“No. I met her mom in high school, but she left Colorado and moved to Georgia, not knowing she was pregnant. I had a scholarship to play football in Oregon, so I left right after graduation. She met someone and told him she was pregnant with his kid and he raised her. She had no idea he wasn’t even her dad until she got the results back.”
My brows furrow the more he speaks and my mind spins because his story is too similar to one I know all too well. Meredith is from Georgia, and her mother moved there in high school, but…it couldn’t be.
Right?
There’s no way this can be the same because, surely, the universe wouldn’t hate me this much.
Cautiously, I ask the next question that will put all of this to rest. “When did you learn this?”
“Two years ago, I think. She actually lives not too far from me, which is ironic since neither of us is from Virginia.”
My stomach sinks, and I feel lightheaded. It can’t be. What would the odds be?
Oh God. I might die.
Right now.
My heart might literally give out.
I sit up and put some distance between him and I. “Killian, what’s your daughter’s name?”
Please don’t say Meredith. Please don’t say Meredith.
“Meredith.”
My heart threatens to give out as I leap out of bed, holding a pillow in front of me to cover myself. “Oh my God. Is her last name Scarpello?”
He sits up, his eyes widening. “How do you…?”
I let out the loudest burst of air, and I swear I might start hyperventilating. “Oh my God. Oh my God. This can’t be happening. Meredith Scarpello is yourdaughter? Meredith, who is married to a guy named Jake, and they live like an hour from here?” I ask, praying that maybe, just maybe, there is a God who doesn’t want me to throw myself off a cliff.
“Yes? Tessa, how do you know this?”
I let out a cry. “We are so fucked! And not the kind of fucking we just did. Oh my God. I’m going to have to tell mybest friendthat I’ve been sleeping with herdad!”
twenty-two
Tessa
Ican’t breathe.
I can’t think.
“I can’t believe this!” I scream as I start to pace.
Killian Thorn is Meredith’s freaking father.
Like, really, Universe? Really? You really needed to fuck me this way? Literally!
“Tessa, I need you to…”
“To what?” I fairly shriek. “Calm down?Don’ttell me to calm down. We knew we shouldn’t do this weeks ago. It was bad enough you were my client, but no, I had to defy the universe. It said,you shouldn’t be together, but instead, we did this—a lot. We said,screw you, universe, and now look at what we did.”
Killian shakes his head. “Okay, yes, we made a mistake, but we didn’t defy anything.”
I turn to stare at him, naked in my bed. So gloriously handsome and…my best friend’s father.
“We sure as hell did. We spat in the face of fate. We were told: don’t do this. We knew the rules that we were breaking. How in the ever-loving hell am I going to look at her ever again?” Then the next part hits me. “My God, she talked me into this!”
