It’s Friday night. I should be letting Weston spank me and do dirty things right now, and instead I wait for Misty to come over. She had a fight with Pike and asked if she could crash with me for the night. I don’t know what’s happening, but I wasn’t about to turn her away.

This is exactly what I was afraid would happen. Pike would fuck up and she’d end things with him or he’d end things with her. Then she’d be stuck up shit creek without a paddle.

I’d never turn her away, but my apartment has one bedroom and it’s my sanctuary to escape real life and problems. Though lately, it seems like I never sleep here anymore. I practically live at the Four Seasons now.

Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions about Misty and Pike and it’s nothing.

When I open the door, her quaking voice leads me to believe otherwise. She stands there with a tear-streaked face and trembling lips—bag in hand.

“Come here.” I hold my arms out and embrace her with a bear hug as she sobs. The door shuts behind her and I lead her over to the couch.

“Here, sit down.”

Her breathing speeds up, almost to the point she’s hyperventilating.

I worry she might be having a panic attack, and that can’t be good for the baby.

“Breathe, Misty. Just breathe. Come on, sweetie.”

After a few moments, she seems to calm down and I hand her a box of tissues.

“What happened?”

She sniffles and rolls her eyes. “Go ahead and say it. I know you’re dying to. You warned me. You told me. You could see it, but I was a blind idiot.”

“Hey.” I take her by the arm, gently. “I don’t want to see you hurt. I’m not going to say anything. I love you. If you aren’t ready to talk about it, that’s fine. But holding it in probably isn’t good for the baby. Right?”

“You’re right. It’s over. Pike—h-he fired me, and I was served with this.” She pulls out a large envelope. The return address says it’s from the Hunter Group. I’ve heard of them. It’s four men and the rumor is they’re ruthless attorneys. I don’t have any experience with them, but this can’t be good.

“What is it?”

“Apparently, Pike is staying with his wife and they want to pay me off and take my baby.”

“What? No. No.” I grab her by the arms. “I will never let that happen. I don’t care how much money they have. Misty, you have me. We’ll get through this.”

I go into the kitchen to get her something to drink and I start reading over the document.

It’s a bunch of legal language that doesn’t mean anything. Whoever drafted this made it a fancy but empty-worded proposal.

This is garbage. Junk.

I get to the end of the papers and see a familiar name.

Weston Hunter.

I drop the documents on the counter and back away. It can’t be the same guy. Weston is a common name.

He wouldn’t be involved in something like this. He’s an asshole, but I can tell he has a soft side too. He’s not an animal.

I know he loves listening to the blues. He likes mushrooms and double cheese on his pizza. He has a tattoo of praying hands on his left pec with his younger sister’s name in cursive font underneath it. She died when he was seventeen of a rare form of brain cancer. She was six years old. He has a soft spot for kids, whether he admits it or not. I know all these things about him and yet I don’t know his last name or where he works.

I should do the adult thing and ask.

I give Misty a glass of water and pull out my laptop.

“Find us a movie. A horror flick where everyone dies.”

She laughs. “Its fine. I’ll be okay—eventually. Let’s watch Pretty in Pink and I can bawl my eyes out.”

I nod in agreement. I always wanted Ducky to get the girl, but Andrew McCarthy was hot.

I type ‘The Hunter Group Dallas’ into the search bar and wait for the results to populate.

There he is.

Weston.

I glance over at Misty and look away super-fast. A knot tightens in my stomach. How can he be a part of this?

I can’t date or sleep with a man or whatever we’re doing. Not one who would do something like this.

I can’t stop myself from looking at his social media. There are so many women on his arm. He wasn’t kidding about getting around.

My phone vibrates on the coffee table and my gut tells me it’s him. I don’t want to look. I don’t want to be tempted to text him back. Because if I do, he’ll say something charming and convince me to come to him. Lawyers are the best excuse makers in the world.

Twenty minutes go by and Misty falls asleep. The movie is failing to hold my attention.

My phone has gone off three times now.

Giving in to temptation, I snatch it from the table and unlock the screen.

Weston: On your way? I ordered Thai.

Weston: If you don’t want Thai we can order something different. Your choice.

Weston: You standing me up? Bold play. It’s gonna cost you.

I want to respond but right now I don’t know what to say.

We’ll see who it costs.