Page 3 of The Billionaire's Fortunate Accident
“Well, is it expected of me?” I didn’t want that at all.
“How should I know? All I do know is that it went through my mind. Other things did too. Such as having kids before it was too late.”
“Men can have kids forever. I’m not even worried about that.”
“Yeah, they can make babies forever, but you only have a set number of good years in you. You’ll want to play with your kids, right? You’ll want to live to see them graduate high school, college, and get married, and have kids of their own. You won’t be able to do that if you don’t have kids until you’re old.”
“Sounds like you’ve thought a lot about this. But I should point out that you’re thirty and still single with no kids.” I smiled. “That we know about, anyway.”
“Hey,” he said as he took the four beers into his hands. “I always wear a slicker in a rainstorm. So, don’t even joke about me having a kid that I don’t know about. That’s like a nightmare to me.”
Standing up to go back to the dancefloor with him, I felt slightly woozy and sat back down. “I think I’m gonna head home, Terry.”
“K. I’ll let the guys know. Happy birthday.”
“Yeah.” As I looked over my shoulder to signal to the bartender that I was ready to settle my tab, she stood there with her hand held out. I already knew what she wanted — I unlocked my cell and handed it to her. “The address is saved. But I want to get something to eat before I go home. Can you type in the address of a nearby burger joint?”
The next thing I knew, I was in the back of a small Toyota Camry pulling up at an all-night fast food dive called Hamburger Hut. “Thanks, man. You don’t have to wait. I’ll call another driver when I’m done here.”
Heading inside, I found the place mostly empty. One old guy sat in a booth alone, talking to himself. A girl stood behind the counter, chewing gum and looking bored. “Welcome to Hamburger Hut, where the customer is number one and so are the burgers. What can I get you?”
“A cheeseburger, all the way with mustard, mayo, and ketchup.” I needed to fill my belly with something substantial to help soak up all the alcohol I’d put in it. Otherwise, I’d wake up with a horrendous hangover.
“Would you like the meal?” she asked. The bored tone in her voice made me certain that she’d asked the question a zillion times before. “You can have medium fries, onion rings, cheese sticks, hash brown potatoes, waffle fries.”
I had a sense that she would go on and on if I didn’t pick something fast. “Fries. Large, not medium. And do you have milk?”
She reached under the counter and pulled out a little milk carton. “We have this one that we use for the kid’s meals.”
“Give me ten of those.” I pulled out my wallet, digging through it to find some cash. Putting a twenty down on the counter, I decided was feeling generous. “You can keep the change.”
“Wow, thanks,” she said with lackluster enthusiasm. “A whole two bucks. You’re a real hero.”
“And you’re a ray of sunshine.” I went to find a seat. Looking at the plethora of empty tables, I chose one by a window that looked out at the nearly empty street.
Hookers, pimps, and partygoers were the only ones still out after midnight. I looked at my phone and realized it was nearly two in the morning. That’s when I noticed a text from my oldest brother, Baldwyn. He wanted to remind me of an early meeting we were having the next morning.Fuck! This morning!
I had a meeting at eight and it was almost two now. Only six hours before I had to be at the resort, and there I was, sitting and waiting on food.
I needed to get some sleep. Even if it was only for a few hours. As soon as the smarmy chick brought me the food, I began scarfing down the fries and the milk. Once I unwrapped the burger from the yellow paper, I removed the top part of the bun so I could add some salt and pepper from the tiny packets she’d left on the tray.
What the fuck is this?
“Hey,” I shouted. “I need to see someone about this — right now. Where’s your manager?”
As I looked up at the counter, my vision blurred from the many spirits I’d consumed, but I saw someone hurrying my way. “What’s the problem, sir?” she asked with a worried tone to her sweet voice.
“A big fat roach is the problem.” I pointed at the thing, smack dab in the center of the meat patty. “I didn’t order one with the extra insect on it.”
“Oh, my gosh!” She leaned in, quickly wrapping the paper around the burger to hide the creepy, crawly thing. “I am so sorry. I’ll get you your money back. Order anything you want. It’s on the house.” She was wearing a nervous expression. Her cheeks were pink, her lips trembled — the lower one plumper than the one on top — and her green eyes were wide with worry. She ran one hand over her straight, ash blonde hair that hung all the way down her back.
“Nah, it’s okay.”
Chapter Two
Jessa
“No, really, I’ll give you your money back. This isn’t okay. I’m not sure how this happened, but I can promise you that I’ll get to the bottom of it.” My cheeks were hot with embarrassment as I took the roach-filled burger, dumping it into the trash. I went to the register and pulled out a twenty, then went back to the man who was gazing at me with glassy eyes.
