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"It’s not your fault, Shane, though what is also poorly ti to be wondering if she knows, and considering this is your mother, she’ll just tell me"

"You don’t have to do the ‘"

"Have you told youryour nite the chase with her"

"You figured her out pretty fast"

"She’s not hard to figure out, but I should probably go get o to the aparts What ti it to you before you leave"

"One, but I can walk doith you"

"I’ll be back long before you leave" I study her for a few beats, a that has happened this past week "But again, you don’t have to play nice with my mother"

"You said that And contrary to the example I just set, I can handle myself just fine And I’ll be ready for Derek next tirab her and kiss her, but instead I say, "Call me if you need me"

"And you callyou sixty seconds after you left my office" I wink and push off the desk at about the same moment my father rounds the corner, the two of us stand toe-to-toe

"Did you look at the paperwork I had E you?" he asks, as if the encounter in Derek’s office never happened

"Is that a bribe or an offering to Mike?"

"In my office," he says, and he starts to walk aroundanymore," I say "Not to your office Not to hell"

I suck in air and he levels me with a stare "In my office, son" He turns and walks into his office, and that’s when the hacking ensues Deep, gut-wrenching hacking I can feel E me to follow him into the office Da al in his bloodshot stare I shut the door and he blasts me "We don’t talk this kind of business in front of others Even if you’re fucking her"

He’s volatile in a way I do not know him to be Vile, yes Rude, yes But not volatile

"That proposal," he continues, "offered you good, clean business the way you like it"

"But what you’re using it for isn’t good and clean, now is it?"

"Why will it one?"