Jeffrey peered at Everett whose expression had soured and instinctively followed his gaze.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Uh... Your rival, man, he's really laying it on thick! His crush on Dorothy is practically neon-sign obvious." Everett frowned, dragging his gaze back and shot Jeffrey a look. "Shut up." Jeffrey grabbed the pack of cigarettes, lit one up, and didn't bother getting into the car. He just stood there taking a few drags.
"Seriously though, you throwing in the towel on Dorothy?" Everett's fingers paused on his laptop, his voice barely audible.
"Yeah." "Ha," Jeffrey chuckled, "Everett, buddy, ask yourself, can you really handle it if one day Dorothy falls for Kenneth and ends up marrying him?" Everett's handsome face tightened, lips pressed into a thin line, "She won't end up with Kenneth." "Then what the hell are you doing here? The Lopez Corporation run out of people?” A private detective could've done the job cheap and easy. Why would Everett, the big boss of the Lopez Corporation, drop his billion-dollar deals to camp out in front of this apartment complex all day? "Jeffrey, you got a death wish?" "Not really." Jeffrey took one last puff and flicked the cigarette butt away, bending down to Everett's level, "I got played with the whole Paige thing. That kid ain't mine; she's Arthur's! He got me hammered and set the whole thing up. Lucky for me, Arthur's got a thing for Paige, or she would've ended up in my bed for real!" "And then?" "Aren't you worried that one day, Kenneth might pull a similar stunt and get Dorothy drunk?" With Kenneth's stubborn streak, it was clear he wasn't just any guy.
Who else would willingly look after Dorothy's kids with another man for years? How many men could do that? Now that Dorothy's back on the market and Everett's apparently out of the picture, wouldn't Kenneth be over the moon? Who's to say he won't make his move, turn the tables, and if that happens, the one losing his mind would probably be Everett! "Jeffrey, what's between me and Dorothy... it's not as simple as you and Karen." "Of course, | know that!" This was a matter of life and death, and Dorothy's own mother was involved, "So I'm asking you, can you really handle it if Dorothy ends up with someone else? Okay, maybe not Kenneth, but there are plenty of other guys out there. She can't be expected to live alone forever, right?" Everett lowered his eyelashes, the reflection of Ken's figure in the rear-view mirror now gone.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Then | hope she finds a good man." "Damn, you're serious this time?" "Yeah." Jeffrey nodded, "Alright, fine!" With that, he moved to open the car door.
Everett raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing?" Why was he getting in the car? Shouldn't he be off wooing Karen? "Man, Kenneth just went up! You think | should go after Karen now?" "You scared of him?" "Scared! He's your rival; you can step on him and nobody would bat an eye. But he's Karen's cousin. She treated him like a brother!" Jeffrey wouldn't dare cross him! Dorothy had been in touch with lawyers all day but with little progress.
One was close to saying yes, but somehow, in the end, backed out.
When Kenneth knocked on her door, Dorothy was in the kitchen cooking up some comfort food for Karen, who was feeling sleepy with the pregnancy. She didn't want to disturb her.
Quickly wiping her hands, Dorothy went to answer the door, and upon seeing Kenneth, she paused, "Kenneth?" "| tried calling you. You didn't pick up, and | was worried something happened to you guys."