Page 44 of Silver Fox's Surprise Baby

“I don’t need your permission to stay or go,” she says, giving me a teasing smile. “Just spit it out. This beating around the bush is going to be the death of me.”

My stomach is tossing and turning as I look at her. I want her permanently burned into my mind in case this is the last time I see her.

If she chooses to leave, I wouldn’t blame her. This is a massive secret I’ve been keeping from her since the moment we met. She would have every right to be mad at me.

“Evan,” she says slowly, pulling out her phone and turning off the music, “you’re starting to make me worry.”

“I knew your father.”

All emotion drains from her face. She looks pale, her eyes wide. “What do you mean?”

“Your father, Dave, and I were best friends for most of our lives. During the time that he was alive, I have very few memories without him in them.”

She shakes her head, her eyes glistening. “Is that what this has all been about? You approached me at the club and brought me into your life because you knew my father? Is this some sick sense of duty? You need to protect his daughter because she doesn’t have a man to look after her?”

“Yes,” I say before shaking my head. “No. It might have started off that way. I don’t know if there’s a good enough way to describe it.”

“Well, start fucking trying because right now, it seems like you’ve done nothing but manipulate me from the start.”

I take a deep breath and try to figure out the best way to explain it to her. However, I quickly come to the conclusion that no matter which way I explain it, this looks bad.

“I saw you in the club and I had to find an excuse to talk to you. That’s why I bumped into you. Before your dad died, he made me promise that I would always take care of you, but your mom took off before that could happen. She never answered any of my calls.”

“You’ve known who I was this entire time.” She shakes her head, scoffing. “I knew there had to be something wrong with you. Just a bunch of fucking men sitting around and deciding that I needed to be taken care of. Has this been your plan from the beginning?”

“No. I saw you at the club a few weeks before that night. I found out about your schooling and I thought that I would try to make life easier for you in any way I could, to make up for the years I couldn’t.”

The barstool screeches against the floor as Kendall pushes back from the island and starts pacing.

“Please,” I say as she heads for the front door. “Just hear me out.”

“I’m hearing what you’re saying,” she says, venom in her words. “But you tricked me. You interfered with my life again.”

“I did what I had to do so you could keep chasing after your dreams.”

She shakes her head as she pulls her shoes on. “This is all some sort of sick sense of duty to your dead best friend’s daughter.”

“I only wanted to help you.”

“I didn’t ask you to help me!” She grabs a set of keys from the table and spins to face me. “That’s the part you never seem to be able to wrap your head around! I didn’t ask for any of this.”

“Kendall, please, just calm down for a moment so we can talk about this rationally.”

“What the hell did you just say to me?”

For a second, I think her head is about to explode. Her hands clench into fists at her sides and her chest is heaving. I’ve never seen her this angry and I know that I don’t want to ever see her this way again.

I wish that I could go back in time and tell her the truth from the start, but I can’t.

“I just want to talk about this.”

She holds up a hand as I take a step toward her. “There is no talking about this. For my entire life, my well-being has been dependent on me! I took care of myself when nobody else could. I don’t need you stepping into my life because it’s what my father would want. News flash—he isn’t fucking here, but I’m sure if he was, he wouldn’t want his best friend fucking his daughter!”

“You’re not telling me anything that I don’t already know.”

She scoffs, her upper lip curling. “No, but apparently you have a lot to tell me that I don’t know.”

“That’s fair. I understand you’re angry, but standing here and arguing isn’t going to fix anything.” I sigh and look at her, trying to silently plead with her to take a moment to breathe.

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