Page 29 of The Billionaire's Engagement

“Catching my best friend and my daughter fucking is something that’s ingrained in my head now. What were you fucking thinking?” he asked.

I was ready to confess my feelings for Mila to her father. “I’m sorry, Nelson. Mila and I didn’t plan to get together, but we did. I like your daughter—hell, Iloveher—more than any other woman I’ve been with. I want to be with Mila, but I also didn’t want to betray you?—”

“But you did. It was like you punched and knocked the wind out of me,” Nelson said, his words filled with disappointment and pain.

“I’ll fight to be with Mila, that’s if she wants to take me back. If you can’t accept it now, then I hope you’ll accept it later,” I told him. “You’re important to me and to Mila. We’d hate to not have you in our lives.”

There was a long pause, then a loud sigh.

“If you and Mila are really serious about being together, I’ll do my best to accept it,” he told me, making me grin that he was going to try to consent to my relationship with Mila. “I went to see Mila yesterday and she’s still upset with us. You should try to talk to her if you really want to make it work.”

His advice surprised me. It was baby steps to reconciling our friendship.

“I’m serious about Mila and I…I’ll call her. Thanks, man,” I said.

Nelson cleared his throat, pausing for a moment. “So…do you want to hit the green tomorrow with me and some of the other guys?” he asked, extending an olive branch.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun,” I told him, a small smile creeping upon my face.

“Great, I’ll text you the place we’re going to play at. Let’s meet up at nine o’clock,” he said.

“I’ll see you then,” I said.

“See you tomorrow,” he said, then hung up the call.

I let out a deep sigh, feeling a like a weight was lifted off my shoulders after my conversation with my best friend.

I pulled out my phone and didn’t hesitate to call Mila. The phone rang once and was sent to voicemail. I frowned.

“Hi, Mila, it’s Hudson. Can you call me please? I think we should talk. Okay, bye.” I left a voice message, then texted her.

HUDSON

Hi, Mila. I tried calling you, but I guess you’re busy, so I left a message. Please call me.

MILA

You made it clear that you don’t want to be with me. Just leave me alone.

She responded. Not with what I wanted to hear, but at least she responded. I tried calling her again, but it went straight to voicemail.

HUDSON

Please, Mila, can we talk? I need to hear your voice.

I waited for her to respond, but after fifteen minutes, she didn’t. I texted a few more times, but still nothing.Did she block me?

“This is fucking ridiculous,” I muttered.

I got up and went into my bedroom, going through my closet and pulling out dark wash jeans and a dress shirt. In effort to make myself to feel better, I decided to go out tonight. I wasn’t going to ask Nelson or any of our guy friends to come out with me. I’m doing this for me, in an attempt to not think about how I messed up something that was so good in my life. I threw what we had away and don’t think I’d ever get it back.

I changed into the clothes I picked out, rolling up the sleeves to my elbows and leaving the top two buttons of my dress shirt undone. After I finished getting ready, I grabbed my wallet, phone, and keys, then left to cruise a couple of bars and lounges in the city alone. I wasn’t going to hook up with someone, just wanted to drink and figure out what I needed to do to get Mila back. My first stop—Wicked Bar and Lounge.

I’m actually an investor for this establishment, and haven’t been by since it opened a couple months ago. My buddy, Lyle Williams, had this idea of opening up a swanky bar and lounge in the city, and he didn’t disappoint. From the look of it, with the amount of people here, it was a popular place to go.

I pulled my phone out, searching for Lyle’s contact information and called him.

“Hey, Hudson. How’s it going?” Lyle greeted, the muffled sound of people talking and music playing was in the background.

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