“So, let me make this really clear since you obviously struggle with taking a hint.”
His eyes are blown wide, and his hands are flailing about like a fish dangling on the end of a line.
“Grow the fuck up, Tucker. Step up and be a father, or back out of Billie and Blake’s life altogether. Either way, I’m not going anywhere, and neither is any word about this little interaction between us … is it?”
He gives me a quick headshake.
“Good.”
When I drop him back to his feet, he clutches his throat.
“You’re fucking crazy!” he spits.
I smile at thoughts of holding Billie in my arms in the next couple of minutes.
“I’m not crazy, Tucker. Crazy would be walking away from a beautiful daughter. I’m simply a guy who will do anything for the people he cares about … you should definitely try it, too, sometime.”
“Your team would probably have something to say about the way you just assaulted me.”
Pulling out my phone, I scroll for Billie’s contact, typing out a quick text to let her know that I’m on my way up. I step over the threshold and turn back to him.
“You’re a senior in college and hoping to go to law school, right?”
He gives me a tight nod, eyes darting about anxiously.
“Pretty sure getting a girl knocked up and then refusing totake responsibility wouldn’t go over too well in your desired line of work.”
He puffs out his chest. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll inherit my parents’ practice.”
Of course he fucking will.
Pulling up my social media profile, I show him the screen, just so he can get a clear idea of who I am and the level of influence—or destruction—I can have.
“Let’s not start flexing muscles, Tucker.”
He clears his throat.
I have zero intention of actually going through with the following offer, but the idea is too funny to pass up. I point across at my car. “Do you need a ride back to the airport, or are you good with the bus?”
Heat spreads across his cheeks. “I’m good.”
“Great.” I thumb over my shoulder. “So, while it was really great catching up with you, I’m going to go spend some time with Billie and Blake now.” I shoot him one last sarcastic grin. “If you catch the next flight to Austin, you might make it back in time for Mommy’s curfew.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
BILLIE
The thud of Emmett’s footsteps echoes through the stairwell right before he swings my front door open and pauses in the center of the living room.
His chest is heaving, and the sound of my door clicking shut is the only noise between us as he studies my puffy red eyes.
The second Tucker was out of sight, the composure I’d been fighting to maintain while he was in my apartment completely dissipated, allowing the past few months to hit me like a freight train.
Between sobs and a panic attack I never want to experience again, all I could think was to call Emmett. Even if he’s already gone way above and beyond what any friend would do, having him near me was all I craved.
He is all I crave.
His hands aren’t shoved inside his pockets, like they normally are, when he stalks forward, gray eyes closer to a charcoal color as he comes to stand in front of me.
