Marco (The Men of Indecent Exposure #1) (6 page)

And he most certainly had done that, left me hanging, that is. So much could change in two weeks in these kinds of situations. I took several deep breaths as I tried not to get upset, tried not to jump to conclusions about where this conversation was going.

“I know it’s been a couple weeks since we talked, but… I hope you understand that I just needed a minute to wrap my head around what’s happening,” he explained, and I listened intently. Of course I understood that, but I also knew I hadn’t been afforded the same luxury. I didn’t get to take a couple weeks and pretend like this wasn’t happening. I kept that to myself, though, choosing to let him express himself without interruption.

“I’m gonna just be honest with you,” he started, causing me to hold my breath when he spoke those words. “I don’t have
any
idea how this is all supposed to go.”

“Neither do I,” I admitted, trying not to let the sadness bleed through my tone, but I probably wasn’t doing a great job of that. Even though Marco hadn’t said the words yet, I felt like I already knew where this was going—he was about to tell me he didn’t want to be a part of this and probably that he didn’t want to ever hear from me again.

I don’t know why I did what I did next—maybe to distract myself from the conversation—but I began thumbing through the contract again. This time with boldness, wanting to just know once and for all where I stood. Stalling wouldn’t change the outcome.

A heavy breath was released on the other end of the line and I barely noticed it as the words
Morality Clause
stared back at me in clearly printed letters.

“Okay… I think before we go any further with this, we need to make sure everything’s on the up and up.” Marco’s words went in one ear and out the other as I stared at my signature on the sheet in my hands. My fear had been realized.

“I mean, I think it’s only fair, don’t you?” Marco went on when I missed my cue to speak.

“I’m sorry,” I finally replied, shoving the contract inside my purse. “I’m a little lost.” The room was spinning as the now familiar sensation of lightheadedness returned after what I read. Now I couldn’t think clearly.

“I’m only saying I think it’s fair to start off with a paternity test to make sure—”

“That’s fine.” My heart sank as soon as I realized what he was suggesting and I cut him off, not wanting to hear him go any further. I
couldn’t
hear him go any further. Not today. Not with everything else.

It only added insult to injury that this was even necessary. How could I blame him for not knowing I’m not one to sleep around haphazardly, though? This response should’ve been expected, but I was still pissed. And at the moment, I didn’t care a whole lot about whether or not that was fair or rational.

“As long as the procedure isn’t dangerous, I’m fine with it,” I countered, hearing the curtness in my tone. “I’ll give my doctor a call as soon as we get off the phone and I’ll have her arrange it.”

Marco hesitated and I think he knew I was offended, but like I said, I couldn’t blame him. “Brynn, I’m just—”

“You know what? Just… go ahead and get back to work like you said you needed to and I’ll text you the info.”

I didn’t mean to be short with him, but today just wasn’t going well. Not only that, but here he was calling an entire two weeks later and the first thing out his mouth was
‘let’s get a DNA test’?
To me, that just took a lot of nerve, but maybe I was being hormonal and now I was stressing about work, too. Basically, the combination of events just had me in my feelings. Who knows? Maybe this was the way men typically reacted to this sort of thing. I wasn’t sure. But what I
was
sure of is that I hated that I put myself in this predicament.

“All right, cool,” he eventually replied, but then felt the need to say more. “I seriously wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings or anything. I was just—”

“I’ll text you the info,” I repeated, and then ended the call before he could say more.

The last thing I needed was for Marco, or anyone else, to think I needed coddling. He wanted this test and I agreed it was fair.

Case closed.

*****

Marco

“All clear, Mr. Rios.”

‘All clear’,
two words I waited five days to hear. I never had an STD screening come back positive for anything, but in light of recent events, I was a little nervous this time.

The nurse handed over my test results, a few informational pamphlets about having regular screenings, and then she left me in the exam room. I got up from the chair and breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have that behind me. Because I wanted to have the results in writing, I asked the office to give me a call when they came in so I could pick them up and get whatever news they had for me face-to-face. They didn’t have a problem with that.

Mostly, I wanted to have the physical documents to ease Brynn’s mind, so once I got back to my truck, I sent her a picture message of the paperwork. She didn’t respond right away, but I didn’t honestly expect her to.

Things were a bit tense when we spoke a few days ago. Apparently, suggesting a DNA test offended her. Now, while I imagine it wasn’t easy hearing me ask that she prove her claim, she had to understand it was the reasonable thing to do. Because we don’t know one another, her word simply wasn’t enough. If she’d been in my shoes, she would’ve demanded the same thing.

I’d heard of too many men taking the woman’s word as the truth and finding out later in life that they’d been had. That wouldn’t be me. Brynn would just have to be pissed for now, because I deserved to know before I committed to anything. She’d get over it.

The thing is, I don’t believe there’s any such thing as a part-time father; you’re either all the way in or you’re all the way out, which is why I needed to be sure. This kid, if he or she did in fact turn out to be mine, would have all of me. So, call me crazy, but I needed to know beyond the shadow of a doubt, because investing my time, money, and love isn’t something I take lightly. I don’t hold back when it comes to giving the people I care about
any
of those things and I couldn’t handle finding out later that it had all been for nothing.

Fifteen minutes later, Brynn finally sent back a dry text that read, “Cool,” followed by a similar picture message of her own results. A second picture came through right after; a close up of the date—as if to cover her tracks in case I accused her of showing me old documents. I tossed the phone to the passenger seat.

“Whatever, man.” If she wanted to be upset about nothing, that was on her. I didn’t have time to tiptoe around her feelings.

We’d both gone for bloodwork and her doctor assured us she could expedite the process, presenting the paternity results by Brynn’s three-month visit later this afternoon. As promised, Brynn sent me a text almost immediately after our last talk, the one where I pissed her off somehow. The doctor set us up with lab times—hers at noon the very next day, mine right after at one o’clock—and it was that simple. Now, in a few hours, we’d know for sure.

Relaxing as I sat at a red light, I had a few seconds to reflect on this situation. I hadn’t slipped up and forgotten to use a condom since I was in my teens, but alcohol has a funny way of making you do things you normally wouldn’t. All I had were a few random memories of kissing Brynn; of how sloppy we were as we fell over ourselves and each other on our way to the bathroom stall where it all went down. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t pull the pieces together, though. If it wasn’t for the possibility of her carrying my child, it was almost as if it hadn’t happened at all.

My thoughts were still on me and Brynn’s predicament when I pulled back into the parking lot of my shop. The second I saw my oldest sister, Lucia’s, car it put me in an even worse mood. The only time she ever came down here was to get on my case about something. Otherwise, she would’ve just called.

This should be good.

The second I walked in, I was met by a set of furious, brown eyes. Before the door could even completely close behind me she was in my face, but at least she cussed me out in Spanish so a
few
of my employees and customers may have actually had no clue what she was saying.

But chances are most of them did.

“A car, Marco? After the crap grades Rosalina brought in this last quarter?”
she scolded me.

I answered in Spanish, too, because so many were trying to eavesdrop.
“Relax, Luce.”

“Relax? You want me to relax knowing my daughter is out there ripping and running the streets in that thing?”

I didn’t understand why she was so upset. Yes, the car I surprised my oldest niece with for her eighteenth birthday was probably sportier than a teenager should have, but I bought it used and got one hell of a deal on it.

“And how are Max and I supposed to compete with a gift like that?”
she added.
“Now the new phone we were planning to surprise her with is going to seem like a joke!”
She paused to take a breath and I took that opportunity to lead her to the break room where we had a bit more privacy.
“You should have talked to us, Marco. You don’t just buy a child elaborate gifts like that without clearing it with the parents first,”
she reasoned.

“Okay, okay, chill,”
I said quietly, hoping to calm her down. I hadn’t looked at it like that.
“I was just trying to do something nice for her,”
I explained.

Lucia took a deep breath and I tried to see things from her perspective. Max, her husband, was recently laid off and Lucia had only been able to find work at a local supermarket for the time being. This was precisely why I took the initiative to go all out for Rosalina. With things being so tight for my sister and her husband, and because they refused to let me help in any
other
way, I just wanted to make sure my niece had something nice for her birthday. On top of that, she’d be leaving for college this coming fall and would need it anyway.

“I’m sorry, Luce,”
I repeated, waiting for my sister’s eyes to convey that she’d forgiven me.
“I wasn’t trying to show you and Max up. You know me better than that.”

After a few heavy sighs, her expression finally softened and she allowed me to hug her.

“I know that’s not what you were trying to do,” she said against my shoulder, now calm enough to shift back to English.

“Good.” I kissed her cheek and then let go.

Lucia walked over to the table and took a seat, clearly stressed. About what exactly, I wasn’t sure.

“It’s just so frustrating that we weren’t able to do more. Then we woke up to that fancy, red car in the driveway and it just… it made me feel terrible.”

I lowered my head, knowing I was the one responsible for her being down. Justin and Carlos helped me out by dropping the car off early that morning after our workout so I could come straight here to open the shop. I would’ve just come in late so I could deliver it myself, but I knew I had to leave early to head to Brynn’s appointment later. I meant well, had gone through a little trouble to pull it all off, but… never in a million years did I think this gesture would cause Lucia and Max such heartache.

“If you want, I can take it back,” I offered.

Lucia shot an incredulous look my way. “Sure, and make me the
bruja
who made her kid give back her car. No, thank you.”

I laughed and took the seat across from my sister. “Well, tell me what I can do to fix it and I’m on it.” When I placed my hand on top of hers, Lucia smiled.

She’d practically raised me when our parents were going through hard times. I was only fourteen at the time, but Lucia didn’t hesitate to take me and my other two sisters in. She was only twenty-six and all she had was a two-bedroom house, but she was good to us. There were so many sacrifices she and Max both had to make and I hadn’t forgotten. They’d only been married six years, Rosalina was still little, but they made room for the three of us, too.

Just keeping food in the fridge was a struggle and I always felt bad about that, subconsciously eating less to help it stretch longer. With my father’s alcohol and gambling issues, not even our parents could contribute. Luce and Max did it all on their own.

Everything.

Somehow, even in that situation, we were all happy. This was another reason I didn’t think twice about buying Rosalina that car
or
offering to pay for college. It was the least I could do.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Lucia said. A smile broke free and I was glad to see it.

“It’s okay. You gave the customers a nice little show.”

Reminding her that we started this conversation with quite the audience, she covered her face with both hands as her cheeks reddened. “
Ay dios mio!
I shouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s cool. But if you really feel bad, you can always make it up to me by bringing over some
tembleque
this weekend. You do that and I swear you can yell at me all you want.”

Her face brightened with a smile again and then she stood, hugging me. She placed a hand on my cheek right after. “How’ve you been? You know I worry about you.”