Holy shit.
Of all the ways I thought today would go, this is not it.
“Bode? Are you okay?”
“What?”
I don’t know who in the world is talking right now, but when I look up, the guys are surrounding me.
“I asked if you’re okay,” Jasper repeats. “You look like you’re going to be sick.”
“Here.” Harper presses a bottle of water into my hand. “Drink that.”
I chug it down in a few quick gulps. The coolness helps to clear some of the fog that has taken up residence in my head.
“Bode.” Harper’s clear voice cuts through the noise. “You have to step up and do the right thing. This is your child. You can’t let him go into the system.”
I glance over at her. “Is that what would happen?”
She nods. “Yes. You can’t let this sweet boy go with complete strangers.”
“You know I’m a stranger to him, right?”
Jasper slaps me on the back of the head. “You’re his father. Do you want to be a deadbeat dad, or are you gonna step up and be a man?”
“Fuck.”
I scrub a hand over my face. Shit. That’s the last thing I want.
I don’t know the first thing about raising a kid, but after my childhood, do I want to be that guy? Damn it. Fucking Jasper knew exactly what to say to pull my head out of my ass.
“Okay.”
“Okay, you’re keeping him?” Harper asks.
“Okay, I’ll keep him.”
It’s the scariest thing I’ll ever say in my life.
Me? With a kid?
I have no idea what is going to happen, but I have to step up. I have to be this kid’s father.
It’s now or never.
I only hope this decision doesn’t screw up both of our lives.
ChapterTwo
BODE
“Ijust need a signature in a few places and then I’ll be off.”
That’s it? A few signatures and this kid is mine?
That drowning feeling is back. I don’t have the first idea on how to raise a kid. I take the pen from her hand and sign on each line she points to.
“I’ll be checking in periodically, but since you are his father, this is an easy case.”
