Page 23 of Forbidden Lyrics

Me: Apparently, I don’t know an Em.

555.326.8092: Don’t be an ass.

Me: Says the girl who faked her name, pretended to skip town, and wound up pregnant.

555.326.8092: Which is why I want to talk.

My blood is boiling as I search SeaBird again for Em’s little sister. When I find her happily chatting with Reese, I ask the question I’ve been dreading since the moment I picked Dove up at her apartment. The apartment that happened to be two doors down from Em’s old one.

How could I have been so blind?

With more force than necessary, I type out my message and press send before I can overthink it. Before I can stick my head in the sand and pretend that life can go back to normal even though one of my exes is very pregnant, and the likelihood of me being the father isn’t exactly as low as I’d like it to be.

Me: Am I the father, Em?

The little blue dots on my screen appear at least a dozen times before disappearing. Finally, my phone vibrates with another message.

555.326.8092: No.

Frustrated, I squeeze my phone and barely refrain from chucking it across the room. Of course, she’d only give me a one-word answer. She always knew how to get under my skin and drive me crazy. Apparently, that hasn’t changed.

Me: Is Milo?

Five minutes tick by, each second slower than the last until I’m caught in a web of what if’s that could kill a man. Annoyed, I’m updating her contact info to pass the time when my phone vibrates in my hand with another message.

Em’s New Number: No.

Me: Then who the hell is it?

Em’s New Number: It’s none of your business, Gibbs.

I scoff. Em was always a handful. Hell, she’s the opposite of her little sister in every sense of the word. But right now, she’s pissing me off. Nostrils flaring, I head over to Ashton, who’s busy pouring shots for a bunch of frat kids from LAU.

“Hey, man. I gotta take a ten-minute break,” I tell him.

“Sure thing.”

The back door slams as I push it open and breathe in the fresh air, though it does nothing to clear the chaotic thoughts swarming in my head since the moment I saw Em on the other side of Dove’s door.

This is insane.

Pulling my phone back out of my pocket, I’m surprised the screen isn’t cracked from clutching it too tightly. I type out my next message.

Me: Does Milo know you were fucking a third guy on the side? Because if I’m not the father, and he isn’t the father, then…

Em’s New Number: It doesn’t matter.

Me: Pretty sure it does, Em. Or should I call you Maddie?

Em’s New Number: You shouldn’t call me anything. I changed my number for a reason.

Me: And yet, here you are. Texting me. What other lies are you hiding from your sister?

Em’s New Number: Stay away from her.

Me: That’s all you have to say to me? After all the shit you put Milo through, that’s it?

Em’s New Number: Don’t you dare put this all on me.

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