“Hi,” I greeted. I craned my neck and he met me with a kiss.
“Hey,” he grumbled.
The barista set our cups of coffee down on the countertop and Carson grabbed his and turned to leave without another word. I reached out and grabbed his hand and pulled him back.
“Wait,” I said. “You seem really out of sorts, what’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. I’m just in a hurry.”
“The only places I’ve ever seen you hurry to are the lake house for sex or that sushi restaurant you like,” I joked. “Come on, tell me, what’s going on?”
Carson pulled his arm away. “I told you it’s nothing.” He gave me a quick peck on the forehead and turned away again. “Talk to you later.”
That was weird. I watched him rush out of the coffee shop and out of sight, with a sense of dread in my body. It wasn’t like him to behave that way. Something was definitely wrong. I took Erin’s coffee back to the table and opened my phone.
“Thank you,” Erin said as she returned to the table.
My mind traveled to Carson’s odd behavior. I wondered if Ian or Ryland knew anything about it. As soon as I was done with Erin, I was going to have to call them. I was really worried.
“You okay?” Erin asked.
“Oh, yeah,” I said. “You missed Carson while you were in the bathroom.”
“No way!” she yelped. “Stupid bladder full of coffee. Did something bad happen, though, you look worried.”
“He was really out of sorts,” I said. “When I asked him what was wrong, he just dismissed me and said it was nothing.”
“Do you think it’s something you did?” Erin asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. He kissed me and paid for my, well your coffee. I just think it’s something he didn’t want to talk about. I’m hoping maybe the other two will know something I don’t.”
Just as I was finishing the sentence, Erin’s phone buzzed. She looked down at it and then smiled. She looked up at me. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. It’s still a new thing for him, so give him some time to come around to being open.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Thank you.”
She held up her phone. “Do you mind if I bolt? Jackson just texted and wants to meet up.”
I smiled, thinking of how quickly I would run from this place to any one of my men if they asked. “Of course not, go. I have to figure out what’s going on with Carson anyway.”
Erin stood up and grabbed her purse, jacket and coffee. As she was passing, she kissed me on the top of my head. “Love ya. Call me later, okay?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “Have fun!”
“Thanks, you too! Good luck with Carson.” She was out of the coffee shop like a Tasmanian Devil a moment later.
Before leaving the coffee shop, I took some time to call Ian and Ryland and see if either of them knew what was going on with Carson, but to my disappointment, neither of them knew. I texted Carson a couple of times asking him to call me when he had a moment, but I never got a response and Ryland and Ian both said they’d gotten similar responses. We’d come to the conclusion that he just needed some space, with both Ian and Ryland assuring me that he gets like that sometimes, but when we got to work the next day, we were all shocked and concerned to discover that he wasn’t there. Ryland swore that he always told him when he wouldn’t be in the office and had made no such communication.
Carson was officially M.I.A.
Carson
The only thing I could think about as my plane touched down in San-Francisco, was Sascha. Things were going so well with us and she was clearly able to tell something was wrong when I bumped into her at the coffee shop; I hated lying to her. To make matters worse, she, Ryland and Ian had been texting me non-stop once they got to work and saw that I wasn’t there. Ian and Ryland were being nearly more worrisome than Sascha was. It was starting to feel like I was legitimately in a relationship with them too. The three of them were why I had to take care of business before I started to worry anyone.
I used my phone to arrange for an Uber was I’d collected my bags. I gagged as I entered the destination on the phone: Alia’s house in the hills. The call I got from her last night was the very last thing I ever wanted to hear from her: Pregnant. Part of me wondered if she was even pregnant at all, and if she was, how was I supposed to confirm that it was mine? I was just one of many men she was sleeping with. Any one of them could be the father of her child. She might not even know for sure who is. I was certain it was just another one of her ploys to play games with my head and rope me back into a relationship.
I climbed out of the Uber at her house and was annoyed to see her waiting in front for me, a huge smile on her face as though we were still some sick-in-love couple. As I approached the door, my heart sank into my stomach. She had her hand over a very clear bump to her belly; she was pregnant.
“It’s good to see you,” she greeted, rubbing her stomach. “So, this is sort of crazy, huh?”
I didn’t speak to her at first, just walked past her into her house. She followed me and when I heard the door close behind us, I turned to face her. “I don’t know what to say.”
Alia’s expression turned sour. She was beautiful, a model after all. Her pixie-cut brown hair had grown out a tad, but she was keeping it short. Her frame, pregnant stomach aside, was as slender as ever, and even just walking around her house, she was wearing designer clothes and a full face of makeup. For a brief moment, my mind entertained the idea of being attracted to her again, but then Sascha came dancing into my mind. Her long blond hair, shapely form, and blinding smile. The way she made me feel even not being right in front of me, was unlike anything I’d experienced before, and certainly nothing I’d ever even come close to experiencing with Alia.
“I didn’t want to tell you at first,” she started. “I’m four months along, and I didn’t say anything else because I didn’t want you to be involved after the way you hurt me.” The way I hurt her?! What a load of shit. “But then I realized, you’re this baby’s father and it deserves its dad. I had to tell you, so I did. I’m glad you came.”
“I didn’t come here to be some happy family with you, Alia. I came here to determine whether or not you were really pregnant, and now that I see that you are, I need to figure out if I’m actually the father,” I said.
Alia scowled. “I knew you would say that after all that horrible stuff you accused me of that wasn’t true.” She pulled a piece of paper from her jeans pocket, unfolded it and handed it over. “It’s the results of a Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity test, proving you’re the father.”
I grabbed the slip of paper from her and read it over. It confirmed that, within a margin of 1% error, she was the mother of the baby, and I was the father. I couldn’t believe it. “How did you do this?” I asked. “Don’t you have to have a sample of my DNA for this?”
“I had it,” she replied. “From back when you asked me to provide a sample of my blood to make sure I was clean a year ago before you would become intimate with me again. Remember, I told you I’d only do it if you did it to prove we were both being honest, so you did and we gave each other’s doctor’s access to the samples.”
“But that was in Vegas,” I said, trying to poke holes any place I could, even though it was seeming more and more hopeless.
“I had it run in Vegas.” She pointed out the Las Vegas address at the top of the page. “The baby is yours, Carson.”
I backed myself down into the nearest chair I could find and just sat staring at the test. I felt sick to my stomach and my head was dizzy. I wanted to continue to doubt what she was saying and call her on her lies, but I couldn’t find any more questions to ask. Her explanations were perfectly reasonable, and if everything she was saying was true, then so was the fact that her baby was mine.
Was I going to be a father? Worse, to Alia’s baby?
Sascha
I sat in Ryland’s office with Ian and Ryland, going over all o
f our texts and calls to Carson that had gone unanswered. It didn’t make any sense. With how well things were going, why would he suddenly try to ghost us? It just didn’t seem right.
“I’m really getting worried,” I said finally.
“You don’t think something bad happened to him, do you?” Ian asked.
“No, I saw him yesterday, remember?” I replied. “He was already distressed by that point, so what happened had to have happened yesterday morning.”
Ryland had a concerned hunch to his brow. “I spoke with him in the morning and everything was fine. It literally must have happened immediately after he and I spoke. What could happen that quickly that would cause this sort of behavior?”
“You guys know him better than I do,” I said. “He’s not caught up in anything, is he?”
“Carson?” Ian asked. “That guy is the biggest stickler for the rules I’ve ever met. He pays all of his bills ahead of schedule, has never done any kind of drugs and even follows the speed limit.”
“He once tore me to shreds because I didn’t want to chase after a wrapper that the wind had blown from my hand on the strip, and told me my litter was going to ruin the environment. On the Las Vegas strip. It’s more litter than street,” Ryland explained. “In short, no, he wouldn’t have been caught up in anything.”
“What then?” I asked. “Oh, wait! Ryland, did you tell me that he prefers to just carry around one card, so his business account and personal account are linked?”
“Yes,” Ryland replied.
“So, can you see his bank records. Maybe he bought something that will give us some idea of what happened, or at least where he was?” I said.
Ian kissed my cheek. “You’re brilliant.”
Ryland set to work immediately logging into Carson’s financial information while Ian and I ran around to look over his shoulder. Ian pointed at one charge down the list a bit. “Ha, that’s the slutty secretary outfit he bought you. We should do that again.”
“Can you focus?” I snapped.
“Sorry,” Ian said.
“Here,” Ryland said. He pointed to a charge near the top of the statement. “A one-way flight to San-Francisco?” He sat back in his chair and looked up at Ian and I. “Why would he do that?”
“Oh no,” Ian huffed.
“What?” Ryland and I asked in unison.
“San-Francisco is where Alia lives,” he murmured.
“Who?” I asked.
“Alia,” Ryland said with disgust thick in his voice. “His ex. Horrible woman.”
I thought back to Carson and I’s first date and it hit me like a ton of bricks. The woman who the mixologist reminded him of. The ex who cheated on him and broke his heart. “Why would he go to see her? Didn’t they end really badly?” I said.
“She must be up to something,” Ian said. “We have to go.”
“To San-Francisco?” I yelped.
“Yeah. I’ll book us three tickets right away,” Ian replied.
“Better make it two,” Ryland said. “Someone needs to stay and hold down the fort. I’ll keep things running here, you two go figure out what’s going on.”
“We’ll keep you posted,” Ian said. “Come on, Sascha.”
* * *
I couldn’t believe what was happening. This morning, I just woke up wondering why one of my boyfriends was so upset with me, and suddenly I was in a taxi in California, speeding towards some model’s home. If anyone had asked me a year ago where I’d be in a year, none of my current life’s events would have even crossed my mind.
“So, what exactly went on with this girl?” I asked as we made our way through San-Francisco.
“You know how all these celebrities get a little bit of fame and suddenly think the whole world cares about their everyday lives? Well Alia was one of those celebrities. She decided she wanted to write a tell-all book about the modeling industry and her experiences. At the time she was working in Vegas and came to us to edit and publish it,” Ian explained. “Carson fell for her hard and quick. I thought it was just a physical thing at first, but he’d never been like that before. It was okay at first, but then suddenly he started seeing all these tabloids about all these other men she was sleeping with.”
“Tabloids often lie though, right?” I asked.
“Yeah, but pictures and videos don’t, and there were plenty of both. It wasn’t even just newspapers either. He started getting random pictures and videos from the guys, bragging to him that they were sleeping with his woman,” Ian explained.
“Gross,” I said. “Why did he let it go on for so long?”
“Love?” Ian replied. “I’m honestly not sure. He finally got sick of it and showed her the door. Ryland and I were over-the-moon when he told us he was done with her for good. When you came along, I thought for sure that he wouldn’t go back. Turns out I was wrong.”
Ian seemed almost more upset than I was. He, Carson and Ryland’s relationship to one another was a little different than my relationship to them, but in the end, we were all in it together. To have the foundation of a friendship and then add something like our situation to the mix, it had to be manifesting some pretty odd feelings inside of the three men.
“It’ll be okay,” I said. “We’ll figure this out together.”
Ian smiled. “Yeah.”
We eventually arrived at this huge, pristine, white house at the end of a row of luxurious homes. We got out and approached the door. Both Ian and I were struggling to keep our emotions in check, but we had each other to help keep grounded, and if it meant helping Carson, we could remain calm. Ian knocked on the door, and for a few minutes, no one answered. Ian knocked again, and finally the door opened, revealing Carson on the other side.
Carson’s jaw dropped. “What are you two doing here?”
I reached out and grabbed Carson and pulled him into a hug. I was at least happy to see that he was okay. “I’m happy to see you,” I said. “We were all so worried about you.”
Carson hugged me back, but there was pain to his voice when he said, “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Um, excuse me.” Carson backed away from me, and behind him stood a tall, slender woman, with short brown hair and a very obvious baby bump. She set her hand on her stomach and threw a nasty smirk in my and Ian’s direction. “Please keep your hands off of my baby’s father, thank you.”
Ian
Did this woman think we were stupid or something? As soon as she and Carson turned to re-enter the home, I pushed my way in, pulling Sascha with me.
“Carson, please tell me you aren’t buying anything this woman is saying. After all the men she slept with, she’s obviously pregnant by someone else.” That’s when it hit me like a semi-truck. “As a matter of fact, did you two officially call it off just a month ago?” I pointed at Alia’s belly. “She’s further than a month along.”
Carson’s eyes widened and he turned to look at Alia. She poked out her bottom lip at him and I wanted to gag. “It’s true, I was already pregnant when we broke up,” Alia said. “I wanted to be sure I was pregnant before I said anything to you, and then before I could, you said all that awful stuff to me and called things off.” She pointed at Carson’s pocket. “You can’t deny for yourself what I’ve already proven. Show them.”
Carson sighed deeply and then pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He handed it over to me, and I unfolded it. Sascha looked over my shoulder as I read and my mind shattered. It was a confirmation of Carson’s paternity. They did a non-invasive paternity test to determine that Carson was the father. I looked up at him, my heart breaking at how trapped he looked.
“I don’t believe this,” I murmured.
“Can I see that?” Sascha asked.
I handed it over to her and she started to read it over. I was upset, so I couldn’t even imagine what she must have been thinking.
Alia started to breathe really hard. “I just can’t take all of this stress, it’s not good for the baby.”
; Carson turned and started rubbing her back; I hated seeing him show her affection. “Just relax,” Carson said.
I heard a small click to my left where Sascha was standing, but when I looked back over, she was already refolding the paper. She gave me a mysterious glance and put her finger to her lips to keep me quiet.
Carson finished soothing Alia and then turned back to face us. “Sorry. I think it’s best if you leave.” He looked back at Alia. “I’m just going to walk them out. You go and get some rest and I’ll bring you something to drink.”
Before Alia could walk too far away, Sascha reached up, grabbed Carson’s face, and dragged him down to her. They kissed and I reveled in the look of shock on Alia’s face. “Ian and I will be in town for a few days, okay? So if you need anything, just call us.”
Power play; I liked it.
Alia stormed off and Sascha handed the paternity test results back to Carson. “Really. Anything,” she reiterated.
“Thanks,” he said, his voice dull and lifeless. “Where’s Ryland?”
“Back at the firm,” I said. “We didn’t want things to run amuck.”
Carson nodded. “That was smart. I’ll have to figure out how this is all going to work, I just can’t think about this right now. Please explain everything to him and I’ll talk to you guys later.”
Sascha and I both lingered. It was clear we wanted to be able to stay and help him more, but there wasn’t much else we could offer. We gave him warm smiles, and then decided it was best that we leave.
We called another Uber, and were picked up a few minutes later. As soon as we were far enough from the house, Sascha whipped out her phone. I watched over her shoulder as she navigated to her pictures where she pulled up a picture of the paternity test results. She zoomed in and started looking at the information closely.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I think this is fake,” she replied.
“What?” I said. “We need to go back and tell Carson.”
Three Bosses’ Assistant: Love by Numbers Book 2 Page 9
