by Lena Skye
“What are you doing here?” she almost hissed at him. Keisha looked at her in surprise and then turned back to her computer politely.
“I have some… business… to discuss with you,” he said subtly as he looked around them surreptitiously.
Naomi pressed her full lips into a thin line. She knew that she was going to have to talk to him. There was no way out of it with him standing right there in the foyer of the firm. She hadn’t told Keisha or Malaika about the affair or the baby, and they would wonder why she was acting so angry and frustrated with a client.
“Follow me, please,” she said shortly, turning on her heel and walking toward the break room and kitchen at the other end of the office. Once inside, she closed the door sharply behind him, and spun around, her eyes burning through him.
“What are you doing here? I told you that I didn’t want to see you again!” she kept her voice quiet, but there was no mistaking her anger at him.
He held his hands up and spoke as gently and quietly as he could. “I just wanted to talk with you about the baby. You said you’re carrying my child. If you are, then you need to come up with proof of that for me.”
Her mouth fell fully open. “What? You must be kidding me! You got me pregnant, and you got some other woman pregnant and never bothered to tell me that you were cheating on me and screwing around, and the only reason that I found out is because your agent has a big mouth!
You tell me you want nothing to do with me in public, and you want nothing to do with your own baby in public, and now you have the audacity to come in here, into my place of business, and tell me that I have to prove that this baby is yours? Are you on drugs? What in the hell is the matter with you?” she raged at him in a heated whisper.
Scott held his hands up again. “I understand that you are emotional right now because of the baby—”
She gritted her teeth and took a step toward him. After a long slow breath, she nearly growled at him. “Emotional? You think I’m emotional because of the baby? Hell no! I’m furious with you because you’re a first class jackass! You’re probably the most irresponsible person that I know!”
He frowned at her. “We’re not getting anywhere with this. We need to go forward from here, not fight with each other and go nowhere.”
“I know right where you can go, Scott Thompson. You can go to hell.” She narrowed her eyes at him and he sighed and pushed his hands down deep into his pockets, looking at the floor.
“Listen, please.” He raised his sky blue eyes to meet hers again. “I do want to take care of you and the baby. I understand that I have a responsibility, and I want to live up to that. I have a duty to live up to that. I get it. The only thing is that Harold wants to make sure that the baby is mine.
It isn’t that he doesn’t trust you; he doesn’t trust any woman, and he doesn’t want to see me get used or taken by a scam, so he’s requesting that you get a paternity test. That’s it. He just wants to make sure that the baby you’re carrying really is mine. You get the test. It comes out positive that it’s my baby, and I step in and take care of everything for you. I know you’re struggling here.
I want to help you with all of the costs of the pregnancy, the delivery, and the baby. If that’s my kid you’re carrying, then I want to take care of it, and of you, and I want to be a part of the baby’s life. Now, I’m not saying it isn’t my kid, I’m just asking you to have a little test so that Harold will know without a doubt that it’s mine and that you’re not just some girl trying to hustle me.” He breathed out and relaxed a little, feeling better that he had it all explained to her.
Her tone was low and venomous when she replied. “You’re the one who has admitted that you were sleeping around; you’re the one who got another woman pregnant, and now you’re telling me that I’m the one who has to have the paternity test? You must be out of your mind!”
He shook his head and took a step toward her. “Please don’t say it like that. I wasn’t really sleeping around. There was one other woman, but she was before you. I guess she was just a couple of months before you, but she wasn’t anyone I was dating or seeing—”
Naomi glared at him. “Of course she wasn’t. She’s like me. I’m not anyone you’re dating or seeing either; I’m just someone you’re screwing in secret, hoping that no one would ever find out. Why would she be any different?”
Scott groaned and rubbed his fingers over his forehead. “It wasn’t like that! Not at all! Will you please listen to me!” he heaved a great sigh and looked at her seriously. “Just hear me out, okay?”
She planted her hands on her hips and raised one eyebrow, daring him to tell her something that wouldn’t make her throw him right out of her office on his ear.
“I was at a party a couple of months before I met you. I had a lot to drink… whew… I had a lot to drink that night… and this woman kept coming on to me. I told her no a few times, but by the end of the night she just wasn’t going to give up, and she asked me to give her a ride home. I had a limo that night, and on the way to her place… well… she kind of got what she had been after all night long.” He walked over to a chair at a small table and sat down, resting his hands between his knees.
“It was a one night stand, if even that. I’m not proud of it. I thought that it was over and done with, and I wasn’t going to even think of it again, but she called me a couple of months later… I’m not even sure how she got my number… and she told me that she was pregnant. I had just started things with you. I was so happy with you. You and I were… wow, we were hot. I was so into you, and I didn’t want to think about her, and I didn’t want to have to deal with her. I didn’t even know who she was.”
He shrugged. “She was just some woman at a party who had herself set on getting me, and I was so drunk that I didn’t stop her when I should have, and now I’m paying the price for it. She’s nothing like you. Don’t you get that? Don’t you see that? You mean so much to me. You are… god… you’re so important to me. The baby that we made, we made in love. That baby is just as important to me as you are. She doesn’t mean anything to me. I haven’t even seen her since then; we’ve just talked on the phone a few times.
That’s it. I haven’t gone running after her time after time, trying to get her to talk to me, trying to get her to stay with me, and trying to get her to let me be a part of the baby’s life. It doesn’t even feel real with her. It is real with you! Why can’t you see that?” he pleaded, searching her eyes with his.
He stood back up and walked toward her, and she felt the anger in her easing somewhat. “I made a huge mistake with her. It was stupid, and I shouldn’t have had sex with her, and I should have worn a condom… I would change everything about it if I could… but I wouldn’t change anything with you, except to do it all right if I could do it over again.
I feel like I’m screwing up with you every time I turn around, and it just about kills my heart. I wish I could get it right, but that’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m trying to talk with you, again, to try to straighten this all out, because I do want you. I want this baby… but Harold is going to make us get a paternity test because he knows that I screw up.
He knows that I slept around a little, and he knows that it’s possible that the women I have been with might also have been sleeping around. He doesn’t know you. He doesn’t know what an amazing woman you are. I don’t doubt that you’re carrying my baby, but he’s not going to go for it unless we can show him that I am in fact the father.”
Scott reached his hands out to Naomi’s, which were still on her hips. He closed his hands around hers and pulled her to him. “We just need the test done, and that’s all. You and I both know how it will come out, and I’ll pay for it. Don’t worry about that.
They can do an in vitro test and we’ll know almost right away, I think. All I’m asking you for is your time, really. Just go with me to the doctor and let him run the test. I’ll take care of all of it. Okay? Please? Then there won’t be any more trouble
or hassle with it. Please do this for me, and for our baby!” he implored her.
Naomi’s anger had dissipated as she listened to Scott talking, and she sighed with the last of her frustration, her hands still held in his, and looked away from him sullenly. “Fine. I’ll get the test.”
He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. “Thank you! Thank you so much. This is absolutely the right thing to do. It’s going to fix so much for us. Thank you.” He moved to kiss her, but she pulled away from him and shook her head.
“I have to get back to work,” she said coolly. “You make the appointment for any morning in the next week, and we’ll go, but things between us are still not good. Don’t misunderstand me working with you on this. I’m doing this test so that your agent won’t fight you on taking care of this baby with me.”
He nodded sadly. “However it has to be. Thank you.”
She gave him a nod in return, and opened the door again, walking out into the office. She was surprised to see Reggie walking through the front door, and she stopped in her tracks for a moment, and Scott almost collided with the back of her.
“What is it?” he asked curiously, eyeing Reggie.
“Nothing. It’s business. Our business is finished. Let me know when the appointment is please.” She gave him a stern look, and he waved a little and smiled as best he could to both Keisha and Malaika, before walking past Reggie and going out of the front door.
Reggie walked in and went to the sofa, his eyes on Malaika almost the whole time. Malaika and Keisha both walked to the center of the room and sat in chairs near him. Naomi sat on the sofa beside him.
“Good afternoon, Reggie. To what do we owe this surprise visit?” she asked as cheerfully as she could, trying to suppress her frustration and annoyance with Scott.
He leaned back on the sofa and looked around at all three women. “I have some news about the buyers.”
Naomi’s heart caught in her chest. “You do? What is it? What’s going on?” She didn’t want to sound desperate, but she wasn’t far from it at that point.
“Well, the buyers are both ready to purchase this building, and they have both increased the offers they are willing to pay for it. They are set to get into a bidding war, because this is prime real estate, but I told them that there was a third buyer interested, and that I had to talk to them first. That would be you, Naomi.” He looked at her seriously.
She swallowed as her heart pounded against her chest. “They raised their offers? How much?” she asked in as steady a voice as she could manage. The job for Jennifer Jones was going to be just enough to cover the original offers, with a small amount left over. There would be no way that she could compete with an increased offer. Her mind spun wildly as the implications clawed at her.
Reggie looked over at Malaika and gave her a smile. “Well, I understand that things might be a little tight here for you, so I’m willing to consider letting you have it for the original high price that was being offered the first time I talked to you. That is… if you can get the entire amount for me. I’d want one payment in total. I don’t want to hold on to this property, but because of how close my father was with all of you, I also don’t want to pull it out from underneath you either. You still have a little more time left before the end of the month.”
He turned his gaze back to Naomi. “Will you be able to get the money for me by the end of this month?”
Naomi took a deep breath. “Yes, I think I can. We’re working on a job right now that will pay us enough to take care of it for you. We just need as much time as we can get to earn the money for you.”
He shrugged lightly. “You have until the end of the month. That’s when I have to close the deal for a buyer. I hope it’s you. I’d like to see you keep this place.”
Naomi smiled as best she could and gave him a nod. “We’re going to make sure that it’s us. Thank you for taking the original bid. I know you could make more money on this place if you wanted to.”
“Well, my father was really fond of all of you, and I know it would mean a lot to him to see you keep this place, so I’m glad to do what I can to try to help you do that. I just can’t keep it, so if you have the amount for the original bid, then it’s yours; end of the month.” He stood up then and the ladies all stood up with him.
He shook Naomi’s hand and then turned to look at Malaika. “I wonder if I might speak with you for a few moments.” He smiled at her and she nodded, giving him a smile in return. They walked toward her desk and spoke in low voices.
Keisha eyed Naomi curiously as they both walked back to their desks. After a few minutes, Reggie left, bidding the ladies all a good afternoon. Malaika sat down at her desk with a grin on her face, and Keisha and Naomi nearly pounced on her.
“What did he say? What was all of that about?” Keisha asked, hurrying over to Malaika’s desk.
Malaika turned toward them both and laughed lightly. “He asked me to go out with him for dinner.”
“A date? You’re going out on a date with him?” Keisha gushed excitedly.
Malaika nodded. “Yes, I am. He’s a handsome man, and if he’s anything like his father, then he’s a good man. I feel like he’s doing all that he can to help us, and I don’t think that it would hurt us in our position for me to go out with him if I keep it casual, so I’m going to go.”
Keisha squealed and giggled, and Naomi smiled at her. “Good. I’m glad that someone around here will be dating a good man.”
She sat at her desk and thought about everything that had happened with Scott. She needed to talk to someone about it, and the only person who knew everything was Eva. She texted her best friend and asked her to meet up for coffee. Fifteen minutes later, they had set a coffee date for that afternoon.
Neither Keisha nor Malaika asked Naomi anything about Scott, and Naomi was grateful for it, but she did feel as if she was keeping too much from them. Her pregnancy was going to start showing at some point in the near future, and she knew that she would have to tell them something eventually, although she didn’t know just quite what she would tell them. Sleeping with a client and becoming pregnant from the tryst was about the most unprofessional thing she could think of.
She left the office a little early and met up with Eva at their favorite café. She didn’t notice the man who followed her in, watching her carefully. She didn’t see him sit at the next table over from her and Eva, and she didn’t notice at all when he set up his phone at an angle to record them as he turned on the video on his phone. Neither of them saw him take out a small notebook and begin to write swiftly in it, eyeing them once in a while as they spoke, and listening to every word that they said.
“You look good,” Eva told her as they sat down. “I think most pregnant women do, but certainly not all of them. You’re doing all right?” she asked, looking at Naomi with some concern.
Naomi nodded. “I’m okay. The sickness I have been feeling has been mild, and it seems to be going away a little bit.”
“Well, that’s good. So what’s going on? What’s the latest with all of it? Did you wind up telling Scott that you were pregnant with his baby?” Eva eyed her suspiciously.
Naomi sighed and her shoulders slumped. “That’s such a mess. I did wind up telling him, and he said he wanted to talk with me and work things out, so I went over to his house to do that, and things just got worse.”
Eva frowned. “Worse? How could they get worse?”
With a disgusted sigh, Naomi continued. “Well, we were sitting there talking and his agent, Harold… oh, what’s his name…is Harold Klein showed up, and walked right in on us while we were talking. He started getting mad at Scott, and he told him that he was being irresponsible for getting two women pregnant—”
Holding her hand up, Eva stopped Naomi mid-sentence. “Wait… what? Did you just say…?”
“Yeah. I did. Harold was chewing him out for getting two women pregnant. So of course I got mad and I left. I told Scott that I didn’t want to see him
or talk to him again, which seems to be all I’ve been saying to him every time I see him and talk to him. It’s ridiculous. Anyway, I left. He decided that he was going to show up at the design firm, and he did, and we went into the kitchen to talk privately.” Naomi remembered every moment of it as she shared it with Eva.
“He told me that he had this one night stand with this woman at a party. He said he didn’t even want to sleep with her, but he got drunk, as in really drunk, and she begged a ride home with him. He had a limo that night, and so they were in the back of it and…” Naomi couldn’t say it. It made bile rise up in the back of her throat.
“…and now she’s pregnant. Well, he said that he was seeing me by then… if you can call sleeping with him in his house seeing him. He won’t date me. He doesn’t want anyone to know about me. Anyway, we had just started, and he was all wrapped up in me, and she called him out of the blue and told him that she was pregnant.
He said he was kind of trapped by then, because by then he wanted me, and he didn’t want anything to do with her, but she’s having his kid. So there’s that.” Naomi scowled and sipped her ice water, and Eva glared.
“That snake. What a lying bastard. He found out that she was pregnant after he started seeing you and he never said one word about it to you? He just kept it all hush-hush?” Eva asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yeah… he did. Just like he keeps our affair all hush-hush. He doesn’t want anyone to know he’s sleeping with me… or was. He doesn’t want anyone to know that he got me pregnant. No one can think that the great Scott Thompson of the Los Angeles Waves could be with anyone who wasn’t a megastar. So you told me that he was seeing Jennifer Jones, the singer, right? Well, I thought that he was, and I confronted him about it, and he told me that they aren’t seeing each other, that it’s just a front.” Naomi shook her head with a sigh.
“He’s lying,” Eva said in a low voice.
“That’s what I thought, too. Then Jennifer was over at his house and she saw the decorating job that I did over there, and she loved it and asked him who his decorator was and he told her that it was me. So I get this call at the office and I didn’t know who it was… all I had was a huge estate address in Beverly Hills, and a first name, Jen, and so I go rushing over there because we need the job. I went in and bam… it’s her.
