Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer

Author:Brigid Kemmerer
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Rob

Well, damn.

Before everything happened with my father, I never had a bad relationship with Connor’s dad. I could fill a diary with the stories Connor has told me about him, but the guy has never been anything but polite to me. Sometimes I’d complain to Dad about him, especially after the sleeping-outside-in-freezing-rain incident, and Dad would sigh and say, “Bill’s a good man, Rob. I didn’t always see eye to eye with your grandfather, but now I can respect the choices he had to make. Connor might be upset, but a man’s relationship with his son can get very complicated.”

No kidding.

I have no idea where Bill came from, but he’s by the wet bar, looking like the perfect corporate dad in khakis and a polo shirt, dark-framed glasses perched on his nose. For a brain-splitting moment, I wonder if he’s been there all along and I somehow missed him. I’m still standing beside the hot tub, but Maegan has slid off the ledge. Now she’s clinging to my back, hiding behind me.

Her breath is a hot rush against my shoulder. “Oh my god, do you know that guy?”

“Yes.” I have to clear my throat. My body was not prepared for the abrupt 180 of emotion. I’m flushed and hard and angry and humiliated. Maegan’s breasts pressing into my back are not helping. Then again, neither is the knowing look on Bill’s face.

I can’t read his expression, but there’s no disguising what was going on here. Maybe he’ll call the cops and sell out a second member of the Lachlan family.

I have to clear my throat again. “This is Connor’s dad.”

The man looks over his glasses at us. “It’s been a while, Rob. Shall I give you and your … friend … a moment to arrange yourselves?”

He doesn’t wait for an answer, just turns and walks through the door to his dimly lit office.

Was he in there all this time?

His voice floats out to us. “Come in and talk to me for a minute when you’re done, Rob.”

That doesn’t sound promising.

Maegan is scrambling to grab her shirt off the floor. “Is this going to be okay?” she whispers quickly. “Are we going to be in trouble?”

“Taking your shirt off isn’t a crime.” My voice is edged, but none of my anger is at her, so I run a finger along her jaw to soften the words. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay.”

I have no idea whether that’s true.

She pulls her shirt over her head in a rush. “Why does he want to talk to us?”

“Not us. Me.” I’m fumbling to get the buttons undone on my shirt; they don’t go back on anywhere near as easily as they come off. “You don’t have to go in there.”

“But he said—”

“I don’t care what he said. I’m not dragging you into this.”

“Are you still getting dressed?” Bill calls.

I pull my shirt on, then give Maegan a quick kiss on the cheek. “Find Samantha. Just wait for me in the living room.”

My shirt is only half-buttoned when I get to the doorway of Bill’s office.

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