by Melissa Kate
Noah showed Emma his trampoline and the two of them started to bounce.
“This is an unusual surprise,” she commented to Nate as he flipped the steaks.
“Unhappy to see me?”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
Before she knew what he was doing, he leaned in and brushed his lips over hers.
She pulled back. “What are you doing?”
“Kissing you.”
“Noah and Emma are right there. They could have seen us.”
“I’m sure Emma knows about us. Noah will find out soon enough.”
“What do you mean, find out? We aren’t in a relationship, Nate.”
“Aren’t we?”
They were interrupted when the others re-joined them, dizzy from their bounce. Brielle decided to brush Nate’s comment aside, despite her fluttering heart. What was wrong with her? Why was she acting like a horny teenager?
“So, how’s the season looking, Nate?” Emma asked in an attempt to gauge her best friend’s new man toy.
“Looking pretty good,” he replied between mouthfuls. “Luca may just get to win this one.”
“Good for him.”
They flitted from topic to topic after that, sharing stories and talking about everything from baseball to politics.
When Emma left later that night, Nate did Brielle the favor of washing the dishes while she put Noah to bed.
“Goodnight my snugglebunny.”
“Goodnight, Momma.”
She trotted back to the kitchen to find Nate elbow deep in soapy water, donning the “Kiss the Cook” apron.
She walked behind him and crept her arms around his waist, resting her head on his firm back. “There’s something about a man in an apron that I find very sexy.”
“Is that so?”
“Mmmm hmm.”
“Maybe I should lose the clothes and show you just how sexy my apron can get.”
“Ooh stop, I can’t control it when you get like this, big boy,” she teased.
He pulled off the gloves and pulled her toward him, running his hands up and down her back as he covered her mouth with his.
When they eventually made it to the bedroom, things were different. It felt different from the caress of his fingertips to the gentleness of his kisses to the thrust of his erection. He was making love to her entire body. The thought terrified and thrilled her. She wanted to give herself up to him on a silver platter.
Could she be falling in love with Nate?
CHAPTER 18
THAT WEEKEND BRIELLE DECIDED TO just kick back and relax. It had been a long time since she and Noah had had much quality time and with Nate out of the country, it was their perfect opportunity to do just that.
“Come on, kiddo,” she called out. “We need to stop at the grocer before we go to the park.”
“Coming, Mom!!” He ran past her to collect his backpack and the Japanese kite Nate had bought him the previous week, then dashed toward the car.
Brielle locked up behind her, loading the car with her cooler bag and beach towels for later. Noah was chatty on the short drive to the local supermarket and even carried the basket as they entered. She walked up to the organic food aisle and stocked up on healthy snacks for the day.
“Can I get Cheetos, Mom?”
She gave Noah a pointed, disapproving look. He opened his big eyes and pouted.
“Dammit, you know I’m a sucker for that face.”
He added the chips to the pile.
A young couple walked past them, whispering and glancing back at her. She brushed it off as her being paranoid. What could they have to say about her?
She tossed her ponytail over her shoulder and continued down the aisle, Noah dragging the basket behind them.
“Honey, let me take the basket. It’s too heavy for you.”
“No Mom, I gops it. I’m strong.”
She didn’t want to wound his ego so she left him to drag the heavy basket behind them.
A group of teenage girls were at the end of the aisle and they too were looking at Brielle and sniggering amongst themselves. Did she have something on her face?
She looked at her reflection in the metal shelving and didn’t notice anything weird on her person. She looked behind her to make sure her skirt wasn’t tucked into her underwear or anything. Nope, everything was in order. Maybe it was just this aisle.
She moved to the next aisle to get some juices and yet again, another couple walked past, followed by harsh whispers. She’d had enough. She walked toward them. “What are you whispering about?”
“Nothing.”
“I saw you turn back and stare at me. Why?”
She noticed some rushed movement at the end of the aisle but ignored it. She needed to know what was going on.
“Haven’t you seen the papers?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re the girl that Nathan Wolfe is boning. You’re the mother of his bastard child.”
Brielle felt the blood drain from her face. The world was spinning and her pulse was racing but her blood ran cold.
“Where did you hea-“
“It’s in all the magazines,” the stranger explained.
At that moment, the commotion at the end of the aisle came toward the group and Brielle stared right into a camera as it flashed. What the hell was going on?
A microphone was pushed into her face. “Miss Woods, how long have you kept Nathan’s child from him?”
“What?”
Another camera flashed and more people joined the swarm. “How do you feel that Mr. Wolfe is slumming it with you?”
What the hell?
“Are you ok with Mr. Wolfe’s other girlfriends? Are you a part of that lifestyle? What do you do with your son during these orgies?”
Brielle was backed up against the shelf. Noah gripped her leg as he started to cry. She needed to do something.
“Just leave us alone,” she cried as she picked up Noah and pushed through the thickening crowd. The other shoppers stared at her as she ran all the way out of the store, the paparazzi hot on her heels.
She’d never been so scared or embarrassed in all her life.
What the hell was going on?
It took her an entire hour to calm Noah down when they eventually got home. She just managed to call Emma for help while her son wailed, wanting to know what’s going on, why were they attacked? He was traumatized to say the least.
When Emma arrived, Noah had just fallen asleep.
“What happened? You sounded like you were just hijacked.”
Brielle flopped onto the sofa and buried her face in her hands. “I feel like something worse happened.”
She filled her in on that afternoon’s events, including all the accusations and questions thrown at her. “What’s going on Em?”
“Where’s your laptop?” she asked.
Brielle pointed to her bedroom where Emma retrieved the laptop and returned to the living room and sat beside her shaking friend. She tapped in a few keys and the screen became flooded with news headlines.
“What is it?” she asked Emma, her blue eyes wide in her face.
“It’s bad.”
“How bad?”
“Bad.”
“Emma, tell me already!”
“Someone found out about you and Nate and are twisting the story.” Emma looked pale.
“Twisting it how?”
“’Golden Boy of racing has a bastard!’, ‘Nathan Wolfe slumming it with his baby-momma’, ‘The playboy and his mistress’, ‘Brielle Wood’s paid to keep quiet about bastard child’.”
“Just stop!” Brielle felt dizzy. “How is this happening?”
“I don’t know babe, this is just out of control. These people have the wrong idea
.” She flipped through other articles and from her expression; Brielle could tell it was bad. How was she going to shield Noah from this? He was so scared and confused.
“Have you spoken to Nate?”
“I tried to call him but keep getting his voicemail.”
“There’s a video here from his PR rep, let’s watch it.”
Brielle didn’t say no and Emma took it as a go ahead.
The woman was blocked by the news reporters in front of her so Brielle couldn’t get a good view of her face.
“Mr. Wolfe had no prior knowledge of his child, up until a few weeks ago. The mother of the child had kept him secret from Mr. Wolfe. She has not extorted money from him for child support or other expenses at this time, however Mr. Wolfe will be moving ahead and filing for full custody of the child. No further questions.” Brielle felt the wind knocked out of her. This was all Nate’s doing? Was this his plan all along? Butter her up so he could file for custody of Noah. Fear and anger and a multitude of other emotions constricted Brielle’s throat. The crowd on screen cleared and Nate’s PR rep stood in all her modelseque glory. Beside her, Brielle heard Emma suck in her breath at the same time that she recognized the woman as the one Nate had draped all over him in a magazine a few weeks earlier. Her name appeared on the screen and Brielle’s heart stopped.
“Oh my God.” She whispered.
“I know, I can’t believe it’s the same woman.”
“No, she’s Mena Williams. I heard the name before but I couldn’t quite place it but it clicked now. She’s the same PR lady that told me that Nate wasn’t interested in owning up to his child.”
Emma just stared at her.
“Was this all a plan from the beginning? I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid. I feel so used.” It was like things were happening in slow motion. Like this was a bad dream and she needed to wake up but it just wouldn’t happen.
“I’m sure there’s a reason for all of this?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Don’t defend him, Emma.”
“I’m not.”
Brielle’s heart squeezed painfully in her chest. She’d fallen in love with Nate and he’d taken her heart and trust and splashed it across the tabloids. How stupid could she have been? But what really hurt her was that he would do this to Noah. What was she going to tell him? How could she explain this to him? She suddenly felt exhausted.
Someone knocked on the door and Emma went to answer it. It opened just a sliver before the room was lit up with camera’s flashing.
“Just leave us alone,” Emma shouted and slammed the door in their faces. She locked it behind her and pulled Brielle into a hug. “It will be ok.”
“What have I done, Em?” she choked out.
“Hey! This is not your fault Bree. Don’t even think about blaming yourself.”
“How did I not see this coming?”
“How could you have? Nate seemed so normal. Who would’ve thought he’d turned out to be such a snake? You just wanted to be a family, there’s no shame in that.”
“I fell in love with him, Em,” she whispered.
“I know honey.”
The next few days turned out to be just as bad with the paparazzi camping outside Brielle’s home. She chanced a look at the online articles about the scandal. She was depicted as a lying, money greedy heifer that used her child against Nate. She’d re-run the video of Mena Williams and only ended up feeling worse, looking at the lithe beauty. They’d been in on it against her from the very beginning. She’d tried to reach Nate again, unsuccessfully and decided that he was avoiding her. His work was done. Now she had to contact her lawyer. If Nate was planning to take custody of Noah, then she needed to be ready to fight him. She felt depleted just thinking about it. He had money and celebrity and he had the tabloids in his favor. She needed a miracle.
She browsed another article and saw the picture of her and Noah in the supermarket the day before and Noah dragging the heavy basket behind him. The headline read: Bastard Child living in slavery and neglect. She was angry and indignant just thinking about this. If she ever saw Nate again, she was going to kill him. Actually put her hands around his neck and choke the life out of him.
She’d had to hire a security company to patrol her house because of the tabloid reporters being a nuisance. When Emma breezed in with her overnight bag, she felt safer.
“Thanks for staying with us,” she said to her friend.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I wouldn’t be anywhere else.” She gestured to the laptop in Brielle’s hands. “You torturing yourself?”
“Yeah,” she slammed it shut.
Someone knocked on the door and Brielle peeped out to see the security guard. “Yes?”
“There’s a Mr. Wolfe here wanting to see you,” the bulky guy said.
“Nathan Wolfe?” Brielle’s traitorous heart thundered in her chest.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Tell him to go and drive himself as fast as he can, off a cliff.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She almost thought she saw the straight-laced guard smirk.
She closed the door and heard a small scuffle outside. A few minutes later his mustang roared to life and his wheels spun as he hurdled down the road. Maybe he actually was going to drive off a cliff – she could only hope.
The rest of the day continued very much the same. Paparazzi pretending to be pizza delivery or door-to-door sales people, all in an attempt to get a photo of Brielle or Noah. The phone didn’t stop ringing either. Nate called at least six times, every time Emma telling him to shove off in a creatively different way.
When Brielle got to work the next morning, the drama was starting to wind down – thankfully. Noah was a little calmer but remained quiet, possibly assessing the situation in his five-year-old brain. It broke her heart that he was going through this but he had to hurt before he could mend. There wasn’t anything she could do to make an easy fix for him.
Lucky for Brielle, her day turned out to be very busy, giving her little time to think about the maelstrom that was currently her life. At midday she needed a breather and popped out to the coffee shop across the street. She was just about to open the door to the deli when she heard a voice behind her.
“Brielle, wait.”
She turned to look into Nate’s hard green eyes.
“What do you want?”
“Why are you avoiding me?”
“Can you only guess why?” she retorted coldly.
“I didn’t do this.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know!” he ran his fingers through his already mussed up hair. “I didn’t lie to you Brielle.”
“Then how does the whole world know our dirty laundry, Nathan? You used me like a common tramp!” she hissed. “And how could you put Noah in a position like this? Did you stop for one second to think about your child?”
“I keep trying to talk to you and Noah but your damn guard dog won’t let me through.
“Good, because we don’t want you around.”
“I want to see Noah.”
“I speak for both of us.”
“Why are you doing this Bree?”
“YOU did this Nathan! You planned this from the beginning. You told me you didn’t know about Noah six years ago and now you and Mena!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t act dumb. I spoke to her six years ago and she said you weren’t interested in being a father and now you want to file for full custody! Seriously? What the fuck?”
Nate looked like she’d slapped him. “I didn’t know about Noah.”
“I don’t believe anything you say anymore, Nate. I will see you in court on Friday. Till then, talk to my lawyer and leave me the hell alone!”
When the judge ruled,
Nate felt like he was nailing his son in a coffin. Brielle was granted custody, which Nate fully supported. He never wanted to take that away from Brielle. She’d taken care of their son for five years on her own and she’d done a great job of it. She’d also graciously opened her home for Nate to get to know Noah, no questions asked. So, why the fuck did she think that he wanted to pull Noah away from her?
Nate was still stunned. How had everything turned to shit in an instant? Brielle’s words swirled around his head. What did Mena have to do with any of this? What the fuck was going on? Any why was he the only one in the god damn dark?
He’d dialed Mena’s cell number repeatedly but it went straight to voicemail each time. He’d gone to see her at her office but she was always in meetings. He needed answers.
The media made him out to be the one who was wronged by Brielle but he felt like a cretin. How the hell was he supposed to fix this when he didn’t even know how it got broke?
The judge had awarded Nate visitation with Noah and he’d scheduled the first session for the following week as it coincided with the school mid-term break. Brielle was not pleased, not at all. Gone was the free-spirited minx that he’d shared his bed with, had wanted to maybe share his life with, instead she was hostile and cold and looked ready to cut off his nuts and feed them to him on barbed wire.
On his way out of the courtroom, he saw Brielle standing with Emma and Noah. He walked toward them but the two women closed ranks around Noah and walked him out of the courthouse. The little boy turned around to glance at Nate, his green eyes flat and forlorn. Something foreign inside of him stirred and cracked at the pain behind the boy’s eyes.
The media outside was crazy, blinding him with camera flashes and hitting him in the face with the microphones. When he eventually got into his car, he drove straight to Mena’s office. Today he would not take no for an answer. He would camp outside her building if he had to.
He barged into her building and bypassed the receptionist who was hot on his heels.
“Mr. Wolfe! You can’t go in there without an appointment.”
