.
“Ben is fucking up,” I said.
“So, what’s new?”
“Do you think he could get violent? He and Alex get pretty heated,” I said, watching as Hunter poured a shitload of cream in his coffee.
“I guess it depends on how toasted he gets. I’ll get someone to watch him. In the meantime, Grace has been trying to encourage him to get help, but as far as I can tell, he doesn’t give a fuck about anything. Not even himself.”
I nodded. “He said as much to Alex.” We sat for a moment. The world must have been completely off its axis, because next I heard myself say, “I just found out a woman I’m into is pregnant.”
His brows rose. “It finally happened? You knocked — ”
“Fuck, no. Jesus, do any of you have any respect for me?”
He sat back and studied me. “Sure. I have plenty of respect for you, little brother.”
I rolled my eyes at the little brother comment. “Never mind.”
“Sorry.” He leaned forward again. “So, you like a woman who is pregnant with some guy’s kid. I’m guessing he’s out of the picture?”
“Yes,” I said, even though I didn’t know for sure. Everything about Morgan was an enigma. She’d been a virgin, so it was odd to think she’d start sleeping around. But initially we’d agreed to one night and I’d handled it badly, so of course she’d have moved on. But why didn’t she use a condom? I remembered I hadn’t that night in the restaurant. She hadn’t said anything. Had she been pregnant then, too?
“I think you need to decide how much you really like her. If you just want to fuck her —”
I started to argue that it wasn’t like that, but he continued. “I’m not saying that’s what it is, or that you’re incapable of love. All I’m saying is that a woman with a child needs stability. You can’t play games. We can’t know the future, of course, but if you can’t see yourself in it for the long haul, then you should let her go.”
