my seated position. I was just starting to have trouble getting up and it was embarrassing in front of him, but I hated how he was standing over me. His hand came out and pulled me up. I thanked him, but moved away quickly. His touch was something that was hard to deny and I didn’t want to get dragged in again. I was not prepared to see him and I could already feel my body trembling with the memories.
“You have no idea about my type Grady. He is a good man.”
“Just because you got knocked up by someone, doesn’t mean that you have to be with them.”
“I completely agree. Now I am sorry to tell you this, but I am not going anywhere with you. I am busy and in no condition to be fighting.”
“After I came all this way, you are not even going to hear me out?”
I could tell he was surprised by the way I was reacting. “I am busy Grady and we are from two very different worlds. It never would have worked out.”
“Is it because you are pregnant?”
“Yes Grady. I don’t want our child to grow up in your world. It’s too much, so I moved here. I will take good care of him. I promise.”
I stopped with the look on his face. It occurred to me then that he had not known about him being the father. I guess I had just assumed he would figure it out. It was clear in that moment that he hadn’t. He just looked at me slack jawed, waiting for some kind of punch line.
“It’s mine. He?”
Closing my eyes, I could see Casper in the doorway. He was trying to see if I was okay, but he was more than likely terrified of Grady. He was looking very rugged that day, in his black leather jacket and sunglasses. His dark eyes glowered at me and then his face changed and he smiled. “Well this is good news!”
I looked at him incredulously. Surely he could see how it was a catastrophe. It wasn’t good news, not in any way, shape or form.
“Casper can you please give us a little while?”
He was still looking at me and I hated to admit it, but he was aggravating me by how scared he looked. I bet if Grady had made any sudden movement towards him, he would assuredly have flinched. Closing my eyes to the pain in his, he asked me if it was what I really wanted. He wasn’t talking about just leaving for the moment. “You really want me to go?”
“Please, just for a while. I know this is awkward and I can’t ask you to stay.”
Casper wasn’t sure, but he left. “Wow, he’s a winner. Where did you find him?”
“I work with him.”
“Ah yes, you are a cop as well. So I have to know, were you investigating me. Is that why you left with me to the hotel and then were gone in the morning?”
I became aware then that he was studying my body differently. After he had seen I was pregnant, his eyes had looked at me as if I was ready to pop the child out right then and there. Now he was looking at my chest and licking his lips like I was to be his next meal. It was alarming to say the least, but I was no less turned on. As he moved towards me, I took a step back.
“I didn’t know who you were until later. I thought about going to the dark side again, but you are a criminal and I knew I couldn’t be seen with you. I am a cop and you are in a gang, it could never work. I never figured I would see you again Grady. I know what a girl like me, means to a man like you.”
“And what is that?”
He was walking towards me and I had nowhere else to go, the couch blocking my retreat. “Nothing.”
“What about our son?” His hands were soft on my stomach. I felt the baby kick inside of me, like he knew that it was his father’s hands and voice.
His words, our, hit me hard. I had stop thinking about him in any other term but my son. I didn’t want to share and even though I was shaking because he was close, I knew that I had to stand my ground. I couldn’t, we couldn’t. It was just not possible.
“Grady, you probably have plenty running around that you aren’t worried about, why worry about mine?”
It seemed
Janette Oke, T Davis Bunn