“I’m not talking to you,” Simon said, turning to close the door, but Logan stepped forward and planted his palm against the wood.
“What did you think was going to happen here?” Logan asked. “You ran off with the pregnant daughter of a very wealthy man. Did you think her family would just ignore that?”
“Who are you?” Simon demanded.
“A friend of Melanie’s. Now, you can talk with me right now, or I can call the cops. Her father is arriving tomorrow. You aren’t getting away with this for long.”
At the mention of her father, Simon sighed and let go of the door. “Fine. Whatever. But if you try and hit me or anything—”
“Do I look like some hired thug?” Logan chuckled. “I’m Mel’s friend. That’s it. And I have a kid a bit older than you, so I might have more insight than you think.”
Simon didn’t answer, and when Logan stepped into the hotel room, he saw clothes scattered about, some food packaging on the floor. Was he used to someone else cleaning up after him?
“So what’s your best-case scenario here?” Logan asked, tossing a backpack off the seat of a chair and easing into it.
“What?” Simon squinted at him.
“All of this—taking off with her. What are you hoping to accomplish here?” Logan asked.
“I don’t know. I’m the father of that baby—”
“Yeah, which means absolutely nothing until that baby is born,” Logan replied. “And even then, you won’t have any more rights to Tilly than you do now.”
“I’m not forcing her to do anything!” Simon said. “She wanted to leave. I picked her up. Sort of like what’s happening here. She called you, and you came.”
“I heard about the way you talk to her,” Logan said.
“So? What did you even hear?”
“Complaining about her gaining weight—”
“Melanie?” Simon asked, his lips turning up in a sneer. “She misunderstood. I don’t know what your problem is.”
“So what did you mean by it?” Logan asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t even remember what I said.”
This was going to be a pointless conversation, Logan could already tell. The kid would just deny, deny, deny and then go home to his rich parents and tell them how awful that man had been to him. And Logan had no desire to have a pack of lawyers on his back.
“So you’re going to be a father,” Logan said.
Simon blinked. “I guess. I mean, she’s pregnant, so...”
“How are you going to support her?” Logan asked.
“I don’t know. We have money,” Simon replied. “We don’t exactly worry about that kind of thing the way people on your level do.”
“I mean, long term,” Logan pressed, ignoring the rudeness. “I assume you’re planning on going to college after you graduate high school, right? I mean, your dad might insist upon that. By the time you graduate with a degree, you’ll be twenty-two, and the baby will be about four. You’ll have to be thinking about schools then, too.”
Simon didn’t answer, but some of the attitude drained from his expression.
“If you’re planning on getting married, then you’ll have to be thinking ahead. Her dad is pretty protective of her, I hear. And marrying a girl doesn’t cut her away from her family. You’ll have to think about her relationship with your in-laws starting now. Because all of this—they’re going to remember it.”
“Her dad isn’t even in the country,” Simon replied.
“And while he was gone, you hounded her about gaining pregnancy weight,” Logan said.
“I didn’t do that!”
“But you care, right?” Logan met Simon’s gaze. “You don’t want her getting fat, right?”
“She doesn’t have to,” Simon said peevishly.
Yeah, that’s what Logan thought, and he had to quash the urge to smack the kid. He wasn’t anywhere near ready to be a father and husband, or even a boyfriend.
“So what’s your plan?” Logan asked again. “Are you getting married?”
“I don’t know. Not yet. She might get an abortion.”
“Hmm.” He wasn’t sure if that was coming from Simon or Tilly. “So...you’d prefer that?”
“Yeah, I’d prefer that! I’m seventeen! I’m not ready for all that responsibility. I’m taking a gap year to travel when I graduate and—”
“Not if you’ve got a baby, you aren’t,” Logan said with a short laugh. “What, you’re going to reappear after a year and think everything is going to be fine? Look, I’m going to be straight with you, because I don’t know you or your family. Right now, this has all been really intense and probably pretty scary. But the next time Tilly calls someone for help, it might not be us, it might be the cops.”
“I didn’t hit her or anything!” Simon said, his voice rising.
“You’re treating her badly,” Logan said. “You’re being mean. You’re trying to control her, and you’re taking out your anger on her. That kind of behavior is generally described as abuse. Now, you’re growing up in the age of the internet, so it shouldn’t surprise you to know that ten or fifteen years from now, Tilly could be online telling the story of the father of her child—how mean he was, the things he said when he was angry, how he made her feel. And that’s going to reflect on you. Professionally, personally...and you’re going to look back on this and wish you’d behaved better.”
Simon didn’t answer, but his gaze flickered toward the window.
“You can’t cut her off from her family, and I think you know that. I don’t think you even want to do that. And whatever little joyride you thought you were going to have while her dad was out of the country has gotten severely out of hand.”
“Yeah...” Simon breathed.
“And whether Tilly has this baby or not, you’re going to have to look her father in the face. You made a baby, and you’re going to have to answer for your behavior. Don’t make this worse than it already is.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Simon said, his voice catching.
“First of all, you can encourage Tilly to come home with us,” Logan said. “Then you can have a
