Page 54 of The Hang Up

“What about Brock and how he feels?”

I shrugged. “It’s not that I’m choosing Sean over Brock. But Brock will move on someday—”

Mitch snorted at that.

“And even if he doesn’t, he’ll lose his best friend.”

A honk from the street alerted us to Todd’s arrival. “Do you want me to stay?

“And have Todd hate me even more for being a terrible boss? No thanks.”

I drove around aimlessly for a while. Not sure what to do until the restaurant closed. I didn’t want to go home and see the bed—Brock made it every morning even though I’d told him I had people who did that—or see the notes he’d leave on the refrigerator reminding me to not eat junk and be nice to Bella. Who names their refrigerator? I pushed the call button on my phone, and it came through the car speakers.

“Dad?”

“Hey, how’s it going?”

“Great.” Then he shuffled around and said in a whisper, “It’s my dad.”

“I’m interrupting. Never mind.”

“No, wait.” Sean sounded worried. For me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Fine.” I hesitated for a second. “Are you with Ben, or is that Brock?” That sounded normal. Right?

“Ben. Brock’s working tonight. I think. He doesn’t really tell me anymore. He’s always out with that asshole.”

“What? Who?” I asked, trying to sound curious and not guilty.

“That guy he’s seeing. He’s a—no, Ben—I’m tired of the way this guy treats him. And we pretend it’s okay.”

“Why—” I cleared my throat. “Why do you say that?”

“He’s dating this guy at work—and don’t give me that look, Ben. It’s not the same thing—but they can’t tell anyone. I think the guy’s married. I just don’t want Brock to get hurt. He shouldn’t have to hide.”

“Did he say it was someone at work?”

“Yeah…I mean, it was implied. But I have a picture of him.”

A semi honked, and I pulled back into my own lane. Jesus. “A picture?”

“Yeah. I’ll send it to you. Maybe you can beat the guy up or something?”

I pulled over because it was getting harder to breathe. “Why would I do that?”

“I mean, Brock is like a son to you. And he doesn’t have a dad around to look out for him.”

“He…he doesn’t need anyone to look out for him,” I said, still trying to drag in a breath.

“Yeah. That’s what Ben said.”

“Okay. I guess I’ll talk to you later.”

“Wait.” His voice got softer. “Why did you call?”

“Just wanted to check on you.” God, I was the worst dad and the worst boyfriend in the world. I closed my eyes. Was there any way to fix this?”

After the call ended, my phone buzzed with a text from Sean. It was a picture of a contact screen. Vincent. And the picture was of a cute guy with his arm around Brock. Had this been someone Brock had dated before? But I couldn’t let myself get sidetracked.

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