Boss Daddy: A Secret Baby Romance by Black, L. (good books for high schoolers .TXT) 📕

waiter, who was still hanging around. When he left, Matt turned to us. “So, what’s shaking, guys?”

“Nothing much,” Luke said. “Just chatting about life.”

“Women?” Matt asked.

“Not for me,” Luke said. “But I was talking with Jordan about this girl he’s so hung up on.”

“Hannah?” Matt asked.

“Ahh, so you know who it is, too,” Luke said.

“Oh, for sure,” Matt said. “Jordan’s been all googly-eyed since she came to work with us. What did you say?”

“Nothing,” I interjected. “It was a misunderstanding. Let’s leave that be.”

“Fine,” Matt said sarcastically. “Best not to anger the beast. Did he tell you about tossing some kids out of the bar the other day?”

“As much as I love hearing these stories, no, he has not graced me with any of them recently,” Luke said.

Matt went into a detailed description, with a few extra details I didn’t remember happening at all, about the incident at the bar. I laughed at some of his exaggerations but didn’t correct him.

“So, what do you think about this whole Portland thing?” Matt asked Luke. “I’ve had some time to think about it, and I want to know what you two think first.”

“I think it would be fun for the both of you,” Luke said. “It’s only about an hour and a half away. I’m sure we could see each other about as often as we do now anyway. It wouldn’t be any worse than when you were in the service.”

“True,” I said.

“Besides,” Luke said, taking a sip of his drink, “more fish in the sea, right?” He grinned as he swallowed, and I rolled my eyes.

“I think he’s right,” Matt said, surprising me.

“What?” I asked.

“I think Luke’s right. More fish in the sea. Adventure. Fun. All that stuff,” he said.

“But what about the other day?” I asked. “You were so upset, I thought you were going to blow a gasket.”

He waved me off and thanked the waiter as the fries came to the table. Picking one up and shoving it into his mouth, he took a moment to let the heat out before chewing it and swallowing.

“That was then,” he said. “This is now. It could be a lot of fun, and there is a whole town full of women neither one of us has had yet. Imagine the possibilities.”

Again, I rolled my eyes and dug into the fries.

“Can we talk about literally anything else?” I asked.

10 Hannah

I couldn’t seem to get my brain on track a couple of days later. There wasn’t anything in particular that was keeping me from focusing, nothing specific bothering me. It was just one of those days when it felt like I was a couple of steps behind myself and couldn’t catch up. That left me scrambling to get ready for work.

My phone rang as I was doing my makeup, and my stomach sank a little bit. I worried I was even more behind than I thought I was and was now late for my shift. A glance at the clock sitting on my nightstand confirmed that wasn’t the case. That was also when I realized I didn’t know where my phone was.

Usually, I kept my phone within arm’s reach or at least sitting on the charger. But it wasn’t in either place. Just another example of my brain being jostled and out of sorts that morning. I could hear it ringing clearly, so obviously it wasn’t too far away.

I could have just ignored it. I could have just let it ring, and Samantha could have left me a message. But there was that little voice in the back of my mind that said this could be the time there was an emergency.

I finally found my phone in the kitchen and snapped it up. It wasn’t Samantha. In fact, I didn’t recognize the number at all. Talking the phone against my ear, I made my way back to the bathroom attached to my bedroom to keep working on my makeup.

“Hello? This is Hannah.”

“I miss you,” a somewhat garbled voice said through the line.

It made me go still, an uncomfortable feeling shivering up my spine.

“Excuse me?”

“I miss you,” the voice said again. “Hannah, why did you leave me?”

Ethan. I let out a sigh and shook my head as I leaned closer to the mirror so I could put on the last of my makeup. I needed to get this call over with as quickly as possible. Not just because I needed to get to work, but also because I had no interest in talking to him.

Especially considering he sounded drunk. The slurring of his words and the distinct whine in the back of his voice weren’t unfamiliar to me. Unfortunately, I knew it all too well. It was in the middle of the afternoon, so Ethan sounding drunk would be about right.

“Hannah,” he said again, the whine getting sharper. “Answer me.”

Those last words had a bit more force behind them, like the anger was starting to creep into them. That was enough for me. I hung up and set my phone down on the counter to finish getting ready. Within seconds, he called me back. I rejected it, but he called again.

“How did you get my number, Ethan?” I demanded when I snatched the phone up from the counter.

“We’re meant to be together, Hannah. You can’t think that something like a new phone number is going to keep me away from you,” he said.

Again, that was enough. I hung up again, and just as I expected him to, Ethan called me back instantly. I rejected the call and blocked his number. I didn’t have time for this nonsense. He might have been able to find my number, but that didn’t mean he knew where I was. I had a life here in Astoria now, and I wasn’t going to let him mess it up.

After blocking his number, I managed to finish getting ready for work and was just grabbing my purse and keys when my phone alerted that I got a new email. I