Blowing Him Off

LAYTON

Brice Peterson’s jaw hardened and his shoulders tensed. Nothing in his fancy office with his multi-million dollar view over lower Manhattan could save him from his past. I was here to make sure he knew that.

In his tailored three piece suit with his blond hair slicked back, he looked every inch the high priced lawyer he had become after our paths diverged after high school. Plenty of jokes about how lawyers were scummy people in one way or another crept into my mind.

The difference was that Brice really was a scummy person, as I’d found out less than twenty-four hours ago. His name wasn’t one I ever expected to hear again, much less in the context of him having fathered a little girl I had grown fond of, with a woman I was falling for.

“What did you say?” Anger and suspicion flashed in his green eyes, but he smoothed it away so fast I would have missed it if I hadn’t been waiting for it.

Looking right into his eyes, I repeated, “I wanted to talk to you about Marissa Hughes.”

Ma