“No, I just wanted to see what kind of father my child would have. And now I’m seeing you in all your true colors. So thank you.”
“Stop saying that. If you are even pregnant, we both know it’s not mine. I never have sex without a condom.”
I raised my eyebrows at him, and he waved an impatient hand through the air. “Apart from in here. I was assured you’d be on foolproof birth-control while in the mansion.”
“I am,” I sneered. “I’m already pregnant.”
“With some other man’s bastard. That you’re trying to pass off as mine. I’m not that much of a fucking idiot. You think desperate whores haven’t tried to target me before?”
Desperate who—
“You self-entitled son of a bitch!”
He wasn’t the only one who could get pissed. “I didn’t know who you were that night at the bar! And guess what, Mr. I’m Always So Responsible, you didn’t wear a condom that night. You didn’t even bother to ask me for one, either. We were both drunk off our asses and so damn hot for each other, we barely got into my apartment before you had me shoved up against the wall with your dick in me. Remember that? Oh, right, no, you don’t. Doesn’t stop it from being any less true. Especially since your little seed dump in my vag resulted in a freaking kid. And wasn’t that a delightful little surprise to discover six weeks later.”
He’d pulled back and crossed his arms over his chest, his face an ice sculpture. “Are you done?” he asked coolly.
“Am I done?” I asked, getting more pissed the calmer he went. “No, no I’m not. Because after I found out who you were, I tried to call you. But guess who wouldn’t put through the call of some nobody who claimed they’d once had a date with you. In fact, turns out you’re fucking impossible to get to. Mr. Untouchable. But I was goddamned sure my kid wasn’t gonna grow up like me. Or get taken away from me, either. They’re going to have their father’s last name and the life they deserve, and I’m going to be their mother.”
Beau’s control snapped, and it was a beautiful thing to observe. His finger came out and he pointed it right in my face. “Then I guess you better go to the bar and assault the bouncer or the bartender or whoever else you fucked since it seems to be so easy to get between those legs of yours.”
I fucking slapped him.
Hard.
And when I reared back to slap him a second time, his own hand shot out and snatched my arm by the wrist again.
I pulled against him, but he was strong and when he wouldn’t let go, I was stuck there, arm in the air, held in his iron grip.
“You’re the only one I’ve slept with in the last year, you stupid fucking bastard!”
His eyes widened at that and his grip loosened. I yanked my arm back and he let me go. I stormed away from him but didn’t get two steps before he was stopping me again.
His grip wasn’t as firm this time, and I immediately yanked away. His features were confused, cautious, and it was not a normal look on the usually confident Beau’s face.
“Say you’re telling the truth…” He drifted off like he couldn't even finish the thought, it was that incomprehensible.
I shook my head in disgust at him. “Jesus Christ, do you think I’m stupid? I know you’ll want DNA testing to prove the baby’s yours. And you can have that. All the tests you want. Because I know what they’ll say. Do you think I would fucking come here and do all this if I weren’t sure you were the father?” I waved at the mansion around us.
I guess that was when it really hit, because Beau blinked, and took a stumbling step backwards, then blinked some more. “A baby? I’m going to be a dad?”
He ran his hand through his hair, still looking like he’d just been hit by the Mack truck of all news. Which I guess he had.
“Yeah,” I huffed out a sardonic laugh. “I wasn’t exactly ready for the news either. I never thought I’d—”
But then my hands went to my waist. It was still flat, but sometimes at night I would lie down and touch my tummy and just imagine the little being in there. The heartbeat thrumming away. What it would feel like to hold a baby in my arms in less than seven months. My son or daughter.
I still could barely wrap my head around it.
Jesus, I was gonna screw this kid up. I probably already was doing a bang up job of it. I looked over at Beau. He was still blinking, his mouth opening and closing like he was about to say something, but then his eyes would twitch again, and he’d stay silent. It was like watching a robot short-circuit. I could all but see the readout flashing across his forehead: Does not compute! Does not compute!