Page 66 of The Deadbeat DILF
Mike, like me, was twenty-nine. It was a bit odd he still lived with his mother, but I remembered from college that she’d always been the overprotective kind.
“Mom, why are they here?” Mike asked.
“They’re threatening us,” Emily announced. Her fury from before disappeared, and suddenly, she looked like a weak, vulnerable woman. She clutched at her son’s hands, squeezing them tight. “They’re trying to sue us for money.”
“We’re not trying to sue,” I started to explain patiently. “Rather, we want to amend —”
“Brooke,” Mike interrupted. “Why are you here?” His voice was cold.
“She’s his lawyer,” Noel said.
“You know her?” Emily asked at the same time.
Mike nodded. “She’s my ex-girlfriend from college.”
There was a moment of silence as Emily turned to me, gaze running up and down critically. “I thought you looked familiar,” she said.
“And she’s not his lawyer,” Mike continued, voice filled with disgust. “She’s his girlfriend.”
Everything got very chaotic, very fast. Suddenly, everyone was shouting over each other, and it was hard to understand what was being said.
“I thought you were his lawyer,” Noel demanded. “Are you lying to us? That’s against the law, isn’t it?”
“Your girlfriend?” Emily said, face screwing up with revulsion. “Someone this young? You’resick.”
“I told you to stay away from him,” Mike said to me. “I warned you, he’s bad news.”
“I remember you,” Emily said. “I remember you from college. You wanted to go to law school, to be a lawyer. Looks what you got what you wanted, right? Well, guess what. I wanted that too. But that man took my dreams from me.” She glared at Robert.
If Emily was anyone else, I would have felt bad she didn’t get to pursue her career dreams. But in that moment, I didn’t have any sympathy for her. She was trying to make me feel guiltyfor achieving my goals, just like my family. I was sick of being shamed for chasing and getting what I wanted.
I turned to look at Robert. He reached out to squeeze my hand under the table, and like that, the rest of the world evaporated, the shouts and the yells muted.
“Let’s go,” he murmured.
I nodded. We’d said our piece. If we stayed, the fighting would never end.
We stood up, and that made Emily, Noel, and Mike go quiet. As we headed towards the front door, Emily called out. “Where do you think you’re going?”
I looked at her over my shoulder. “We’re leaving,” I said. “But don’t get the wrong idea — we will fight for what Robert rightfully deserves. Not only did you steal his money, you broke the spirit of a good man. He would’ve given you the world if you hadn’t spat in his face.” I glanced over at Mike, then back at Emily. “You should be honest with your son too. Everyone deserves to know the truth.”
With that, we walked out of the house, holding hands. My heart pounded wildly as adrenaline coursed through my veins, and once we were outside, with the front door closing behind us, I fought the urge to sink to my feet.
That had been intense.
Robert held my hand all the way to the car. Once inside, he turned it on and drove down the street. Neither of us spoke.
Finally, he parked on a random street, cut the engine, then turned to me.
Before I could say anything, he crashed his lips against mine. He cupped my face and pecked my lips again, a big grin lingering on his face. “You were perfect.”
“Youwere,” I said, resting my hands on his arms. Touching his skin helped me relax after everything that had happened.“The way you were so calm, and how you held your ground. The stuff you said to Noel about your leftovers.”
Robert chuckled softly. “I know it got a bit heated. I wasn’t expecting Mike to show up. I wish he hadn’t seen that.”
“Maybe it’ll help him open his eyes,” I said. “The main thing is that we’ve let Emily and Noel know that we’ve caught them.”
He kissed my forehead. “Thank you for standing up for me, Brooke. It means so much to me.”
