Page 16 of Knocked up By the Minotaur

“It was a terrible idea that I came up with in a moment of desperation!”

“Just say yes, and I’ll come over for lunch tomorrow to discuss the details.”

Then he’d started filling my head with the most ridiculous scenarios of success, ending with Brad and his Sera getting married and running off to Canada together, and I’d finally, laughingly, agreed.

But he’d ended up swamped with work today, probably because of how much he’d slacked off yesterday, and we’d had to reschedule. To be honest, I’d sort of forgotten about it until I’d gotten his text.

I’m so sorry my lovely, but something’s come up at work. I’ll have to beg for a raincheck, but if you run into any trouble let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

Even that message from him had put me in a good mood, and I’d pottered around with Lucas happily all day, leaving only for a quick grocery haul before returning to finish off the last of my work.

One of the best things about being a self-employed website developer is that I can work at any time, from anywhere. If I need to take a breather between jobs, I have full freedom to do so. And I’m taking that breather, even if it’s only a week or so long. Having finished my last project, I am talking with another client at the moment for my next round of work, but they’re not in a rush to start. I have enough savings for a short break, and after what life’s put me through recently, I’m taking it.

So I’d spent the remainder of the day chilling with my son, imagining that the rest of my life might be just this peaceful and lovely, and being in a generally good mood.

That is until the sun began to set, and Brad came knocking on my door. And it had been sucha good day without him.

“Please, my little sea-turtle,” he says, standing on the porch with the largest bunch of flowers I’ve ever seen. “I’m sorry for everything, I can change. Just let me inside.”

“No,” I sigh, and begin swinging the door. “Go away.”

I nearly have it shut when he grabs at the wood, almost smacking me in the face with half a ton of roses. “Just… Just… Let me see Lucas?”

I hesitate, and that small moment is all it takes for him to launch into another spiel.

“It isn’t fair, Gracie,” he says, latching onto the topic at the smallest sign from me, all heartfelt and emotional as he pushes the door open again. “I’m the only father that boy’s ever known, you can’t keep him away from me. Have you even thought about how this might affect him? Ripping him away from me like this? He doesn’t understand what’s happened between us, and he doesn’t deserve to be abandoned by his only father figure just because we’re having issues.”

I bite my lip, feeling a spike of guilt as he hits on a raw nerve.

“You see?” Brad pushes the flowers at me and steps past as I grab them. “You know I’m right, pookie.”

“What?” I scramble with the flowers for a second, and he takes the opportunity to finish barging inside. One small moment of weakness is all it took this slippery bastard to slide past my defenses. “Stop it, I didn’t invite you in. And if you want to see Lucas, we have to discuss it properly, first.”

“This is a nice place,” he says as he immediately begins snooping around inspecting every nook and cranny, ignoring me completely as I try to herd him back to the door. He wanders into the kitchen, muttering about how much space the house has as he stares out over the sink into the cute little backyard. “Ella doesn’t need rent from her sister, does she? This could be a really great move for us, imagine all the things we could buy if we stayed here rent free. I could finally upgrade my console.”

I purse my lips, and dump his stupid roses on the kitchen table. “Brad, can you please just…”

But he doesn’t even hear me as he bounces excitedly back into the living room. “Sweet set up in here. I’m going to go check out upstairs.”

I close my eyes and take a deep breath as he disappears into the hallway, stopping my twitching fingers from grabbing the broom and heading up after him swinging. So much for wanting to see Lucas, he seems much more interested in the furnishings, the jerk. I snatch up my phone, muttering to myself and angrily typing as I stomp up the stairs. Time to activate my little deal with Oli.

Are you free? Brad’s barged into my house uninvited, if you could call me on facetime in a minute so we can sweet talk in front of him, I’d owe you one. Hopefully, we can annoy him so much he’ll drop dead and roll out of the house.

I’m at the point now where I’ll try anything. And if my gooey eyes at Oli don’t frustrate Brad enough to make him ‘rage quit’ and leave like he did at the cafe, I’ll call the cops. But I’d rather not do that with Lucas in the house.

As I clear the stairwell, the little swoopy sound of a received message rings out and I squint at the response.

I’ll do you one better.

What is that supposed to mean? I pause, waiting for another text, but the little typing dots don’t wriggle to suggest he’s going to elaborate.

“There’s an ensuite!” Brad pokes his grinning head out of my bedroom. “You’re living like a queen, pookie, you’re so lucky.”

I clench my fists, shoving my phone away so I don’t break it as I round on Brad. “You are unbelievable, did you know that?”

He winks and ducks back into the bedroom. “Thanks, bubba, you too.”

“Get away from my things!”

---