Page 8 of Theirs to Have

“A chance,” he growled back. “I want a fucking chance, little one.” Mercy wasn’t quite sure why he kept calling her that. He had the first night they were together, and she had to admit, the nickname made her hot. She thought about what Cash was asking her for. Her heart wanted to leap at the offer and give him exactly what he was asking for because she wanted her chance with him more than she wanted her next breath. But what if she gave in to him and he ended up not being her baby’s father? Would he want to stick around and watch her raise her baby with Callan, would he still want her then?

Cash growled in frustration and pulled her into his arms as if he was done waiting for her to make up her mind. “Enough thinking, Mercy. Let’s just feel.” He hauled her up against his body and kissed her senseless. He licked and sucked his way into her mouth until she was breathlessly panting for air. “A chance,” he whispered carefully lowering her back to the floor.

Mercy shook her head, he drove a hard bargain, and the man didn’t exactly play fair using his big, sexy body and kissing skills to persuade her.

“A chance,” Mercy whispered, nodding.

They spentthe next couple of hours talking about their pasts and getting to know each other. Mercy was pleasantly surprised that Cash was very funny, often telling little stories that had her laughing so hard she was sure that she was going to pee her pants. When she couldn’t stop yawning Cash pulled her into his arms and asked her to spend the night with him. A part of her panicked, not knowing how to answer him. She wanted to stay with him but being with Cash without Callan felt wrong. Mercy wasn’t sure how she was going to tell Cash how she felt and honestly, after everything he told her about Jasmine and Slade, she wasn’t sure that now was the time to share her feelings about Callan. She still wanted them both, that hadn’t changed for her. The problem was that she suspected that wanting them both wouldn’t change the fact that neither of them wanted to share her.

Cash reluctantly agreed to drive her home, and he even gave her a scorching kiss goodnight, standing on her grandmother’s front porch. “Will I see you again?” Mercy asked, dipping her head to hide her face in his neck. She felt embarrassed to even ask him such a silly question. At the very least, she’d see him after the baby came.

“I’d like that, little one. How about if we have dinner this week? I don’t want to push you, but I would like to be a part of this.” He reached his hand under Callan’s jacket to cup her tummy. Mercy gasped, not knowing if letting Cash get involved with the baby was a good idea. “Just think about it, Mercy. Please?” She hesitantly nodded and let him give her one last soft kiss before she headed into her house.

The lights were all off and she guessed her gram had already headed up to bed. Mercy pulled back the blinds in the living room to watch Cash get into his pickup truck and pull off. A part of her was sad that the evening was over and the other part of her felt like a traitor for spending the night with Cash alone. She hugged Callan’s jacket around her body and thought about calling him. She needed to return his jacket but calling him this late might not be a good idea. But after the way that he reacted to the news about the baby, Mercy thought that giving him some space might be the way to go.

“Well, that was one fine-looking young man,” Gram said, startling her. Mercy jumped and yelped, resting her hand on her bump but quickly pulling it away. Her grandmother chuckled, “Sorry to give you a start, honey. I just wanted to see the reason you were out so late. I was hoping that you’d meet someone at Emily’s wedding.” Mercy’s grandmother didn’t seem to mind the fact that her two closest friends were both happily married in a polyamorous relationship. Her grandmother didn’t even seem to blink when she told her the news, explaining to Mercy that she and her friends didn’t invent the wheel.

“Gram, you scared the hell out of me,” Mercy barked. “Where you spying on Cash and me?” Mercy eyed her grandmother suspiciously not putting it past her to peek in on them.

Her grandmother shook her head, crossing her heart with her fingers but her sly smile gave her away.

“If you’re asking if I watched your new bow kiss you on my front porch, well then I have to say that I did.” Mercy tisked at her grandmother and giggled. “Well, I only watched for a minute or two, just until he left.” Her grandmother chuckled and patted the sofa for Mercy to sit next to her.

“Tell me all about him,” Gram asked and God, Mercy found herself wanting to spill the whole sorted story, but she was too afraid that her grandmother would be disappointed in her. Outof all the people that she was hiding her pregnancy from; Gram was the hardest not to tell. Mercy burst into tears covering her face with her hands. It was all too much. Seeing Cash at the wedding and having him and Callan find out about the baby. Cash and Callan were so close that she could literally reach out and touch them both, only to have Callan storm off pissed about the baby. And now, wanting them both even more than she had over these past six months. Seeing them was a mistake and telling them about the baby was an even bigger problem. She knew that she was going to have to cancel her dinner date with Cash. Being with him and not Callan wasn’t an option for her, and she wouldn’t lead Cash on. He had been through enough and she wouldn’t hurt him further. She was just going to have to stick with her original plan and wait until the baby was here to figure out which one of them was the father. First, she was going to have to start telling people about the baby. He or she was going to be here before she knew it and she knew that Gram had to be the first to know that their lives were about to become a little more chaotic.

“I’m pregnant Gram,” she sobbed.

Her grandmother stroked her hand down Mercy’s back, just like she used to do when she was a little girl. “I know dear,” her grandmother whispered. “Judging from how upset you are I’d say that the young man who was kissing you goodnight is the father.”

Mercy sobbed louder, not sure if she could even get the next part out. She shook her head, trying to calm down enough to get the whole sorted story out. “I don’t know which one of them is the father.” Mercy peeked through her fingers to find her grandmother softly smiling at her and she pulled her hands free from her face. “Wait, you’re not mad or shocked?” Mercy asked, confused by her grandmother’s reaction to her news.

“I told you before honey, you didn’t invent the wheel. Sex has been around longer than I have and I’m ancient.” Her grandmother laughed at her joke. “How about you start at the beginning? I figure you're about six months along?” Mercy nodded and wiped her runny nose on the sleeve of Callan’s jacket, making a mental note to clean it before she returned it to him.

“I’ll get the ice cream from the freezer, and you clean yourself up and meet me in the kitchen. We can have a real pow-wow, just like we used to when you were a little girl.” Mercy nodded and stood to head to the bathroom feeling somewhat relieved that her grandmother finally knew about the baby.

“Thanks, Gram.” Mercy bent to kiss her grandmother’s cheek and padded back to the bathroom. Taking the first step and telling Gram about the guys and the baby gave her the courage to text Callan. At the very least, she needed to return his jacket, but she was hoping that he’d let her at least explain and apologize for not telling him about the baby. She sent the message and held her breath, hoping that he’d text back, but she had no such luck. She pocketed her phone and headed back to the kitchen to spill her guts to her grandmother over ice cream sundaes. That and a good night's sleep might help things look brighter in the morning, at least she hoped so.

Callan

Callan got home to his dark, empty house and drank a six-pack of beer before Cash showed up to give him some shit. Honestly, he expected his friend to come around at some point, he just didn’t think it would take him so long. He scoffed at the thought of just what held Cash up and he had a feeling that it had to do with a curvy, sexy, pregnant brunette. Hell, she was his curvy, sexy, pregnant brunette too, but no one seemed to remember that. Cash was the hero of the night, swooping in to rescue their damsel when she fainted at a wedding and bringing her back to his place. They probably spent the past few hours in his bed making up for lost time and that thought had him seeing red.

Cash pounded on his front door and Callan made no move to get off the sofa and let him in. He had nothing to say to him or Mercy. They could have each other because he didn’t give a fuck. Yeah, he couldn’t even lie to himself, he wanted her more than he thought was even possible and that scared the shit out of him. It was clear that Mercy and Cash had their own little side thing going and he wouldn’t be a third wheel. He wanted to be an equal partner to Mercy, but he knew that Cash wasn’t into sharing anymore.

Callan had known Cash since he opened the bar. He knew that Slade and he were best friends and that they shared women. When Jasmine moved into Cash’s apartment, Callan could tell that his friend was in for a world of trouble. The way Jasmine looked at Cash told Callan that she was in love with him. And he could tell that his friend didn’t return her feelings. The night Cash found her body, he was playing at the bar. He remembered the guilt and shame that Cash felt after they took her lifeless body out of the bar in a body bag. It seemed to take Cash years before he bounced back, and he wasn’t sure that his friend would ever be the same again. Losing Slade just about killed Cash, they were like brothers. Callan felt that way about Cash, never having a brother himself but he could tell that Cash was holding back not wanting to let anyone in his life that could cause him the amount of pain that Slade did.

“Open up asshole, we need to talk.” Cash barked from the other side of his door. He was pretty sure that the flimsy apartment doors wouldn’t hold up to Cash beating on them, but they were about to find out. Unless one of his nosey neighbors called the police first—either way, Cash didn’t seem as if he was about to give up.

“Callan open this fucking door, or I’ll break it down,” Cash growled. Callan could hear his neighbor from across the hall open her door and Cash barked at her to mind her own fucking business. Callan knew that this wasn’t going to end well for either of them, so he gave in and pulled the door open just as Cash was about to bang on it again.

“Why are you here, Cash?” Callan barked. He already knew exactly why his friend showed up unannounced, but he wanted to make Cash squirm.

“You know damn good and well that I’m here about Mercy. You ripped her heart out when you walked away today. How could you treat her like that?” Cash balled his hands into fistsand Callan smiled at him, almost daring him to throw the first punch. Hell, he’d welcome the distraction because the two of them standing in the middle of the living room yelling at each other wasn’t going to get them anywhere.

“She all but lied to us, not telling us about the baby for six months. Fuck, we don’t know anything about her, and now, one of us is going to be a father.” Callan ran his hands through his short, blond hair. “How fucked up is this?”

Cash shook his head, “She’s alone and afraid in all of this. She did what she thought was best and she messed up. I know that she feels bad, and she wants to let us in, man.” At least Cash seemed to calm down when he talked about Mercy. But the way that he talked about her as if he knew her pissed Callan off. He had no one to be angry with but himself.

“You seem to know a lot about a woman that we both just spent one night with, Cash.” Callan knew that he sounded jealous, and he didn’t care. He hated thinking of the two of them together tonight.

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