Page 47 of Surprise Baby for Daddy's Best Friend

Jake pulled Rosa back and stood over me, "Don't yell at my dog."

"Well don't have your dog out here trying to drink poison."

"Poison?" he roared and grabbed my arm. "You were going to poison my dog?"

He was stronger than I thought, the squeeze on my arm made me want to yelp in pain, but I forced it down. I wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.

"It was a frozen chocolate, asshole," I stood up and pulled my arm away from his grip. "Or are you also dumb when it comes to food?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" he puffed his chest out trying to intimidate me.

"What I'm talking about," I poked him in the chest as hard as I could, to deflate his lungs just a little. "Is you don't understand any anatomy. Like I'd ever want to be around an asshole like you."

"Well, I don't want to be around a bit like you either," he tightened his grip on Rosa's lease. "Come on, pup, we're going home. Obviously, she doesn't understand that she lost out on an actual nice guy."

I snorted to hold the laugh back and muttered under my breath, "Nice guys don't call it beef." I rolled my eyes and tossed what I had left of the drink. The line was way too long to deal with getting another one. I could handle finding something on my way back home and possibly petting another dog on my way.

I did feel bad for Rosa who glanced back at me a few times before trotting after Jake once more. She would never understand how big of a jerk her owner was. To her, he was the best person in the world. Perhaps for her, he was, but there was nothing that would convince me he was redeemable.

My phone buzzed from an incoming notification. A message from Jake on the app.

Asshole.

A small note underneath it let me know I couldn't respond back to him since he had blocked me. Not like I cared. He wasn't worth giving any more attention to. If anything, he had saved me the time of trying to figure out how to block him.

I stopped near the subway station before turning down another street. The heat was getting to me and making me more irritable. I almost wished Jared was here. At least he would know how to cool me off and make me feel better.

It was possible I could give him a call and see where he was right now, but since it was the middle of the day, he was probably in a meeting or something. I opted instead for texting Mandi. If Jared was in the city, Mandi might have moved out here too and we could catch up. At least she would understand my frustrations with guys.

You free?

She sent a photo of her on the beach with a drink in her hand and a guy lying next to her.

Sorry, I'm in Mexico right now.

I sighed and locked my phone. Of course, she wasn't free either. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs.

"Excuse me," a deep voice said behind me.

I jumped and whirled around. A man with dark hair threaded with grey, towered over me. His hard eyes stared into mine with an intensity that sent a chill down my spine. For a moment, he reminded me of Jared.

"I...I..." no words could form.

"What are you staring at?" he raised a brow. "Look, can you move?" he pointed behind me.

I turned to see the ATM I was leaning against. I turned back and gave an apologetic smile.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Better be," he rolled his eyes and moved past me. "Swear all you millennials believe you’re entitled to everything in this world."

I opened my mouth to retort, but again nothing came out. My mind continued to play games with me. I shook my head. There was no way the older man was Jared. They were nothing alike outside of their hair. Even then, it looked disheveled and was cut haphazardly, nothing like Jared's clean hairstyle.

He finished using the machine, and walked away muttering something about me being a bitch under his breath.

"Damn it, I'm such an idiot," I grumbled. "Of course, I wouldn't just bump into him that easily. Come on, Kim, you need to get it together."

I pulled out my phone and tapped on the dating app. There were still a few people I could choose from. It was going to take more than bumping into some random stranger to keep me from my goal. Jared was off limits from now on.

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