I spotted Gray in the bar before he saw me.

He was clearly drunk. Way more blitzed than me. I was surprised the guy was able to stay upright and vertical on his barstool.

I walked up to Gray and started flirting with him.

Shamelessly so.

Not because I was attracted to him, mind you.

Quite the opposite.

I never liked the bastard for what he did to Gracie, and alcohol tended to bring out the bully in me.

At the moment, I had admit, I was bullying him, testing him—

To see if I could tempt him into making a move on me—

So I could finally prove to Gracie, once and for all, what a typical, unspecial male piece of garbage he really was—

So my sister could finally move the fuck on from their sad, pathetic past—

To my annoyance, Gray didn't seem too interested in me. Gracie, Gracie, Gracie was all that seemed to circle around his mind. My sister was the only person he cared about.

The fucking simp.

Tipsily, as though on cue, Gray slurred at me, inquiring after his precious Gracie, "So... how's my Gracie doing? Is she... still living... her best life... with that shithead?"

I laughed. "Shithead? You mean, Craig? Oh, baby, didn't you hear? They called off their engagement a long time ago..."

Gray's reaction to this news was immediate.

His big body tensed up as he exclaimed a bit too loudly, "What? They called off their engagement?"

I responded to him, but he didn't seem to hear a word I said. For a minute or two, Gray simply sat before me, lost in some kind of stupor. His gray eyes were glazed over. Shock and distress twisted his handsome features.

His mind appeared to be... buffering?

Suddenly, Gray's gaze locked onto me, honing in on my lips like a homing missile. I gasped when, out of nowhere, he reached over and cupped his hands around my face.

Then, he teetered towards me—

And kissed me.

He fucking kissed me.

Gray kissed me so passionately that I almost forgot that I wanted nothing to do with him. That I was still stupidly in love Andreas. That I was still pregnant with Andreas' child. That Andreas was still the Chief of Medicine at my hospital. That he was still married as fuck with two kids.

Unlike Gray, Andreas was no simp.

The fucker wasn't willing to leave his wife and children for me, and he definitely didn't want anything to do with me or our baby anymore. His career would never live down the scandal, and nothing was more important to him than his professional reputation. The two of us were similar in this way. I couldn't even bring myself to hate him for it because I would've done the same damn thing in his position.

God.

Oh, God.

Oh, God.

Now—it was my turn to spiral over the sorry state of my own fucked up life.

Andreas had been pressuring me to get an abortion, but I wanted to keep our baby. It was all I had left of him. Of us. But I wasn't ready to be a mother. My career needed to come first. I didn't have time to take care of a newborn.

I needed help.

I needed Gracie.

I needed my sister.

She was always there for me when I needed her.

I didn't know how to go to Gracie for help, though. She would definitely ask about the father, and I refused to say anything about Andreas that might cause him any problems. He could get me fired from the hospital. He could ruin my career before it even began.

Fuck, I shouldn't have drank that last glass of wine.

Silently, I vowed that glass of wine would be my final drink over the next nine months. No more alcohol after tonight. I had a baby, after all, to worry about now.

Still, it was getting harder and harder to think clearly. To make good choices. This entire night was bringing out the worst in me. My heart throbbed with pain, with shame, as Gray continued to kiss me. Right as I was about to shove Gray aside, he beat me to the punch and pulled away first.

Eyes wide, panic and remorse shone from his features.

He began apologizing profusely, "Sorry, sorry. Oh, fuck. Shit. I'm so sorry, Lydia. I don't know what the hell got into me..."

A second later, Gray nearly face-planted off of his barstool. He started stumbling towards the exit.

Talking more to himself than anyone else, he mumbled, "I-I gotta get outta... here. I've had too much to drink. Fuck!"

I was slightly more sober than Gray, sober enough to see that he was in no condition to drive.

Reluctantly, I shuffled after him and demanded, "Give me your keys, Gray. Neither of us should be driving tonight."

He glanced over his shoulder at me and blinked like an idiot. "Huh?"

I reached over to snatch his keys from his pocket. "Wait here. I'm getting us an Uber."

At first, Gray did as he was told, staying put and swaying back and forth beside me as I pulled out my phone to call the Uber. During the two minutes it took me to request a ride, Gray vanished like an unsupervised toddler who had wandered away in a grocery store.

God, I was so fucking annoyed with this dude.

What did Gracie even see in him?

I came here tonight to nurse my own broken heart. I didn't sign up to babysit his dumb ass all evening.

Ugh!

Fifteen minutes later, I finally located Gray in the men's restroom. After storming into one of the stalls, I yanked Gray out of the restroom and herded his oversized, intoxicated ass into our Uber driver's car.

Climbing into the backseat next to him, I hissed, "What's your address, dipshit?"

Gray shrugged and muttered, "Dunno."

I tried again, "Where do you live?"

"It doesn't matter. Nothing matters anymore," he sighed.

My patience was running very thin. I no longer cared that Gray was a trained killer. An active member of the Marine Corps.

I was about ready to strangle this man!

With a huff of intense frustration, I argued, "It does matter!"

He closed his eyes. "Gracie is so fucking pretty."

I growled, "Dude, focus!"

"I miss her so much."

"Oh, fuck off."

Then, he had the audacity to pass out on me.

From there, I had no choice but to bring him back to my apartment for the night. When we arrived at my complex, Gray had sobered up just enough to fall out of the Uber car, stagger into my apartment while using me as a crutch, and pass out on my bed the moment his body hit the mattress.

I glared at the unconscious Gray-shaped lump on my bed. He was huge. His long, muscled limbs were sprawled out obnoxiously across the entire surface, leaving no room for me.

Where the hell was I supposed to sleep now?

As I continued to stew in the darkness of my bedroom, a burst of inspiration hit me.

I edged closer to Gray. To study him. To really study him. Upon closer inspection, it occurred to me that he looked very much like Andreas. They shared a similar height and build. Similar complexion and facial features, too.

A solution to my problems suddenly presented itself, and I couldn't help jumping at the opportunity to kill several birds with one stone. It was truly a perfect opportunity to rally Gracie to my side and force my sister to let go of her foolish feelings for Gray.

Win-win, right?

Immediately, I rushed over to strip Gray down to his underwear.

Then, I grabbed an extra pillow and blanket for myself and plodded into the living room to sleep on the couch.

Tomorrow morning, I intended to tell Gray that we had slept together. He was probably too blacked out to remember anything, anyway. He would believe me.

I did a quick calculation of my due date from today's date. Yes, the timing would work out. The baby might arrive a bit "early" but not early enough to rouse suspicion.

Later, I'd be able to tell Gray that Andreas' baby was actually—his.

Gray probably wouldn't want anything to do with the baby, either. He would likely choose walk away. Just like he chose to walk away from Gracie.

No harm, no foul in using him, right?

This way, once I turned to Gracie for help with the baby, she would hate Gray forever for fucking me. Such a betrayal would rinse him from her system for good.

In a way, I was doing her a favor.

I climbed onto the couch. Exhaustion crept over me, but I couldn't seem to fall asleep. Not yet. A silver of guilt gnawed at my conscience. I felt bad about screwing over Gracie and Gray, but, at the end of the day, there was too much at stake, and I knew my sister would forgive me.

Because Gracie always forgave me.