Page 67 of Finding Fate

“Don’t be mad at him,” she rushes out. “I asked.” Like I’m really surprised. I expected it considering she had to ask her dad to remove a birth control implant when he’s not that kind of doctor. An explanation is sort of warranted.

“I’m not,” I assure her. “I would’ve been more surprised had he not.”

“How are you doing with it?”

There’s a double meaning to her question. “You mean because I already have a son out there I’ve never met?” She confirms it by not answering. “I don’t feel guilty if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Good. You shouldn’t. It’s okay to be happy if you want to be.”

I exhale, knowing there’s been a dull ache in my heart since Gabby told me about him that I hide. She doesn’t need to know it hurts me every time I think about having a kid out there someone else is raising. I’m gonna be strong for her. I have it easy compared to what she lives with. “The truth is, there is nothing I can do about it. I didn’t know when it mattered. No court system is going to rip a kid that age out of a stable family, and I had enough good raising to know it’s not right.” I finally admit something out loud to someone else for the first time. I’ve been dealing with it alone for a while. “If I have to live without one or the other—only able to keep one—I’ll always choose her. We can have other kids. She’s something I can’t replicate.”

Blondie smiles. “That’s one lucky baby. You’re going to be an awesome dad.”

Some of those thoughts return. “Yeah, well, we have to get it here first. Then, maybe. I’m going to at least try.”

“Dean—Warner McKenzie. You got a minute?” I look up at the sound of Sayler’s dad’s voice. He has a smartphone to his ear and a small metal medical type bowl in his hand, walking toward the door. “Let me get to my laptop.”

He disappears outside, shutting the door behind him. My heart starts to race. I can feel Gabby staring at me from where she’s sitting. I smother the smile and pretend I don’t notice. She knows she doesn’t have to worry about Blondie and yet if she had laser vision, I’d have a hole in my skin. It gives her a little taste of the shit I have to go through every time her and Konnor joke around. You may trust someone one hundred percent, but that doesn’t make watching them with someone any easier.

Possession is a turn-on for me. Every time she shows it, I’m rock solid in a matter of seconds. She won’t spread for anyone else if all of her focus and fight are on me. She’s the only one I’ve experienced it with and it’s a two-way street with her.

My brain catches up. “Who is Dean?” I ask Blondie, wondering if I should be worried something simple has turned into a phone call where he stepped out of the room.

Her eyes squint like she’s thinking. “Isn’t there a Dean at that clinic we go to for your baby appointments?” Riggan interrupts, not looking up from the magazine like he’s into something interesting. “I thought I saw it on the sign. It’d make sense. A pussy and baby doctor are the same person, right? Birth control . . . Pussy doctor. Related categories.”

“Oh yeah!” Blondie says like a lightbulb just went off in her head. “Dr. Dean Richardson. He looks around my dad’s age. At least it’s not the hot, young one—Dr. Sanders. Awkward.”

Riggan finally peels his eyes away from the magazine page and looks at her. “The one you arenotseeing again. If you’re calling him ‘hot’, one look between your legs was all he gets.”

She rolls her eyes. “Oh, like he hasn’t seen thousands of vaginas by now. They all look the same.”

“No, they don’t,” he tells her.

She looks at me. “Tell him.”

I smirk, already shaking my head. “Sorry, Blondie, he’s right. The difference is in the details.”

“Even though I’m the one that wanted to change to a female physician, if he’s on call when I go into labor there is nothing you can do about it.”

“Is too,” Riggan says, matter of fact. “I will deliver her myself. Can’t be harder than catching a football.” His eyes veer to the crotch of her jeans and back. “Mine. Don’t forget it.”

“You’re ridiculous,” she says, but the massive grin on her face says more than the very phrase coming out of her mouth.

I make my way over to Gabby, who’s looking down at the Band-Aid on her arm. Hard to imagine that’s all it takes. She looks up at me, her dark eyes so telling. I smirk. “Breathe before your ears start steaming.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she returns.

I lift her clenched fist off her thigh and bring it to eye level, tapping it with a finger to confirm how tight it is. “Yeah you do, because I can’t stand to see you talking to a guy either, regardless of who it is.”

If her eyes were daggers, mine would be poked out. Her extended arm between us reaches and grabs my shirt, pulling me toward her at the same time she cracks a smile. We’re so close. “Don’t hold it against me. You’re a catch.”

I grab her thighs and slide her closer to me on the chair. “Oh yeah? Some would argue you’re the prize of the two.”

She smiles at me, trying not to let it get too big. “You sure do know your way around a girl’s heart, baby.”

I kiss her on the lips. “I know my way aroundyourheart, just like you know your way around mine.”

“Your heart is something I’ve treasured since you let me borrow it.”

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