Page 36 of Enemy Ex's Secret Baby

She sighs. I can tell she doesn’t believe a word I’ve said. I don’t blame her. “Anyway, what are you doing here?”

“Well, my dad is being a pain in my ass.”

“As usual,” she says.

I laugh loudly.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, you’re right. He’s being his usual, awful self.”

Gillian tilts her head to the side. Her long blonde hair looking even more like gold in the halo of sunset. “You want to talk about it?”

I groan. “There’s not much to say. Besides it has to do with, you know, the thing that has to do with you.”

“Oh,” she says with a small chuckle. “Well, I think here we can put our differences aside.”

I glance around the cove. This was our spot seven years ago. This is where we could come and be truly alone, untouched by anyone else. We didn’t have to feel the guilt of getting closer to one another. It was our own private hamlet of where we could explore each other’s bodies, laugh as loudly as we wanted, and just be together. No threat of being found out. No worrying about Lola returning from her summer abroad. Just Gillian and me. “Okay. If you’re sure.”

Gillian nods. “I am.”

I take a deep breath. “Well, basically, I don’t know if you saw that photo in the Times this morning, but I went to this gala a couple days ago and–”

“Oh, I saw,” she says dryly.

I eye her, unsure of her meaning, but go on. “Basically, some cougar was coming onto me, and I couldn’t get rid of her. Come to find out she’s on the city council. And my dad wants me to date her to make sure the plans go through for the development.”

Gillian gasps and then bursts into laughter.

“I know, it’s hilarious.”

“No, it’s just–” She hides her face in her hands. “ I saw the photo and assumed that was your new girlfriend or something.”

I gape at her. “Girlfriend? Her?! No way. She’s like fifteen years older than me. At least!”

“I only saw her from the back! How was I supposed to know?”

I start laughing too. “No way, Gill. Besides, when have I ever had a girlfriend?”

Her laughter dies out like an ember in a fire; she pulls her legs up to put her chin on one knee. “That’s true. You’ve never been the girlfriend type.”

Never have been. Ever. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t be. Maybe someday, right? I don’t blame her if that’s impossible to see.

“Gillian…”

She stares out at the water. “What, Axel?”

Seven years is a long time. It should be enough time to forget. But I never have. Not the way her body felt in mine, not the way she made my heart skip a beat, not the way I wished it could last forever. “I’m sorry.”

Gillian’s body goes rigid.

“For…how it went down, you know? I wasn’t as mature as I should have been and–”

“It’s okay. That was a long time ago.”

I stare at her, begging her silently to look at me. But her eyes won’t move from the horizon. “It’s not okay. I was a jerk.”

“Yeah, you were, but it’s okay. Really.”

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