Page 20 of Desire

“She was pissed and threatened to have an abortion. I pleaded with her not to, and she eventually agreed. She didn’t fuck with me during the entire pregnancy, and I only saw her at doctor’s appointments. It wasn’t ideal, but I figured we respected each other enough to have a good co-parenting relationship once she had the baby.”

“What happened?”

“After giving birth, she wanted nothing to do with Azaria. She barely looked at her, let alone breast or bottle feed her. However, I got her to agree to stay with me for a few weeks after they were released from the hospital. My mother had come over to help out, and one morning, she came rushing into my bedroom with some documents in her hand. Iris had signed over her rights and left in the middle of the night.”

“That’s unbelievable. Did you look for her?”

“Nah.”

“Really? You don’t want to know why she left or if she’s alive and well?”

“I don’t wish her any ill will, but her whereabouts and reasons for leaving aren’t my concern. I had my lawyer look over the paperwork before I signed it and had him file it in the courts. I’ve been raising Ria alone ever since, and of course, my family helps when they can.”

“Wow, that’s a lot to deal with.”

“Yeah, it is, but I manage. So, do you still believe all the rumors you heard about me?”

She giggled. “Maybe not all of them, but I’ve seen pictures in the blogs of you and a parade of women.”

“A parade of women? Let’s not exaggerate. First of all, I’m running a whole city and my own businesses. I don’t have time to date.”

“That may be true, but every time you’re photographed, it’s with a different woman.”

“Can I tell you a secret?”

“Of course.”

“Whenever I attend an event that requires a date, I use an escort service.”

“Why? I’m sure there are plenty of women who’d drop everything to go on a date with you.”

“Possibly, but with the escort service, they know it’s business, and there are no expectations beyond the night. Plus, if I’m seen more than once with a woman, the rumors start flying about us being a couple, and I wanted to avoid that.”

“I guess that makes sense, but now, the city thinks you’re for the streets.”

I nodded. “True, and apparently, it’s affecting my voter support.”

“How so?”

“I didn’t win the last election by a very large margin. I need to appeal to people with families and single mothers.”

“I can understand why family-oriented people might not vote for a single man who appears to be for streets, but I’m surprised you don’t have support from single mothers, especially being a single father.”

“I’m surprised by that, too, but that’s what the data tells us.”

We sat quietly for a few moments before Desire spoke again.

“Did you do this to win votes?”

I planned to tell her but wondered if she would put it together.

“My assistant presented me with the idea, and since you weren’t giving me the time of day, I figured why not.”

She smacked her lips, and I imagined she followed up with an eye roll before saying, “Today is a new day, so please stop bringing up old stuff. We ended up together anyway, and since you claim there’s no such thing as a coincidence, things happened the way they were supposed to.”

“That’s facts, baby. If they had matched me with someone else, I’d still fantasize about you every night.”

“It’s a good thing it all worked out because she wouldn’t have deserved that.”

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