Leaning against a wall on the back patio, I look out across the party and watch people mingling and carrying on, and wish I could be anywhere else in the world right now but here. Pushing off the wall, I make my way into the house for a drink. If I am going to be around this party much longer, a beer will have to see me through. Pushing through a few people who are exiting back into the party, I come into an empty kitchen and open the fridge. Grabbing a dark IPA, I pop the top, take a drink and turn to leave when I overhear a conversation that makes me stop.
“Eddie, stop! You’re making a mess of me and I have to go back out to that party.” Becky’s hushed voice comes from the back room. I roll my eyes and turn to leave seeing she is up to her old tricks.
“Why’d you invite country boy?” Eddie says through rushed breaths. His comment makes me still, so I stop and listen.
“Eddie,” Becky drawls, “I had to. You know that. Especially after the test earlier this week.”
“It’s a good thing you got your father to botch that paternity test, baby. Now we can go back to the way it was before.”
The beer slips out of my hands and crashes to the floor shattering instantly. Fuck me, I should have known. Becky comes around the corner straightening and smoothing down her dress. She looks to the floor in front of me briefly, and then meets my eye. A look of recognition flashes across her face. Before she has a chance to say a word, I turn and walk through the back door towards my car. I just exit the gate when she catches up with me.
“Noah, wait! Where are you going?” She screams at me across the yard as she charges towards me.
I turn around and almost bump straight into her. Breathing heavily, I stare her in the eyes and wait for any glimmer of apology. It never comes.
“I should have known, Becky. You used me! You used me as a pawn because you couldn’t get Eddie to do as you like. What? Did I show back up in town and you both conspired this little plan to ruin my life a second time so you could have it all your way?”
“What are you talking about?” She tries to fake innocence.
“You know exactly what I am talking about. Say it! I want to hear you say it! The baby is not mine!”
“Noah,” she tries to settle me. “You heard the doctor. You saw the results. The baby is yours. You have a responsibility, and...”
“Like hell I do!” I yell. “I heard Eddie, Becky. I heard you two. Your dad paid to set me up. Paid to give you what you wanted. A father for your child because Eddie will never give that to you. Damn it, Becky. That is low - even for you!”
Her eyes well over with tears, and although it is strange to see any kind of emotion coming from such a cold woman, I continue. “Just tell me one thing. Why me? You could have set up any guy, any loser that you wanted. Why’d you pick me?”
A few tears fall over and roll down her cheeks. At first, I am afraid she won’t answer. That she will keep up this facade and never admit the horrible truth I just overheard. But I keep firm. I don’t break, and slowly I see her mask fall.
“Because,” she whispers. “I knew you’d always be there. I knew if the baby was yours, you’d never leave. You’d always stay.”
“Say it, Becky!” I demand. “I want to hear you say it.”
She cries a little at first. Then stiffens and stands straight with a defiance I am not sure will break. She honestly has me believing for a moment she won’t. That she will hold me hostage in this world for the rest of my life with a truth we both know, but a fake test she will forever hold over my head. But then she softens. She looks at me defeated, and I know I’ve finally won.
“The baby is not yours, Noah,” she whispers.
That’s all I need. Those few words and I am free. Free of her and the life she wanted to drag me into. Free of the past and all the bullshit that came with it. Free to make my own choices for my future. And I know exactly where that future is meant to be.
Chapter Sixty
Eva
Three weeks later, one large moving van, four days across the country, two large pizzas, an empty bottle of wine, and I laugh at what Noah just said as I enter our tiny little kitchen and grab the second bottle from the cabinet. We’ve been moving all day, and after carrying the last of the boxes in from the truck, we ordered pizza, opened a bottle of Cabernet, and made love on the kitchen counter before the delivery driver made it to the front door.
To say I am happy would be an understatement. Not many women could give up a dream with such ease, but in life, love is a series of give and take. In the end, this was one choice that was easy for me to make.
Pouring us each another glass, I turn around to make my way back towards the living room and stop dead in my tracks when I take in Noah’s stare. He grins, that sexy cock sure of himself panty-dropping smile, and I feel instantly aroused from what I know has to be on his mind.
“Ms. Monroe,” he says, coming a step closer. “All this moving has made me work up an appetite, and I’m feeling very starved for my favorite dessert right about now.”
Setting down the glasses, I turn and purposely push my ass up in the air as I start to rummage through boxes labeled “kitchen” on the floor. I hear him growl as he approaches. My bare ass sticks out of the bottom of my shorts, and I shake a little to the side and let out a sex kitten moan.
“I’m not sure we have what you want, Mr. Stewart,” I tease.
“Is that so?” He cups me through my shorts and starts to rub, tease, and push against my opening. I stand, and turn to meet his heated stare. “What if I told you, you have everything I could ever need.”
His hands pull my shorts down.
