Page 48 of A Smooth Operator

"I was sleepin' with Echo," I confessed.

My father's nostrils flared. "What the fuck, Remi? That girl has always had a thing for you; why would you take advantage of her?"

"I fell in love with her, Dad."

Yeah, that was the sad truth I'd learned by drinking every night for a week. I fell in love with Echo because if I hadn't, it wouldn't hurt like it did. My soul wouldn't feel crushed. I wouldn't miss her with every breath. I was so busy counting the ways in which she was wrong for me that I missed the most important way she was right for me—she loved me for who I was, not the Drake façade.

"Do you even know what that word means?" Dad challenged me.

I couldn't feel any smaller. My own father didn't think I was capable of an emotion as clean as love.

"Of course I do."

"You know, when you started dating Marina, I thought you'd marry her. She's your type—vapid but pretty. She'd look good on your arm."

"Like Mama does on yours?" I shot back.

My father toasted with his glass. "Exactly like that. You want to make my mistakes, son?"

"You sayin' you don't love Mama?" I didn't want to know his answer because if he said he loved her, I wouldn't believe him, and if he said he didn't, my entire life, my idea of coupling, of parenthood, would be shattered.

"I do. It took some years, but I fell in love with her. I don't like her all the time, but that's marriage. I married Sierra because my parents expected me to. She was the right match."

"Like Marina is for me?"

He smiled. "Yeah."

"Except I saw my bar manager Alex balls deep inside her at the club," I said laconically.

My father groaned. "I didn't need that image in my head, son. That's why you broke up?"

"Yeah. Echo was with me. She let me lean on her shoulder and fuck, Dad, I broke her." I choked the words out, feeling very much like my world was crumbling.

I didn't cry. I was after all a man, but this past week, it was like I'd turned into a goddamn pussy.

Before I knew it, Dad pulled me into a hug.

"I hurt her so much," I continued, leaning into him. "And now I don't know how to fix either her heart or mine."

My father patted my back. I lifted my head, and he put a hand on my cheek. "Good. I'm glad it hurts."

"Yeah?" I gave him a watery smile.

"Yeah. It means you're a decent man."

"I'm not, Dad."

I spilled my guts about what Echo overheard: how I kept her a secret, how every time she got close, I ran and walked all over her in the process.

We were both on his couch in his office when I was done telling him what a horrible person I was.

"So, you screwed the pooch big time," Dad declared.

"Yeah, I did."

"Well, son, you gotta man up and win the fair maiden."

"She's blocked my phone. I don't even know where the fuck she works anymore."

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