“Mom, I haven’t talked to the Perrys in a while. They send me pictures sometimes. They used to let me talk to Joey on his birthday and holidays and stuff, but it’s been over six months now. I think they changed their phone number and didn’t tell me.”
“I see. They said that someone had called them about Joseph, about signing over custody to you. They were actually thinking of doing it because they’re in the process of adopting three special needs siblings from foster care. I talked them out of it.”
Brandy stifled a groan. Never mind that she had never thought about being able to get Joey back. It was the fact that her mother would talk his adoptive parents out of it she thought. “No, Mom. I don’t know anything about that.”
Her mother sighed. “We’ve had several hang up calls for weeks now at all hours of the night. Your father is threatening to change our phone number. A maroon SUV with out of state plates has been sitting across the street for several nights in a row too. No one seems to know who it belongs to.”
Brandy fought back a sense of panic. She had tried to end it with Gabe and now he had driven hundreds of miles to sit outside her parents’ house? It had to be him, she knew it. She was almost afraid to pose the question to her mother, but she had to. “Um, Mom, does this SUV happen to have personalized plates?”
“Yes. They say ‘It’s Mine’. The ego of some people. I suppose that you’re mixed up with the owner of that SUV Brandy? Who is it? Some ex of yours, some drug dealer?”
“He’s not a drug dealer. He’s my boss.”
“The one whose child you’re pregnant with?”
Brandy almost dropped the phone. “What are you talking about Mom?”
The door to the bathroom burst open. She had forgotten to lock it. She turned, planning to tell Sabrina that she’d be a minute, but it was Gabe. She couldn’t hear what her mother said anymore. He locked the door and moved behind her, encircling her waist with his arms from behind. Before she could do or say anything, he had unbuttoned her jeans and dipped his hand beneath the waistband of her panties.
“Brandy, are you there? Is it true? How do you always manage to get yourself into such situations? Sleeping with a married man and ending up pregnant with yet another bastard child. Your sister never gave us trouble like this. I thought you were seeing that other man, that Richard. Though he is almost old enough to be your father. Brandy. Brandy, are you even listening to me?”
“I have to go Mom. I’ll call you back.”
“Brandylynn, don’t you run away from this conversation. You need to stop running away from everything. You are a grown woman and need to start acting like one.”
“I know Mom. I really do have to go. I’m at work. I’ll call you back. I promise.”
Before her mother could protest further, she pushed end on her phone. She forcibly removed Gabe’s hand and then shoved her phone back into her jeans. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing Gabe? I told you it’s over. I’m with Rich. I love him.”
Gabe moved back from her and chuckled. “Your body still responds to my touch. Just like it always has.”
“Fuck you. Fuck my body too. If my body had any sense it would have rejected your demon seed instead of letting it impregnate me. Of course it wouldn’t have needed to if you hadn’t tricked me in the first place.”
“You owe me Brandy. You owe me for your phone, for your house, for your car. For all the cash that I’ve slipped you when you needed it. Of course, you owe me even more now.”
“What the hell are you talking about? And I don’t owe you shit. I’ve let you use my body and degrade me for months Gabe. You know what? You want this baby so bad, you can have it. Rich and I will have one of our own.”
“And what about little Joey? Would you like to give me your son too, Brandy?”
“The Perrys have custody of my son. They adopted him as soon as he was born.”
“The Perrys are easily bought my love. Of course the price got a little higher once your mother talked to Aida Perry, but what’s an extra $25,000? It’s nothing. I have bank accounts that my wife doesn’t know about.”
“What do you mean, the Perrys are easily bought?”
“Come into my office with me love, and we’ll talk.”
“No. I’m supposed to be working.”
Gabe laughed. “You didn’t seem so concerned about working a moment ago. Sabrina and Chloe can handle it. The bar is dead.”
“I don’t want to go into your office with you. I don’t even want to be here. I don’t want your job anymore. You can have your job. You can have your house. You can have your car, and your phone. You can have your baby. Rich and I are getting the hell out of here as soon as his transfer goes through anyway.”
“Oh, yes. Rich’s transfer. Your boyfriend works for Bruce Transfer doesn’t he? He’s driving locally now and wants to go long distance. I know Alton Bruce well. I know his wife even better. She worked for me in California as a waitress at my restaurant.”
Brandy wanted to cry. Was there anywhere in the world she could go to get away from Gabe she wondered? He seemed to know everything, be connected to everything. She suddenly wanted to get high like she hadn’t wanted to get high in months.
“I’ll go to your office with you Gabe. If you get me high one last time.”
“You’re pregnant with my child Brandy. What makes you think that I would put my child at risk?”
Brandy snorted. “It’s one time.”
“One time that leads to one more, and one more until you’re right back to being a junkie. Is Rich still using? Is that what brought your cravings back? I knew that he was no good for you. Why don’t you give it up and marry me Brandy? I’ll have my divorce papers drawn up by tomorrow. We can leave tonight to pick up Joseph. Then we can go look for a house. We can live wherever you want. Just say the word Brandy.”
“What are you talking about, pick up Joey?”
“Come to my office Brandy. I’ll explain there.”
She sighed. “Fine.”
Gabe unlocked the bathroom door. She followed him down the hall to his office. When the door was shut behind them she said “I want a line Gabe. Just one.”
“No. I took the coke from my wife because she didn’t need to do it while she was pregnant. What makes you any different? You’re having my child too.”
“I don’t want your child. I swear that if I don’t do just one more line I am going to kill myself and take your baby with me.”
“I don’t believe you Brandy. Your theatrics aren’t working.”
“I have a razor blade in my purse. I’ll do it right here in the bar, in front of all your fat, disgusting customers. You’ll have to close the place down. No one will want to come in here anymore.”
She moved towards the door.
“Brandy.”
“What?”
“Stop. Please stop.”
“I hate you Gabe. I wish I’d never met you.”
“I love you Brandy. We could have such a beautiful family. My Christian and Jessa, your Joey and our baby.”
“I thought your kids weren’t yours.”
“In all the ways that matter they are. Now, please stop this crazy talk and listen to me. I have something that I need to talk to you about.”
“I don’t want to hear it. Goodbye Gabe. It was nice knowing you.”
She had the door halfway open when he grabbed her. She was afraid for a brief moment, wondering what he was going to do to her, but he surprised her by leading her to the chair behind his desk. He opened the bottom drawer of the desk and pulled out the baggie. She could almost feel the coke blazing through her system as he laid out two lines. She started to lean over, but he stopped her.
“This is the last time. If I hear about you doing coke again I will have you committed until you agree to be my wife.”
Brandy laughed. “It would be forever then, because I’ll never be your wife Gabe. Haven’t you figured out by now that you can’t turn your whore into a wife?”
She smiled at him.
“Would you like that Brandy? Would you like to be locked up in an institution while my wife raises not only little Joey but our baby, too?”
“Your wife’s a crazy bitch to even think of doing that and being okay with it. But you know what Gabe? Right now I don’t give a fuck. Threaten me all you want. I’m doing that coke.”
She’d snorted her line and was leaning back in his chair letting herself feel the high when the door burst open.
Gabe was still snorting his line. She saw the look on Todd’s face and laughed.
“I’m sorry boss. Sabrina told me you were in here. Do you have my paycheck?”
Gabe wiped his nose and said “Tell Chloe to come back for it in five minutes. And Todd.”
“Yeah boss?”
“Do not ever come into my office again without knocking first or I will fire you on the spot.”
“Yes boss. I’m sorry.”
Todd turned and exited the office so fast that he was practically running.
Brandy couldn’t stop laughing. “That was fucking classic Gabe. Tell me that wasn’t the funniest thing you’ve ever seen. I thought he was going to shit his pants.”
“Shut up Brandy.”
She flipped him off and opened his desk drawer. He’d taken all the coke but there was still a pack of cigarettes in the drawer, along with a pack of matches and an ashtray. She took all three out and put the ashtray on the desk.
“Don’t you dare light that.”
“Or what Gabe? You’ll make sure my boyfriend doesn’t get his transfer? You’ll call up my parents and tell them that you knocked me up? You’ll sit outside of their house? You’ll lock me up in the loony bin and throw away the key?” She shrugged. “I don’t care anymore.”
She lit the cigarette and took a deep drag, blowing the smoke out and straight into his face.
“Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?”
She shrugged again. “Whatever floats your boat Gabe.”
“I’ve made an arrangement to pick up Joseph. We are to meet them in the morning. Your renewed custody of your son will be made legal. Of course it got that way with some rather illegal manipulation of old court documents and another $50,000 on top of the $75,000 I had to give to the Perrys thanks to your mother, but that’s not the point. You’ll be Joseph’s mother again. No one will ever know the difference.”
“You can’t buy my kid back.”
Gabe laughed. “Can’t I? It seems I already did. There are another set of documents though, I’m afraid. If need be, the birth certificate that names me as the father of your child can be used and Leslie and I will take custody of your son. But we don’t want to see that happen do we Brandy? That’s why I think you’ll be more than willing to agree to the condition I give you to have your son back.”
“You, your wife, and your conditions can all go fuck yourselves. I’ll call the Perrys myself. I’ll give them every dime I have stashed of the money you’ve given me and convince them to keep Joey.”
“I have more money than you Brandy. More money than you’ll ever dream of having, unless of course you agree to be my wife. That’s not my condition, though. I wouldn’t dream of forcing you to become my wife.”
Brandy laughed. “You’re the one that belongs in the loony bin.”
“Are you not the one that threatened to kill yourself in front of a room full of people if you didn’t have just one more snort of coke even though you’re pregnant? That alone would be enough to give me custody of our child once it’s born.”
“You can’t prove it. You were the one that Todd saw sniffing the coke, not me.”
Gabe pushed a button on the laptop on his desk. The screen came to life, but before he could push the button to bring up the screen for the webcam, she stopped him. “What the fuck do you want from me Gabe?”
“My only condition is one last night together Brandy. I’ll take you to pick up your son. I won’t interfere with Richard’s transfer. I’ll even put in a good word for him with the Bruces. I will not seek custody of the child that you are carrying. All I want is one more night of your life Brandy. Though by the end of the night you may be begging me to marry you and take you away from the pathetic mess that is your life.”
“I won’t do it. The thought of letting you touch me again makes me want to throw up.”
“Have it your way then. And your son was so excited about seeing his real mother again. Ah, I’m sure he will love growing up with my Christian. They are the same age.”
“No. You leave my son out of this.”
“It’s already too late Brandy. Your son is either going to grow up with you or my wife and I. The Perrys will no longer have legal custody after midnight tonight.”
Brandy wanted to scream. She wanted to pound Gabe’s face in. She had a feeling he might like it, though. She lit another cigarette, though she didn’t want it, and pondered her options. She was an adult. No matter what Gabe did to her body in one night it couldn’t possibly compare to the mind fuck that Gabe and his loopy wife could put Joey through in another fourteen years she thought.
She closed her eyes and steeled herself. “Fine.”
“Oh darling, you won’t regret it. I promise you.”
When Gabe kissed her, she had to stop herself from biting his tongue. When he unbuttoned the top two buttons on her shirt and slid his hand down to her cleavage, she had to stop herself from slapping his hand away.
Gabe kissed the side of her neck. “Oh, so beautiful. I’m going to miss you Brandy. We must get on the road. We wouldn’t want to be late picking up your son.”
“I have to call Rich. I won’t go with you unless you let me call him.”
Gabe smiled. “If you must. Though you might not have to worry about you and Rich raising our child by the time you get off of the phone with him.”
“Fuck off Gabe. Rich loves me. He said he’ll stick by me through anything.”
Gabe laughed. “Now who’s delusional Brandy? Go, make your phone call. I’ll be waiting for you in my truck in ten minutes.”
She stifled an urge to flip him off as she left the room. She went back to the bathroom, remembering to lock the door this time. She wasn’t looking forward to this conversation. She wasn’t so sure that Gabe wasn’t right that Rich wouldn’t leave her when she told him what she was going to do.
Rich answered the phone on the second ring. “Hey baby. Are you okay? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”
“I am at work. Rich, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Okay.”
“Somehow Gabe managed to get the Perrys to give custody of Joey back to me. He paid them off or something, said that the custody is going to be legal.”
“That’s wonderful Brandy. I’m so happy for you, for us. I’m sure the baby will love having a big brother.”
“Me, too. Except Gabe gave me a condition to getting my son back.”
“What are you talking about Brandy?”
“He said that if I didn’t give him one more night with me, that he’d take custody of Joey himself. He paid somebody to forge a birth certificate that said he’s Joey’s dad.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me Brandy. This shit can’t be real.”
She sighed. “It’s real. You know how Gabe is. I have to do this Rich. I can’t let my son be raised by Gabe and his crazy wife.”
“There’s got to be something you can do Brandy.”
“Like what? I can’t exactly tell someone that he paid my son’s adoptive parents to give me him back. And even if I did, I’m pretty sure that he’s got enough money to pay for a birth certificate that looks pretty damned legit. If anybody questioned him he could just lay down another one of his lines of bullshit and say that I was pregnant with his kid and never told him.”
“He couldn’t do that. Gabe’s a couple years older than you isn’t he? Wouldn’t it have been statutory rape?”
“No. The age of consent where I
grew up is sixteen. My parents tried to pull that shit with Joey’s dad. When I got pregnant the first time they wanted to pretend it never happened. The second time they were going to punish anyone they could find.”
“I can’t let you do this Brandy.”
Brandy was very afraid that he was going to tell her that he couldn’t be with her anymore if she was with Gabe again. “I have to Rich. If it was just about me, it wouldn’t matter. But it’s not just about me. It’s about Joey, and the baby. He said that he’d leave us alone about custody of the baby too, if I did this.”
“You know you can’t trust him Brandy.”
“I’m sorry Rich, but I have to do this. I have no other choice.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “Will you be there when I get home?”
“No.”
She wanted to cry. “I understand. I still love you Rich, and I’m sorry.”
“No baby. I told Alton Bruce that I’d take that load tomorrow remember, as sort of a try-out? So I probably won’t be home when you get back. With Joey. Now we’re gonna have two kids. I’d just be a lot happier about it if Gabe wasn’t mixed up in everything like usual. I told you that I’d stick by you through anything, and I meant it. I love you Brandy. Hell, I’ll marry you when I get back if you want.”
“My engagement ring’s not even ready yet.”
“Yeah, I know. Please call me when you get back to let me know that you’re safe. I’d follow you and that fuck. You know I would, but I can’t let Alton down. I need this job, now more than ever.”
“I know. I love you Rich.”
“I love you too, Brandy. Will you think of me, when you’re. . . you know. With Gabe.”
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She sobered and said “Of course. It’ll be the only way I’ll be able to get through the night.”
“Goodbye baby. Please come home to me safe and sound. If that piece of shit hurts you I swear I’ll kill him.”
“I can handle Gabe. It’s just one more night. Then we’ll be rid of him forever.”
“I hope so darlin’. I sure hope so.”
“Um, Rich, there’s one more thing that I need to tell you.”
Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set Page 53
