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Alison walked into her office, a warm glow filling her and it was from more than her orgasm, not that it hadn’t been great. She absolutely loved sex with Harker. She’d always enjoyed sex but with him it was different—exciting, fun, super-hot and something else, something deeper.
She sighed as she dropped onto her chair, opening her laptop. She needed to get her head back into her program, but all she wanted to do was to crawl onto Harker’s lap and stay there. Her phone rang and she grabbed it.
“Hey, Ellie. Sorry I didn’t—”
“Hey, Alison. It’s Dan.”
The bile rose in her throat.
“Sorry it took me so long to get back with you, but I was—”
“It’s not a problem. I was going to call you and tell you not to bother.”
“Oh.” He paused. “I think you should hear what I found.”
Her stomach twisted and she swallowed, trying hard not to vomit.
“Alison? Are you still there?”
“I’m not sure I want to know,” she whispered.
“I think you should.” His voice was calm. This was Dan, the one guy all women trusted.
“Okay.” Whatever it was, she could handle it.
“You were right about the monogamy clause. It does state that both parties have to be monogamous.”
“Oh, thank God.” She slid down on her seat. “I read that clause so many times. I knew what it said but there was something about the way he was acting. Maybe I am pregnant.” She swallowed again. Now that she thought about it, she might be late. Her periods had never been regular, but she was...How many days late was she?
“Hold on. I'm not done. There are addendums to this contract. A lot of them.”
“Yeah. I read them too.” Those hadn’t made much sense to her. Just lots of lawyer-speak.
“I haven't had a chance to look through all of it, but I did find one that referred to what I call the monogamy clause.”
“And.” Cold sweat broke out across her skin.
“And it says...” Dan started reading.
“Stop. Please. I don't understand a word you’re saying. Tell me what it says in English.” Her hand squeezed the phone so tight her fingers ached.
“Okay. This addendum states that the monogamy clause only pertains to those individuals whose parentage is not in question.”
“I don't understand. That’s still not English.”
“Okay. Basically, for a woman parentage is never in question. If she’s pregnant, it’s always her kid, baring surrogates. For a man, parentage is always in question.”
“So you're saying that because I know it'll be my child that I have to be monogamous, but he doesn't?”
“I’m not saying it, the addendum is, but yes. You have to be monogamous so that he knows the child is his. He doesn't have to be monogamous because you will always know the child you carry is yours. It kind of makes sense.”
“That bastard.”
“Uh...Yeah. From a legal view it’s brilliant but from a personal view...That bastard.”
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Hold off on that.”
“Why?” She was furious.
“Because there’s a lot more to this contract. I’ll use non-lawyer terms. This thing is slippery. Do you want me to keep looking into it to see what else is hidden in all those addendums?”
“Yeah. Read it all. I need to know everything.”
“Okay, but do you care if I show it to my boss because some of this is beyond my experience. Whoever wrote this is freaking brilliant.”
“Lucky them.” She wanted to strangle that person too. “And yeah, show it to whomever you need to. Just find out what exactly I signed.” She hung up the phone and stood. It was time to wring Harker’s lying neck.