CE O

by M T Stone

  “That chick is either seriously warped or she was really whipped over you,” she says with a tentative look. “Becca always said that women are only psycho because a guy made them that way. Usually their daddy or the last guy they dated.”

  “She was a very consistent client, so I did the best I could to make her happy.” I shrug, not sure I should even go down this path. “She makes a good living, so I just assumed she was using me to fill a void. She’s a total ballbuster, so it’s not like she can keep a man unless maybe he’s shackled to her bed. She had those problems long before meeting me.”

  “It just makes you wonder what the hell happened to her,” she replies, actually seeming empathetic toward her.

  “She never said.” I click to my contacts. “I’m going to give the PI a call and see if he has anything that I can use to defend myself. Otherwise, I’m going to be on high alert all weekend.”

  “Me too,” she says with a rise in her voice. “Seriously, everyone is going to immediately know that I’m the girl in the pictures.”

  “Like I said, I’m going to see what we can do to counter this thing.” I punch his contact info to call him. “Otherwise, you and I might as well go home and just leave everything to Sally.”

  “Yeah, Sally would really appreciate that,” she says, going back to the other room to finish unpacking.

  Felicia

  I breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that she obstructed my face and private parts in those pictures. Not that this is a great situation, but it could’ve been so much worse. I finish hanging up my clothes and unpacking my makeup and things, wondering if we will actually be staying. I’m sure he’ll still want to be here on Saturday and Sunday, but he could skip tomorrow afternoon and evening. Then again, who knows? I’ve never been the subject of an angry mob, so I have no idea how to deal with it.

  “Yes!” I hear him cry out from the other room as I tuck my suitcase away in the closet. “I’m going to nail her to the cross!” he declares, coming into the second bedroom with a look of victory in his eyes.

  “What is it?” I ask, wanting to share in the excitement after a worrisome four days.

  “The other day, he asked about the brand of condoms I used, and both brands have spermicide built in. He started thinking that it would be unlikely that a sample would remain viable after spending even ten minutes in that environment,” he says with a huge sense of relief. “That’s why she needed so many samples. I had a deep-seated fear that she was sharing with her friends, which would’ve been an even bigger nightmare.”

  “That’s exactly what I was thinking. You would have no idea how many kids you could possibly be responsible for.” I cringe. “So what’s does all of this mean?”

  “He figured that since she finally got pregnant, she had eventually resorted to going somewhere for professional help.”

  “Like a fertility clinic or something?” I ask, immediately knowing where this is headed.

  “Exactly. The only problem was all the privacy laws, so he requested a court order which just came through this morning,” he says, repeating what he had been told. “Since the wait gave him some time to think about it, he decided to start with the clinic that had done the paternity test. And we got lucky.”

  “Seriously? Wow, if that’s the case, you would have a valid lawsuit against her,” I tell him, knowing that consent is a huge issue in any case involving insemination. “Both her and the clinic would be liable since she used your semen without your consent.”

  “I honestly don’t give a shit about that,” he says, practically jumping out of his skin. “I need to get ahold of my blogger friend who does freelance writing for TMZ, The Huffington Post, and Perez Hilton. With her help, we’ll blow Jessica’s story right out of the water and will get a ton of free publicity at the same time.”

  “Jesus, if that story breaks on all three platforms, you’ll crush her credibility in one blow,” I add, feeling grateful that I’m not in her shoes. “Lying to over eleven million followers? She’s going to have a really shitty weekend.”

  “Yeah, and if I play this right, we’ll be crushed with business. I’m going to tell the whole story, how she forced me to switch businesses, and I’m going to mention the website as many times as they let me. I’d better login to my AWS account and boost my server capacity,” he says with light literally dancing in his eyes. “I’ve never been so excited.”

  “Me either,” I reply, suddenly realizing what this will mean for him. Instead of being washed up like Jessica intended, he’ll end up with a ton of free exposure. Hell, that can be worth a fortune in this social media-driven world. “We need to sit down and talk this through before you call your friend. You want to cover all the angles and get the story as tight as possible. I’m so excited for you.”

  “Seriously?” he scoffs. “I want you to be excited for us. You and I are an incredible team, so regardless of what happens, you’ll always have a place in the company. In fact, if you keep writing blurbs like you have been, I’ll give you the Director of Marketing position. You’re at least as good as anyone else I’ve interviewed.”

  “Really? Thank you.” I’m completely stunned right now. “That’s very generous of you.”

  “Don’t think that I’m doing you a favor or that it’s because we’re hittin’ it,” he replies with a stern look. “You’re really talented and you deserve it.” I can’t help giggling. “What’s so funny?”

  “The fact that you used the phrase hittin’ it with such a serious expression on your face.” I can’t help giggling. “You kill me sometimes.”

  “Knocking boots. Beatin’ the sheets. Whatever you want to call it,” he says, causing me to actually snort for the third time in under a week.

  “Oh, yeah, ‘beatin’ the sheets’ is much more romantic,” I reply, giving him a well-deserved poke in the ribs. “Okay, let’s make some serious money. We’ll lay out the story between Jessica and you starting from the first time you met. Do you remember why she came to see you in the first place?”

  “She was having intimacy issues,” he says with a chuckle. “She thought it had something to do with the physical aspects of her relationships. After a couple of sessions, I quickly discovered the problems were purely psychological. I tried to talk to Cindy about it, but since she’s her aunt, she wasn’t the most objective.”

  “Cindy? The psychologist?”

  “Yeah, I saw her as a favor to Cindy, which is why I put up with more shit than I normally would have. Cindy had sent me so many good clients over the years. I felt like I owed her,” he explains, his eyes revealing the suppressed pain.

  “So that’s why you kept seeing her?”

  “Yeah, pretty much.” His mood begins to turn more somber, so I move forward, trying to piece together a timeline of how things progressed. Within the hour, I had a complete timeline of how it slowly became an unhealthy relationship and then turned toxic once she began threatening him. The fact that she used a fertility clinic cemented the entire case against her. I’m sure she was becoming desperate after repeated failures, but that was really a stupid move.

  I know Rex doesn’t want to go after the fertility clinic, but this is clear-cut negligence. She must’ve had connections or something to even get it done. He shouldn’t completely let them off the hook. “Would you ever consider raising the kid?” I ask, tossing out a thought as it crosses my mind.

  “I haven’t even thought of it,” he blurts out, looking like he was just hit with a jolt of electricity. “I don’t even know if it’s going to be a boy or a girl.”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Not really, I guess.” He looks up at the ceiling for a moment. I’m sure a myriad of thoughts is swirling through his head. Nothing scares a single guy more than talking about babies. “I really don’t know.”

  “I didn’t really expect you to know,” I reassure him. “I just know you are uncomfortable with her raising your child, so I was just wondering if the thought had crossed your mind.
”

  “It probably tried to cross my mind,” he admits with a pained smirk. “But I pretty much squashed it.”

  “I totally understand. You have plenty of time to consider your options,” I reply, running my fingers along the top of his arm. “When is she due?”

  “Four months or so, I assume.” He gets up from the chair and begins pacing the room. “Dammit, now you’re making me feel guilty.”

  “Hey, you didn’t do anything that you should feel guilty about,” I tell him, getting up and wrapping my arms around him. “Just forget I asked.”

  “Yeah, right. That’s one of those things you can’t unhear,” he says, shaking his head and giving me a reluctant hug. “But, like you said, there’s time to figure it out.”

  Rex’s blogger friend, Liz, squealed with delight when he began telling her what Jessica had done to him. It turns out that she has made more than a few enemies in the blogging and social media world, so she assured him that after she submitted the story overnight, it would spread like wildfire. “I’m sorry she did this to you,” she said before hanging up. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to have such a permanent connection with her.”

  “I can’t either,” he replied before hanging up the phone. His left eye begins to twitch so violently that it’s actually noticeable. “I think I’m having a stroke or something,” he adds jokingly. “Let’s just order room service. Pick out a couple things you like and I’ll share them with you.”

  “Okay. Just lie down and relax for a bit. You’ve been under a lot of pressure,” I tell him, patting the bed. He gives me a sigh but doesn’t hesitate to take my advice.

  I pick up the menu and immediately gravitate to the baby spinach salad with peaches, raspberries, and a raspberry vinaigrette. I also order the Nixon burger, which features imported wagyu beef, short ribs, crispy onions, pepper jack cheese, and chipotle barbecue sauce. Judging by the way his eye continues to twitch, I figure he can use something savory to take his mind off things. I also order a couple of double shots of Tomatin scotch, since that’s the one he introduced me to the first night we were together. Hopefully, the combination of the two will ease his mind.

  Chapter 19

  Rex

  Well, at least we confirmed that it’s possible for Felicia and I to spend twenty-four hours together without having sex. I’m not sure why I crashed so hard last night, but not even wagyu beef and good scotch could rescue my mood. I know it’s because I’ve always been very conscious of using protection and avoiding an accidental pregnancy. It’s such a huge betrayal that it’s difficult to wrap my mind around it. The idea of fighting her for custody had already been rolling around the back of my mind, but my rational side wouldn’t accept the idea of raising a child on my own. Being Mr. Mom has never made my vision board. As I lie here watching Felicia sleep, I can’t help but think that she would make a great mother. I can’t expect her to agree to raise another woman’s child for the next two decades though. That’s a lot to ask.

  “What’s on your mind?” she asks, cracking her eyelids open and catching me in deep thought.

  “You don’t even want to know.” I chuckle, rolling over and getting out of bed. “I need to brush my teeth. That burger was awesome, but I can still taste the aftermath of onions, pepper jack, and chipotle.” She sighs as I pass by the bed, obviously picking up on the fact that baby thoughts are still swirling through my mind. After taking care of business and brushing my teeth, I return to her side of the bed and drop down on one knee. “I have a serious question for you.”

  Her eyes widen, and the way I’ve been feeling is suddenly reflected in her face. “Yes?” she says with hesitation in her voice.

  “Do you like omelets?”

  “I do,” she replies with a visible sense of relief.

  “Okay, then here’s the big one. Sausage, bacon, ham, or veggies?” I smile, kissing her on the cheek.

  “Ham, veggies, and lots of cheddar cheese.” She giggles, pushing against my chest. “You’re a little shit.”

  “You deserved it after causing me to have nightmares all night.” I push back up to my feet and grab the iPad to place our order.

  “I’m sorry, did you have baby nightmares?”

  “Dreams, nightmares . . . whatever you want to call them.” I punch in our omelet order. “Coffee or a latte?”

  “Caramel latte, please, and it was just a question. I don’t expect you to take responsibility for something you didn’t do. Like I said, just forget I asked,” she says, holding out her hand. I finish submitting the order before taking her hand and slipping into bed next to her, still clutching the iPad. “At least I learned one thing last night,” she adds.

  “What’s that?”

  “If I ever get tired of having sex, all I have to do is start talking about babies.” She laughs out loud. “It’s like I let the air out of this thing,” she says, reaching down for my package.

  “I hate to say it, but today was the first time that I can remember not waking up with a hard-on.” I chuckle at the realization. “It’s not that I don’t love babies.”

  “You just aren’t ready for one,” she says, hitting the nail on the head. She continues to run her hand along the front of my boxers, looking for a reaction. “Is this thing even on?” she asks, giving me a look of concern.

  “I’m sorry, but I’ve got way too much going on in my head. I’m sure he’ll be ready to roll by tonight.” I give her wink and punch Jessica Connors’s name into Google, holding my breath while waiting for the search result to come up. Jessica Connors Pregnancy Fraud is the first story at the top of the page. I punch the link and turn the iPad toward her so she can read the headline. “TMZ is already running it on the front page, so yes, he’ll definitely be better by tonight. We’re going to have a great day. Let’s get dressed. Our food should be here in fifteen minutes or so.”

  我愛你

  Felicia

  By mid-afternoon, Rex turns his phone to silent mode as it’s been blowing up for hours. With just over an hour to get our booth ready, it’s time to focus on business. I actually find myself feeling a bit sorry for Jessica after seeing how the story went totally viral. We live in a scary world where your life can turn upside down awfully quickly, especially if you are one of the divas of social media. She had apparently stepped on enough toes that no one hesitated to perpetuate the story. Within a matter of hours, it had taken on a life of its own, and by noon, they were even talking about it on E! Much to the delight of Rex, everyone thought that the name of his website was hilarious. Bettergasms.com was receiving millions of dollars’ worth of free publicity, and the number of Facebook fans and Instagram followers was absolutely exploding. There has been a permanent grin plastered on his face since nine o’clock this morning.

  “I had been thinking that this show would be the key to taking my business to the next level, but it’s almost irrelevant at this point,” he says, unpacking cases of dildos and Demonizers with a glint in his eyes. “I just wish we had more inventory. We’ll be crushed with backorders.”

  “That’s about the best problem a young company can have,” I reply with a laugh. “It’s all free publicity, so there isn’t a downside.”

  “You’re right. I just have a natural tendency to need something to worry about,” he admits, sort of taking me by surprise. He seems about as calm as anyone I’ve ever known.

  “You always walk around like you don’t have a care in the world.”

  “That’s because I’m busy internalizing everything,” he says, setting down the last box and coming around the corner of the table. “That’s why I like being with you so much. It makes me forget about all the other bullshit floating around in my head.”

  “Mm, I’m just glad to see his spark is back too.” I run my fingers along the bulge in his dress pants. “I really like how you look in these pants. Especially when this happens.”

  “You know, Sexapalooza is an adult toy and novelty show, not a live sex show,” a woman’s
voice comes from behind us.

  “Cindy!” Rex blurts out, completely shocked by her presence. A distinguished looking older woman with salt and pepper hair and crossed arms gives him a maternal grin, one eyebrow convincingly cocked.

  “I’ve been in town all week attending a conference, and I received a hysterical call from my sister at noon.” Her expression becomes sterner. “What did you do to Jessica?”

  “Exposed the truth,” he says, returning her glare. “Do you realize she took my used condoms and inseminated herself?”

  “Seriously?” Her jaw drops along with her arms.

  “Yeah, she’s basically been extorting me. But I hired a private investigator who found out she used a fertility clinic.”

  “My God, she is just like her mother,” she says, closing her eyes and making balls with her fists. “Jessica’s mother pretty much did the same thing. Francisco Wylder was her target,” she explains, referring to the famous Hollywood director. “But he was a childless widower in his seventies, so she never made any claims until after his death. Jessica was his only living heir, which is why she has always had a trust fund.”

  “Oh, I assumed all her money came from her social media stuff,” Rex counters.

  “No. She gained full access to her trust when she turned twenty-one, and she immediately started living like a rock star. She spent a ton of it buying her way into social media success,” she adds, explaining why many of her peers don’t respect her.

  “So she’s running out of money and looking for her next meal ticket?” I ask, putting two and two together.

  “She should’ve found a wealthier target than me,” he adds with a look of shock.