“Does Kade know? Was it planned?”
I shake my head.
“Were you using protection?”
“The pill.”
“When are you going to tell Kade?”
I shrug.
Serena laughs and gets up from the table and comes over to hug me. “At least I get to drink two margaritas for lunch.”
I smile and lean into her chest. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m pregnant. With Kade King’s child. We are fake married. We aren’t even in a real relationship. But we are having a baby. And I have no idea how Kade is going to react when I tell him.
I’ve been avoiding Kade all day.
I’ve gone to the grocery store multiple times to pick up things I forgot on previous trips.
I went to the post office to get stamps, not that I have anything to mail.
I filled my car up with gas and drove through two separate car washes.
I thought somehow doing those mindless tasks would bring me some clarity of mind and help me figure out how to tell my fake husband we are pregnant. For real.
How do I tell a man, who thought this was nothing more than a fake arrangement, that we are now bonded together
for life, whether we want to be or not?
How do I even start that conversation?
I don’t have the answers as I slowly walk into his house. I close the door carefully, hoping if he doesn’t hear me enter, I can stall having the conversation for a little longer.
Stop being a chicken.
I clear my throat. “Kade?” I holler as I walk into the kitchen. It’s around dinner time, but he’s not in the kitchen. I hear voices down the hallway where his office is. Maybe he has a client back there, or Axel is over discussing things as they usually do?
I start walking down the hallway toward his office. I need to tell him I’m home and ask if we can chat later. Otherwise, I’ll lose my nerve again and won’t talk to him until tomorrow or the next day or the next.
My hand raises over his closed door to knock. He never closes the door, so it’s strange it’s closed now. My hand stops in midair.
“This is your child, Kade,” a woman’s voice says.
I still. Did Kade knock up more women than just me?
Kade laughs, like it’s the funniest thing in the world. “The child isn’t mine, Harlow. I can do the math. The last time we had sex was in January. This child is too young to be mine.”
“I’m filing to sue you for child support. Or you can give me five million to make this all go away. It will be far less than what I get when I win my case.”
“No. I want a paternity test, because there is no way that child is mine.” A pause. And I feel tears threatening my eyes.
“And even if the child is mine. So what? I’ll provide child support. I’ll make sure the child has the money he’s owed. But that’s it. You aren’t getting a penny of my money. I’ll make sure every penny I give you goes to the child. And even then, your child won’t inherit anything. You won’t mean anything to me. I never wanted a child. Certainly not yours.”
Tears pour out of my eyes like lava. They burn more and more, the heavier they flow out. I don’t care if he knocked up Harlow. I don’t care if he has a child other than the baby growing inside me. All I can focus on is five little words. I never wanted a child.
I force my legs to run away to my bedroom where I let all the tears fall. And in their place, the anger comes.
All the times that Kade has been a jerk to me flood my head. And most of all, the fact that even though he might feel love for me, he’s never acted on those feelings. He doesn’t want me.