Chapter 17
“In the end we’re all Jerry Springer Show guests, really, we just haven’t been on the show.” - Marilyn Manson
Avery
October 15th
Dinner with my parents at the estate went fantastically well! I’d been worried, I won’t lie. And it wasn’t because I didn’t think Bryce would win them over, because clearly he had held his own. It was more because he was so opposite of Trent. Not that Trent was perfect, because he was not! But if you knew all of Trent’s “pedigrees” and “blue blood” history, and the fact that it took forever for him to win my father over…well you get it, right?
I was pretty sure my dad had always known that Trent was fake. It just took me way longer to figure that out. And yeah, Bryce was rough around the edges, I knew that, and to be perfectly honest? I loved it. It totally served him well. There wasn't a thing I'd change about my guy.
Dark brooding looks. Thick sooty lashes that no guy should ever be blessed with. Thick wavy hair and a body that most guys who worked out regularly at a gym would envy. But the physical stuff all came easy to Bryce. It was the other things–the emotional things that he struggled to conquer.
He was his own person. Good or bad; gifted or flawed; Bryce was one hundred percent who he wanted to be, or who he ascribed to be. He was still growing, learning, and finding himself.
Just like I was.
Bryce came from good people. That was apparent. He was also very intelligent beneath his rough edges. That also was obvious. But I’d seen so much evolvement in him over the past few months he’d been here. That chip on his shoulder had finally dissolved into dust. We had clicked as friends first, and now as lovers. We hadn’t used the “L” word with each other, and I didn’t see that happening for a while only because we were both so young, and life had dealt us both reasons not to be too quick to toss it out there.
Different reasons. But still, we were taking things slow and that was fine with me.
I sighed as I snuggled down in my bed, pulling the comforter up and under my chin. It had been a perfect day. I wanted to re-live every moment of it before I fell asleep.
It wasn’t quite nine o’clock in the morning when there was a knock on my door. “Avery,” my father’s voice called from the other side, “are you awake?”
“Yes, Dad. Come in.”
I’d already pulled on jeans and a sweater and was looking to see what boots I felt like wearing for the day. “Breakfast ready?” I asked, pulling on a calfskin Lucchese boot. My parents were sticklers for all of us sitting down for meals together whenever we were in the same zip code.
“Uh…not yet, but there’s someone downstairs who’s trying to locate Bryce. It’s a matter of some urgency I think, Avery.” He had a pensive look on his face.
“Has someone in his family had an accident or something?” I asked. “Who is it?”
He hesitated for a moment, which was starting to freak me out.
He cleared his throat. “No, she’s a former classmate of his from high school. She needs to find him. She’s pregnant.”
“What?” I whirled around to face my father, looking up into his eyes, I could tell there was more. “She’s pregnant? By Bryce?”
“That’s her story,” he replied. I could tell it pained him to be breaking this to me. “I told her you could direct her to Bryce’s cottage. She’s a bit out of sorts. I want to make sure she doesn’t wander around the place looking for him, honey.”
“I’ve got it,” I replied, brushing past him. My heart thudded in my chest. With each step I took down the stairs, a feeling of dread enveloped me. Who was this person who had suddenly come into my world and ripped a piece of my heart out?
She was standing in the foyer. Blessedly, she was alone. No family or servants nearby to witness my ultimate humiliation.
If she really had been a classmate of Bryce’s, she was a good distance from home. If she lied and was a local girl, I’d know it as soon as she turned to face me.
“May I help you?” I asked taking the last couple of steps so we were standing within close proximity. She was taller than me; no surprise there I guess.
She whirled around, her long black hair swirled around her shoulders. My eyes were instantly drawn to her protruding round belly. Definitely pregnant.
“Who are you?” she asked, quirking a brow over the eye that looked as if it had landed on the wrong side of a fist. I drew in a sharp breath.
“I ran into a door,” she deadpanned when she caught me focusing on the black eye. “I’m here to see Bryce Slater. I went to the address down the road his mother gave me, but the office was closed. I took my chances coming here since the sign on the gate said “Sinclair Stables,” same as the one on the office door.”
“I’m Avery Sinclair. Yes…the office is closed on weekends. Bryce Slater is employed here. Who may I ask is inquiring?”
“Another inquisition, I see,” she replied. “Look, I’ll tell you the same thing I told the man I just spoke to. I’m an old friend of Bryce’s from Decatur. Wanted to pop on by to surprise him with his impending fatherhood. What else do you need to know before I’m permitted to speak with him?”
Okay, she was agitated. Maybe even rightfully so, but her attitude with me wasn’t going to get her anywhere and she needed to know that right now. “So I’m Bryce’s supervisor. I’m part of management here, understand? And that gives me the responsibility of ensuring the safety of our employees. Now, if you don’t wish to tell me your name so that I can clear access for you to be on this property, I’ll wish you a nice day, Ms–”
“The name is Mandy. Mandy Jo Reynolds.”
“Thank you. Now Mandy Jo, if you would please take a seat in the parlor to your right, I’ll let Bryce know you’re here. It will take a few minutes.”
“Yeah, can’t believe he doesn’t have his cell anymore. This is really an inconvenience,” she replied with a sniff, turning to her left to enter the parlor. It was then I noticed she’d brought a backpack with her.
“No kidding,” I muttered, “Sit tight.”
I don’t remember making the trek to Bryce’s cottage, but somehow I did. The sound of my fist banging on his screen door brought me back to the reality of the present. I hadn’t realized just how inconvenient it was that Bryce had disconnected his cell service until now. Maybe that was because I hated having to confront him with this face to face. It would have been so much easier for me to text him.
The mother of your child is up at the manor.
Congrats! You’re going to be a daddy!
Does the name Mandy Jo Reynolds ring a bell, Bryce?
Guess who’s coming to dinner at your place?
Your sordid past just showed up on OUR doorstep, Bryce. Please come and collect her!
Your baggage has hunted you down, Bryce. Time to pay the piper.
All sorts of texts ran through my mind in those brief seconds it took for Bryce to open his door. A look of mild surprise crossed his rakishly handsome face. I wanted to smack it for some strange reason.
“Hey baby, I know I’m not late, what’s up?”
I took a deep breath, all the while my mind repeated the mantra: I can do this. I will do this.
“There’s a pregnant girl up at the house. She says it’s yours,” I blurted, watching his jaw drop open and confusion mask his eyes as he studied me and my words sunk in.
“What?”
“Is that all you have to say, Bryce?”
“What the fuck are you talking about, Avery?”
“Let me give it to you in sign language, Bryce,” I retorted angrily, “Woman,” I said pointing to my chest, “pregnant,” I continued, my arms making circular motions over my flat tummy, puffing out my cheeks, “at the house. Says baby (I made my arms swing in a cradle motion) is yours,” I finished jabbing my index finger at him.
The look of confusion on his face appeared as if it were here to stay.
“Mandy Jo Reynolds,” I blurted in exasperation. “Does that name ring a damn bell?”
“Fuck,” he growled.
That was all I needed to hear.