Page 22 of Faking with the Bad Boy Billionaire

"He denied my sweet nephew?" Lana finally raised her voice. "I swear… when I see that man!" Lana looked at Lucas on the floor. She stared, and the room got silent for a few minutes.

"Don't worry about it. I will handle him." Josephine thought about it for a while. She always had to "handle" Steven when they were younger, but now, handling a grown man with an enormous ego than the boy she knew would be something else altogether.

Lana was playing with Lucas on the floor when Josephine snuck into the backyard. She stared at her phone and opened it to find his name. She clicked on the video chat button. It rang a few times before Steven picked up. She peeked through the window to see Lucas lifted in the air over Lana, and she hoped he would not throw up on her.

"How dare you accuse me of cheating on you!" Josephine knew the entire neighborhood probably heard her yell that at him. She realized, though, that she did not care at all. She needed him to listen to the words that were leaving her mouth. She needed him to realize how badly he messed up.

"Well, a child popped up magically in your life. How could I not?" Steven looked frustrated. He set his phone somewhere, probably on his desk. She could not help but think how good he looked, even through the video call.

"You are the only one I have been with in about two years! You asshole!" Josephine was steaming. She had not been this angry with anyone in a very long time. Everything in her was telling her to go with both barrels at him. She had a lot to say, and she was not sure she even had enough words in her vocabulary to express how livid she was with him.

"How would I know that, Josephine? We have only talked a few times in text since I left." He leaned forward toward the phone and tried to stare her down on the screen. Josephine was watching his face for the usual little ticks. His defensive manner set her off even more.

"You were supposed to trust in me. You have been my lifelong friend. Now, am I a cheater and a liar in your mind?" Josephine sat down on the porch swing. Looking out at the yard, she set the phone down in her lap so that he could not see her anger turn to sadness and disappointment in him and herself.

"You can say everything you want, but Lucas couldn't be mine." Steven's words slapped her in the face again. She could not believe he was still denying her. He knew her better than anyone else in the world, and yet he was rejecting her truth. The whole truth.

"We didn't have any protection, you moron! He absolutely could be yours!" Josephine was bawling at that point. She had to wonder if he had forgotten that critical fact. She wondered if he had forgotten every detail of that night. It was etched into her mind, but she just asked, "What? Did you forget about that?" The "that" was a loaded question. It held the meaning of everything that happened from the start of his visit to the moment he left. Was it only as remarkable in her mind? Everything he said to her since she saw him again burned into her heart. He was not the Steven she knew and loved for as long as they could remember.

"Josie…" Steven huffed out a breath, clearly thinking everything over in his mind. Josephine hit the end button and let that be that for the night. She could not accept that he forgot things when she never could. When she looked up, Lana was standing at the door watching her.

"You, okay?" Lana moved to sit down next to her on the porch swing. As soon as her butt landed on the swing, it swayed a little harder and picked up a slight breeze for them both. Lana liked to swing on it, not just sit in it.

"Not even a little bit." Josephine leaned on Lana's shoulder. She was trying hard not to cry all over Lana, but she could no longer hold it in. The tears burned as much as the words she had heard.

"I heard him. I heard all of it." Lana grabbed Josephine's hand. "He seemed so great at the gala. Then, when he left, you were heartbroken and distant from him and the rest of us. Now, he is completely the opposite of everything you said." Lana was right; as much as he had changed, he had also changed her.

He shifted her into someone she was unsure she would recognize if she could go back in time and tell her younger self what would happen. She would not change it, though. "I know. I just needed some time after that trip, and then the whole pregnancy happened. It was just a large boulder coming at me down the hill." Josephine was so far from who she was even a year and a half ago, and she was proud.

"A train that you couldn't stop anymore." Lana was trying to understand where she was exactly coming from. Her friend looked as though she had some secret growth wounds of her own swirling around in her mind.

"Exactly." Josephine wanted to pick her next words very carefully because as much as Lana supported her, she knew she might not fully understand the reasoning. "I planned to tell him, but my focus was only on Lucas. It had to be. My son is the most important being on this planet. He keeps me grounded, sane, and happy."

"He isn't even mine, but he keeps Auntie happy, too, with all the cuddles and kisses." Lana was always there for them whenever they needed her. She was happy to spend time at the house if Josephine wanted to try to get some work done on her computer. She was so glad to help her get back into shape and happy to just be there.

"We are so fortunate to have you, Lana." Josephine was trying to remember if she had expressed this before. She remembered how Lana was there when Lucas was born. She held him and told him she would spoil him senseless.

"Oh, I know you are." Josephine laughed at her. "Everyone is, but I am lucky to have you both, too."

"We know." Josephine knew the two simple words were honest. Lana had no family left. It was just her, so when Josephine and Lucas needed her, that was it. They became their own little family unit. That was automatically cemented the second she drove her to the first ultrasound appointment.

"Now, can we finish our movie and eat the ice cream in the freezer?" Lana was on a mission to fill all the voids with food that night.

"Yes, please." Josephine said, "I still have cookie dough in there, right?" Josephine raised a brow at her, knowing what she wanted the answer to be.

"Oh," Lana let go of Josephine and picked up her pace. "I finished that while listening to your call." With that, Lana disappeared inside, and Josephine rolled her eyes laughing. Still, she walked behind her friend and into the house to look at her son's beautiful face.

Chapter fourteen

Steven

Stevenhadbeenthinkingabout how poorly he had handled the café interaction when his phone started ringing. It rang two more times. It was a video call from Josie. He cleared his throat and hit the green button.

"How dare you accuse me of cheating on you!" Josie was utterly irate. Steven felt like he just got punched in the gut. He knew she would yell at him at some point, but he did not anticipate it the second the call had connected.

"Well, there was a child that magically popped up in your life; how could I not?" Steven's frustration built. He was confident he was right. He never thought she would be keeping something so big from him, not after everything they had been through. He adjusted his phone to a spot on his desk. He was not sure how long she would yell, but he knew she was going to.

"You are the only one I have been with in about two years! You asshole!" Josie was turning bright red. She was finally letting her feelings out in the open. He wished it would've been another situation that was not so large, but it was happening. It was all happening so fast.

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