Page 36 of Accidental Dad's Best Friend

“I am burning at both ends and then some,” he nods, scratching his chin. I hold back the urge to roll my eyes. “You know what? Fuck it. You’re a good friend, Savage. And I owe you one.” He points at me and keeps eating.

Just one?

I don’t say anything though. I am just relieved he went along with it. If he had started digging for himself, Izzy would be screwed. Hiring someone would have been just as bad. But if I’m the one he’s counting on, I can cherry pick what he knows about her. Hell, I can fabricate the whole thing if I want to.

Soon, it won’t matter what he thinks anyways. Soon the truth will be out. Soon we will both be free of him.

But for now, I’m keeping her and Jaxon safe.

Period.

Chapter 13

Izzy

The thing about people in power…

No.

If you’ve ever wondered where magazines get their stories…

Meh.

Ever wondered what’s behind the curtains?

Ugh.

Despite the fact I never stopped writing even after I lost my job at Slay, there’s something about this article that is different. I am used to uncovering skeletons. I am used to writing the truth no matter how ugly people think it is. So why is this article so hard to write?

I close my laptop and look at the time. I have about five minutes before I have to get Jax from school and honestly, I am a little grateful for the break. I also notice that I have about six notifications on my phone that I’ve been ignoring (on purpose) for several days. Full disclosure, they’re all from Ethan. I think he thinks I’ve ghosted him. And I kind of have. Not only am I keeping things strictly work related, I also haven’t talked to him about work. Because other than that first paragraph, I’ve gotwriter’s block. Turns out, outing your dad for being the literary world’s most power hungry asshole isn’t as easy as you’d think.

After picking Jaxon up from school, we head straight for the gym. While Denver seems to have one on almost every corner (the corners not occupied by churches or liquor stores), there happens to be one walking distance from our house as well. As much as I know I shouldn’t get used to this, I could really get used to this.

I take Jaxon to the Kid Zone, a supervised play area with toys, games, an indoor jungle gym, snacks and TVs. It’s everything you could possibly need to distract your kids while you get two hours of alone bliss. A lot of women use it for working out, some use it for yoga and spin class time, while others, I am thoroughly convinced, simply drop their kids off and go sit in the hot tub with a book. Honestly, that sounds lovely right now. But after the day I have had, I feel like I need to burn off steam.

I make my way to a stair master and start climbing. Something about cardio has always helped me manage stress, although I don’t look like the other cardio junkies here. That’s one of the hard things about Colorado. Everyone is fit and thin and blonde and tan and they seem to just be that way naturally. It’s called being “Colorado hot”, Cassie used to say. All states have levels of hotness but Colorado’s baseline for hot is a 10 in other states.

I’ve been told I am pretty. I don’t really date (single mothers aren’t the most popular women on the market) but if I did, I doubt I’d have too hard a time finding someone who would take interest. But that’s the thing. I don’t look. I don’t do things for other people. I work out and I eat pizza and Jaxon doesn’t care about stretch marks.

From what I’ve noticed, Ethan doesn’t either. Ethan seems okay with every inch of me, actually…

My internal thoughts are making their way to my outside appearance because I am sweating like crazy now. Maybe it’s because I’ve been climbing stairs for twenty eight minutes straight. But climbing stairs doesn’t usually make my nipples hard, even when I preoccupy myself by listening to smutty romance audio books to pass the time.

The very thought of Ethan, though… that’s enough to make me blush and I’m a little worried people are going to notice.

I finish up my workout all while making a strong mental effort to stop thinking about Ethan. Honestly, I don’t know which thing is physically more exhausting, the stair master or shoving Ethan to the back of my thoughts.

By the time I am ready to go, I have sweat dripping down into my shirt, my hair is matted to my forehead and I’m pretty sure I smell like a sock. I snag a protein shake from the juice bar (god this gym is bougie. I secretly love it) and head back to the Kid Zone.

“Picking up?” a young girl with a baby on her hip smiles at me and I nod, smiling back.

“Yes. Jaxon.”

“Of course. He is at the art table. I’ll have him clean up and send him out. Hope your fridge has room for finger paints because you have quite the artist on your hands.”

I smile proudly at that. The fridge has no real estate for any more art. In fact, we are starting in on the walls of the hallway at this point. It’s another thing I love about his new school so far. They do art almost every day. And the days they don’t, they do music. I swallow back the reminder that I am going to miss this and pull my phone out, searching for similar gyms in a cheaper part of the city.

“How was your workout?” The voice comes from next to me and I jump. I didn’t even know anyone was standing there. I alsocan’t believe that it takes me as long as it does to recognize who it is.

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