Baby Be Mine (Spinsters & Casanovas Series Book 1) (30 page)

Hunter could feel a little stabbing pain in
his heart. He couldn’t understand what it was. He was so confused
and so numb. He just didn’t know how to react anymore. What was
wrong with him? How come he felt this way? Who was the father? He
wanted to just bash the bastard’s face.

All of a sudden, anger emerged within him
and he swore loudly. He ran his hands through his hair roughly.
What in the bloody devil was wrong with him? She already had
someone. Why did it concern him so much? Shouldn’t he be thinking
about his mysterious goddess? Why had he stopped searching for her
and now focused all his energy on that avocado? For Christ sake,
she was pregnant, so why was he still thinking about her? God, he
needed to cool himself down. He needed to get some air.

Fern saw Hunter coming out of the doctor’s
office, looking like he’d just seen a ghost.

“Hunter!” Fern came running over. “What’s
wrong? What happened to Clarice?”

Hunter couldn’t respond. He didn’t know how
to answer his friend’s question. He felt if he said the words,
somehow his world would fall apart.

“Hunter!” Fern urged. “Did something happen
to Clarice? Fern wants to know.”

“She just has low blood pressure.” Hunter
lied. “She’s being looked after now.” God, he tried to suppress his
emotions. It was so damn hard and so bloody painful.

“You should have said so in the first place.
Fern was so worried,” Fern said with ease, then went back to her
seat with her magazine in hand and started reading again. But not
before she took in the sight of her friend’s distraught face.

She knew it. Clarice must be someone
important to Hunter. Otherwise, he wouldn’t look like he’d just
been to hell and back. She must ask him how serious his feelings
were towards Clarice. But now wasn’t the time. She promised herself
she would dig into this drama later.

“When will Clarice be going back home?” she
asked instead.

“I don’t know,” Hunter said numbly. “Why
don’t you go? I’ll wait for her.”

“Are you sure?”

Hunter nodded, still in shock.

“Okay, you take care,” Fern said, looking at
her friend. “You sure look pale too. Fern will take her leave now,
then.”

When Fern left, Hunter slumped back in his
chair and shuffled his hair. He really didn’t know what to do
anymore. He really didn’t know how to act anymore. All he knew
right now was he was mad, frustrated, afraid, hurt, and most of all
shocked. All because of that news.

Clarice is pregnant.

Hunter glanced up, and out of the corner of
his eyes, amongst the crowd rushing about the hallway, he could
make out the person he was searching for. He jumped out of his
chair immediately and raced towards that person but ended up
getting caught in a stampede of people rushing towards the elevator
instead.

There was definitely no denying it. This
time when he caught that person, he was going to get this whole
shebang straightened out.

As he fought closer through the cluster of
people, his hand reached out and made contact with that shoulder.
“Waiter boy!”

* * *

Max walked into the hospital foyer, rubbing
his stomach. Why didn’t he eat anything before coming here to pick
up Clarice? When she had left him that message on his cell phone
that she was in the hospital, he was so scared that he couldn’t
imagine keeping anything down. But why didn’t she just text him?
Why use an unknown phone number.

Anyway, that wasn’t important right now.
What was more concerning was Clarice’s health and safety. He just
hoped she was okay, though, because he didn’t know what to do if
she was sick. Hopefully, it was just some mild accident.

After receiving the news, he texted both
Whitney and Elise. So far, he hadn’t received a reply.

As he was about to approach the reception
desk, he felt someone touch his shoulder and call out, “Waiter
boy!” By instinct, he glanced around and nearly jumped out of his
skin when he saw Hunter, who he had thought was Anton, careening
towards him at a very high speed. Not sure of what else to do at
that instant, Max took off before Hunter could get a good grip of
his hoodie.

“Hey, you! Stop!” Hunter called out, running
after Max.

But Max didn’t stop. He knew he was in
trouble. That Anton guy must have found out it was him. He had to
escape. Clarice said she wanted his sperm, but she didn’t mention
anything about wanting the guy, so Max just ran faster. But Hunter
was taller and had longer legs, so after only a few seconds, Hunter
caught up with Max and gripped his hoodie, halting the boy.

“Okay, I’m stopping. I’m stopping.” Max
raised his hands in surrender.

Hunter relaxed his grip then, knowing he’d
captured Max, but when Max felt the tension ease, he surprised
Hunter again by running off at full speed.

“You rascal,” Hunter yelled when he realized
he was fooled.

“Huh, like I’m gonna let you get me, big
bro.” Max laughed, then sprinted off again.

“Get back here. We have to talk,” Hunter
yelled.

“I’m not talking to you,” Max yelled
back.

“You! Arrgghhh, waiter boy.”

Hunter hastened his pace, his legs eating up
more distance, until he was so close to Max that he came slamming
into the smaller boy, tackling him to the side of the footpath.
Getting a good grip on his neck, Hunter pinned Max until he pleaded
for him to let go.

“Fine, I promise I won’t run off again,” Max
said while trying to catch his breath. And then his stomach had to
release an embarrassing growl.

Max looked up at Hunter then, who was about
to lecture him, when he raised his hands before Hunter started with
the preaching.

“Please,” Max panted trying to catch his
breath again. “If you want me to talk, you have to feed my stomach
first.”

* * *

“McDonald’s! You’re the heir to Silverton
Enterprises and you take your honorable guest to lunch at
McDonald’s?”

“Honorable guest my ass.” Hunter wanted to
kick the kid in the butt just to teach him a lesson in messing with
people’s lives. “McDonald’s is good enough for a kid like you. Now
talk. I want to know every single detail. Why the hell did you
pretend you were a waiter and drag me into that room? And who was
that woman? I’ve been running around for ages looking for her.”

“Well, let’s just say that woman wanted
something that belongs to you.”

“Belongs to me?”

“Yeah.”

“What is it she wants? Apart from my
handsome body, I can’t think of a reason anyone would want to sleep
with me,” Hunter asked Max shrewdly. “Unless she wants my money,
but then why did she disappear before I even woke up?”

Oh, so that’s how it was,
Max
thought, snickering. His cousin must have been so embarrassed with
the whole sperm exchange situation that she had to flee the scene
before Anton woke up. Max shook his head and laughed. Typical of
his cousin.

“What are you laughing at?” Hunter growled,
irritated when Max wouldn’t answer his question.

“Nothing.” Max grinned. And then to change
the subject, he said, “Man, all that running has really used all my
energy reserves.” Then he picked up his Big Mac and started
munching on it.

“Hey, kid, you hear me?” Hunter said,
getting angrier. “I’m talking to you here.”

“I know. I’m so hungry that I need to eat
first. Otherwise, I can’t concentrate.”

Hunter waited for Max to finish swallowing
his burger before asking him again. “I want to find my mysterious
goddess,” he said. “Where is she? And more importantly,
who
is she?”

“Mysterious goddess?” Max asked, confused.
“Who’s your mysterious goddess?”

“The woman!” Hunter slammed his fist on the
table to intimidate the smaller boy, but all Max did was give him a
sour face, sure Hunter had gone berserk.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, big
bro,” Max said, brushing aside the subject, then took another bite
of his burger.

Hunter wanted to slam the table again, but
he didn’t want to hurt his hand again.

“I’m referring to the woman who was in that
room that night you pushed me through that door,” Hunter said,
exasperated.

“Urgh…” Max didn’t know how to reply to
Hunter. Clarice was already angry with him for interfering with her
life. He didn’t know if he should answer Hunter’s question or not.
Instead, he took a sip of his ice-cold Coke to calm himself first,
then answered, “Even if I tell you who she is, you still wouldn’t
know her.”

“I don’t care. I can get to know her after
you tell me who she is. I’m dying here. I want to see her
again.”

“You like her or something?”

“I… I don’t know. But I want to see her
again,” Hunter confessed.

“Really?” Max asked. “You looked really
stressed out, big bro. Did this woman really affect you that
much?”

“I guess so,” Hunter said, suddenly
exhausted. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure if his mysterious goddess
was the one that contributed to his sulky feelings right now. He
believed it was the avocado that had caused him this
infliction.

“Look, I gotta hurry,” Max said, getting up.
“I gotta pick my cousin up at the hospital. She’s not well.”

“Look, kid,” Hunter pleaded. “Can’t you just
give me a na—”

“It’s Max,” Max said, getting a little
irritated that Hunter kept calling him kid.

“You mean her name is Max?” Hunter said,
sitting up straight. “Does that stand for Maxine or something?”

“No, I mean
my
name is Max.
Maximillian Mason. So call me Max, not kid from—”

“What did you say your last name is?” Hunter
shot up from his seat, piqued upon hearing Max’s last name.

“Uh… Mason?” Max repeated, staring strangely
at Hunter’s weird behavior.

“You have the same last name as someone I
know,” Hunter muttered under his breath, then sat back in his seat
again.

“Yeah, Mason is a pretty popular name,” Max
said, ready to go.

“The woman I know is in the hospital too.”
Hunter continued. And then thoughts of Clarice came swimming into
his head again.

Clarice! Pregnant! The shithead who got
her pregnant!
All of a sudden, that anger he tried to suppress
came lashing out again, and he slammed his fist on the table,
alerting Max. He stared at Hunter, who had just been transformed
into a wild animal who looked like he could tear through
anything.

“Look, big bro, if you’re acting like you
want to punch me, then I’m outta here. Clarice is waiting for me.
Gotta—”

“What did you say?” Hunter grabbed ahold of
Max’s hoodie before he took off again. “That name? Your cousin’s
name.”

“Hey, big bro, won’t you stop that habit of
yours?” Max said, breaking Hunter’s grip from his collar.

“Would you stop playing around?” Hunter was
in no mood to talk about correcting his flawed behavior. He needed
to know whether the Clarice he knew was actually the same Clarice
as this kid’s cousin. “Give me her name. Your cousin’s name.”

“Clarice,” Max said once he managed to break
free from Hunter’s grip. “My cousin’s name is Clarice.”

“You’re Clarice’s cousin? The one who works
as a periodontist?” Hunter uttered in disbelief. Could the world
get any smaller?

“Yeah, I am. So you do know her after all.”
Max smiled. “Anyway, we don’t look alike, do we?” he said. “Well,
if you don’t have any more questions, then I’m off. In fact, I’m
picking up Clarice. She left me a message.”

“I’ve just been in the room with her.”

“You have?” Max asked, sitting down again,
then went to pick up his discarded burger and started munching on
it. “I didn’t know you were that close to her already. Is she all
right?”

“She looked pale,” Hunter said, sitting down
too. “I didn’t know. And she vomited too.”

“Oh, Clarice sounded sick on the phone. She
needs to rest. She works too hard.”

“She’s pregnant,” Hunter said, still in
shock, remembering the doctor’s news.

“Pregnant?” Max asked, spitting out the
remnants of his food. “She’s pregnant?”

“Yes,” Hunter said numbly.

“She’s pregnant. Clarice is pregnant. My
sweet cousin is pregnant. Hooray!” Max jumped from his seat and
started doing a dance while singing, “Clarice is pregnant. Clarice
is pregnant.”

“Why are you so happy?” Hunter scolded in
annoyance. It looked like even this kid was happy, just like
Clarice was when she hugged him and smiled at him before she
collapsed. Hunter felt like he was the only one in this world who
wasn’t happy with this news.

“Because it was always her wish to have a
baby,” Max said as he continued to dance around their table. “Has
she told you yet, Anton? Has she? Has she?”

“What?” Hunter asked, standing up. “What did
you call me?”

“Huh?” Max stopped dancing and came back to
Hunter, who looked so shell shocked, like he’d just seen a
ghost.

“I asked what you just called me,” Hunter
repeated.

“Uh… Anton.”

“The name’s Hunter, not Anton,” Hunter said,
sitting down again.

And this time it was Max who looked like
he’d just seen a ghost.

“Cou-could you repeat that again?” Max
stuttered nervously as he felt his carefully constructed mosaic of
Clarice, her baby, and Anton breaking into tiny pieces. “Your name,
repeat your name again.”

“Hunter, Hunter Silverton,” Hunter said,
taking in Max’s sudden change of attitude.

“Ho-how are you related to Anton Silverton?”
Max asked quietly, not really wanting to hear the answer.

“He’s my cousin,” Hunter said.

Like a little deer about to be hit by a car,
Max’s eyes shot up with the realization he had once again
interfered with his cousin’s life. And this time, the consequence
was beyond forgiveness.

“Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!” Max sank into
his chair, his head in his hands. “Clarice is going to skin me
alive. God, I gave her the wrong sperm. I’m just going to die now.
Good-bye. I’ll just text my will to my lawyer. Yes, I’ll do that,”
Max muttered to himself in his moment of sheer panic.