I knew showing up unannounced after Lena had made it painfully clear that she wanted nothing to do with me, was a bad idea. But here I was, on her doorstep waiting for her open up. Well she could be mad all she wanted to, but I knew there was something wrong and she probably needed help. She was just too stubborn to ask for it. The door opened and she wore a matching set of blue pajamas covered in cupcakes, with shorts so short I could see every inch of her legs. But those big green eyes of hers shot fire in my direction. “What part of I don’t want to know you do you not understand?”

Damn but she was cuter than hell when she was upset. “We need to clear a few things up,” I told her, pushing in close to get her to open up, but Lena was a stubborn little thing.

“No, we don’t. There is nothing to clear up and nothing to understand.” She glared up at me, face blank and almost believed her. Almost.

“I disagree,” I told her and applied pressure to the door until she backed up and I walked inside. The place was tiny as hell. “Must take some getting used to living in a place this size.”

“My apartment while I was in culinary school was smaller than this. But if it doesn’t meet your standards, feel free to go away.” Lena stood by the door, leaning against it while I scanned her place. The wood was light, pine probably, and gave the place a sunny and fresh air about it. The furniture was mismatched and homey, colorful and something so Lena I felt a weird sensation I didn’t want to think about too closely. Books were piled in stacks of five or six all around, with her e-reader on top of one of the stacks. “Talk or get out, Rex.”

She looked exhausted and I felt bad, but we needed to clear the air. “I’m not the asshole you think I am.” I looked at her, waiting for a response that never came as she stared at me, face carefully blank. “I never said I would sign off on the house just because we slept together.” Still she said nothing, but the way she stood with her hands resting behind her low on her back, I could see the fatigue in her face. The weight she’d lost. “Are you going to say anything?”

She crossed her arms and continued to stare, telling me with her body language that I was the one who wanted to talk, so I should get right to it.

“How am I the fucking bad guy here?”

She sighed and finally opened her mouth. “I never said you were.”

“But you still don’t want to know me?”

She nodded. “That’s right. We haven’t seen each other in years and we’re basically strangers anyway. There’s no reason to start pretending we’re anything more than that now.” She turned the knob and stepped aside. “It’s my day off and I really would like to get some sleep.”

I marched to where she stood next to the open door and glared at her. “What the fuck, Lena?”

She growled at me in response. Actually fucking growled. She shoulder-checked me and moved deeper into the cabin, like she had to protect herself from me. “This isn’t amusing Rex. It isn’t funny or whatever the hell you think it is. I am tired, pissed off and annoyed, and the last person I want to deal with right now, is you.”

“And all of that is my fault?” I had to hear this rationale. Women were capable of some magical thinking, I knew that, but this was borderline crazy town.

“Since you are the one interrupting my nap, with bullshit I might add, it is your fault. There are no bad guys, Rex. We had sex, twice, there’s no reason to turn it into some big thing.” She raked a hand through her hair and blew out a long breath.

“You’ve only had sex twice, it is a big thing.”

Arms folded over her chest and chin tilted in defiance, Lena’s brows arched. “Twice that you know of.”

I didn’t like the idea that she’d gone off and fucked someone else. I stepped closer so she had to lean back to look up at me. “Who?”

“None of your damn business.”

“It damn well is!” She couldn’t be out there just having sex with anyone. She was too naïve, too inexperienced. I pulled her in close, lowering my head to kiss her. But she stopped me with a hard slap to my right cheek. “What the fuck?”

“No! I’m not doing this with you again, Rex. Just go.” She pushed at me two or three times but we both knew I would only move if I wanted to. “I don’t want you here.”

“Too bad,” I plopped myself down on her bed and something jabbed me in the ass. “What in the hell is this?” Shifting over, I caught sight of a hardcover book. The title held me still as stone.

She looked over at the books and then back up at me, as casually as she could, but I saw the way she stiffened. “A book.”

I would have laughed if there wasn’t a sense of doom building up inside of me. “Not good enough, Lena. You know it. Why didn’t you tell me?”

She stood. “This falls into the category of things that are not your business.” As cool as you please, Lena walked over to the door. “Now you should probably leave before I call the police.”

I didn’t want to leave, but I could see how angry she was and I knew she would do it, too. Not that I gave a damn, but she looked exhausted and I didn’t want the cops interfering.

“Fine. But don’t think this is over. It’s not.”

She stared past me and slammed the door in my face.

* * *

Lena was pregnant. Fucking pregnant. I couldn’t believe it. Correct, I still couldn’t believe it, because here I was nearly twenty-four hours later and I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. Lena was carrying my baby and she wasn’t even going to tell me about it. That shit pissed me off and I could admit now, with a bottle and a half of Jack in my system, that it also kind of fucking hurt too.

But if she thought she could keep me away from my own damn kid, well then, she had another thing coming. I would be there for the baby, and for Lena. Whether she wanted me to or not. Even in my booze addled brain that sounded fucked up, but she hadn’t given me a choice. Hell, she hadn’t’ given me a chance. Simply decided on her own that I wouldn’t be involved.

It was a shitty thing to do to a man. Even if that man was an asshole.

A knock sounded and I groaned, leaning back against the sofa with my eyes closed. It sounded again. “Go away!” The knob jiggled and I reached for the axe near the fireplace. “I said go away,” I yelled at the door, swaying a little.

Jared strolled in, his ever present smile fading to a worried frown. “You look like shit, man.”

“Really?” I dropped the axe and fell back into the spot already warmed by my body. “And here I was thinking I looked runway ready.”

Jared gave a laugh but it was more perfunctory than actual amusement as he took a seat in the chair angled to face the sofa. “What’s up with you and Lena, and don’t say nothing because we both know that’s a lie.”

I could have lied, could have told Jared to mind his own fucking business, but I didn’t. Who the hell else did I have to talk to about the shitstorm that was now my life?

“Lena’s pregnant.”

Jared gasped, frowned and then burst out laughing. “Shit. Who’s the unlucky fella, because Marcus is going to throw a fucking fit.”

“Me,” I bit out, waiting for his laughter and then his shock to wear off before I gave him a rundown of everything that had happened when Lena landed on my doorstep more than two months ago. “She just told me about it yesterday. Actually she didn’t tell me, I saw one of those books about what to expect during pregnancy and she told me it was none of my fucking business. Can you believe that? And she still says she ‘doesn’t want to know’ me. What kind of shit is that?”

Jared whistled and sat back, snatching the Jack from my hand and taking a pull from the bottle. “No wonder she’s pissed at you.”

What? “I must have heard you wrong, but it sounds like you’re saying I did something wrong. I never promised her a damn thing.”

“Maybe not,” he began with a shrug. “But the second time she showed up, my guess is that you knew you were going to say no and you fucked her anyway, knowing she would be upset.” He tilted his chin in that defiant way that dared you to deny the facts he’d just laid out. “Or did you tell her no and then have sex with her?”

“She is an adult. If she can run a business, she can enjoy a little casual sex.” The more I said it, the hollower it rang even to me.

“Except you just gave her a casual fuck and took away her business.”

Now Jared sounded angry and that fueled my own anger at this whole foolish situation. “I didn’t take anything away.”

“Bullshit. You want her to be mature enough to handle sex but then you say she’s too immature to run her own damn business. You can’t pick and choose, Rex.”

“Good to know whose side you’re on, Jared.”

He sighed and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’m on your side, always. But who is on Lena’s side? She’s pregnant and alone, working a job that’s ten million times worse than what she wants to be doing.”

“Just heap on the guilt, Jared. Thanks.” But he was right. Lena was clearly not having an easy time with the pregnancy, she wanted nothing from me and my guess is she wanted even less from Marcus. “If I hadn’t seen the book with my own eyes she wouldn’t have told me.” That’s the part that got to me the worst.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but do you even want a kid?”

I let out a bitter laugh. “Does it matter at this point? The baby is coming.” And I wasn’t prepared even a little bit.

Jared sat back and grinned, legs crossed casually, he looked genuinely happy. “I’m gonna be an uncle.”

I wished I could feel that kind of joy. It would be better than this bone deep fear I felt.