Tainted Gold (Providence Gold 3)

Thankfully, the doctor had given me something for the nausea, and started me on prenatal vitamins. Sure, I’d been in shock, but the next day when the lovely woman with the horse-cock sized probe had shoved it up my vagina and shown me my baby, there was no question over whether or not I was keeping it. It had looked like a little penguin with a big fat belly, but it was my baby penguin. Well, and Tate’s, but I needed to figure out how I was going to break the news to him.

Obviously, from his lack of appearance, I was the only one who’d had feelings involved that night. However, I was twenty-two years old, I owned a successful business, I had stability, I had maturity, and I was fully capable of raising a baby on my own if Tate didn’t want to be involved.

I just had to figure out how to break the news to him. I was only seven weeks pregnant, which was strange because apparently you got two weeks free in pregnancy which I hadn’t known, so I had a minimum of thirty weeks to tell him. I would have preferred it was thirty years, but that was still plenty of time.

Which brought me to now, serving a beer while my best friend Beau sat waiting for me at a table.

I’d met her when I’d first moved here, and we’d become friends after first, “Hey bitch, I need a drink.” Her real name was Silver, and her sister’s name was Diamond, but they both went by their middle names of Isabeau and Vivienne, or Beau and Vivi. Their mom was originally from Mexico, but she’d moved to Texas with her mother when she was a baby. Their father was half American and half Chinese, so both women were stunning with unusual features that just added to their beauty. Long thick blue black hair that was straighter than any pair of straighteners could ever have made mine, almond-shaped eyes in a hazel brown color, curvy bodies that even the most iconic pin-up girl would have been jealous of, and plump lips that women paid thousands for and prayed they didn’t go wrong.

Me, on the other hand, I had blonde hair that came to my shoulders, otherwise I had to spend hours to get it to look even semi-decent. At this length, I didn’t get pain in my neck, and it only took me a maximum of an hour with my straighteners to make it look presentable. I had a big butt, a small waist, and boobs. I was five foot two too, so it made the butt and boobs look even bigger.

Holy shit, being pregnant was going to make me look like an infinity symbol – bulges both ends, and tucked in at the middle. Well, until the middle popped too, and then I’d look like a DNA with three helix’s on it.

And on that depressing thought, I picked up my grape juice and walked over to where Beau was waiting on me, glaring at a tall guy over my shoulder.

“Who’s that?” I asked, sitting down on the chair opposite her and taking another look at the guy.

“Rich Suave,” she growled, narrowing her eyes at him. “He works for the Townsends.”

“Did he run over your dog?” I questioned, leaning slightly to the side in case I got caught in the crossfire. Flicking her laser beams to me, she gave one shake of her head and then focused them back on him. “Your cat?” This time she didn’t bother looking at me when she shook her head. “Eat your goldfish?”

When I got no answer, I sipped my grape juice and grimaced. I’d never been fond of sweet juices, even when I was a kid, and this shit was God awful. It had said it had extra vitamins in it though which is why I’d gotten it, hoping they’d help the baby so it came out like an Avenger. I wasn’t sure if I could drink stuff like this for another seven months, though. Or was it eight? Holy shit, I didn’t even know how long I was going to be pregnant for! If it went to plan, I had another thirty-three weeks left. Let’s say there were four weeks in a month, that meant I had eight months and one week left to go.

I could hear some sort of argument going on behind me, but I was too busy triple checking my math with my fingers and toes involved when Beau asked me a question, so I answered without thinking.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m counting how much longer I’ve got left until this baby shoots out of my vagina.”

The sound of chairs screeching on the wooden floors was loud, but apparently not loud enough for Beau to not hear what I’d said. Either that, or she could read lips.