“To talk to Sunny and Edwards. Would you like me to contact Laverne?”
It was a diversionary tactic and it worked. She didn’t have the strength to pry the truth out of him. Along with the nurse injecting something into the IV. “What’s that?” she asked the nurse.
“What Dr. Berget prescribed. Something to make you relax and take the nausea away. I’ll be back in a moment to draw labs.” The nurse exited.
“Calista.” Julius’ voice snapped her attention back to him. “Do you want your cousin here?” He waited patiently for an answer.
She shook her head. “No. She’d be worse than you. Plus, she has Allie to take care of. No. Don’t bother her.” Suddenly, thinking became too hard. She wanted to sleep and fighting it became a chore.
“Ms. Coleman… Ms. Coleman?”
“Calista.”
Julius’ deep voice dragged Calista out of the sweet darkness sheltering her and into the glare of bright lights and beeping machines. She lurched into an upright position as her brain came back online. “What? Yes?” Julius was at her side, his arm around her shoulders as he repositioned the pillow behind her back.
Dr. Berget stood beside her bed with a tablet in her hand. “I have your test results.”
“Oh, you mean the labs?” Vaguely, she realized her stomach wasn’t in knots and she wasn’t in pain. She hadn’t felt this good in days.
“Yes.” The doctor glanced at Julius. “Would you like some privacy, or can I speak freely?”
“Tell me.” Calista demanded. The need to know outweighed the need for privacy.
“You’re pregnant.”
What the— Of all the stupid… “I have an IUD.”
“Women have become pregnant with an IUD. It’s rare but can happen,” the doctor stated patiently, as if expecting an outburst.
“But I had my period!” Calista exploded.
“Was it a normal period? The flow and length?”
“Well, it was lighter…very light, and three days instead of five.” Calista felt light-headed. This time from panic.
“That happens with some women, especially early in the pregnancy. It’s something your OB will want to know and monitor.”
Mind reeling, there was another question Calista had to ask. “How far along am I?”
“Judging by your HCG levels, around eight weeks, give or take. It’s too soon to do an ultrasound to determine dating,” Dr. Berget said.
“Okay,” Calista said because she couldn’t think of anything else. Then she remembered her initial reason for ending up in the ER. “What about the vomiting and passing out? That’s not normal.”
“You’re right. It’s not normal, but it’s not abnormal either. Some women get a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum. It’s extreme morning sickness. It usually goes away by sixteen weeks—”
“Sixteen weeks of throwing up and cramping!” She shook her head, unable to process throwing up every day for sixteen weeks.
Calmly, the doctor replied, “That’s not every woman with the condition. For you, it could be less.”
Or it could be more.
“Is she in any danger?” Julius had been so quiet. In the face of the bombshell news, she’d forgotten he was there, which shouldn’t have been hard to miss with his arms around her. Now the timbre of his voice vibrated through her body.
“From the pregnancy, no,” the doctor stated.
“And the pregnancy, is that in any danger?” Julius asked.
“I’m not an OB doctor. You need to make an appointment with your OB/GYN as soon as possible.” The doctor added. “I’m going to prescribe an anti-nausea medication that won’t harm the baby and will help you keep food down. I’ll give you a dose to get you through the night and part of tomorrow. I’ll be back in a few minutes with your discharge papers.”
Eight weeks. Brain scrambled, she couldn’t do the math. She’d come back to New York almost four weeks ago, give or take. Two weeks before that she was in—
“Vegas. We were in Vegas six weeks ago.”
She waited for him to extract his arm from around her shoulders and separate himself from her. Waited for the accusation and recriminations. Waited for the man to explode, to lose his shit. Waited for him to answer his own question because they were in Vegas six weeks ago and busy in the bathtub—the best sex ever! And where he’d said he loved her—and on the dining table. Oh Jesus. She got knocked up on the dining table in a Las Vegas hotel. Classy.
“Do you want it?” His strained voice cut through the chatter between her ears.
“Huh?” She heard the question, just couldn’t process it.
“Do. You. Want. The baby?” Tension radiated from his body in waves.
“I-I.”
“It’s a yes or no question,” he growled.
“No, it’s not!”
“Yes, you’re keeping it. No, you’re not.”
“You know what.” She glared at him, furious at him for pushing her for an answer she couldn’t provide. “When I decide, I’ll let you know. How about that? Do you approve of that decision?” she hissed.
The doctor returned with the release papers and a script for the medicine. Once the IV was out, she thanked the nurse and waved at the doctor on the way to the exit.
And ran right into Erica. Her hair perfect, makeup perfect, gown fresh as if it came off the hanger seconds ago to grace her size two body. She was everything Calista wasn’t, and right now, it was too damned much.
“Well, you’re on your own two feet. That means you’re not dying, right?” Erica grinned like she’d achieved something. Behind her, stood Rhodes. What the fuck wasn’t an adequate description of the situation.
“Why are you here?”
Erica’s perfectly arched brows knitted together. “You passed out in front of me. I had to catch you or watch your head split open on the bathroom floor of the Waldorf. I needed to see if you survived.”
“Why, when you don’t give a shit about me? You never have, and now I’m supposed to believe you do?” Bitch, please.
Erica did that guppy thing, opening and closing her mouth on nothing except air. She looked at Julius as if for help. He couldn’t help the bullshit Erica was selling. No one and nothing could.
“Thanks for showing up. I’m fine. A bout of syncope.”
Calista stormed out of the hospital and didn’t utter a word when Julius’ Maybach rolled into the ambulance bay. She got into the car, met the concerned gazes of Edwards and Sunny. Thankfully, neither said a word. Did they know?
Julius entered from the other side of the car. He waited until they were on the road to say, “The prescription is being filled as we speak. It’ll be delivered to your house in an hour.”
“Thanks,” she murmured and studied the passing scenery instead of meeting his eyes and starting an argument with an audience. It was easier that way.
“When are you going to the doctor?” he asked.
“When I make an appointment.” Which should’ve been obvious.
“I’m going with you.”
“No.” She didn’t want him there. This was hard enough without his bullshit adding to it.
“You’re pregnant with my child and I am going with you.”
Mic drop and silence. The very air held its breath in anticipation of what would be said next. In the front seats, Sunny and Edwards were both hear no evil and see no evil statues. Calista couldn’t blame them. What else could they do with the privacy screen down. Right now, she wanted to melt into the leather seat and vanish. No such luck.
“Thank you for the reminder I did not need.” She gritted out between clenched teeth, wishing he would shut the fuck up and not air their dirty laundry.
“Good, because I remember that night…and the morning after.” His voice deepened to a husky rasp.
Damn you! “And I remember your tongue down Erica’s throat. Now if you don’t mind, I’m tired and hungry and don’t have the energy for this.” She sat back, closed her eyes and pretended t
o ignore the idiot next to her.
Just when she had almost succeeded, when the motion of the car had almost lulled her to sleep instead of making her puke, the idiot said, “What do you think you can keep down?”
What did she want? A simple question with a difficult answer. Normally, she’d eat anything. Picky, she wasn’t. Her suddenly finicky stomach wouldn’t eat just anything. “Pizza?” She posed the question to her stomach and it didn’t lurch. “Pizza.” Her mouth watered.
“Is there a particular place?”
She ignored him and whipped out her phone from her clutch. She had her favorite pizza joint on speed dial and placed an order for a plain medium pie and garlic knots. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes. The name’s Calista. Thanks.” She closed her eyes again and continued to ignore the idiot asshole seated beside her.
Calista didn’t open her eyes until Edwards needed directions to the restaurant. Sunny exited the car before she could and was back with her order before she reached the sidewalk. She thanked him instead of chewing him out.
Another two blocks and she was home. The car rolled to a smooth stop in front of her Queens home.
I’m pregnant. The reality of her situation skimmed the surface of her brain and had yet to sink in and take root. She hadn’t let it. For a bit longer, she ignored reality and concentrated on what she could control.
It was 11:00 p.m. and all she wanted was her pizza and garlic knots, a long soak in the tub, and a longer nap. Things within her control. Tomorrow, she’d deal with reality. There wasn’t a damned thing she could do about it now.
Julius held the door open for her. Lost in thought, she had no idea when he’d exited the car. She allowed him to take her hand and help her exit, his fingers warm and strong. He released her when she wanted his touch to linger a bit longer.
Slightly flustered, she made her way to her front door while Julius took her takeout from Sunny and followed her.
“Calista…” Eyes narrowed, lips thinned in a hard line, they were eye level only because she stood on the top step while he stayed at ground level. He was a stone edifice facing her, uncompromising. “I want this child.” His tone was clipped.
Her heart thudded heavily, causing her entire body to throb. What he said shouldn’t put her on the defensive, yet it did.
“You believe I kissed Erica—”
“I saw you kiss Erica,” she shouted, the clarification was important.
Anger flared in the burnish depths of his eyes. His lips curled and he said, “Fine. You saw me kiss Erica. I still want to be a part of my child’s life.”
He says this now but… Did Harvey tell Mom the same thing? Did he make promises he never kept? She’d sworn she’d never travel the same broken path her mother had walked. Yet here she was walking in her shoes. Déjà-fucking-vu.
“Why?” she demanded.
He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He stood there, jaw unhinged with nothing coming out and she lost it.
“A baby isn’t a possession. It isn’t an object you own that you can play with then put on a shelf when you’re done. A baby doesn’t improve your status or your bottom line. You won’t earn another billion because you have a baby you can trot out and parade in front of the cameras, or worse, hide because the kid isn’t the one you want. So don’t tell me you want a child simply because your sperm met my egg.” The words ripped out of her like pus from a festering wound.
“You will not shut me out,” he bellowed.
“Look! There is no baby.” She choked out. “N-not yet. Not—I can’t think about this right now! I’m tired and hungry and I just want to go inside my home and not think for a minute until I gather my strength. Can I do that please without you shouting about parental rights on a kid that doesn’t exist yet?”
“By all means, go inside, eat and get some rest.” His voice threaded the line between concern and condescending. “But this isn’t over, Calista. I’m not going away, ever.”
Calista opened the door, snatched her food out of his hands and slammed the door shut. From the safety of her home, she listened to his footsteps recede, the closing of a car door, the purr of the Maybach engine, and then the car driving away.
Chapter Ten
“W
here to?” Edwards asked when Julius settled himself in the backseat.
Fuck if Julius knew. “Drive.” He commanded, not caring about the destination because he had one thing on his mind.
I’m going to be a father!
Children had never factored into his life. He didn’t want children and had never failed to use a condom to insure that outcome. He wanted no oops! Then he met Calista. Not only had she saved his life, she upended it. From the first moment he lay eyes on her in Harden’s club, strobe lights dancing over her face and body giving him glimpses of his future obsession, he wanted her. When they had finally sealed the deal, he was relieved she was on birth control because he had to be inside her sweet, slick heat, skin on skin, no barrier. He hadn’t cared about the consequences, something that had never previously happened with anyone else.
Now a child was on the way. Consequences.
Damn the consequences. He wanted that child—his child—already felt the weight of her in his arms as he held her little body close to his heart.
Her.
That’s fucking crazy.
He knew it was a girl, felt it in his soul. His daughter. He couldn’t picture her face. The combination of his and Calista’s DNA eluded him, but she would be beautiful, to him if no one else.
Was that how his father, Albert Morgan, had felt with the birth of his first child? Proud, hopeful, determined nothing would touch or harm him, ever. She wasn’t here yet, wasn’t more than a speck in her mother’s womb, but he would kill for her. Die for her. Had his father felt the same?
Though words weren’t often exchanged and even less so with emotions, Albert had been proud of his son, even in the face of Julius’ defiance and disgust at Albert’s shotgun marriage to Lynda. That day his father had talked about strengthening his legacy, as if Julius wasn’t enough. As if Julius couldn’t figure out his father’s legacy wasn’t as important as his pretty new wife and proof he was still virile. As long as his dick worked, all was right in his world.
Calista’s father had been cut from the same cloth as Albert Morgan. He had brought home a new wife and kicked Calista and her mother to the curb. How did a man do that? Stare his daughter in the eye and turn his back on her? Leave her out there in the world to fend for herself? He couldn’t do that, ever. His child would know he loved her every single day of her life. He’d make sure of it. No matter what he had to do. His fists clenched. He would be the father he never had.
“Take me to the penthouse.” Julius ordered.
“Good thing we were headed that way,” Edwards said.
Julius looked out the window, suddenly aware of their direction. Edwards had read his mind. Something Edwards and Sunny had been doing more of lately. It was a good sign. Both overheard his argument with Calista. It was impossible not to in the car. He’d have to consider an upgrade to ensure his privacy.
“Do either of you have children?” Julius doubted the answer would be yes.
“Nope,” Sunny said quickly. “None that I know of.”
Edwards was slower to respond. “I almost had one.” His voice halted as he maneuvered through traffic. “Was married two years before we got pregnant. Drunk driver sideswiped her on the turnpike. Her car rolled. Hit an embankment… She was seven months along. Buried her and my son together.”
Fuck! Julius’ hands trembled in sympathetic rage.
“And the driver?” Sunny asked.
Edwards waited for a red light to glance at Sunny, then at Julius in the rearview mirror. “Waited a year. He was coming out of a bar. Took him deep into the Pine Barrens to a site I’d already prepared. Let him get drunk until he couldn’t swallow anymore liquor, then I bashed his head in with a rock. Made his face look exactly like Sandy’s.”
/>
The light turned green. Edwards eased off the gas and they kept driving, the car silent until Sunny murmured, “I don’t know if I could’ve waited a year for justice.”
“Somethings are worth waiting for and need to be savored. Needs preparation and execution. I wasn’t about to fuck it up.”
They rolled into the underground parking lot of his penthouse apartment and parked in his assigned spot. Sunny exited first and scanned the area before Edwards opened the rear passenger door for Julius. “You’re gonna be a great father,” Edwards whispered when he slammed the door closed behind Julius. “From what I’ve observed between you and your brother.”
Only if Calista gives me a chance. All his priorities aligned and focused on one thing. Julius acknowledged Edwards’ statement with a nod and headed for the elevator. Up to the penthouse, his plans formulated in his head and solidified when Scotts opened the door for him to enter.
“Follow me.” He ordered and led Scotts to the office. The man had healed remarkably fast given his injury on the Chrysalis, his yacht in Germany. The bullet in his thigh had missed the artery and went cleanly through. Weeks later, he had an improving limp and was perfect for the job Julius was about to assign him. “Have a seat.” He nodded to the chair opposite his desk and waited for his bodyguard to settle himself.
“Calista’s pregnant.” He cut to the chase and received no reaction. Men gossiped as much as women. Someone had already told Scotts. “I want you to follow her and report her movements.”
“Movements?” Scotts frowned, his displeasure evident.
“I want to know where she goes in real time. Particularly any doctor appointments.”
The two studied each other. Scotts and Calista were friends. They’d partnered together for a long time. Julius wouldn’t be surprised if Scotts refused. If so, he’d already planned to hire another man to protect and track her.
“I’ll do it.”
Because he was going to tell her, which was fine. “You start immediately. I left her at her house in Queens.”
Scotts limped out of the office. Julius picked up his phone. A knock on the door sounded before he made the call. “Enter.”
Plain and the Billionaire's Seduction (Plain Jane Series Book 3) Page 8