Page 42 of Fateful Exposure

Not with Ashton, apparently, seeing as how you let him pummel you so hard, the baby had to have a bump on its head at this point.

I willed the voice in my head to shut up, because what did it know?

"I wasn't trying to be, Mama, but you have nothing to worry about. All in due time." If she found out I was sleeping with the man who'd gotten me pregnant, she'd grab me by the hand and offer me to him on a platter.

My words seemed to quell her apprehension, and she wrapped her arms around me, crying into my shoulder. I let her because how could I not? My mother was everything to me, and while I appreciated her sacrifices, I would make her see that, unlike her, I wasn't entirely unprepared for the throes of motherhood.

I had a job, albeit one still in the process of resuscitating, and I had some money in savings. Plus, there was Ashton, and something told me he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

I still didn't know how I felt about that, given that we'd spent the weekend together, but at the same time, we'd both carefully danced around the most enormous elephant that had ever been in a room. The plan was still to raise the baby alone, and that would not change, no matter what.

Maria came forward to wrap her arms around us, and we stayed like that for a long time, my mother crying softly, Maria sniffing, while I went through the motions.

I’d decided to keep this child, and I would, regardless of whatever anyone said. I wished the conditions had been more favorable, but they were what they were. All I wanted to do now was focus on releasing my new line, which would be ready in a few weeks, make some money, and repair the broken connections Alex and Iris's betrayal had impaired.

When that finally happened, I would look Alex in the eye and let him know that he'd made the right choice by choosing Iris, because I would never have watered myself down to become more digestible for him.

Ashton was right; he was a pussy.

seventeen

Selma

"Move your feet to the left," Ashton instructed the model-slash-influencer in front of the backdrop as he held his camera close to his left eye. "Just a little more to the left. Alright. Chin up."

The model followed his instructions, her body twisting in a manner that highlighted the piece’s essence. In his element, Ashton was a force to reckon with. He had a clear vision and was an expert at painting the image for all to see. I had no doubts he would do justice to my new line.

My designs were almost finished. Some already were. My dressmakers had been working night and day to meet the deadline so all my pieces could be ready for unveiling at Fashion Week in October.

That also brought me to another milestone: publicity. Maria had been helping me reach out to influencers with a wide social media presence, which did not come cheap because I was paying out my nose. The media had slowly picked up, talking about how I was making a comeback into the fashion industry. Some days, the blogs were mean, while other days, they were meaner.

Like Maria said, there was no such thing as bad publicity. Our unveiling strategy consisted of two methods: lookbooks and collaborations. The lookbooks would come later, once the entire unveiling had been finalized, but for now, we would be working with the influencers I'd hired to market my designs.

One of said influencers was currently being captured by Ashton, who was doing a fantastic job of making me look like a genius. I reminded myself to reward him for that later.

Speaking of rewards…Ashton and I had been having a lot of sex lately. If I weren't already pregnant, I certainly would be by now. He was insatiable, and yet I couldn't find it in me to be anything but flattered that my body drove him crazy with need.

We still hadn't spoken about the baby, and I was already two months gone. Soon, I'd start showing. While I didn't mind being pregnant, the thought of launching my designs with a baby bump visible for the whole world to see did not appeal to me. I was already a hot topic for the blogs, and finding out I was pregnant would make me the talk of the year.

Other than my mother and Maria, no one else besides Ashton knew about the baby, and I preferred to keep it that way. Once this was completed and my goals met, I would take a littlevacation to some island in a different country and have the baby there.

A small part of me wished that Ashton could be with me, holding my hand as I fought through the woes of labor. But if wishes were horses, then every fucking person would ride. Besides, I meant what I said about raising the baby alone. We might be fuck buddies, or whatever the hell we were, but that was it. Nothing more.

I was done with men—with love in general, actually—and Ashton didn't want attachments. He'd made that more than clear.

And it wasn't like I wanted him that way anyway. As I said, I was done with men. Plus, I refused to bring my baby into this world under the same circumstances that I had come into. All that negative energy was too toxic, and I would be damned if I let it affect my baby's mental health as it did mine.

Maria approached me to discuss some of her ideas. After reviewing her Instagram followers, I decided to put her in charge of handling my publicity. Not only did this save me from spending a ridiculous amount on a publicist, but any other publicist I would hire would not have a million Instagram followers.

I nodded as we discussed it, though, from the corner of my eyes, I saw Ashton engaged in what appeared to be a casual discussion with the model even as he captured her. He grinned at her, and the model giggled—She actually giggled. Watching him interact so effortlessly with her stirred a tumult of emotions within me.

I recognized the more prominent one for what it was. Jealousy, sharp and biting, reared its ugly head, clawing at the edges of my composure. Why was Ashton being overly friendly with her? It didn't seem very professional if you asked me. Why wouldn't he just do his job?

"Selma?"

I dragged my gaze back to Maria, who was staring back at me with a frown on her face.

"Selly, are you listening to me?" she asked.

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