on the baby in the blonde’s arms. When I looked up at her, she had a hungry look in her eyes that made me step back.
“Excuse me?” I asked blinking owlishly.
“Figures you don’t remember me.” Her snarky comment sailed over my head as I looked past her to the car still running in the driveway. There was a guy waiting in there who looked like he was on his phone.
“Can I help you?”
She rolled her eyes and thrust the kid into my arms. The woman stepped back so fast, I literally scrambled not to drop the baby.
“Misty? Remember me? You should’ve heard from my attorney by now. Look, this kid was supposed to be a meal ticket, but he’s been a pain in my ass from the day I found out I was pregnant. So he’s your problem now. I’m out. I’m not mom material and I never will be. Steve’s waiting for me, and he isn’t keen on a baby taking up our time.” She motioned over toward the car.
“How the hell did you get my address?” I demanded.
“Please,” she said as she rolled her eyes. “Steve has the money to find shit out. And it was convenient that you were sort of on the way to Mexico.”
“The results aren’t back yet, Misty. What if he’s not mine?” Flabbergasted, I couldn’t believe the chick was dropping her kid off with a virtual stranger that might not even be the father.
“He looks more like you than the other guy, so it’s pretty much a given that he’s yours.”
“What?” I asked, incredulous. The chick had to be fucking nuts. Exactly how drunk had I been that night?
“We’re heading to Mexico, and you were on the way, so he said to drop him off with you. With Steve, I don’t really need the kid anyway. Sorry.” She shrugged as my mouth hung open and the baby wiggled in my arms. With those simple words, she turned around and left, climbing in the Porsche without a backward glance. The fucking douche driving had to peel out after he backed out of my driveway.
Looking down at the dark blue eyes staring up at me, I drew in a stunned breath and about shit myself. “I have no idea what to do with you,” I said helplessly.
This was definitely not how things were supposed to go.
Pulling out my phone, I dialed Simon.
Holy shitballs.
“Fall Apart”—Deadset Society
By the end of the day, I was dragging ass. Everything that could’ve gone wrong, did. Katie and I had spent the entire afternoon chasing down new vendors for a campaign we were working on when the current one called and told us they were declaring bankruptcy and wouldn’t be able to complete our job.
Though I loved my new apartment, I was looking forward to soaking in Alex’s huge tub. Maybe the hot tub. Either way, I needed to work the knots out of my muscles.
I’d meant to text him or call him to tell him I was on my way, but as soon as I’d gotten in the car, Jake had called me and talked until I pulled into Alex’s driveway.
“I’m home, so I need to let you go,” I said as I sat with my car idling.
“Where are you?” He sounded confused. “I’m here and I didn’t see you pull in.”
My eyes bugged, and I swallowed hard. “Uh,” I stuttered.
“Syd?” He sounded suspicious, and rightly so. “Why are you lying to me?”
Damn the twin factor. He could read me like a book.
“I’m not really home,” I admitted with a huff.
“No shit,” he deadpanned. “So where are you?”
“I’m at my boyfriend’s place,” I mumbled, knowing that wasn’t going to go over well. And I was right.
“Excuse me? Boyfriend? Since when? If you had a boyfriend, why didn’t he help you move in? No. Wait. Please don’t tell me you’re dating one of those bikers.” He sounded pissed, and it irritated me that he could be so judgmental.
“And what if I was? They’re nice guys. One of them is even a nurse. They’re business owners and paramedics, for crying out loud,” I argued.
“Sydney. I don’t care who you date if he treats you well, but a biker? Mom and Dad will flip the fuck out.” He ended with some incoherent muttering.
“Well, then I guess it’s a good thing I’m not dating a biker.”
“So you’re over at some guy’s that you just started dating,” he started to bitch, but I cut him off.
“Stop. I’m not a teenager, you know. I’m the same