Page 35 of Intertwined Hearts

“I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“All I kept thinking about was what I would do if something like that happened to you. I don’t want to live without you, Hunter. I’d want to just die.”

“I’m here for you, always, baby. I’m not going anywhere,” I said.

“I knew I needed to right this ship we were sailing on. I never want to argue again, Hunter.”

“Me either.”

Chapter 26

Hunter

I knew the day for the paternity test would come, but the morning we were to meet at the doctor’s office, my heart sank.

If I was being honest with myself, I secretly hoped the baby was mine. I hoped there had been a condom slip-up that I couldn’t remember. I knew I wanted nothing to do with Sophia, but the thought of having a child excited me. I wanted to be a father. I wanted to have a little someone, my own son, who could look up to me, learn from me, and always be there for me. I wanted that so bad. It wasn’t right to think like that, and it was selfish. I knew that, but I couldn’t help how I felt.

But another part of me wanted this baby not to be mine. I wasn’t sure Jackie could handle it, regardless of how many times she told me she could. I purposely avoided talking about it in any capacity because I knew it upset her. The thought of losing her bothered the hell out of me.

I wanted this all to be behind me, one way or another. And I was prepared for the outcome, whatever that may be.

Jackie had spent the night with me and was going to go to the doctor with me. I asked her to go. I wanted her by my side. I wanted her to know there were no secrets. I loved her, and any crazy ideas Sophia may have had swirling in her head needed to be silenced.

We walked through the doors and made our way up to the floor and suite Sophia had told me she was in. When we walked in, Sophia was sitting there with her little bundle. I wanted to see him, but chose not to. I needed this test to be complete and confirm or deny my paternity before I allowed myself to act like I was getting involved. Jackie squeezed my hand before letting it go and finding a seat for us, across from Sophia.

“Really, Hunter? Are you serious right now?”

“What are you talking about?” I was annoyed at her tone.

“You broughtherwith you?”

“Her name happens to be Jackie.”

“I fucking know who she is. And I know her gold-digging friend too.”

My gaze turned to see Jackie seething. I couldn’t stop her fast enough before she launched herself into verbal attack mode.

“Stupid bitch, please. You don’t know me. You only know my name. If you didn’t have that baby in your arms…” I reached over and held Jackie down for fear she’d slap the hell out of Sophia.

“When you told me about her, I had no idea it washer,” Jackie said. Her eyes were digging into me like daggers.

“We can talk about it later if you want, but right now, I just want to get this test done,” I whispered.

“I just hope it comes back negative,” Jackie muttered. If they checked her blood pressure, they probably would have admitted her to the hospital. Her face had reddened, and I’d tried to take her hand in mine twice, but she wouldn’t let me.

We sat quietly for a few more minutes until we were called back into the office. Jackie stayed in the waiting room. When I asked if she was coming back with us, she snapped back at me that she didn’t need testing because she had never fucked her. I knew this wasn’t over. Jackie didn’t curse very often, except when we had sex. This wasn’t good.

Jackie

I wasn’t mad that Hunter had fallen for Sophia. I couldn’t blame him, she was beautiful. I just couldn’t stand her. We had gone to the same high school, and she was two years older than Nikki and me. She was partly to blame for the distance that had been created between Nikki and me. She and two of her brainless cheerleader friends were the ones who filled my head with the nonsense resulting in me blowing off Nikki in exchange for hanging out with the cool kids.

The cool kids had me doing a lot to stay in their good graces. Things I regretted to this day, because I allowed myself to be suckered by them. They had me wash clothes, shoplift, write filthy lies on the bathroom walls, and make phone calls to random people and tell horrible lies. They put me through an initiation that became my first oral experience. The one thing I had refused to do, though, was lose my virginity. They’d told me that in order to really be cool, I needed to have sex, but I wouldn’t sacrifice that. Instead, I found a guy friend who swore he’d had sex with me.

When Sophia graduated, a couple of her younger minions fell into her vacated role, but they knew better than to tell me what to do. Unfortunately, I stayed part of their group. But the day after our class graduated, we all went our separate ways. I had felt so bad for the way I’d treated Nikki, but I didn’t know what to do to fix things. Instead, I just kept a low profile until it was time to go to college. One day, before I left, I ran into Adam, one of Sophia’s ex-boyfriends. It was then that I found out that she had been calling me some pretty disparaging names and talking really bad about me behind my back.

Now fate had me sitting across from her. I said a quick prayer that I wouldn’t do anything rash, like beat her senseless. Something she deserved but would get me in a lot of trouble.

When the two of them and the baby got called back for the swabbing, I stayed in the waiting room. I didn’t want to see the baby. I didn’t want to see her try to throw this in my face. I crossed my fingers and toes that Hunter would be spared a lifetime of having that maniacal female tied to him.

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