Page 17 of Secret Baby Daddies
“Okay, I’m driving you both home. You can come back and get your car later.”
I didn’t even protest. I let her lead me to her car, which was much newer and fancier than Belinda, and I sat in the backseat while rubbing my face.
“What am I going to do? I can’t have a baby! You’ve seen how I live! I eat plain white rice on the nights I can’t afford ramen! I’m in the middle of getting my degree. I’m in the shittiest apartment in the world. I’m in an ongoing argument with my neighbor for no reason at all. I can’t take a baby there.”
Hunter spun around from the front seat and it seemed like her frozen stupor had lifted.
“Holy fuck. That was so much information to take in. They know you’re pregnant?”
I bit my lip and nodded. I didn’t want to cry. I wasn’t going to cry. People as poor as me with a baby on the way couldn’t afford to cry.
“They’re going to come for you, Harley. You think men that rich and powerful knock someone up and just pretend that they didn’t?” She hesitated. “Actually, ignore that. Rich and powerful men do that shit all the time. Not the founders, though.”
“Can we stop calling them the founders? I feel like I got initiated into a cult last night!” Even more panic coursed through me. “Are they in a cult? Oh, shit. They’re in a cult, aren’t they? Of course, they are! Men who look like that and have sex like that and who are rich enough to buy and sell my life a million times over, have to have a flaw.”
“They’re not in a cult, you idiot. Calm down. Being this animated can’t be good for the baby.” Hunter sat back in her seat and let out a single chuckle. “I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about being poor anymore. There’s no way they’re going to let you and their child live in poverty.”
I grabbed my hair and tugged at it. “Stop talking. I need you to just…stop. You’re freaking me out.”
Micah reached over and put her hand over Hunter’s mouth when she started to speak again.
“Baby, leave her alone. She’s freaking out and you’re not helping.”
“My dad always told me I was going to be a teen mom.”
That time Hunter let out a huge laugh.
“You’re twenty-seven!”
“When it comes to preparedness for this baby, I am a teen mom! Jesus. I’m going to be a terrible mom. I don’t know anything about babies! I mean, I know Reagan’s baby. Lucky is amazing. But I’m going to have to change diapers, feed it, bathe it! And I need to stop calling him or her it! What’s it feel like to have a heart attack? I think I’m having one.”
“You’re not having a heart attack, Harley. Just breathe. You’d be a brilliant mother. You have options, though. Know that.”
I stilled. I knew what options meant. A flash of clarity hit and I knew I was having the baby and keeping it. It was like that thing when someone gives you an option and they take one away to make you realize that’s the thing you wanted. Or at least that’s what Reagan did to me sometimes. I went to what I always went to when I was anxious. Numbered lists.
“Harley? You okay?” Micah glanced at me through the rearview mirror and then looked over at Hunter. “I think she’s broken.”
“No, I just need to think about this. Okay, so I just need to consider my options. One, I can go back to Jace, Maddox, and Luc. I could see what they want. Which means putting myself out there and waiting to be rejected. Two, I can move into Reagan’s house and hide for the rest of my life. I could make it work. Her men are grumps but that’s fine. Three, I can stay in my apartment and scream at my neighbor while breastfeeding a baby. I’ll have to breastfeed because I won’t have enough money for formula. That’s fine, though. Breastfeeding is healthy. The first person who scowls at me for doing it public, though, I’m punching. Four—”
“Harley. No one needs an answer today. Go home, get some rest, and then think it over. Talk to Reagan. Hell, talk to Mom.She’s going to lose her mind over you being preggers. I think your number four should be that you could always move in with my mom.”
I took a deep breath. Go home, get some rest, and then think it over. I could do that.
CHAPTER 16
Harley
I stared at the ceiling over my bed and counted individual water stains. Who needed to count sheep when you could count water damage? I’d been lying in bed for hours, unable to shut my brain off. I couldn’t help that the hate I felt for my father burned even hotter when I thought of how much I needed my mom for the situation I was in.
I couldn’t think clearly enough to make sense of the situation I was in. I just knew that I couldn’t get rid of the baby. What came after that, I wasn’t sure. I needed to go to the doctor to get examined and start vitamins or whatever pregnant ladies had to do but I couldn’t afford to. What kind of mother would I be?
My phone rang from the other side of my tiny apartment and before I could get out of bed, Aaron was already shouting.
“Turn that shit off!”
I slammed my palm into the wall and shouted back at him. “Shut up! Go get a life!”
Nearly tripping over a bag of potting soil, I made my way across the room and grabbed my phone. A stupid little part of me was hoping it would be the men. Guilt ate at me when I felt disappointed it was Reagan’s name on the screen.
