Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 154(@200wpm)___ 123(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 154(@200wpm)___ 123(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
I buzz my secretary quickly. “Can you ask Miss Marshall to come up?”
“Right away,” Priscilla says grimly before clicking off. Meanwhile, Brent looks like he’s about to explode, his face is so red.
“Tell me,” my friend hisses before pulling a chair up to my desk. “You’ve known my daughter since she was born. So what the fuck is going on?”
I try to stay calm.
“Listen, buddy, I know this is a surprise, but Harlow is on her way up, and we can talk about this like adults once she’s here. But if you’re going to be a hothead and scream the whole time, nothing is going to get done.”
Brent merely grips the arms of the chair, his knuckles white.
“I will murder you for taking advantage of my little girl, Gray. I will pound you into hell and beat you into a pulp.” I’m about to reply when the door opens and closes again.
“No one took advantage of me, Dad,” Harlow says in an enviably calm voice.
He doesn’t even hesitate. Brent is on his feet in a second, raging at his daughter.
“How could you do this? Both of you! What the fuck? I told you to watch out for her, not fuck her!”
That makes me angry.
“Shut up. I’m in love with your daughter, so watch your mouth, asshole.”
Harlow gasps behind me. Meanwhile, her father’s face turns even more purple.
“What? Are you fucking kidding me? You’re a fucking dog, Jamison. You’ve fucked how many women in this town? All of them? There’s no way I’m letting some diseased STD-ridden asshole like you touch my daughter.”
Harlow’s got tears in her eyes, but now I’m seeing red.
“Shut the fuck up,” I growl. “You know nothing about my dating life.”
A vein pulses in Brent’s forehead as he rages.
“I know everything about your dating life, cocksucker! I’ve known everything about it for more than twenty years! You’re not sticking your dick in my daughter if I have anything to do with it, you fucking asswipe.”
Harlow’s sobbing now, and she collapses on a couch. It kills me to see her like this, but I can’t take it anymore. I begin advancing on Brent.
“Shut the fuck up. Take that back,” I growl.
“Take what back?” he screams in my face. “The fact that you’ve been fucking women right and left since we were eighteen? The fact that you’re twice Harlow’s age? The fact that this is my daughter we’re talking about? You’ve fucking infested her with all your STDs!”
That does it. I clock Brent hard, and he falls to the floor.
“Daddy!” Harlow screams before rushing to kneel at his side.
Brent rolls into fetal position, cradling his face while groaning.
“Unnnh,” he manages as blood trickles from his nose. “Fuuuuuck.”
I glare icily at him.
“You deserve it,” I say in a cold voice. “I love Harlow, and I don’t give a fuck what you think. She’s twenty-one, and I want to be with her. Come here, Harlow. Leave that loser alone.”
The beautiful girl looks up at me from her place by her dad. Then she looks at Brent again, then at me. I can feel how she’s being pulled in different directions, but my woman is smart. Slowly, she gets up and walks to me, as I embrace her in my arms.
Brent’s still curled in fetal position on the floor, but he lifts his head when she does that, and then lets it drop with a thunk.
“It’s true, Daddy,” Harlow says in a tearful voice. “I love Gray, and we’ve fallen in love with each other. I know this isn’t what you expected, or even what you want, but what we feel for one another is real. We’re in love, Daddy, and we’re in a relationship. Not only that, but I’m expecting Gray’s baby too.”
I turn to look at her with surprised blue eyes. My head feels light, as if there isn’t enough oxygen in the room.
“Baby, are you really?” I ask. “You’re going to have my child?”
She nods tearily, and sniffles a bit.
“I am, Gray. We always used protection, but nothing’s perfect. You’re going to be a daddy in about seven months.”
With that, nothing matters anymore. I sweep Harlow into my arms, raining kisses on her face and neck.
“Sweetheart, this is a dream come true,” I rasp. “I never thought I’d be a father, but now you’ve given me the greatest gift.”
She cries and laughs simultaneously, throwing her arms around my neck.
“It’s our gift to one another,” she murmurs. “Ours to share.”
Meanwhile, Brent lets out a loud groan from his position on the floor. We turn to look at his collapsed form.
“Unnnnh,” he moans, looking worse for the wear. “Fuck.”
“You okay?” I rasp, although I don’t go over to help him up. “You deserve it, after the things you said.”
Brent manages to lever himself to a sitting position.
“Damn, you clocked me a hard one there, Gray. But I never thought I’d be a grandfather,” he manages while pinching his nose with his hands. “With you as the father.”