I guess I owed her one.
* * *
When the workday ended, I knew right where I was going.
And it was the same place that I’d been the previous night—at her place.
I walked up to her apartment and knocked. I heard her muttering something on the other side of the door, and a few seconds later, she opened it. There was happiness mixed with cemented anger on her face.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she said, not exactly sounding confident in her anger. “After the way you drove off last night? And you didn’t even bother to say you were coming?”
“I know, I should have, but—”
“Don’t ever do that again,” Hannah said. “Mason’s the only one that can come here unannounced. And even he can annoy me.”
I grimaced.
“You’re fine for now. Just, come inside before anyone sees you. And tell me why the hell you’re here.”
I did so. I didn’t move from the entrance, though, for I was not yet convinced that Hannah actually wanted me there.
“So?”
“So what?”
“So why are you here?”
I smiled.
“You covered my ass,” I said. “You spoke to Mason last night. You could have made life a living hell for me. But you didn’t. You didn’t say anything to him about us. Why?”
Hannah sighed and walked over to the kitchen table, where she took a sip of water.
“I honestly don’t know,” she said. “I’m certainly not doing it to protect you.”
Harsh, but probably fair.
“I guess I just knew that telling Mason would hurt you as much as anyone. And while I’m still mad at you, I’m not so mad at you that I’m going to drag Mason in.”
“You know if you’re not giving up the kid, he’s going to find out sooner or later, right?”
Hannah sighed.
“I’m not a fucking idiot; I know shit will come out eventually. I lied and said it was a Bandit, but he doesn’t know that I’m pregnant. I can lie and say it is the Bandit’s, but sooner or later…”
“That kid is going to look like me a bit, and Mason’s going to ask questions, and the longer he’s left in the dark, the less likely he’ll be to ever do shots with me.”
I laughed, Hannah did not.
“Look, I appreciate that you didn’t say anything. And…”
I sighed. I hated conversations like this. They weren’t fun, and they brought back a whole lot of shitty memories. I preferred not to think of how, when I’d tried to be honest with my last girlfriend, she’d lied to my face and done a whole lot worse to hurt me.
“I hope you know that when I say that I’m not ready to be a dad, it’s not just an excuse to go slam some other pussy. I’m not—”
“Garrett.”
She bit her lip.
