Page 76 of Accidental Dad's Best Friend

“Ethan Savage is the father.”

“No he’s not.”

I tip my chin up. “Yes. He is.”

“That’s not possible. He’s…and you’re…this is a joke. You BETTER be fucking kidding me right now or someone is going to die.”

I’m about to apologize. Except, I’m not sorry. The more I tell the truth, the better it feels. Even if it is my own funeral (although, more likely, it’s Ethan’s). But I feel stronger. And I’m starting to feel better already.

My dad on the other hand is only getting started. He shoves out of his chair so fast, it flies backwards into the bookshelf.

“You are a lying little slut! Give me the name of the real father and stop fucking with me! Actually, now that I think about it, how do I know you’re even telling the truth about the littlebastard? You’re probably just fishing for money and trying to ruin my partnership in the process. You really are something else. It’s disgusting. Shameful.”

“I am not lying!” I scream back at him. “You have a grandson. And Ethan is the father. And I don’t want, or need, your money. I wanted to tell you before you found out on your own. I was trying to do the right thing. Be the better person.”

“The better person? Oh that’s rich.” He rounds the desk and stands right in front of me, towering over me. “I’d rather you were lying. Because if I find out that it is true, any of it, we are done. And I mean DONE. Savage will never find work here again. He can leave town. If he’s still able to walk.”

“And as for me?”

“I suggest you walk away and never look back either. Or else.”

“Or else what?”

I turn around when Ethan’s voice comes into the room. Apparently he didn’t go home. I wonder how long he’s been standing there. How much he heard. From the look on his face, I’m guessing all of it.

“Is it true?” My dad asks. “Did you fuck my daughter?”

“Not in so many words.”

“You disgust me.” He spits the words out. I am standing between two puffed chests. A worm in the middle of a cock fight. I move to step aside but my dad stops me.

“And you. I was wrong about you. You’re nothing like your mother. Your mother wasn’t a whore.”

His words hit me like a sucker punch and I don’t even have time to think before the next thing flies out of my mouth. “Are you sure about that? Because any woman in her right mind would have tried to get away from you. How do you even know I’m yours?”

Heat rises to my dad’s face like fire within a dragon. He raises his hand and I close my eyes, bracing for the slap I am sure iscoming. But it never makes contact. Ethan grabs me by the arm and whips me behind him, all while stopping my dad’s hand with the other.

“I think we need to cut it back a notch, don’t you?” He asks with a low, cool tone.

“I think you need to step aside,” my dad hisses.

“Mommy?”

Jaxon’s voice stops all of us dead. I rush over to him. “Jax, baby. I told you to stay by the fishes.”

“I looked at all of them. You were gone for so long.”

Suddenly I realize I went about this all wrong. I scoop Jaxon up and turn to face both men. “This has to stop. All of this. No more fighting, no more lying. It needs to be done. Please.”

Ethan’s face softens slightly. His eyes lock on Jax and he swallows. My dad however, is still at 212 degrees.

“If I’m not mistaken, I’m not the one who's been lying. The two of you have lied about everything. And for that, Savage, you’re going to pay.”

“I hate to sound cliché, bud, but you can’t fire me. Because I quit.”

“Oh trust me, Savage, you’re done. You won’t be able to get a job at any magazine for any publisher on the goodman planet by the time I’m done with you.”

Ethan hisses out a laugh. “Funny because I was going to say the same thing to you.”

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