Page 62 of A Night To Remember

“You know why I’m here and the only bastard around here is you. How could you, Steve?”

“What are you talking about?”

“How could you do what you did to her? Don’t play dumb. I shouldn’t have to spell it out to you,” Jake shouted at the top of his lungs.

Jake advanced on Steve and before he knew what happened, Jake’s fist slammed into his face, knocking him on his ass.

“Get up, you son of a bitch,” Jake growled, ready to give Steve more.

Steve’s ire was now raised. He quickly got up and charged at Jake. Jake tried to sidestep Steve’s fist but Steve landed a solid punch to Jake’s mouth. A rage that had been building up since the afternoon was unleashed as he pounded Steve in the face, and then punched him again.

When Steve dropped to the floor again Jake kicked him in the ribs. Steve lay motionless on the floor and for a second, Jake was scared he may have gone too far. The feeling was short-lived when Steve turned over and stared at him with angry green eyes. “We’ve never come to blows over a woman before. Don’t you remember our motto? Bros before hoes.” Steve wiped the blood from his mouth.

“Shut your fucking mouth. Don’t you ever talk about Charlie like that again! She is not just a pussy. She’s the woman I love, and the mother of my child.” Jake yelled. Steve looked at Jake as if he had been hit again. “Yeah, that’s right. Charlie and I have a daughter together, a beautiful little girl, so if you ever refer to my daughter’s mother as just a ho again, I’ll fucking kill you,” Jake threatened.

“What the hell are you talking about? How can this be?” Steve was dumbfounded.

“When Charlie started working for the company, I was stunned. When you were talking about her, I instinctively knew she was the same Charlie Brown I met over three years ago. I told you I knew her but you chose not to believe me. I should have handled things differently but that makes no difference now.” Jake paused to rake his fingers through his hair. He didn’t really feel like explaining all this to Steve but Jake figured Steve should know where things stood between him and Charlie. “That day in the office when you saw Charlie running out, you got pissed at me. I would have explained the entire situation to you right then and there but you were sulking like a little bitch and you then refused to talk to me.”

Steve stared at Jake, trying to take this all in. “Where does a daughter fit into all this?”

“I found out Charlie had a daughter as a result of our previous encounter. I knew she was my daughter the minute I saw her. I won’t go into further details, but there you have it. I’m in love with Charlie and I have been for years now. I intend to ask her to marry me, so if you so much as say her name in that tone of voice…” Jake broke off.

Steve finally got up. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me all this?” Steve sounded hurt. “I’m supposed to be your best friend.”

“Because I know you, Steve. If I would have told you to back off or if I tried harder to explain I’d known her from years back, you would have seen that as a challenge. You would have gone after her anyway. I never minded the friendly competition before, but Charlie was different. And when you caught us in the office together, you were giving me the cold shoulder. When exactly did I have the chance to tell you after that, Steve?”

Steve had the good grace to look embarrassed. “But we’re best friend.” He rubbed his swollen face.

“Correction. We were best friends. After what you did today, I don’t even want to know you. Charlie’s reputation is mud all over the office and you’re partly to blame. If you didn’t work for MBF, I would tell you to stay the hell out of my life, but as it stands, I don’t want you to say anything to me unless it’s MBF related,” Jake finished coldly, looking his former friend up and down before he strode out the door.

“Jake, I don’t think he’s going to go away,” Jennifer said, interrupting him again.

“Please, Jake.” Steve’s voice came from the intercom.

What the hell? Knowing Steve, he wouldn’t go away until he had his say. Jake rubbed his temples.

“Okay, Jen. Send him in.”

Chapter Sixteen

Steve walked into the office sporting a nice shiner. One side of his face was covered in black and blue bruises. Knowing how vain Steve was, Jake was surprised Steve had even bothered showing up for work looking the way he did. Jake didn’t care about his appearance half as much as Steve did and he himself would have stayed home for a few days until his face looked normal.

“You have five minutes,” Jake grumbled, taking a look at his watch indicating to Steve he was dead serious.

“May I sit down?” Steve requested. He spoke with a humbleness that Jake wasn’t used to hearing in his voice.

Jake raised an eyebrow. This was a departure from the usually cocksure Steve. “Suit yourself.” Jake shrugged. “But don’t get too comfortable. You’ve already wasted thirty seconds.” He leaned back in his chair and stared at Steve, stony-faced.

“Jake, I don’t know where to begin,” Steve started uneasily. Jake didn’t say anything but he did look at his watch again. Steve paused as though trying to find the right words to say. “I’m sorry, Jake,” Steve apologized solemnly.

Jake cocked one brow. In all the years he had known Steve, his friend rarely said he was sorry, but there was no way he was about to make this apology easy for the son of a bitch. “Now that you’ve said what you had to say, you can leave. As you can see, I have a lot of work to do.”

“Jake, if your friendship didn’t mean so much to me I would walk out the door right now but I’m not going to give up easily. Look, I know I was a dick. There is no excuse for my behavior. I know I shouldn’t have acted that way with Charlie. If I had taken her first no as an answer instead of persisting, none of this would have happened. My ego was crushed, and I was irked to lose out to you. She didn’t deserve that.”

“Damn straight she didn’t,” Jake said through clenched teeth.

“Like I said, I had no excuse for what I did. I know I overreacted when I saw Charlie rushing out of your office. God knows, I’ve swiped women from under your nose on numerous occasions yet you and I never let it come between us. Then when the shoe was on the other foot, I couldn’t handle it.” Steve paused. “I’m sorry you felt you couldn’t confide in me about Charlie. I haven’t been a good friend lately, and I deserved what happened yesterday. I promise I’ll do everything in my power to make sure all the gossip going around the office about Charlie is squashed. I understand you don’t want to be my friend anymore, but if you decide to forgive me, I’ll be around,” Steve finished, getting up to leave.

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