Page 52 of Accidental Baby Daddy

Lexie walked through the doors, and when I looked up to see her coming, I winced and excused myself from the bar.

I rushed toward her, not wanting Dad to know she was working here.

“What are you doing here?” I hissed.

She blinked at me. “Picking up my paycheck? Why?”

“I would have brought it to you.”

“Gillian gave me a ride.”

I hurried to the office to grab her paycheck, bringing it back and pushing it discreetly into her hands.

“Why are you in such a hurry to get rid of me?” she asked. I winced once more as my father walked up to us.

“Nice to see you again, Alexandra,” my father said flatly. Lexie’s eyes met his, her own widening in surprise.

“You too, Mr. Stanhope,” she replied flatly.

After that, she turned tail and scurried out of the bar. I watched her go and sighed.

“What was she doing here?” Dad demanded to know.

I sighed. “She works here, Dad.”

“You gave your ex-girlfriend a job?” he asked incredulously.

I shrugged, feeling defensive. My shoulders stiffened. “I needed a back-up bartender. She needed a job.”

“She’s already working for your grandmother,” he stated in an accusatory manner, and I stared at him, shocked. She was my maternal grandmother, so I was surprised he knew that. Perhaps he saw her during one of her shifts at the store.

“Why does it matter, anyway?” I huffed.

“Because, Oliver,” he said in a low tone as he followed me back to the bar, “I know what she did to you. I don’t want you to have to go through that again.”

“I won’t,” I said flatly. “That’s all water under the bridge.” Why did I keep saying it like that? It was like a mantra I was using to make myself feel better about… everything to do with her.

“Is it?” he asked softly, looking at me intently.

I rolled my shoulders around, feeling suddenly tense. “It is,” I said firmly. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

I wasn’t actually so sure about that.

My father was right, of course. I’d been hooking up withLexie and everything was starting to get confusing all over again. I hated the way it felt—the yearning when I wasn’t with her all the time, the jealousy that bubbled up whenever I thought of her dating someone else.

I couldn’t ask her to be exclusive yet there was no part of me that wanted to end it. I only wanted more of her as time went on.

I knew I was playing with fire and expecting not to get burned.

Dad kept looking at me like he didn’t believe me.

“Do you want another ginger ale?” I asked, clearly trying to change the subject. He sighed heavily.

“You are more than capable of making your own decisions, son, but just remember what it was like before.”

“How could I forget?” I snapped.

My father looked away, and guilt washed over me. I’d blamed him for a long time, deep down, because he was the one that told me the truth about Tristan and Lexie. It wasn’t his fault that it happened but having him tell me had been a serious blow.

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