Forever His Baby

by Airicka Phoenix

  “Sloan?”

  He jolted out of that fantasy almost violently and found her holding his sweatshirt out to him with dark, pink patches riding high on her cheeks. He wondered if she had been thinking the same thing, or if maybe she’d seen the hard swell pushing against the front of his pants.

  He took the hoodie without a word. He didn’t stop her when she hurried to the house. He didn’t move until the front door had closed behind her and he was standing alone in her driveway with the worst hard on in his life.

  Disgusted, Sloan threw himself behind the wheel and tore out of there with a rage that spun his tires and kicked gravel everywhere.

  At home, he left the Mustang parked outside the front door, something he never did and bolted inside for a damn beer. Forget the fact that it was still only eight in the morning, he needed a drink. He would have gone for something stronger but he never kept the stuff around the house. He'd seen what it did to people. Plus he never wanted to give his father a reason to drop by looking, although he did occasionally darken Sloan's doorway in search of money or things to pawn off. Sloan had learned long ago to hide his mother's china and silver. By the end, before the cancer had gotten beyond stopping, she hadn't had much. His father had gotten to most of it, but what was left, Sloan had packed away for Cole to take when he finally settled down, along with some of their mother’s jewelry. The last thing their mother had given Sloan was her grandmother's ring. It had been passed down through her family to the eldest child for generations. Sloan, having never had a desire to marry, had every intention of giving that to Cole as well when that day came. He knew their mother wouldn't mind and would have probably understood.

  Tense and harboring the mother of all headaches, he yanked a beer from the fridge and walked with it towards his office to tackle the mountain of work waiting for him. Anything to stop thinking about Lily for a few hours. He threw himself behind his cluttered desk and groaned.

  He’d been meaning to tidy up the place for years, but each time, the moment he sat down, the thought made him cringe. So, he set down his untouched beer and stared out the window as a flawless blanket of blue worked up over the horizon, the sure sign that it was going to be a beautiful day. He wondered if Lily was having breakfast, if the nausea she’d been feeling earlier had finally subdued, or if she would head into work hungry.

  A growl escaped him before he could stop it. He scrubbed viciously at his face with the heel of both hands. That girl was going to drive him insane.

  The bells above the front door tinkled softly, signaling the arrival of a customer. Sloan relished the distraction and straightened in his chair just as Barty Coon slumped into the room.

  Rail thin and as tall as Sloan, Barty grinned lopsidedly from the doorway. His long face was badly sunburned, intensifying the bags beneath droopy gray eyes. He always reminded Sloan of Goofy, right down to the buck teeth and the hunch in his skinny shoulders.

  “Morning Barty,” Sloan said. “What brings you?”

  Barty smacked his gums a couple of times, an age old habit from chewing tobacco for nearly two decades, a habit his wife had forced him to stop going on two years now.

  “Need to borrow one of your trucks,” he said lazily. “Got a cargo that needs moving.”

  With a nod, Sloan motioned Barty deeper into the office. The floorboards creaked under the other man’s weight as he moved to the chair on the other side of the desk. He sat and eyed the beer.

  “A bit early for that, ain’t it?”

  Having forgotten all about it, Sloan waved his hand dismissively. “Long night.” He cleared his throat. “Did you want the same one you took last time?” Sloan asked, moving the mountain of papers, folders and pamphlets around.

  Damn it, one of these days I’m going to organize this crap, he told himself, as he did every time someone came in for a truck. But he wasn’t a filer, or organized. He was a mover and the occasional mechanic. Organization and paperwork just wasn’t one of his talents.

  “Nah, maybe the sixteen footer,” Barty said. “Josie’s ma has some junk she wants to dump on us and I need to go get ‘em. Old bat thinks she’s going to die tomorrow. She’s been saying that for sixteen years now. I’ve given up hope.”

  Sloan chuckled. “Do you need me to send a guy to give you a hand?”

  Barty considered this a moment before answering, “Yeah, maybe one.”

  Sloan turned to consult the chart behind his desk listing the names and jobs of each employee. Five years ago, when Sloan had started his company with the insurance money his mom had left in his name, there had only been him and a dolly doing most of the work. Cole would occasionally come out to help if the job was too big for one person, but the boy had no patience for the job. After a while, Sloan would make him help with just the big pieces of furniture before sending him home so he could finish alone. The hassle and fighting just hadn’t been worth it. Over the years, he’d hired on six men who he rotated with every new job to make sure everyone got a fair amount of pay.

  “I'll send Tom to your place. When do you want him there?”

  Barty shrugged. “After lunch tomorrow. Noonish.”

  Filling out the proper forms, Sloan passed the clipboard over for Barty to confirm and sign.

  No sooner had Barty passed it back when the bell jingled a second time and was followed by the loud clunk of heels on hardwood. A moment later, Josie Coon clattered into the room, round face flushed with excitement that reflected in her wide, green eyes. It was the glow of a child who’d just finished giving Santa her list.

  “You will never believe what Dawn over at Ma’s told me!”

  Barty didn’t look inclined to care, but being a smart man, he indulged her as he always did. “What’s that, sugar plum?”

  Josie gave a jiggle that nearly made her generous breasts bounce straight out of her blouse. “Well, as you know I was over there talking to the girls and Dawn tells me that she heard from Debbie, who heard from Susan, who heard straight from Georgia May that Lily Price was in to see Dr. Phillips yesterday.”

  Sloan stiffened. His fingers tightened around the clipboard as he waited for Josie to voice what he already knew.

  “So I said, I hope she’s all right, because you know me, I am always thinking about others just like the good book asks us to do and I care about the God fearing folk of Willow Creek—” Sloan rolled his eyes when he was sure Josie wasn’t looking. “Anyway, Dawn tells me Georgia May happened to get a glance at what Lily’d gone in to see Dr. Phillips for, and you won’t believe it!”

  Sloan gritted his teeth and watched as the buxom redhead practically shivered with excitement.

  “Is she all right?” Barty wondered, sounding genuinely concerned.

  Josie’s brilliant grin turned blinding, reminding Sloan of Joker. “Oh that girl is so far from fine that she can no longer even see it.”

  Barty straightened now, his bushy eyebrows creasing as he studied his wife. “Well, what is it?”

  Josie bit her lip. “Oh I don’t know if it’s my place to say. Far be it for me to add to that poor girl’s burden. Although…” She gave a contemplative little shrug. “She did bring it on herself and I’m not really repeating anything everyone else doesn’t already know.”

  Sloan wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince she wasn’t a gossiper. Everyone in town knew it.

  “And anyway, it’s just us here and you boys don’t really care, right?” She glanced from her husband to Sloan, batting heavily painted eyes. “That’s what I told Dawn. I said, my Barty just doesn’t care about silly little things like that. Who cares if the Price girl went and got herself in trouble? She’s just a girl like any other.”

  “What?” Barty said, looking like he wasn’t sure he’d heard his wife right. “Leon’s daughter?”

  Josie nodded a little too hard. “That’s right. She’s about two months along if Georgia May is correct.” Her eyes narrowed and her pouty red lips puckered. She was visibly trying very hard to think of someth
ing. It looked painful. “Funny thing is, no one can fathom who the daddy is. Isn’t that strange?” Her shrewd eyes narrowed, fixing on Sloan. “Wasn’t she and Cole—”

  Sloan turned the conversation. “Sorry to rush you, Barty, but I have to get one of the trucks over to Tony’s.”

  It was a lie. Tony Pazioni had helped his brother move the week before, but they didn’t know that.

  After waving the pair out, Sloan slumped back in his chair and squeezed the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb. His beer had long since gone warm and he couldn't bring himself to care enough to get another.

  The whole town knew about the baby. It wasn't surprising. Lord knew it was more amazing that it had taken almost twenty four hours for them to catch on. Willow Creek was usually more on top of things, especially the really juicy stuff. Sloan had never cared about the mindless chatter of the bored. Growing up, he’d heard enough of it aimed at his family to not give a shit. But this was different. This was about Lily. Those bastards had no right talking about her. Compared to most of them and their hidden skeletons, Lily was a saint, and she wasn’t even the first girl to get herself in trouble. Just last summer, Georgia May’s own niece had gotten pregnant with the school quarterback. Unlike Lily, Nancy had been sixteen. Yet somehow, that was all right. Just children being stupid. The hypocrisy made Sloan see red.

  Growling deep in his throat, he turned his mind to the task at hand, needing the distraction to keep from marching down to the clinic and strangling Georgia May with all those clunky beads she was so fond of. He called Tom and let him know he was helping Barty at noon the next day. He phoned Marcy’s motor shop and ordered a muffler for one of the trucks. He filled out several forms, wrote way too many cheques and kept one eye on the clock until he could see Lily again.

  He was immersed in shipping orders when the bells over the door sounded again.

  “Office!” he called without glancing up.

  He was aware when the person stalked in, but he finished the form he was working on before looking up. Leon Price glowered at him from the doorway and Sloan knew exactly why the man was there.

  “Mr. Price, what can I do for you?”

  “You can start by telling me where I can find your good for nothing brother.”

  Sloan let nothing in his tone, or in his face show anything but mild curiosity. “Cole? He's at school. Is there something I can do?”

  Mr. Price closed the five steps from the door to the desk and loomed over Sloan.

  He wasn't a big man, but he was backed by anger and that made him dangerous. Sloan knew the signs and knew to tread cautiously.

  “Your brother ruined my daughter’s life. I know it was him. Lily never gave another boy the time of day and if your brother was any sort of man, he will do the right thing by my Lily!”

  “Did Lily tell you this?”

  The other man pinched his lips. “Of course not. Do you think I would be this furious if she had? Half the women in town called my wife, congratulating her on the great news. Karen is in tears! She and Lily had always been close. It made no sense why she wouldn't tell us. But I knew the moment Karen told me that it was that brother of yours. He got my girl in trouble and fled town like a coward.”

  Careful not to appear threatening, Sloan got to his feet, having promised himself years ago to never let another man tower over him. On his feet, he had considerably more height over the other man but he didn't use it to make his point.

  “I understand your anger, Mr. Price. But it wasn't Cole.”

  Mr. Price’s nostrils flared. “Are you calling my daughter a whore, McClain?”

  Sloan put his hands up. “Absolutely not.”

  “Lily is a good girl. She could have done whatever she wanted in life. But she chose to stay here in this shit hole because she didn't want...” He broke off, breathing rapidly. He ran a shaky hand over his mouth. “I know she blames herself for us never having enough money, but I told her, I would find the money. She refused, said she wasn't going off to school while I worked myself to death paying for it. That's the kind of girl my Lily is. I don't care what those assholes say about her. She would never...”

  Lily’s family lived in one of the more rundown areas of town were the majority of the yards consisted of scrap metal and garbage. Lily’s home was the only one that seemed out of place at first glance. While it wasn’t kept up to date, the yard was neatly mowed and, in the summer, there were always flowers blooming everywhere. Her family not having enough money was never a secret, but the fact that she gave up a chance to leave Willow Creek and finish her school was. It was something she never discussed, not even with Cole, or Sloan had a feeling Cole wouldn’t have pushed her so hard to join him at the university that fall. Her refusal had puzzled Sloan, but it had been her decision. He never questioned it, until now. But perhaps it made sense Lily would stay to help her parents. Sloan didn’t know the Prices too well. Outside of the occasional greetings at church and around town, he had never really spoken to them. He knew her mother had lost mobility in both legs during a car crash and her father worked two jobs to make ends meet. But these were things he’d overheard Lily tell Cole.

  “Have you talked to Lily?” Sloan asked.

  Mr. Price shook his head. “She’s at work. That shrew wouldn’t give her the phone anyway.”

  Sloan didn’t need to ask which shrew he was referring to. Everyone in Willow Creek knew Judith Sinoski, or Ma as most of the town called her, the owner of Ma’s Diner. The woman was a cold, greedy bitch that scared ninety percent of the population, yet everyone continued to frequent her restaurant. Sloan suspected it was because she had the only diner in town and not because of her sparkling personality.

  “So what are you going to do about this?” Mr. Price demanded. “Are you going to call your brother, or am I?”

  Sloan had already accepted Lily’s decision not to tell anyone, not even Cole that the baby was his, because he agreed—in part—that Cole deserved a chance. He deserved to leave that town and start a fruitful and bright future. He deserved to do that without the worry of taking care of a child. If there had been some way to save Lily the same fate, Sloan would gladly sacrifice anything to make it happen. Unfortunately, he was only able to save one. At least he and Lily both agreed on who that should be.

  “There’s no reason to bring Cole into this,” he murmured, mind already set. “The baby is mine.”

  Leon Price reared back as though Sloan had pulled out a cobra. Then, just as quickly, the white of his complexion bled through with bright crimson. His eyes narrowed into thin slits of fury.

  “What?” His lips barely moved around his tightly clenched teeth.

  “The baby is—”

  “I heard you!” The snarl was followed by a violent step forward. He was breathing hard. His hands were balled into angry fists at his sides. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t paint these walls with your blood, boy.”

  “I don’t have one,” he said. “I also wouldn’t blame you. It shouldn’t have happened.”

  He waited for the fist. He braced for the rolling rage, but Mr. Price remained in place, and like the unpredictability of a roaring ocean, his anger seemed to recede. Sloan had no idea why he wasn’t attacking, he knew had he been in the other man’s shoe, the guy would be dead, but apparently Mr. Price had a whole lot more control than Sloan.

  He took a deep breath, drew himself up and met Sloan square in the eye. “So what are you going to do about it?”

  Still working over his surprise, Sloan wasn’t quick enough to answer.

  “You are going to step up, aren’t you, boy?” There was a warning in the question. And while Sloan could never quite recall ever being a boy, he chose to ignore it.

  “There’s nothing I wouldn’t like more,” he said honestly. “Unfortunately, there isn’t much I can do when Lily doesn’t want help.”

  Mr. Price rolled his eyes and gave his head a slightly shake. “That girl is stubborn as a mule. She gets it fro
m her mother,” he muttered. “Lord knows how I survived all these years with those two.”

  Sloan snorted a chuckle.

  Mr. Price sighed. His gaze landed on the untouched beer on Sloan’s desk. He gestured to it.

  “You wouldn’t happen to have another of those, would you? Preferably cold.”

  Nodding, Sloan motioned him into the kitchen. He drew out two cold ones from the fridge and set them on the table.

  “Do you have a woman, McClain?” Mr. Price asked as he popped the cap off his drink.

  Taking the seat across from him, Sloan shook his head.

  “They’re a nightmare,” the other man went on. “But once you find the right one … being without them just doesn’t make sense, you know?”

  Sloan didn’t know. He hadn’t been with a woman for more years than he would ever admit. First it was because he hadn’t had the time for romance. Then it was because he hadn’t wanted to set a bad example for Cole, bringing women into their home. Then it was because he just never found the right one. Finally, when he did find the perfect one, the one that made his blood stir and his heart race, she was so out of his league that they weren’t even playing the same sport. Lily would have been horrified if she knew just how much Sloan wanted to ravage that mouth of hers until all she knew was his name and how badly she wanted him inside her.

  “McClain?”

  The raised eyebrow Mr. Price gave him nearly brought a grimace to Sloan’s face. There he was, sitting across from the guy and all Sloan could think about was all the ways he wanted to fuck the man’s daughter.

  “Sorry?” He had to clear his throat.

  Mr. Price motioned with his chin towards the beer still gripped in Sloan’s hand, unopened. “Are you going to drink that?”

  Sloan stared at it a moment before setting it aside. “I’m not much of a drinker.”

  The other man nodded as though that made sense. “So tell me what your plan is.”

  “My plan?”

  Mr. Price nodded. “For the baby.” He sat back. “It’s as much your responsibility as it is hers.”