Page 57 of Bossy Ex's Brother

She nodded, and I got up and headed to the door, where the angry voices were getting closer and closer.

“Are you serious? Listen, I don’t care what the fuck you do with your life, Beth, but ditching school to go hang out with those people is so beyond stupid that it’s not even in the stratosphere of advisable behavior.”

“And what do you know? You dropped out of school!”

“Yeah, to get a job, not to waste my life hanging around delinquents whose only job is to smoke as many trees as they can find. And God knows what else they do. Especially the one with his tongue down your throat. He didn’t look particularly bright.”

“You’re such a judgmental bastard, Felix.”

“I have to be! Since no one’s judgment around here seems to be working.”

I pulled open the door when they were right at the doorstep, and I ascertained that the voices were close enough to potentially wake Jane.

Words immediately ceased as they both turned to look at me in shock.

Bethany recovered first with a little squeak of surprise, which she hid by tucking her hair behind her ears and fluttering her eyelashes in a move that was far too bold for her age. “Nice to see you around here again.”

“What are you doing here?” Felix demanded.

“Your sister’s asleep,” I said, ignoring the boy. “If either of you wakes her up, I won’t be happy. So put a cork in this argument and reopen it at a later date. Deal?”

Bethany nodded instantly.

Felix, on the other hand, frowned. “Why is she still in bed in the afternoon? Is she sick?”

“She had some bad fish at the restaurant,” I lied. “She’s mostly okay. Just needs some rest, and you guys are going to help me with that, aren’t you?”

They both nodded, at which point I stepped aside and allowed them into the room. Everything was a little awkward inthe beginning, with Beth’s flirting attempts and Felix’s hostility, but eventually, things started to settle into a strange normal. Emmett put on a different game and asked me to play with him. We got embroiled in a match, and I won the first round while Emmett won the second. It was during the tense final round that Jane reappeared, looking better than she’d looked before but still not great.

She seemed very confused about what was going on.

“Hey,” Felix spoke up again while Jane and I stared at each other. “How are you feeling now?”

“Better.” She was still watching me as she answered him. I shook my head, indicating that I hadn’t told them anything. She gave me a relieved look.

Then she sat by Beth and Angel, watching us.

It was bizarre, like a little pseudo-family sitting around and playing video games. The family soon started throwing around words about Bethany’s staying out late, and it looked like it was going to devolve into an argument.

That was my cue to leave.

I didn’t belong here, no matter how much I’d pretended for the past few hours.

“Alright, I’m going to take off,” I said, putting the controller down and getting up. Jane stopped what she was doing, glancing at me with a look in her eyes that I couldn’t comprehend.

“Alright,” she said. “Thanks for bringing me home.”

“You’re welcome,” I answered. I wanted to say more, but if I did, I might walk over there and kiss her. So I simply left.

I immediately went back to the bar. I returned Brandon’s car to the car lot, and he glanced at me. “How’s Jane?”

“She’s good.” I didn’t know what else to say. But the fact that she was pregnant was still pounding in my mind.

Jane was having a baby. It was incredible and ludicrous at the same time.

I was going to be a father. And I didn’t have the first fucking clue what to do about it.

TWENTY-THREE

---