Chapter Nine

Max

Since leaving her the night before, disbelief, fear, and bewilderment all created a vortex of emotion within me.

Saturday, I moved through the day on autopilot, seamlessly handling all my responsibilities at the gym, never giving anyone a reason to suspect my mind was a million miles away.

Can I be a decent father to two children by two different women in two places at the same time?

Of course I can, and I will. Or at least I’ll try my best…

Back and forth, the pendulum swung between doubt and determination. I dreaded the long night I faced alone with my thoughts in my empty apartment. As a last-minute decision, I headed to Brad’s Tavern instead.

I assumed it would have been a good distraction. I thought wrong. Noisy bar patrons talked around me as I stared into my glass containing amber-colored liquid that failed to numb me. All I could think about was Jade. The uncertainty in her eyes when she told me she was pregnant combined with the anxiety evident by her trembling hands.

Fuck…I should have done more to comfort her…to just be with her.

Instead, I sat among strangers, distractedly watching a game on TV while nursing my second scotch and still wondering how I was going to handle two babies and move forward with my business goals.

Behind the bar, Brad came over to me and just stared.

“What?” I said.

“You’ve been sitting here looking like your best friend died. I’m taking a break. Come with me.”

He snatched my drink and walked through the hinged opening at the opposite end of the bar, heading straight for his office. Like an idiot, I followed, and once I stepped inside, he slammed the door. “Sit,” he said and returned my scotch.

Normally, I’d have a snarky response toward his attempt of authority over me, but it wasn’t in me tonight.

I sank onto the worn leather chair facing his desk as he sat on his side of it, shaking his head.

“You have to deal with it, man. It truly sucks how things turned out, but shit happens.” Bottle green eyes exact to mine drilled a hole through my face.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked.

“Tracey being pregnant.” His confirmation came along with a smirk. He waggled a finger at me before adding, “Isn’t that why you’re back to wallowing again?”

“No. It isn’t. I’ve come to terms with that.”

Brad failed to hide his confusion. “So what the hell is going on with you, then? You work, you disappear to Miami, you hide in your apartment. After you had that hottie Jade, I thought maybe she’d help you get back on the horse. I know it’s been a while—call her.”

I scrubbed a hand over my face with a frustrated grunt and met his stare. “Jade’s pregnant.” Funny how saying it out loud made it even more real.

Brad simply blinked. “Karaoke Jade?”

“No, I met another Jade the next day and knocked her up.” On my snide remark, his mouth hung open in shock.

“No shit?”

“No shit.”

“Well, damn.” The air conditioner clicked on with an annoying hum and droned for a few seconds before he added, “Congrats?”

The man looked as bewildered over the news as I felt. “Yeah, thanks. Very genuine.”

“Sorry, I just never expected to hear you say that. Cut me a break. I didn’t know you two are a thing.”

“We aren’t,” I said on an eye roll.

“It was that one night?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh…two kids with two women? You’re like a walking reality TV show.”

Fuck, wasn’t that the truth. “Not helping, dude.”

“So now what?”

“I don’t know.” We were strangers. Aside from knowing she was trying to become partner at her law firm and romance wasn’t something she had time for, I barely knew her.

“It was obvious you were crazy about her. Date her,” Brad said, as if that would solve everything.

I threw him an incredulous look. “She isn’t looking for a relationship, and neither am I.”

“Except now you have one through this baby, whether you want it or not.”

“It doesn’t have to be more than two people raising a baby together.”

“It doesn’t have to be so boring, either.” Brad’s gaze flicked upward impatiently. “You still dig her, right?”

The raise of my eyebrows gave him a silent duh.

“So hang out. I’m not saying put a ring on it. Have some fun, and then if things don’t work out, then go with your original plan and be a dad with no strings tied to the mother. Shit happens.”

“Shit happens?” I gawked at him for a few seconds. Between my two brothers, Nate would normally be the one I went to for advice. With him working around the clock, though, and out of the country the past few weeks, Brad probably felt obligated to step in.

“Not the end of the world, dude. Life will go on, you’ll have your two kids, and you’ll still have your flourishing businesses. Some would think you’re blessed.”

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

“Really?” I countered, staring at him, dumbfounded. “Two kids with two different women, in two different states, neither of which I’m in a relationship with, nor do either of them know of the other. I’d say that’s pretty fucking complicated.” In fact, the more I thought about it, the more my situation was a cluster fuck of epic proportions.

The thought of having to tell each of them about the other had me feeling like a man-whore, which couldn’t be farther from the person I actually was. This predicament was more in line with Brad’s lifestyle than mine.

“Look at the upside,” he said, grinning. “Those kids are going to have me as an uncle. Granted, they’re stuck with Nate, too, but he can teach them the academic shit, and I’ll teach them how to have fun. How lucky are they?” Brad paused for a moment, and then it was like a lightbulb must have flicked on in his brain, because he raised a hand with a sly smirk. “I’m telling you…a reality show called—MAXimum Dad. The millennial demographic would eat that shit up.”

“Yes, that’s exactly why I knocked up two women at the same time. To become the next reality star.” Despite shaking my head at his ridiculousness, I laughed. “Asshole.”

While in the cab, after leaving Brad’s, part of me wanted to head over to Jade’s place. But it was late, so I reluctantly went home instead.

And I lasted a whole two minutes before I tapped her name in my phone contacts.

“Max?” Her drowsy voice filtered over the line. The rasp beneath it called to a desire that manifested itself in a thrum deep within me.

“I’m sorry, were you sleeping?”

“No, just resting. I got home a little while ago from my parents’ anniversary party. Are you okay? This is late for a call…”

“Yes, I’m okay. I just wanted to see how you’re doing, see if you needed anything.”

The sweetest sigh filtered over the phone, and my tension eased a bit. “You’re so thoughtful, Max,” she said. “Thank you, I’m fine.”

“Good, good. Did you have a nice time at the party?”

“I tried. It was hard keeping my secret, though. My family is very close. But it was nice to see my parents having fun. They were so surprised and thrilled to see everyone.”

“That’s great.” We both grew quiet for a moment. Now that I had her on the phone, and our conversation felt so easy and natural, I struggled between letting her go and keeping her connected. Of course, I wanted to talk to her as long as possible, all night if I could, but she needed to rest. Before we ended this call, though, I had to be sure she was really okay. “How are you feeling?”

“Honestly? Much better now that, you know…I was so nervous to tell you.”

“Why?” Did she think I’d be angry at her news?

“Because you don’t deserve this, Max.”

Her response shocked me even more than her admission.

“I don’t deserve…?” I left my question hanging.

“The stress over having a child with a stranger. You can’t deny this is a complicated situation. An unexpected burden. So”—she cleared her throat, as if trying to keep her emotions in check—“I would understand if you regret meeting me.”

“I do not regret meeting you,” I said automatically, because that was the absolute truth. “That was the best night I’d had with anyone in a very long time.” And I wouldn’t mind a repeat or several. But maybe I was the only one who wanted that. “Are…you…having regrets?”

“No,” she admitted. “But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about how this will work. We barely know each other, Max. What’s the plan?”

Good question. Except I had no answer for her. For now, I settled on, “We’ll figure it out.”

Just take what life throws at you and do the best you can. That’s the only thing that worked. It got me through the aftermath of my dad’s death. It would get me through this, too.

“That’s hardly a plan, but…” She dragged in an audible breath then let out a massive yawn. “Anyway. We can talk about details another time. It’s late, and I’m tired.”

Just like that, my opportunity had fled. It was time to let her go. “Get some rest. Good night, Jade.”

“Good night, Max,” she said through another yawn.

The moment the call ended, I instantly regretted not telling her about Tracey and that I had planned to move to Miami in a few months, and “figuring it out” was way more complicated than she was already worried about. Wondering how and when I’d drop that bomb made for a very restless sleep.