Chapter Thirty-one
Ashton
“You’ve been in a shitty mood all day,” Bryce says as he pops off the top of his second beer.
I’ve barely put a dent in my first. I gaze down at the bottle in my hands, not really wanting it but sipping it anyway. If I’ve been in a shitty mood, it’s because it’s been a shitty week. Corinne has turned into the clingiest woman I’ve ever met, and if she weren’t pregnant with my kid, I would have put a stop to it before it started.
“What can I say? It’s been a shit day.”
Not even Corinne’s incessant demands managed to get my mind off Sadie, and the longer she shuts me out, the more I want to barge into her apartment and make her fucking talk to me. But she asked for space, and I’m determined to give it to her, especially since my sister chewed me out the day after Sadie left me at the hotel. Mandy’s pissed I hurt her best friend, and she claims Sadie just needs some time.
But staying away has never been so hard.
And facing fatherhood has never been so terrifying.
“You having issues with the ladies?” Bryce asks.
I can’t help but laugh, but it comes out more of a snort.
“That bad, huh?” He takes another long draw from his beer.
“Corinne’s pregnant.”
His eyes go wide. “Holy shit. For real?”
“Yep.” I take a sip of my own beer, but it tastes like piss. Or maybe I’m just not in the mood to muddy shit up with the haze of alcohol. I set the bottle aside.
“At the risk of sounding like an insensitive ass, are you sure it’s yours?”
“She says it is.”
“Man, that’s a tough blow. Is she keeping it?”
“Yeah. It might sound insane, but I wouldn’t want her to get an abortion anyway.”
“Wow, so you guys are doing this.”
“Having a child together? Yeah, but that’s it. Corinne and I aren’t…” I trail off, unable to say the words. The truth is just…harsh. If I were really manning up about this, I’d try to make it work. It’s not as if I don’t care about Corinne.
“Still scared shitless of commitment, huh?” He shakes his head before taking another drink. “You’re going to be a bachelor until the day you die.”
“I’m not scared of commitment. She’s not the one, Bryce.”
He arches a surprised brow. “I didn’t know you believed in that stuff.”
“Me either.”
Not really. Not on a level beyond the subconscious. Until recently.
I’m about to spill about the mess I’ve gotten myself into with Sadie when a knock on the door derails my intentions. My heart leaps at the hope it’s Sadie, even as it nosedives at the thought that she feels the need to knock. I cross the living room and fling open the door, and the scowling face of Joseph Sawyer stares back.
“We need to talk,” he says, then without preamble, he turns around and walks toward the black SUV waiting at the curb.
“What the hell was that about?” Bryce asks from behind me.
“That would be about Sadie.”
“Sadie Sawyer?”
“Yep. That’s her father.”
“What’s he doing here? He looked ready to disembowel you, man.”
“I’m sure he is.” As I grab my coat by the door and pull it on, I eye Bryce. “Because Sadie is the one.”
Bryce lets out a low whistle as I step onto the porch. “Good look out there.”
The thing about Joseph Sawyer? One doesn’t need luck to deal with him. One just has to have a strong ass backbone. He’s never intimidated me, and that’s probably why he hates my guts.
He’s waiting by the vehicle, one hand on the open door to the backseat. A mist-like rain falls, but he seems impervious to it. “After you,” he says, gesturing to the back of the running SUV, and I toy around with the idea that he’s planning to kill me and dump my body somewhere.
I slide in, and Joe takes the seat next to me before shutting the door and closing us off from the chill of nightfall. The driver remains facing straight ahead as if we aren’t in the backseat.
“What’s this about?” I ask.
“Sadie was foolish enough to quit her job. But I’m sure you already know that.”
She finally did it. Pride wells in my chest, and even though his statement is a shock to my system, I feign bored interest as I wait for him to get on with it. Joe clears his throat then pulls an envelope from the pocket of his jacket.
“My daughter is young and impressionable. A bit naïve, which I fear is my fault for trying to protect her from the harsh realities of life.” Staring me down, he taps the envelope against his palm. “You’re not a bad kid, Ashton. I know your family has faced many hardships, and that’s why I’m here.”
“I don’t understand,” I say with a tilt of my head, wishing he would stop speaking in riddles and just say what he came here to say.
“I want you out of Sadie’s life.”
“Well that’s the benefit of being an adult. She can make her own decisions.”
“I thought you might say that, which is why I came prepared, Mr. Levine.”
“Mr. Levine is my father, and I assure you I’m nothing like him. Get to the fucking point, old man.”
My shitty language burrows under his skin like I intended, and his face reddens.
“You, Ashton, are a distraction my daughter can no longer afford.” He passes the envelope to me, and I take it as if it’ll burn me. “You’ll find my generosity more than agreeable.”
Lifting the flap, I pull out a check with my name on it, and my heart stumbles at the amount of zeroes on the face of it. “What the hell is this?”
“It’s enough to pay off your mother’s debts and your sister’s student loans.”
The man is fucking shrewd as hell and knows how to aim where it’ll hurt the most. Gritting my teeth, I glare at him. “I didn’t ask for your goddamn money.”
He merely shrugs. “Consider it payment for removing yourself from my daughter’s life.”
“You’re a special kind of low.”
He’s unfazed by the insult. “Think about it, Ashton. She’ll come to her senses soon enough, and where will that leave you, hmm?” He nods toward the check. “At least this way you get something out of it.”
The rage boiling inside me is rampant, nearly impossible to contain. I’m seconds away from ripping the check to shreds and throwing the pieces in the bastard’s face, but I have a better idea instead. Taking a deep breath, I slip the check back into the envelope and pocket it. As I reach for the door handle, Joseph grabs my arm.
“Do we have a deal?”
Shrugging his hand off, I turn a dark stare on him. “You’ll know soon enough if we have a deal.”
“I knew you were a smart kid,” he says, and it’s all I can do to leave the vehicle without blowing a gasket, especially upon noting his smug expression as I slam the door.
The bastard thinks I’m taking the money.
I put as much distance as possible between Sadie’s father and myself before I lose my cool and drag him from the backseat of his overpriced SUV.
Focus, asshole. Take a chill pill.
Sadie needs to know what she’s up against, and there’s nothing more effective than seeing proof with your own eyes. It’s going to hurt like fuck, but she needs to know the lengths her father is willing to go to in order to control her life. Taking cover on the porch from the light rain, I wait for the black vehicle to wheel away from the curb before I text Sadie.
Me: Are you home? I need to talk to you ASAP.
She doesn’t answer right away, and I’m growing antsy. Finally, after six long minutes, she replies.
Sadie: You said you’d give me some space.
Me: This can’t wait.
Sadie: I can’t do this with you right now. I need some TIME.
With a low growl, I pocket my phone, fingers brushing the envelope in my pocket, and set off for Sadie’s apartment whether she likes it or not.