Page 99 of Bound By My Father's Best Friend

Fuck.

Once I gathered up enough of a shit, I stepped out into the main office and spotted Jacob sprawled out on one of the couches, his hair disheveled and a distant, sad look in his eyes. He clutched a bottle of tequila.

“It was you who tripped the alarm?” I asked, walking farther into the room.

Jacob gazed up from the couch, staring through me. “Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you turn it off? Or answer your phone?”

Instead of answering me, Jacob took another sip right from the bottle. “How was Christmas with my daughter? Did you get her everything that she could ever want? She deserves it.”

“She deserved a fucking call from you,” I growled. “It’s Christmas.”

“I didn’t think she’d want to talk to me,” he whispered emptily.

I snatched the bottle from him and recapped it. Then, I threw it into the trash so he couldn’t get any more hammered tonight. I wondered where Evelyn was. Surely, they had spent today together, too, hadn’t they?

“She has been waiting impatiently by her phone all day,” I said. “For you.”

Eyes glazed over in a drunken gaze, he shook his head. “I’m a bad father. I wasn’t there enough while she was growing up. I was too hard on her. She always told me that I was being too hard. I drove her to you.”

Who isshe?His ex-wife maybe?

Tears welled in his eyes, and a sob escaped his throat. “I should’ve called her.”

“You should’ve.”

Usually, I wasn’t one to add insult to injury, but he deserved it. Yet my words only tore him into even sharper pieces. He dropped his shoulders forward and sobbed into his hands, shaking his head.

I sighed and sat next to him, deciding that insulting him wouldn’t get us anywhere. “I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for you. I know that it has been tearing Heather up since you found out about us.”

“Tell her I’m sorry,” he sobbed, wobbling back and forth on the couch and still crying way more than I had ever thought he could. He started mumbling incoherently, but I made out the sentence, “I should have handled things differently.”

After running my hand over my face, I stood up and wrapped my arm around his to lift him to his feet. “It looks like it has been a long night, Jacob. Let’s get you home, and you can talk to Heather when you’re sober.”

Though I wasn’t sure how I was going to get him home with Heather in the car, nor did I know how Heather was going to react when I walked out of the office with him. But I couldn’t let him rot here.

Not if I wanted him to respect me as Heather’s … boyfriend.

And hopefully, one day, something more than that.

CHAPTERSIXTY

HEATHER

“What’s taking him so long?”I muttered under my breath.

With the knitted blanket sprawled over my shoulders, I’d had my gaze locked on to the entrance of the building since Hector had disappeared inside it fifteen minutes ago. My worry grew with every passing minute, and I couldn’t help but think of the absolute worst.

What if my professor had come to enact revenge?

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, my knees bouncing. If something happened to Hector because of me, I would never forgive myself. The police were in there with him, but what if they couldn’t stop it?

So, without hesitation, I grabbed the door handle. I needed to at least see …

Just as I was about to open the door, my phone buzzed on the center console. I snatched it quickly to check if it was Hector, only to see a message from Evelyn appear on the screen.

Evelyn: Is your dad with you???

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