Jerk It (Madd CrossFit 2)

I didn’t know what to say to that.

“He hasn’t slept through the night with me in his life,” she whispered. “Yet for you and Fran? It’s like magic. He sleeps through the night.”

“Maybe he just wakes up and needs you. Did you ever think of that?” I wondered.

She snorted. “That’s not what happens. When he wakes up, he stays screaming until I can give him a bottle. When he has the bottle, he holds it. When he’s done, he throws it to the floor and turns away from me before falling back to sleep.”

I groaned.

Vlad sure wasn’t making this any easier.

“Your kid is a baby. He literally has no idea what he’s doing,” I pushed.

She sniffled and turned her head away.

She wasn’t crying any longer, but her breath was still hitching, like she could restart at any second.

“My grandmother expressed interest in seeing him after their chance meeting,” she grumbled.

I stilled. “You don’t want her to?”

She shrugged. “She made me choose. My inheritance or Vlad. I chose Vlad. Just because he’s cute now, and she feels bad because of how it’ll make her look, is the only reason that she wants anything to do with him.”

Anger started to simmer in my gut.

I moved over her, my knees straddling her hips, and moved her body until she was facing me directly.

Her eyes were swollen and puffy, and deep bags stretched down to her cheeks from underneath her eyes.

“If you need money, I’ll give you some,” I told her bluntly. “If you don’t want to see her, I’ll help.”

Her shoulders sank into the bed, as her face lost some of the tenseness.

“I don’t need money,” she explained. “Would it be nice? Yes. But I don’t need it. Not anymore. Now that I’m working this new job, I have plenty. The only thing I was worried about was paying for school. I figured that out.”

I thought about it for a moment, wondering if I should say what I wanted to say next.

Pressing both fists into the bed on either side of her head, I leaned down and looked her directly in the eyes before I said, “Vlad’s father. Is he around?”

She snorted. “Hardly. I told him about Vlad. He said, and I quote, to ‘get rid of it.’ Instead, I chose to keep him. And fibbed a little bit on the birth certificate.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “What exactly does that mean?”

She looked a little wary then.

“Oh, nothing.” She shrugged.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Why do I feel like you did something you shouldn’t have? And that something includes me?”

She batted her eyelashes at me, then bit her lip for good measure.

I brought my thumb to her lip and pulled down lightly, causing her to let go of her teeth.

“If I tell you, you have to promise not to be mad,” she pleaded.

I shook my head. “I can’t promise that. I’m a little bit hot-headed when it comes to you.”

She snorted, bringing her hands up from between my thighs and pressing her hands to her face with a groan.

“Vlad’s father is Bayne Green,” she said through her hands. “He has a lot of money. More money than I can count. I had to do something that would make it easier.”

“Make what easier?” I pulled her hands from her face and pushed them both up and over her head.

I knew the name.

The country singer, Green, had come from our small hole in the wall Texas town, and had blown up overnight.

He was now so damn popular that he had women coming from everywhere saying that he was their baby daddy.

So I had a feeling that Green wouldn’t notice another ‘supposed’ kid running around.

But whatever Mavis had done meant that he might not be thinking that.

“And…” I urged.

“If I tell you, will you promise me that you won’t yell?” she asked, once again biting her lip.

I thought about the answer for a long moment before saying, “I promise I’ll hear you out before I yell.”

She sighed. “Good enough.”

I waited, and she rolled her eyes.

“In the beginning, when I tried to tell Bayne that I might be pregnant, he said to ‘get rid of it.’ When I pushed, he sent me a list of abortion clinics.” She drew in a deep breath as anger started to simmer down deep. “So I know someone down at the courthouse.” She continued, “And I won’t be telling you her name. Because that’s just not nice. Anyway, I might or might not have forged your signature.”

I tilted my head. “For what?”

“In the state of Texas, you are legally Vlad’s father because I signed your name to the birth certificate.”

I sighed and bent down until my head was close to hers.

Then I kissed her.

Because it was either do that or throttle the holy hell out of her.

When I pulled back, both of us were panting heavily.