Play Fair (The Devil's Share Book 3)(7)

I clicked play on the voicemail from Jacks as I climbed inside my car. “B. It’s me. You have GOT to call me back. The craziest shit happened this morning. Call me.”

I shook my head, hitting redial. The crazy shit was probably something stupid. Like Dagger ate my new controller or I walked in on Smith nailing your sister. His phone rang twice before he picked up.

“B! Holy shit.”

“Why are you whispering? Are you hiding in the closet again? You know Dash is never scared when you jump out at him like that. You only piss him off.” I checked my mirrors and backed out of my parking spot.

“No. I’m not in the closet.” I heard some rustling around and then a door closed. “A social worker came to the house this morning—”

“A social worker? Why? Ooooo, does Smith have some Cajun love child? Was Dylan pissed?” I was mostly kidding.

“No. I do.”

I pulled to the shoulder, slamming on my brakes. I ignored the cars behind me as they honked on their way past. “What?!”

“Yeah. This really nice lady brought this tiny little girl to our house. And she said that this little girl, Landry, her name is Landry. Anyway, she said that Landry’s mom put my name on her birth certificate as her father.”

“Holy. Shit.” I turned the AC down. I was suddenly sweating. “Do you remember her mom?”

“Really? Of course not. I’m a horrible slut of a man.”

I couldn’t argue with that. I’d heard stories from Dylan, as well as read plenty in the gossip mags. Didn’t make me adore him any less though, nothing could.

“I did a paternity test. We won’t have the results for a couple of days. But she’s here.”

I rested my forehead against my steering wheel. “The mom?”

“No. Landry. She’s staying here, with us.”

I was silent. I didn’t know what to say to that. I was proud of him for stepping up and taking her in. But I had no words of wisdom, no advice I could dole out.

“B? You still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. I just… I mean… I have no idea what to say, Jacks.” Was it odd that part of me was jealous? Jealous of this chick who had his baby? Not that I wanted to have Jacks’s baby or anything. We were friends. Just flirty friends.

“Say you’ll come see me. Please, doll, I need you.”

His words tugged at my heart, but seeing him again in person sounded like a recipe for disaster. He had enough going on at home, and our being around each other would only complicate things. There was attraction under our friendship, no doubt about it. “Jacks…”

“You are my best friend, B. Please.”

I banged my head on the steering wheel. To top it off, Dylan had no idea I’d been talking to Jacks. “No one even knows we’re friends. My sister is going to flip shit.”

“Please, baby doll.”

Yep, I was a typical girl, pet names were my undoing. “Fine.” I put my car in drive and pulled back out onto the main road. “But you’re buying my ticket.”

“Of course! Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are going to love Landry.”

I’d literally just finished my college career an hour ago. And all of a sudden I was getting booked on a flight to Florida? This was why my friends called me flighty. This was quite possibly going to end up being a huge mistake. Jacks was charismatic and adorable and so damn attractive. I was already in lust with his personality. What was going to happen when I was staying under the same roof? I took a deep breath and straightened my spine. I would just have to stay strong, and stay focused on helping him through this. He didn’t need added stress or distractions. And I refused to lose him as a friend because we ruined it with sex. AKA, he became clingy and I got irritated.

***

Three hours later and I was at the airport, with my carry-on stowed safely in the overhead bin and my phone in my hands. I fired off a quick text to Jacks, letting him know that I had boarded, before turning it off and dropping it into my purse. This was an odd situation. Dylan had no idea that Jacks and I had become friends… I wasn’t sure how she would take it. I knew Jacks’s reputation, I knew the life he led. No one would understand our friendship; they wouldn’t think he was capable of having a girl as a friend. Which meant everyone was going to assume we were boning (his choice of words, not mine). Although my sister had hooked up with a man-whoring rock star…so it wouldn’t be fair if she got pissed about that. The problem was, Dylan had a hair-trigger temper when it came to lies and secrets. And what about this little girl? Her life had just been turned upside down. Did she really need one more person in the mix? I leaned my head back and took a deep breath. If it was anyone else asking this of me, I’d say no.

“Where you headed, gorgeous?”

I looked to my left at the man sitting next to me. He was handsome enough, in that older distinguished sort of way. He was wearing a black suit with a blood-red tie. And sporting a hefty wedding ring tan. “Florida. Just like you. Because, we’re on the same flight.”

The man’s smile never faltered. “You have beautiful eyes.”

“Yes, I know. Thank you.” I wasn’t vain, but I heard that all the time and this guy was irritating me. My best friend just found out he was a dad, I was going to have to deal with my sister’s bitch fit, and Casanova over here wanted to join the mile-high club.