The Co-Parent (The Relationship Quo Series Book 3)

by Nicole Strycharz

  “You have a couple options. One, you tell her to get this thing aborted before the press hears of it. She tore up the check because it wasn’t high enough-.”

  “She won’t do it,” I said defensively. I don’t know if that’s true but part of me doesn’t want that deed on my hands if she does. I was terrified when she refused the first check but also a tad relieved.

  “Fine, then demand a DNA test from the lying little wench. I guarantee if this is not your mistake, she’ll run for the hills to avoid discovery. You ask alone and she’ll run.”

  “And if she doesn’t?”

  “Then you go with her and get the test done. She could be bluffing. Either way, don’t let this be your downfall. Your mother is a prime example of how far a bitch will go to get a designer bag. You’re a product of greed. A walking talking pay stub, so pray to God this isn’t your child. Because whoever this girl is, your life is over.”

  He hung up on me and I dropped into my car. I stared at the wheel a long while. The things he said about me or mother, they don’t bother me anymore. I’ve always known I was a costly mistake on his part and a pawn on my mother’s.

  I smoked at least three cigarettes and attempted two at once from the stress that had my fingers twitching. I replayed the lunch over and over but no matter how little I believed her I felt nothing but shame. If there was even the slightest chance she told me the truth then I’m now the lowest man on the planet.

  I drove around for what felt like forever, and then remembered I was supposed to go to Vicars. I can’t. All I can think about is Brianna and how much I’d held my breath getting here. I even watched California news at times just to feel close to her when I was gone. Something about her was so right that I was in pain daily wanting to finish what we’d started. I wanted to pioneer her body and feel her seeking hands on my face.

  Now considering she’s a temptress with dark motives I can’t fathom it. So I found myself parking and when I looked up, I was down the street from her apartment building.

  Getting out, I left my jacket in the car and stripped my vest too. Then I went in and took the stairs to her place. Looking at my watch, it’s seven at night. Hours since lunch. I knocked.

  “Just a second.” I heard on the other side.

  I waited. Then the door opened. She was in sleep shorts with tiny pineapples on them and a gray tank. No bra. I can’t help but notice that. “Hello,” I said in a graveled voice.

  She turned her head a little, “Gabriel?”

  “Yes.” Women don’t usually call me that, but it sounds nice on her tongue. “I wanted to see if…you got home.”

  She nodded, “After getting the manager to come out and tell me where exactly I was and how to get out of the restaurant, he called the cab company I always use. They know me so they sent someone. No harm done.”

  “I told you over the phone I would pay. The cab fare was probably high-.”

  “I can handle it.” She brushed it off. Why in the hell would I even offer if she’s a lying tramp with some guy’s baby in her belly? Maybe because seeing her destroys my common sense.

  We just stood there for a time until she spoke, “Did you want to come in?”

  I can see now that her eyes are rimmed in pink. She’s been crying. I just wish I knew if she was real. The kind of real I wanted from her at the beginning.

  “If this baby is mine, why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

  “I couldn’t find you,” she shifted on her feet. “You didn’t leave contacts remember? I had Jacob call as soon as I found out. He said one of your friends answered and that he promised to relay the message that I was looking for you. You never called back.”

  I remembered that, “I was in Ibiza. Roman never said who it was. Just that someone was looking for one of my assistants.”

  She held the door and set her cheek against it, “This isn’t your problem Gabriel. You don’t want us, and that’s okay. I’m not scared anymore. I’m going to do this and I’m going to do it as well as I can. I love Blueberry and we’re going to be fine. You can even check in if you want, but don’t stress out.”

  “Blueberry?”

  She smiled, “When I went to get him or her aborted a woman there told me that the baby was the size of a blueberry. I don’t know who she was or if she was a protester but the things she said made him or her so real. She even talked about how very little chance there was of you and me meeting. Lay that slight chance on top of the fact that we didn’t even… you know… and it just seems like Blueberry deserves a chance to live.”

  I honestly stopped listening. I was staring at the bump and zoning out on whenever she spoke in a plural.

  ‘You don’t want us’ or ‘we will be fine.’

  I inhaled and let it out in a huff. “I want a DNA test.”

  She didn’t even blink, “That’s fine. I can ask my doctor to work that out. She does payment plans.”

  “I’ll pay for it.”

  “No, it’s my doctor, I’ll do it.”

  I’m confused again. Not only is she willing but she’s paying? “If you’re lying to me, I don’t ever want to see you again.” She took that in silence, and I went on, “If you aren’t then I don’t think the word sorry will cover the shame I feel.”

  She nodded.

  I backed up, “Get an appointment tomorrow. I want this done quickly.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  BRIANNA

  “Well Mr. Gilmore…” said Dr. Vine three days later, “You’re gonna be a daddy. Congratulations! Mazel Tov! Yay! I would hand you a balloon but one popped on me once. A veteran from up the hall heard it and it set off his PSD. So… but you get it.”

  I sat next to Gabe in her office but heard him stand and yank the paper away. His breathing was really heavy, and then wheezy and in the same second, I heard a loud thud beside me.

  “Oh my God!” I said realizing it was Gabe.

  Dr. Vine made a “Nah,” sound. “He’s okay. Happens all the time. Honestly, I love it when the dads faint, but it’s always funnier when they hit their head on the way down. Not your buddy here, though. He just fell back like a top heavy mannequin.”

  My doctor’s sense of humor will be something I have to look back on for a laugh. Right now I’m a little worried. I felt around and knelt by his head while she got something to wake him up.

  After rousing him she gave us a minute in her office. He sat in the chair next to mine and we just sat for a long time.

  “I can’t do this…” he finally said.

  “And you don’t have to.” I turned in the chair, “I told you before this isn’t your problem.”

  “Will you stop? Please? Stop trying to get rid of me.”

  I sat and waited. He finally stood up and we made our way out. At the desk, he swiped my purse so I wouldn’t fight him when he paid for the test. I pulled on his suit sleeve. “Gabriel, don’t. I have a payment plan.”

  “You had a payment plan.” He took care of everything and then he handed my purse back and walked outside with me. I relied on my stick, not him.

  “We have to talk.” He told me.

  I went to my cab and felt for the door. “Not if you plan to yell at me. Blueberry doesn’t need all that.”

  “No, I’ll control myself but,” I heard him make a quiet exchange with the driver.

  “Hey,” I put my hand out until I felt his arm, “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing,” then he said, “thank you,” under his breath.

  “Oh, no, no, no, no, you did not just pay for my cab.”

  “Brianna-.”

  “No!” I yelled into the open passenger window at the driver, “Divit! Don’t you dare take his money! I can pay you just fine.”

  “Sorry Miss Birks. He already pay it.” Said the driver in his Indian accent.

  “Fuck.” I snapped. “Listen,” I faced Gabe. “You can’t do that all the time.”

  “I’m facing to your left not your right and you’re having my baby, get used
to it.”

  “That’s not how it works you dope!”

  I opened the back door and tried to get in but he took my wrist, “I need to be able to talk to you.”

  I sighed and thought. “Then come over I guess.”

  “I have to stop at Vicars. It’ll be a while.”

  “Come for dinner then. Just don’t annoy me. Anger makes me nauseous.”

  He rubbed his thumb along my wrist. “Thank you.”

  I took my hand back and got in. Once we drove off I hit the back of my driver’s head rest. He only laughed.

  Once I got home I let the crushing weight of this press down on me. I hadn’t let this all in. Gavin was actually Gabe. A millionaire, not an assistant. He was buying my workplace. He was my father’s child and now he knows. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him but here I am.

  I did office work from home for a bit and some laundry.

  I decided to make dinner myself, considering my boss gave me another day off. I pulled together ingredients and a YouTube video recipe. It told me all I needed and the instructions.

  I slipped on a full body apron over my sundress and talked to Blueberry, “This is a nightmare. Not your fault! But a nightmare.”

  The knock on my door came too soon. I went and answered. Gabe’s voice calms me down and makes me nervous at the same time, “Am I too early?” He asked.

  “No,” I opened the door wider and he stepped in.

  “Your stove is on,” he went over but I tugged his elbow.

  “I know, I’m cooking.”

  “How?”

  “Blind people can do a lot of things. Wanna help?”

  He strolled around my kitchen, “You label everything.”

  “Yeah and I use the other senses; smell, taste…it’s the least hardest thing to do really. Aside from recipes, I have to listen to them or someone needs to read them.”

  He came back to stand ing in front of me, “I’ve never cooked before.”

  “Then Rich Boy is about to have his first lesson,” I said with a smirk.

  He sounded like he used to, “Challenge accepted.” I heard him take off his suit jacket and follow me to the counter.

  “Can you cut these?” I felt over the veggies.

  “What are we making?”

  “Stir fry, rice, chicken breasts and eggrolls.”

  “You can make all that?” he asked.

  “Yeah, so our kid won’t starve,” I laughed.

  He sounded like he was on the chopping but his voice came down, “I’m surprised you wanted me here after how I acted.”

  “I know me too. You were a total shit bag about it, but…I would be lying if I said I didn’t understand. I was so afraid when I found out that I was sitting at a clinic the next day. As far as your accusations, how can I fight them? It all looks pretty bad on my part too. Living a life of fame is no prize from my perception. All the expectations, all the rules, all the hype, all the publicity…”

  He was still chopping, “It’s more than that. I told you very little about my parents.”

  I was so curious my ears burned but I’m afraid to rush him. “What do your parents have to do with it?”

  “Everything…”

  I took a bite of a snap pea. “Can we try telling the truth?”

  “Truth is my mother tricked my father into having me. She told him she was on birth control then skipped to make me on purpose. She was broke and fancied expensive living. She wanted money, and popularity and she sucked my father dry for a long time on child support.”

  I felt pretty disgusted. “Are you assuming? Does she admit to doing all that?”

  “Yes. Now she does. Once I turned eighteen and useless to her she was very honest about it. My father’s been on me every day of my life not to make the same mistake. I truly thought that, if we didn’t- if I didn’t go into you and if you were a virgin…”

  “Me too,” I admitted.

  He beat around asking, “You’re telling the truth about that too?”

  I smiled to myself as I plugged in my wok. “I’ve never been with a man before you. When I was in high school, Bobby Joe got to second base because I was changing in the locker room by myself and I didn’t see him run up.” We laughed a little, “But no I haven’t gone all the way. I still haven’t.”

  He handed me a bowl of chopped onion, “When should we go to court? About custody and child support? Is that after?”

  I felt annoyed but he’s a businessman, ever looking ahead. “I don’t want your money, Gabriel. That’s never been my aim.”

  “But it’s what’s done. It’s what responsible father’s do.”

  “Why?” I turned to face him and shut off the stove and wok. “Is writing your name on a check going to make you a father? You’re a playboy with awful habits and no idea what it takes to be a parent.”

  He set down the knife and the veggie he was working on, “Should I leave then?” he sounds pissed, “Because I’m not sure what you want from me.”

  I reached out and my hand met his chest. I felt my way to his arm and down to hold his hand. I hadn’t felt his hands in so long but now I’m a little dazed. They’re warmer than I expect and smooth but full of large bones.

  “I’m not discouraging you.” I told him, “I’m telling you that we aren’t doing this the traditional way. I’m not going through custody battles. Why? You don’t want this baby screaming in your house, the house you never stay put in because you’re always traveling for work. You don’t want a baby clogging up your party nights or cock blocking your flings and I won’t sleep thinking you could be drunk on the job. Like I said a dozen times, I don’t want your money. I’ll get by fine.”

  “So why have me here? You have it all figured out. Sounds like you don’t even intend to let me see it.”

  I groaned at his stupid. “Come here,” I led the seeing man by the hand to my sofa. I know my apartment so well I only have to feel my way once or twice. He sat with a plop and I sat next to him still holding his hand.

  “You aren’t sending me a bazillion dollars each month or week or whatever. We’ll team this. You get ‘back to school’ supplies, then I’ll get clothes. Float me a box of diapers here or there. You get the doctor visit one time and I get the other. You come for parent teacher meetings, and recitals, and games, and birthdays and holidays, and you be a dad. That’s child support. Not money. Be my friend. Help me. Talk to me. You don’t need weekends, you need events. Custody only dictates when you’re a father. Being family means you don’t need a bought couple hours. It means you’ll drop by, you’ll play with us, you’ll have dinner maybe…”

  He isn’t saying anything and I’m hoping I made sense. “I’ve never heard of all that between separated parents.” He admitted.

  “It’s called co-parenting. We work together, and respect one another, to make someone else that’s half of us both, really super happy. That’s it. That’s all it is and if none of this is what you want you get your jacket back there in the kitchen and you go home. I won’t hold any hard feelings at all. I just ask for consistency. If you can’t consistently be in our life then go. If you can’t consistently stay out…then stay.”

  I felt his hand touch my cheek then curve under my chin, “What about us? What’s your little plan for that?”

  I shrugged, “Just be my friend. Partner with me on this and we can share everything about Blueberry.”

  “Do you have any hopes for us to be more than that?” He pushed his thumb over my chin, “tell the truth because I still don’t see how I’ll ever be what you want.”

  I stroked his wrist, “I’m not asking you to be anything…except honest.”

  He sounded closer, “Then I want to try to be all those things you said. This is very weird for me. I’m having the worst time trusting you. I’m not coming from a family like the one you knew before you were orphaned. I don’t even have anyone to tell this to. I grew up with everything, and in the end, I have nothing.”

  I made the brave decisio
n to give into my sappy hormones and felt up his shoulder to his neck and gently explored his face. “You have us,” I told him. “If you want us.”

  He leaned in and kissed me. Oh, I missed that. The kisses Gabe gives are like a tonic. I instantly want more and I’m caught in the undertow of his ability to overwhelm my senses. “Hey,” I gripped his collar, “We shouldn’t do this now.”

  “Why not?” He held the back of my head and smoothed his hand down my arm, “I want to feel close to you.”

  “Yeah but we haven’t really finished talking.”

  “I communicate better this way,” he set his lips over mine and the scent of his aftershave and the feel of his warm body pressing through his clothes made me weak.

  “We have to think clear right now,” I said when his lips moved to my hairline. “Sex will…it’s gonna cloud things…we should….”

  His hand grazed up from my knee to under my dress skirt. I already walk around horny and wet, his feeling me up is worse. It’s like my body is catching fire and the more I beat at the flames the hotter they get.

  “Let me touch you,” he said in a rasp. God, how do I fight him and myself? “Is it really anything we can’t fix overnight?” His hand found my panties and started tugging.

  “You need a lot more than a night, Gabe. Having me won’t be what fixes anything.”

  He started to move so he was over me and like a dummy I laid back on my sofa and let him. “I disagree.” He said. “I want you, Brianna. I’ve been wanting you for months and what’s stopping us now?”

  My heart is slamming my chest so hard. “I don’t know but…we don’t even know where we stand with each other. It feels too soon. I don’t even know if you like me. If you care.”

  His silver tongue spoke more evil while he pushed my dress up, “You’re having my baby, Brianna. Of course, I care. I’ll always care now. You’re part of me. Part of me is inside you already.”

  Damn! I know better but then his fingers were on my sex and my legs were parting and his mouth was on my neck. I’m not super girl and this is too good. I want it.