Cold prickles cover me. Will I ever be safe again?
CHAPTER 19
HUNTER
My insides are a wreck,but I need my brother to help me with the mess I have on my hands.
Jonah slides out from the backseat of my car. “I knew I shouldn’t have gone to that goodbye party.”
“It seems to me you wanted to go. Why else would you have Melanie’s favorite appetizer brought in?” I open the front door of my apartment complex.
Jonah follows. “I care about her, but that doesn’t mean I should hang out with her. She only rips my heart in two every time I do.”
“Then the good news is you won’t ever have to see her again after tonight.”
“Sadly, that’s not what I want.” He hangs his head as we step onto the elevator.
I hit the button to my floor, and we ascend. “You have it bad for her, don’t you, little brother?”
He rests against the wall. “I don’t even know how it happened. It’s like that first night I was with her, something opened up.”
“That’s one way of phrasing it.” My mind goes back to the night.
We were decorating the Christmas tree. A twinge of agony vibrates in my chest.
It wasn’t that long ago, yet it feels like an eternity. I thought I was getting my life in order, but now it’s like a puzzle that hasn’t been put together. All the pieces I need are there, but I have no clue how to get them in the right place.
The elevator doors open to my floor. I motion for Jonah to go first. “Do you think you’ll try to see Melanie before she leaves?”
“No. It would’ve happened tonight if I was going to get my shot. After that dickwad hit Dori, Melanie couldn’t focus on anything except making sure her best friend was okay.”
“Don’t be surprised. Those two are as thick as thieves.”
Jonah smirks in annoyance. “Dori had Jamison, so Melanie didn’t need to be stuck to her side.”
A stabbing pain jabs at my heart. I open my front door and go inside while trying to think of anything other than Dorothy and Jamison being together.
Jonah makes himself at home and marches behind the bar to fix us drinks. “Why did you ask me over tonight?”
My skin heats. “I need to talk to you.”
“I got that much, but why couldn’t we have had this discussion at the party?”
“It wasn’t the time or place.” I slide onto a stool on the other side of the bar.
Jonah pours us both a scotch. “Sounds serious.”
“It is.” I wait for him to pass my drink to me, then drain my glass in one swallow. “The paternity tests came back.”
Jonah stops what he’s doing and slowly nods. “And the results aren’t what you thought they’d be.”
I shake my head. “I don’t understand how I can be this baby’s father. It doesn’t add up.”
“The results really say you’re the dad?”
“They do.” I shove my glass back to him.
He pours me more and slides it back to me. “What are you going to do now?”
