Notarized? By his drummer? “Eddie, stop it. You’re scared. I get that. I’m terrified. But we’ve got this. Our parents will be disappointed, but you know they’ll help us.” Where are you, Eddie? This cold, detached stranger was freaking her out. She stepped closer to him. “We love each other.”
He backed away. “If you loved me, you’d get rid of it. Look, we had a verbal contract. After we graduated college, we were moving to Los Angeles, so I could play in clubs and get discovered and you could be a stylist to movie stars. That’s what we agreed on.”
“We can still do that. We can have a baby and still reach our dreams. Our families will help us while we finish college, and then when we move, we’ll take turns watching the baby. You can watch her during the day, and I’ll watch her at night while you’re gigging.”
“No.” He shook his head. “That’s a clear breach of our contract.”
“What is the matter with you? You sound like an idiot right now. You’re not a lawyer, you’re my boyfriend. There’s no contract. We’re just two people who had dreams…and a lot of sex and sometimes forgot to use condoms.”
“You’re supposed to be on the pill.”
“And yet, after finals, you surprised me with a camping trip and didn’t think to pack my pills.”
He got wild-eyed. “This is not my fault. And, more importantly, there’s a simple solution. It’s only a few weeks old. It’s not a baby. It’s not anything. It’s just a ball of cells.”
“It’s our ball of cells, you jackass. And if you think for one second I’m going to kill a baby we made out of love, then you’re not the guy I thought you were.” She had to calm down. Bring Eddie back—not push him away. But she couldn’t take a full breath. Her mind was fogged over, and she couldn’t form a single, clear thought. “Look, this is the scariest thing in the world. I get that. But we can do this. We love each other, and we’ll be good parents. We’ll have both our families helping us. Listen to me, Eddie, we can do this.”
He turned to stone. “I’m dropping out of college, and I’m heading to LA on Saturday. Me and Jeff are going together.”
A hail of darts rained down on her, piercing her skin. If she looked down, she’d see blood trickling down her body. “You’re leaving me behind?” No. No, no, no. She couldn’t do this on her own.
“You did this. Not me. I told you to terminate the pregnancy. I told you what I wanted, and you ignored me. If you insist on doing this without my consent, then you’re doing it alone.” He started for the door.
“It doesn’t work like that. You can’t just walk away from me. From your baby.” But he kept going, and when his hand touched the doorknob, she lost it. “You can’t just leave. You have to help me. I can’t do this alone.” Her voice hit the walls, bounced back, and battered her.
He shook his head. “I don’t have to do anything, because I relinquish all rights.”
“Oh, my God, if you say that one more time, I’m going to punch you in the face.”
Images shuffled through her mind like a deck of cards. Alone in a hospital bed. Holding a newborn—with no idea what to do—how do you bathe her? How do you feed her?
Where am I going to live? She needed so many things. Crib, diapers, bottles. With each image, the panic spun faster until she thought her blood, tissues, and organs would fly right out of her body.
And then the fucker opened the door.
She charged forward, her palm slapping it shut. “Oh, no, you don’t. I’m not going to raise our baby by myself. I can’t pay for everything on my own.”
“Then get rid of it, because I’m not paying a dime of child support for a kid I told you I don’t want. My choice in this is just as valid as yours.” He jerked the door open and stepped outside.
She followed him, no longer caring who heard. Her boyfriend of five years, the father of her baby, was actually walking out of her life. He was going to abandon her, make her go through pregnancy and parenting alone. She was going to die. “It doesn’t work like that, you jerk. Your stupid piece of paper doesn’t mean anything.”
“It’s signed and dated. I relinquish my rights.”
That’s it. Rage popped like a balloon and propelled her onto his back, but he whipped around so hard, she fell off.
“What the hell’s going on?” Griffin, her oldest brother—all six-four inches of inked badassery—came out of cottage five, hair mussed and shirtless. A curtain hitched, and his dark-haired hookup peered out the window.
But Skylar ignored them. Sweaty, frantic, she shoved Eddie. “You don’t get off scot-free. It doesn’t work like that. And let me tell you something right now. You will pay me child support every month until this child turns eighteen, or I’ll send all four of my brothers, plus my cousin…his entire fucking football team…to collect it.”
Fear flared in Eddie’s eyes, and he cut a look to Griffin.
With a menacing demeanor, her brother stood like a warrior, clearly restraining himself. In that moment, she’d never loved him more.
“I don’t have any money,” Eddie said. “And I’m not going to for a long time.”
Griff started for him, but Skylar held up her hand. “Then you’ll get a job. Just like I’ll have to do.” She only had a year left of college—she didn’t want to drop out.
But she’d figure that out later.
“This isn’t fair.” Eddie stood there for a long moment, his struggle playing across his features. All his righteous indignation turned to uncertainty, but with Griff standing there like a bull ready to charge, Eddie deflated.
He turned and left.
Skylar watched him go until the rage, fear, and disbelief bled out of her.
And then her knees gave out.
Thank God her brother was there to catch her.
Untitled
FIVE YEARS LATER
Chapter 1
Where are you, Griffin?
Skylar James shifted her grumpy little boy to her other hip, as she pulled a blouse off the free-standing rack in her office. “I’ve got another one for you to try.”
Her client’s hand reached out from behind the curtain. “Oh, good. I’d like to lose some more weight before I wear this one.” She exchanged the shirt she’d just tried on for the new one.
Her son shifted restlessly in her arms. He hadn’t been sleeping well, and he’d refused to nap today. He was the sweetest boy in the world, and she hated to see him uncomfortable. Was he coming down with something…maybe an ear infection?
She reached for one of the toys he’d gotten for Christmas. “Do you want to play with this until Uncle Griff comes?” Her oldest brother had gotten him a train set he’d promised to set up that afternoon.
Skylar loved her family—loved how easily they’d accepted her unplanned pregnancy. But, as much love as they gave Rocco, absolutely nothing could take away from the fact that he didn’t have a father.
Right now, at four, he didn’t notice. Soon, though, he would.