Chapter 19
Nixon
A few days had passed since we’d gone to the doctor. I was having lunch with August as our other partner, Gannon, was busy with other things that day. I guessed a two-year-old could take up a lot of time, but my bet was that it was actually the hot young babysitter that had Gannon Forester so busy these days.
I’d made this vow to myself about telling as few people as possible about the pregnancy, but I couldn’t stop myself. “So, I’m going to be a little busy myself come the end of July.” I put a piece of pepper steak into my mouth as I waited for August to ask me why that was.
“That’s some time off, Nixon. You have another deal going on or something?” he asked me, then took a long drink of his iced tea.
“You remember when I left town for Halloween?” I ran my hand over my beard, remembering how that night had marked the beginning of me growing it out. I’d soon have a much more permanent reminder of that fateful night.
“Yeah, I remember you ditching us that night. So, what about it?” He stopped eating to give me his full attention. “You look different, Nixon.”
“Yeah?” I asked. “How so?”
He shrugged. “Not exactly sure about that. You just look a little different. A little happier or something. You must be getting more sleep than you usually do. You have a healthy look going on.”
I’d had less sleep than usual lately, as Katana and I had spent at least two hours of every night since she moved in engaged in some mind-blowing sex. Her bedroom was merely a place for her clothes to be kept. But I had been eating better—spending more time at home with Katana eating the healthy foods Mona made us instead of eating out so much.
“So, the thing that will have me so busy by late July is actually a baby.” I stopped, waiting for his reaction—dropping the mic, so to speak.
August blinked a few times. “Have you been seeing someone seriously that you’ve left out of our conversations?”
“Well, now I am.” I chuckled. “The woman I met on Halloween is pregnant—and it’s mine. When she called me and told me she took a test that came back positive, I moved her into my place.”
Being a wealthy man himself, August was cautious where women were concerned. “Hold on. This woman, have you had her checked out? You can’t be sure that baby is yours, not until after it’s born and you can have a paternity test done. Don’t you think that moving her in with you is jumping the gun by a whole hell of a lot?” He shook his head. “It’s not like you to do something stupid like this.”
“No, it’s not.” I fidgeted in my seat, as it never sat right with me when anyone thought I was making a mistake. “And I will have a test done after the baby’s born. But I don’t want to miss out on a thing if the kid is mine. Which I do think it is. This woman has given me no reason to believe she’s a liar.”
“And what does this woman do for a living?” August asked as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back, as if he was my therapist getting ready for one long session.
“She’s a book cover designer. She freelances and works from home.” I winked at him. “Pretty cool, right?”
He finally smiled and sat upright. “Thank God. I was pretty sure you were going to tell me she’s a stripper.”
“Damn, August!” I laughed, and so did he.
“I’ll have to introduce you to her soon. You’ll see, she’s genuine. And I must admit, I’m starting to fall pretty hard for her.” I shoved my hand into my pocket and looked down. “She sure is making me think a lot.”
“Uh oh.” August shook his head at me.
Now, why would that be considered an uh oh?
“Care to add to that, August?” I asked him as I picked up my iced tea and took a sip.
“You wouldn’t do anything stupid, right?” he asked, then tapped the tabletop with his finger. “Like marry her on a spur of the moment kind of thing, without having a prenup, right?”
“A prenup?” I asked then shook my head. “Why would I need one of those things? I don’t believe in divorce. My parents raised me right, August.”
“But did hers?” he winked at me and wagged his finger at me. “You aren’t the only one who can file for a thing like a divorce, Nixon. She could too. And she could take you for half of everything you’ve got.”
His question about her upbringing did send a red flag floating through my brain. “She was raised in foster care. She didn’t know her father and her mother abandoned her.”
“Damn,” he murmured. “That sounds like one hell of a rough life. My heart goes out to the poor thing. That said, now you really need a prenup. She’s what I like to call a wildcard. You have no clue what she might turn into. When you know a person’s family, you can get a rough idea of what the person is like and will be like later on in life. You’ve heard the saying, look at her mother to see how she’ll be in twenty years, right?”
“And her mother is a low-life,” I mumbled. The thought wasn’t pretty, nor was the vision that appeared in my head of Katana turning into her absentee mother. “Damn.”
“Look, don’t rush into anything. Just because she’s pregnant, that’s no reason to go faster than you would with anyone else.” He waved the waiter over. “Can you bring the bill?”
The waiter gave him a nod and headed off.
August’s words hit me like a punch to the gut. How could I have forgotten about Katana’s horrible past?
Something like that had to really screw with a person’s head. And Katana did have a certain vulnerability about her. Sometimes vulnerability could lead to weakness, and that could lead to self-destructive tendencies. Those were the kinds of things that can end relationships.
Maybe I was moving too fast. Thinking too much about making things permanent much too quickly.
But even as I thought about that, my heart beat harder, as if it were trying to pump more blood to my brain. It reminded of how my pulse had kicked when I looked into her pretty eyes as we listened to the first sounds we’d ever heard of our baby. That was real.
All the “what ifs” were not.
There could be a billion “what ifs.” What if she did turn out like her mother? What if she did turn into some self-destructive person, bent on ruining me? There was just no end to them.
But then I began to think about my own “what ifs.” What if I never made a commitment to her? What if I lost her to another man who would give her the stability I knew she’d craved her whole life? What if I lost her only because I was too worried about “what ifs?”
My thoughts were consuming me as August paid the bill. He interrupted my internal battle as he asked, “How about Friday? You still going out?”
I shook my head. “No. There’s no point—I promised Katana I wouldn’t see anyone else.”
His eyes went wide with what looked like shock. “Fuck! Are you kidding me, man? You’ve already made a promise like that to her? You barely know this chick, Nixon. Damn, does she have some voodoo shit on you or something? This is so unlike you.”
“She’s pregnant with my child,” I said, wanting him to understand what I was doing. “She told me she wouldn’t see anyone and I told her the same. I also told her that it wasn’t a thing that was set in stone.”
“Again, you’re making some pretty big decisions based on the assumption that this baby is yours,” he pointed out as we got up and started heading for the door. “And what about me?”
The doorman opened the door, letting us out, and we walked into the cool afternoon. A slight breeze stirred my hair, and I ran my hand through it. “What about you?” I had to ask.
“I don’t want to hit the town all alone. Gannon already called, and he’s backed out on us. And now you too?” He shook his head as we headed for our cars. “We have a nightclub to put together. That is one of the main reasons we hit the town on Friday nights, if you’ll recall. To get ideas about what people like, what they flock to.”
We stopped at his BMW, and I had to tell him something I’d been thinking about for a while anyway. “We’re not making a club for everyday people. We’re making one for the super-rich. And that means our clientele won’t have the same desires as the people who go to the clubs that are already here. Our clients will be looking for sophistication, style, and ways to rub elbows with other people with money who can help them further expand their businesses.”
All he could do was nod. But he still wore a frown. “I guess you’re right.”
“When we came up with that grand plan, we were all single and free. And we were all looking for a good time. Well, my good time is waiting for me at home. And although Gannon has yet to come clean with us, his good time is also at home. Those clubbing days are most likely a thing of the past for the two of us.” I watched August’s expression grow grim. “I hope that doesn’t upset you, man.”
With a shake of his head, he opened the driver’s side door and looked at me. “You guys are growing up on me.”
I guess we were. And it was long overdue.