His Revenge Baby: 50 Loving States, Washington

by Theodora Taylor

  Was she still an easy way for others to uncover his secrets? No wondered to himself, thinking back to their past in Japan.

  As if reading his mind, Suro said, “Do not worry, brother. She did not tell me anything. Which is a surprise, considering who sent her to you the first time around. You do know who that was, yes?”

  “Of course I do. I am not an idiot.”

  “I agree, you are not. Yet you have taken this woman into your home and not, as I originally suspected, because you wish to keep your enemies closer.”

  No remained silent. But Suro had never been the kind of person who needed answers to his inquiries. He studied his younger brother hard, seeming to find the answers he sought in his mutinous silence.

  “I do believe she is in love with you, Norio-chan,” Suro said with considered casualty. “She refused to say a word about you to me, even under the implied threat of death. I don’t meet many people who can out-quiet me in a conversation. Especially women. So my next question for you is…” Now his voice became especially quiet. “Has she seen your tattoo?”

  Again No did not answer, and again Suro appeared to get all the answer he needed from his brother’s lack of response. “I fear this will not end well for you, Norio-chan. Or her.”

  “Is that why you decided to make this trip to Seattle?” No asked him. “Out of fear?”

  “Yes,” Suro admitted with a quiet smile. “But now you have piqued my curiosity also.”

  He reached into his inside suit pocket. And No stiffened, prepared to go for a weapon as well.

  But then his brother said, “Not a threat, Norio-chan. A gift.”

  His older brother pulled out a rectangular-shaped silver case and turned it forward so No could clearly see the swirling words etched across its surface: Happy Anniversary, Suro - Your Loving Wife, Tasha

  A gift, obviously. One Suro carried with him regularly, even though neither brother typically favored shiny things on their persons.

  Suro pulled a single business card from the case. Then he set it aside, before presenting the card to No in classic Japanese style. Two hands holding it out with a bow.

  “If you ever have need of me, use this card to contact me. No need to come looking for me in my hotel suite, understand?”

  A gift indeed, but not one he could necessarily trust.

  After all, Suro was still his father’s child. Their father’s first and oldest son.

  But No took the card anyway, deciding there was some truth to his half-brother’s words. Despite all of his attempts to keep their association a secret, Suro had easily found No’s American. Had even managed to get close enough to ask her questions.

  Just one more indicator that the plan he’d concocted to keep her safe while he carried out his revenge was for the best. He needed to distance himself from her, not draw her closer.

  Yet when he returned home, it was to her room he went to and not his own. He thought he’d entered quietly, but she turned over as soon as he opened the door.

  As if she’d been waiting up for him, even as she asked with a sleepy smile, “How was Portland?”

  “Fine.”

  “Okay,” she said after a long study of his face. “If you don’t feel like talking about your day…”

  He hated what it did to his heart when she turned over and lifted the covers, so he could get in with her. The way it melted, wanting nothing more than to crawl into the bed with her and pull her soft body into his arms.

  Weak. That was how his heart felt when she offered this space beside her in bed.

  Yet, he climbed underneath the covers anyway, wondering at how she always seemed to know exactly what he needed from her.

  This relationship wasn’t about need, he reminded himself. It was about revenge. Yet her warmth..the sleepy smile she gave him as she pulled the covers over them—it was blurring the lines.

  He kissed her hard then and with cold precision. Erasing the tender moment with his bald lust. No…he couldn’t want her that way. Couldn’t have her that way even if he dared. Couldn’t be weak.

  He rolled on top of her, slamming her hands above her head, expecting her warm, soft body to be ready for him, and…

  He hissed out in Japanese, because she was. He sank into her, grateful when the wet grip of her sex erased any residual tenderness the moment might have carried.

  “No. Oh God, No!” She groaned as he rutted her, taking her hard as proof against everything his brother hadn’t said, but insinuated loud and clear.

  That she wasn’t a liability. That she didn’t make him weak.

  And perhaps sensing his mood, she let him take what he wanted. Asking nothing of him, just moaning loudly when the first orgasm overtook her. God, the way she responded to him. Hips bucking underneath his body. Grabbing desperate fist fulls of his hair as her legs tightened around his waist, as if trying to hang on to the hawk as he flew her over pleasure’s edge.

  He came just a few seconds after she did. Seeding her. Planting himself in her womb.

  Declaring her his.

  Has she seen your tattoo?

  “Something happened today.” she said in the aftermath of their sex, when the quiet had settled around them. “This guy…”

  “I know,” he answered before she could finish. “It was a mistake. And he won’t be visiting you again.”

  A beat, then a careful sigh of relief.

  “Okay,” she said. “Awesome, but just so you know…I didn’t tell him anything.”

  “I know.”

  “Okay, as long as you know…” she said after a long while.

  And that was all they said to each other. Tonight No wouldn’t make them bother with a bath or move rooms. Instead, they stayed put on opposite sides of her bed, No listening to the sound of her soft breathing long after she’d fallen asleep.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  “Are you boyfriend girlfriend now?”

  Lilli was fairly sure her niece’s breakfast table question took them both by surprise, but in typical No fashion, she was the only one who showed it. Blinking several times before she answered, “Okay, I see why you might think that…”

  They’d been as discreet as possible, and thank God Ruby’s room was on the other side of the enormous house. But there was only so much hiding two people could do when those two people were going at it like rabbits whenever a door closed behind them.

  However, none of this, she was deeply aware, made them boyfriend and girlfriend. “It’s…ah…complicated,” she told Ruby, not sure how to explain their status, even to herself.

  “Is it?” Ruby asked, looking across the glass table to No.

  Ruby had been, like, 150% more respectful as of late, but old habits died hard, and she didn’t even attempt to hide the fact that she trusted No’s word way more than Lilli’s.

  “Your question is inappropriate,” No answered with a hawk blink. “Now finish your breakfast. It will provide you with strength for tomorrow’s trip.”

  Ruby grew quiet and continued to pick at her tamagoyaki. Her discomfort evident in her actions if not her words.

  “We’re confusing her, I think,” Lilli told him after Ruby left.

  This was another weird thing that had just started happening. On the days Lilli didn’t have to go into work early, she and No often lingered at the table after Ruby left for school, and they actually had real conversations.

  Sometimes, they’d even share their respective plans for the day. Like a real couple.

  Even though they were anything but.

  “The question was inappropriate,” he repeated.

  “Maybe, but this is still very confusing for her. And she already has enough of that in her life.”

  Lilli waited for him to respond, and when no answer came, she looked up from her plate to find him staring at her. “What?”

  “I am confused too,” he admitted quietly. “I do not like it.”

  “Me either,” she admitted just as quietly. “Mrs. Santos isn’t around, so I’m j
ust going to…”

  With a deep breath, she actually dared to take his hand in both of hers.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “Sorry for what I did in Japan. If there was any way to take it back—”

  He looked away, jaw hardening. “There is no way for you to do that.”

  “But if there were…”

  “We would not be here in Seattle,” he answered, taking his hand back from her.

  “And that would be a bad thing?”

  He didn’t answer, and she could have sworn the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees.

  They couldn’t keep doing this. Living in the past with revenge their only future. She had to get some answers to her questions. Any answers.

  “Listen, I know I’ve got an appointment with Uta tomorrow. But I, um, bought something during my lunch hour yesterday, and I think we should use it…”

  She’d never had someone watch her pee before. But ten minutes later, she added that to the huge list of “I Nevers” that Norio Nakamura had been crossing off since she first met him.

  Naked Interview: check

  Masturbating in a luxury dressing room: check

  Passport stamps from several Asian and Oceanic countries: check

  Signing a revenge baby contract: check

  Having someone watch you take a pregnancy test from start to finish: yeah, that would definitely be a huge check.

  But Lilli was having more trouble with the urge to hold his hand while they waited.

  That was still a problem when it came to No. Wanting to touch the hawk. Wanting to stroke its hair, and see it smile back at her when she said the right thing.

  As they waited, she was deeply aware of the stakes. That their relationship might change in the next five minutes.

  Because if the pregnancy test said no, then they’d continue on as they had been. Fucking like maniacs. Confusing each other even as they gave their bodies over to the hedonistic lust that had been consuming them for the last couple of weeks.

  But, if it said yes, then…

  Well, then their relationship was effectively over. No more confusion. He would leave for Portland. She would remain here in Seattle. No more sex, because the revenge baby goal had been achieved. And all that would be left between them would be a matter of checks and stock dividends for the baby.

  It was as simple as that. She and Ruby would remain here in this insanely oversized lake house, figuring out their new normal without him. That was the deal.

  And a good one at that. Lilli would get everything she’d never had: a baby to love and enough money to raise it without resentment.

  So why did her heart beat faster with every second they waited for the result? Why did she find herself hoping the results were inconclusive, which would give her a couple more days, or negative, so they’d have a whole extra month to keep trying and delay the inevitable?

  But sooner than she wanted it to, a mark began to appear inside the tiny indicator. Two lines, crossing at the intersection…and just like that, there was no more confusion.

  According to the test, she was pregnant.

  Which meant her relationship with Norio was officially over.

  Crap…

  That shouldn’t have been the first word to pop into her head, but it was. And it felt like she was talking on the other side of a wall now standing between the two of them when she said, “So I guess that’s it. I mean, I still have the appointment tomorrow, but these tests are actually pretty damn accurate when it comes to positive results, so yay…”

  Lilli trailed off, no longer able to keep up the happy pretense. “I’ll go to my room since there’s nothing left for us to…do. Maybe I’ll see you at dinner?”

  He answered with a sharp shake of his head. “I have meetings all day in Portland. I won’t return until late. I might actually stay the night there. We’ll see.”

  She waited for him to say something more, but his eyes remained on the test.

  God, this was awkward. Which was crazy, because prior to this moment, she’d considered taking a pee test in front of her Japanese lover the most awkward thing she’d ever done.—well, aside from being interviewed by him in the nude.

  But no, this moment was definitely winning the Awkward Oscar. And she barely knew what to do with herself or her hands as she smoothed them over her casual jeans and t-shirt.

  “Okay, then. Well, bye,” she said, the last word little more than a whisper. “Have a nice day at work.”

  He didn’t answer.

  And she had to remind herself she was no longer his mistress. She didn’t have to wait to be dismissed. She could just go.

  So that was what she did.

  Thankful he remained behind and couldn’t see the tears that sprang to her eyes as she didn’t run—but certainly walked as fast as she could out of the room.

  He’d gotten what he wanted. She’d gotten what she wanted. So then why did it feel like they’d just lost everything?

  Chapter Forty

  Are you girlfriend boyfriend now?

  No.

  The answer to that question was definitely no. And it was one she got to ponder, long after No left for Portland that morning. Lilli only had a half shift today, one she’d taken merely because one of her kids was going into surgery to have a tumor removed, and she’d promised to be there for him and his parents.

  Thank goodness she’d made that promise. Because it was the only thing that got her out of bed after a morning spent in a deep, depressive sleep.

  That and the sound of raised voices nearby…

  Lilli followed the squabbling voices to the neighboring room, and her heart stuttered at the scene she found.

  Ruby and Mrs. Santos were having a tugging war with one of No’s hoodies. And on No’s bed behind them sat an open suitcase filled with his neatly folded clothes.

  “What you doing?” Ruby was yelling at the older woman. “Nakamura-sensei not moving. Why you think that?”

  Oh God, Lilli thought, realizing what was going on here, even if Ruby didn’t.

  “Ruby, mami, I’m only doing my job. What he told me to do.”

  “He not say that. You stupid! Stupid bitch!”

  Mrs. Santos gasped, and Lilli yelled out, “Ruby!”

  Only to have the girl turn on her, too.

  “Why he moving?” Ruby demanded. “What you do to him? Why he leaving?”

  Seriously? Seriously?! She thought at the man who wasn’t in the room, or even the house, anymore. He just decided to have Mrs. Santos move him out of here? He couldn’t have even left a note for the little girl who considered him a valued mentor?

  But it wasn’t as if she hadn’t grown used to dealing with the messes men left behind. Her mother. Her brother. And now, Ruby.

  “Mrs. Santos,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry for my niece’s behavior. Can you give us a minute?”

  “Si, of course,” Mrs. Santos agreed. “Sorry, sorry, I was trying to finish moving Mr. Nakamura’s things before Miss Ruby’s school day was done, but she came home early.”

  Yes, today had been a minimum day at school, Lilli suddenly remembered. With all the baby drama, she’d totally forgotten about the schedule change. “It’s all right,” she told Mrs. Santos. “And thanks for trying.”

  She waited until the door closed behind the chagrined housekeeper before cupping her niece’s shoulders. “Listen I’m sorry about this, honey, but—”

  “When he be back?” Ruby demanded. “He say he take me with him to Portland tomorrow, so he coming back tonight, right?”

  “Um…I don’t know,” she answered, deciding the truth was her only option. “But probably not. We got some…news today. And it looks like Nakamura-sensei will be moving back to Portland…for, um, good.”

  Ruby shook her head and tears suddenly sprung to her eyes. “Iie! Iie! He promise!”

  “Sweetie, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I know you were looking forward to meeting with those engineers and getting a private gymnastics coa
ch. But sometimes people make promises, and they don’t think about how it will feel to others if they don’t keep them. Remember how your dad sometimes had trouble with that?”

  Ruby’s eyes flashed, the memory of all her father’s broken promises crashing down over them like a bad Lifetime movie you’ve already watched one too many times and never want to see again. Until you go to find something on TV, and—surprise, surprise—there it is.

  “I’m sorry, Ruby,” Lilli said, trying to patch up the hurt inside her niece as best she could with words. Trying to be a good nurse to this kid, even though her heart was breaking, too. “I know you’re disappointed, but we have enough money now. We’ll figure this out. We’ll find the right leg for you. Maybe interview coaches together—”

  “No! I want Nakamura-sensei help me,” Ruby screamed, twisting away from her hands. “He come from samurais and you just…”

  Lilli braced herself for the acid name-calling. But then Ruby’s face crumbled. “Not him,” she said mournfully, as close to crying as you could get without actual tears.

  Ruby sniffed then, choosing anger over tears. “You do something bad to make him go away. You not good girlfriend. You not do him right!”

  Lilli tilted her head at Ruby, not because of the insult, but because…

  “Ruby, it’s not my fault he left,” she answered, her voice hard, but for once not out of anger or defensiveness. In that moment, seeing her niece cry over a dude who couldn’t be bothered to text her he was leaving, something she’d not been able to easily understand before became 100% clear.

  “Sometimes people leave, Ruby. Sometimes people hurt us. Because sometimes people are assholes. And that’s not on us, that’s on them.”