Page 23 of Fateful Exposure

"With her," I cut in with a frown.

"Semantics. You agreed to work with or for her without pay, which you never do, by the way, and now she's carrying your baby, oh, and all of a sudden, you want to be in the child's life? How many women can you think of right now that you would be comfortable doing all this shit with?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Was Milo right? I shook my head. Of course not. The only things I felt toward Selma were hatred and fierce sexual attraction. Beyond that, she was merely another woman in passing.

And my relationship with women over the years has been fleetingly casual. I didn't do any of that romance bullshit, and I didn't sleep with a woman more than once. That was my rule. Come in, get fucked, get out. No sleepovers, no promises, no expectations.

Every single woman I'd been with knew that—well, not Selma, because that part of the conversation never came up. There was also that little peculiarity of me still wanting her after the first time.

Fuck that.Selma was no different from the other women I'd been with, and my wanting to fuck her a second time meant nothing. There was always a first time for everything. Milo had no idea what he was talking about.

I glared at him. "You need to shut up once in a while, motherfucker. You talk too much."

"And you can’t talk at all because you know one of us is right, and it's not you," he responded cheekily, obviously enjoying that he was getting on my nerves.

"Suck a dick."

"I would for the right price," he grinned, extending his bottle toward me in a ‘cheers’ gesture. I growled at him, causing him to laugh.

"Aw, don't be sour, sweetie," he cooed. "Think about it like you'll finally have some responsibility in your life."

"You act like a fucking child. That's responsibility enough."

He chuckled, changing the subject to a recent gig he did in London, but I wasn't listening. I was too busy thinking about what he'd said.

While having kids had never been something I wanted because I'd spent a long time being surrounded by them, and all they did was whine and cry and ask for food, I didn't have it in me to walk away from Selma and the child that was growing in her womb.

I'd never gotten parental love, and I would be damned if I let my child come into this harsh world under the same circumstances that I had. Unlike what I'd told Selma earlier, I wouldn't fight with her over the child. But I was going to make sure she never had an opportunity to run or hide from me again.

Whether she liked it or not, I would play an active role in my child's life, and that was final.

ten

Selma

It’d been three days since the fiasco with Ashton in my office. In that time, he hadn't made an appearance. For the first two days, I'd prevented myself from wondering if he had come in and was just avoiding me, but today, my curiosity got the better of me.

Rose confirmed that he was a no-show. A prickly sense of unease coiled up my spine to rest in the pit of my stomach.

What is he doing? Why hasn't he come?

Was he really planning to make good on his threat? My heart raced with fear. Would he really take my child away from me? I didn't want to think about it.

I sighed, leaning back against my chair. Even the sight of my newly decorated office couldn't heighten my spirits. There was a lot I didn't want to think about. One of them was how to break the news to my mother.

She would scold the shit out of me for getting pregnant out of wedlock like she had, which was completely understandable because she didn't want me to suffer like she had. Still, at the same time, she would be beside herself with glee at the thought of becoming a grandmother.

She already fawned over me like a four-year-old needing constant attention. It would multiply a thousandfold once she learned I was pregnant.

I sighed again. Everything was going to shit. Maria, bless her heart, was helping me with publicity for my new line. According to her, the reception was better than she expected. I still didn't know what that meant. I did plan to get a PR team but doing that at such an early stage would be a terrible idea, seeing as I was pressed for funds.

However, I was skeptical that Alex and Iris's damage to my reputation could be resolved by merely hiring a few people to pretend to be excited about my new line.

There was also the issue of putting up with Ashton indefinitely. If three days ago taught me anything, it was that being close to him made my brain fuzzy and set my body on fire. He was trouble, and the further away from him I stayed, the better it was for me.

Except that he was my photographer for the next few months, and staying away from him was absurd. However, it wasn't impossible. I didn't have to see him other than during working hours. And when the child was born, there could be a stipulated timetable that didn't require physical contact.

For example, he could visit twice a week, and I could leave the baby with my mother, so we didn't have to see each other. Admittedly, this would be a ridiculous arrangement, but it might be the only one that made sense.

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