Page 56 of Beck and Call

"I'm pregnant."

"Fuck!" He picked up a paperweight from his desk and threw it against the wall.

I flinched and backed away from him. "I'm not exactly happy about this either!" I shouted. "You don't see me throwing things though. If you are that upset about it, don't worry. You don't have to do anything."

"You're damn right I don't! Whose is it?" he shouted.

My mouth fell open. It was one thing to be upset about such a huge life change, but to accuse me of cheating was too far.

"It's yours, asshole, or rather, it's mine. Goodbye, Beckett." I turned to storm out of his office and walked straight into Colter Greyson.

"Hey," he tilted my face up with his hands. "Why are you crying?"

I shook my head, and tried to hide my face.

"Is it yours?" Beckett asked.

Colter tensed, and put me behind him. "Is what mine?"

"The baby. You've seemed more and more protective of her. Well, she's yours. They both are."

"We've been friends for thirty years, and you think I'd go after your fiancée?" Colter's tone was low, and if he weren't wearing a thousand dollar suit I'd have described him as deadly.

I snorted. I was not his fiancée, not anymore. I slipped the ring off my finger and set it on the counter near the evil coffee maker. "None of this matters to me anymore."

For the second time I turned to leave. "Wait," Colter said, and reached out for my arm.

He stared at me until I looked back at him. "You and I both know this is his baby. So, let's take a paternity test. There's one where all we have to do is a blood draw from you and a cheek swab from me. I can have the lab rush the results and we should know tomorrow."

Colter turned to Beckett. "I'll do this, but so will you. God help you for the amount of groveling you will need to do to fix this one."

"It's not mine," Beckett snarled and looked down his nose at me.

"Oh, and pray tell us how you are so certain," Colter chided.

"Because I had a vasectomy three years ago!"

Colter shrugged. "Those can self-reverse you know. Or, it could have never been successful and you didn't know it."

"I'll take you to the lab," Colter offered.

I shook my head. "No thank you. I don't want him accusing us of anything else. I'm going to call Jana. Could I use your phone please?" I asked Colter.

He nodded and handed it to me. Thankfully, I'd memorized Jana's number.

"What's wrong with yours?" Beckett asked.

I glanced at him for the first time since I turned to leave the first time. "I'm leaving this building and the only thing you've given me I'm taking are the clothes I'm wearing. No, actually, I'm taking the baby too. Don't feel the need to check on me. I'm done."

* * *

Jana pulled in front of the building like she had a couple of months earlier. Only this time I took my time getting down to the first floor. He wouldn't chase me, not this time.

I'd stupidly thought when I began this arrangement with him that I could walk away when it was done and not be impacted by this time. At worst, I thought I'd be nursing a broken heart. What a foolish girl I was. A tear streamed down my face when I realized I'd become the one thing I had spent twenty-three years running from, a Holmes woman.

My grandma joked once that we were cursed in love. It appeared I'd be the third generation to be a single mother. Maybe God would be kind and give me a son, nothing else it seemed would break this vicious pattern.

Jana came up and hugged me. "Don't cry, please." She opened the passenger door, and I climbed in.

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