The man looks positively stunned I’m not dropping at his feet. “But what about the baby?”
“What about the baby? Since I’m spending the next several months gestating this child, I consider him or her mine. If you want paternal rights, we can go to court and figure it out. If you’re not interested, then I hope you have a nice life.”
Again, I head for the door, but he jumps in front of me. “Are you serious right now? You don’t want me to be involved?”
First, he tells me he didn’t mean that talk about having a family with me, and now he wants to play the part of happy baby daddy? Which is it?
I stare into his eyes, so he can be sure to hear me loud and clear. “I don’tneedanyone, and I definitely don’t need someonewho doesn’t want me. And if you can’t figure out which woman you love, what makes you think you’ll get your head out of your ass long enough to be a good father?”
“But I thought you said you hated that your mom had to work so hard as a single parent. That you never wanted to take that road.”
“I don’t want to be a single mom, but I don’t have a lot of choices here.”
Groaning, he holds out his hands. “This isn’t how today was supposed to turn out.”
Welcome to the story of my life.
3
MAVERICK
FOUR MONTHS LATER
OCTOBER
“Wantto watchVikingswith me later after I study the game?” I ask Kira as I pull out my phone.
She rolls her eyes. “That show’s boring. They’re always killing each other, and everyone looks dirty, like they never bathe.”
I chuckle. “It’s a great show.”
“I don’t want to watch it again.” She crosses her arms as she glares at me. “I thought we were going out for dinner.”
Not this again. At least my roommates aren’t here to witness my girlfriend throw a tantrum. “I told you I need to talk to my brother.” I point to the kitchen counter where there’s a stack of restaurant menus. “Order something for delivery.”
She lets out a huff of annoyance. “You just talked to Rhett.”
“Seven days ago.”
“Which is, like, just the other day. Never mind. I’ll go by myself.” She tosses her blonde hair over her shoulder, grabs her purse, and waltzes out of my apartment, slamming the door behind her.
“That works for me,” I tell my blessedly empty living room. Talking to my brothers helps me feel grounded. I don’t think I need to justify that to anyone.
Being in New York has been tougher than I thought it would be. I always assumed I’d love living in a cosmopolitan city, but I kinda miss the small-town vibe of Wild Heart, where I grew up, and Charming, where I went to college.
I don’t expect Kira to understand. She loves New York.
She and I started seeing each other last year. She was always showing up at my events, and we’d talk from time to time. Then she invited herself to Rhett’s wedding. I didn’t want to be rude, so I let her tag along. One thing turned into another, and I guess we started dating a few weeks later. She’s hot. The sex is decent. And she usually isn’t up in my shit.
But I wouldn’t say we’re serious. In fact, I told her I wanted to break up when I got drafted to the Vipers, but since she got a fashion internship here, we ended up picking up where we left off.
Except I think we’ve run our course.
Bootsy, one of my roommates, texts.Hitting the clubs tonight. Wanna come?
I’m surprised he’s inviting me. We rarely hang out. I should go to build camaraderie, but I’d rather focus on figuring out what the fuck is going wrong on the field.Thanks, man. Gonna stay home and watch our Chicago game.And then I’ll cheer myself up with some bloodthirsty Vikings.
He sends me a string of vomit emojis.
