AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Brooklyn, by the size of this baby, you are in your second trimester. You knew and kept it from me all this time?” I say, getting upset with the realization that she kept this from me.
“I had no idea, Aryan!” her matching anger winning out over her fear. “I found out just a few weeks ago, already firmly in my second trimester,” she seethes at me. “Would it make a difference if I was in my first trimester still?”
“Well, yes,” I say, pushing the ultrasound picture back over to her.
“Why Aryan, huh? Because there is still time to get an abortion?” she accuses, and I stare at her silently.
“Wow, Aryan, why do I feel like you would’ve wanted me to get an abortion,” she lobs to me, and I clamp my mouth shut so I don’t say anything that might make things worse than they already are. “That’s okay, you don’t have to answer that your silence is a loud enough answer. You know what is crazy, Aryan? I didn’t think I would ever be able to walk away from you because I loved you so damn much, more than any other man I have ever known. I compromised everything I wanted, the type of relationship with you that I craved, and for what? For you to sit there willing to let not just me but me and your child walk away, for you to say you don’t want either of us, basically. I thought that with all the stuff you did for me, the way you treated me, the access you gave me, I thought it showed me that even though you couldn’t say it, you loved me. But now, as I stand here, I see clearly that you never loved me. You enjoyed me, enjoyed our relationship but love me? Naw, you ain’t never loved me. I met a man who was a gang leader, had no real education, was never shown how to love and was never given love, and he loved me more than you ever have. Hell, even from the grave. I’m the fool, I wasted more than five years on you, but I won’t waste another second waiting for you to love me. You got me fucked up, but even if I couldn’t put me first, I will put my baby first. This baby will still have the Gideon last name because this is their family, but you don’t have to be a father for them to be in this family. I will have Carla draw up a document for you to sign over your rights, and you can put me and this child in a cute box in your closet right next to the other box you don’t want to talk about,” she says, backing away from the table with the ultrasound in her hand.
“Brooklyn,” I mumble out, but she’s already out of the door. “FUCK!” I yell out, but she has left the suite altogether.
Brooklyn
I am so mad I am breathing fire, but I am not that surprised. I make my way downstairs to the main area of the house and run into just the man I was looking for.
“Josh, I need a house,” I say without preamble.
“Brooklyn, what’s wrong?” he says immediately on alert.
“It’s time that I get on with my life without your brother.”
“What did he do now?” Jaasiel asks from the kitchen. I was so upset when I walked in here, I had tunnel vision and completely missed Jaasiel.
“He made his choice, and it wasn’t me.”
“There are a few houses that are ready and empty, but the power is off. It’ll be a couple of days before the power company can get out there.”
“I have someplace to go until then,” I say and hope I’m right.
“Ok,” he says before telling me about the houses that he is talking about. I chose one that is off to itself with land, so I don’t have to have any close neighbors, and it’s not too far from the office. I march back upstairs, head into the bedroom, pack a bag, and make my way out of the suite and house. I throw the bag in the passenger seat, slide behind the wheel, start the car, and peel out of the driveway.
I would go to Lennox, but she and Peter finally have the time together, and I do not want to interfere with that. Besides, they are still getting it in, a fact I literally walked in on one day at work when Lennox forgot to lock her office door. Peter had Lennox bent over the desk, and well, I don’t want to think about the rest. I pull up in the driveway, grab my bag, park, head to the door, and ring the doorbell.
“Brooklyn?”
“Skai,” I say, my voice breaking right before the tears I fought off finally won the battle and flowed down my face. She reaches for me, and I break down even more. I finally get myself together, and we make it in the door to her living room.
“What happened?” I give her an edited version of what happened.
“Uncle Aryan is going to make me beat his ass! You can stay here for as long as you need. Do you want the upstairs or downstairs guest room?”
“I’ll take the upstairs room,” I say, knowing her bedroom is on the main floor. She leads me upstairs to the room and leaves me to get settled.
“If you want to talk more or just want to sit without talking, I’ll be in my room. Come on down,” she tells me before walking out. I drop my bag on the foot of the bed and have a seat on the side. I lay my hand on my stomach. It’s okay, little one. Unlike my mother, I have plenty of money to take care of you, and I’ll love you enough for both parents, McKinley. I am not ready to share the news of her with anyone just yet, but I don’t want to be alone, either. I take a shower before slipping into my pajamas and heading to Skai’s bedroom. I knock on her closed door, “Come in.” she yells through the door.
Walking in, I see her cleaning up and hanging her clothes in the closet. I climb up in her bed, grab her pillow, and hug it as I watch her move about the room. She has an entire bedroom that is her closet, but she also has a decent closet in her bedroom too. She hangs up the last of her clothes, and I think I catch a glimpse of,was that a man’s dress shirt?
I think, and it’s huge, like Gideon huge. It is on the tip of my tongue to ask, but I am not in the position or mood to get into it with her.
“I am sorry, Skai, for assuming the night of the retirement party.”
“I understand, let’s just let it go,” she says quickly, grabbing the remote and turning on the tv to some true crime drama as she crawls into the bed with me and does her paperwork for her job until we both fall asleep listening to why the woman on the screen killed her husband.
CHAPTER17
Aryan
It’s been a couple of days since she dropped a bomb on me and left. No calls or texts, just radio silence, and I am not sure I blame her. I had to drop off an order, but I am loathed to go back home to an empty space, but there is nowhere else to go. When I pull up to the house, I notice a moving van and notice my brothers bringing boxes out of the house. I park, jump out my car, and make my way inside the house to see that it is Brooklyn’s stuff they are carrying out.
