Page 38 of Second Chances with my Billionaire Bosses

Nellie squealed.

“Yes! I can’t wait to tell Vera. She’s going to bust a stitch. Come home soon, Maxie. I love you. We all love you.”

I hung up and sat on the edge of my bed, letting her words sink in. She didn’t think I was our mother. She had faith in me. Nellie had been treated like shit by our mother, too, and if she didn’t look at me and see the woman who’d hurt us both, maybe that meant something.

I still didn’t think I could risk bringing a child into the world to be raised by me. If Nellie was wrong, a child would suffer because I was too selfish to not risk it. The longer I thought about it, the more sure I was that I wasn’t meant to be a mother, no matter if I was doomed to repeat the sins of my mother or not. I would never be able to give the guys the family they wanted.

They would be amazing fathers. I knew that without a doubt. The way they’d taken care of me without a single complaint, no matter how much I fought to leave, proved that they were the type of men who deserved kids. They deserved a family to raise and love.

I raided the mini bar and choked down little bottles of vodka and tequila while staring blankly at the TV, desperate to knock myself out so I could stop thinking and overthinking everything. Only I still wasn’t drunk enough to shut my brain off after taking out all the little bottles of booze. My mind was still racing.

I was stretched out sideways in the bed, still staring at the TV without really seeing anything, when the storyline of the reality show playing snagged my attention. In a horrid act of betrayal, a man cheated on his wife with their surrogate. The surrogate was doing a lot of confessionals about how she couldn’t help falling for the husband when she was growing his baby. Screwed up story line aside, I couldn’t stop thinking about surrogates.

I should’ve realized exactly how drunk I was when my brain lit up like a firework, as if I’d finally solved a puzzle that had been plaguing me for decades. I would be a surrogate. I could give the guys what they wanted and deserved but I wouldn’t curse a poor child to a life of suffering. I’d have the guys for a while and that would be enough to last me through the rest of my years. It was perfect.

It also didn’t occur to me just how unstable I was on my feet as I left my room and felt my way along the wall to the room next door. Nothing seemed like a bad idea when I knocked and it seemed even less like an issue when Arlo opened the door, looking a little wobbly himself.

In an act that could only be described as messy, I threw my arms open and shouted at him.

“I’ll give you your baby!”

CHAPTER 28

Maxie

There was a lumberjack hacking away at my brain. That was the only thing that would explain the excruciating pain I was in. A wave of nausea hit me hard but I couldn’t get up. I tried to lift my head but it weighed a thousand pounds. God, when had my head gotten so big? I felt like I was dying. I had to be. I’d never felt so awful in my entire life.

“Hell. I’m in hell.” I gagged and then there was an angel picking me up and flying me to a sparkly white toilet.

I tossed up what felt like everything I’d ever eaten and clung to the toilet with my face resting just inside the rim. I still hadn’t opened my eyes and when I tried to, I understood why. Even more pain cut through my brain. That stupid lumberjack needed to take a break and let me breathe.

“Not feeling so good, huh?”

I peeled one eye open and saw Shep grinning down at me. I wanted to punch his perfect teeth out for a second as another wave of nausea hit. How could he look so perfect when the world was clearly ending?

“Go away.”

He leaned down and rubbed my back.

“Not a chance, baby.”

I groaned and lifted one weak arm to try to push him away but it was useless.

“I’m dying. Did we at least have sex last night? I don’t want to die a virgin.”

Shep choked and stared at me with wide eyes.

“Are you serious? First of all, you came over here, agreed to give us a baby, and then passed out. Second of all, we aren’t creeps who would ever touch you while you were unconscious. Third of all, if we’d have fucked you last night, you’d damn sure remember it.”

It was annoying that I could still blush after the way I’d just puked up my guts in front of him. I jumped when he flushed the toilet and picked me up to put me down on the counter. I could feel myself pouting but couldn’t find it in me to care. I’d already broken so many rules that would’ve made Mom climb out of her grave and if she hadn’t already done it, I doubted pouting would be the thing that got her blood pumping again. Besides, I knew of at least two people who were willing to shove the mean old woman right back into the grave.

Shep put toothpaste on a toothbrush and handed it to me.

“What’s that smile about?”

I held the toothbrush and looked up at him through my eyelashes.

“Even if I do enough bad things to raise my mom from the dead, I have people who’d shove her right back down. I’ve never had that before.”

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