Pregnant By A Bad Boy: A Dramatic Urban BWWM Romance Novel

by Cookie Jones

  “Marge was really strong,” my mom commented as we walked back to our car.

  “Yeah, she was…though her son was—”

  “He’s having a really hard time, you can’t blame him too much, given the circumstance,” my dad said and I nodded.

  “How about we go for some dinner?” Mom suggested and I perked up.

  “Can we have breakfast for dinner?” I asked and my dad chuckled.

  “You still do that?” he asked and I nodded, grinning up at him a little mischievously.

  “Well, you started breakfast for dinner Thursdays so I simply kept the tradition going,” I said and he laughed fully.

  “That’s true, I spoiled you,” he said fondly and Mom laughed.

  “That you did,” I grinned up at my dad and tried my best to continue to cheer him up; it was largely the reason I was back home.

  Chapter3

  Nick

  “Can you help me with this Nicholas?” My mom’s sharp tone grained on my nerves, but whatever.

  I was getting used to her being pissed at me, it had been that way ever since I showed up. Ever since she called me with the news that Dad up and died. Like it was my fault; she was the one who kept the fact that he was sick from me. It wasn’t like they didn’t have any way to contact me. Sure, I resented my parents, but I never hated them. I didn’t think I deserved to have any last moments with my dad taken away from me because I didn’t do what they wanted me to with my life.

  “Fine, yeah…” I mumbled and dismounted the portrait of my dad. Someone had closed the casket, thankfully.

  I didn’t think I’d be able to get the sight of his pale still face out of my mind for a while. Maybe after I helped pack up I could look to the aid of some much needed booze to get me through the next few days, what with the ‘sorry for your loss’ and the ‘your father was a good man’ comments I heard on repeat.

  “Be careful with that, Nicholas, Ben wants to hang the portrait up in the founder’s hall,” she said and I stifled a sigh.

  She was talking about my dad’s closest business partner who was on the board at Price Holdings. Ben had told me that they would have a private ceremony at the company for putting my dad’s picture on the wall.

  “I know mother.” I didn’t bother raising my voice past a mumble.

  I doubted she actually listened to a word I said anyhow. I hated the entire situation. Dad up and dying, my being blindsided by it, my mother resenting me even more than she had, and I was back in the one place I never truly wanted to return. Fucking New Haven. It was then truly my own personal city of hell; it may as well have been named Fuck You Nick Price.

  “Nick, the least you could do is answer me.” Her voice berated its way into my head again and I realized she was standing right in front of me with her hands on her hips and her eyes red rimmed, but like flint.

  “I’m sorry I was…I didn’t hear you,” I said and she huffed.

  “Will you be at Price Tower tomorrow, or have you made some vow to never step foot into your father’s company?”

  I clenched my jaw and took a deep breath through my nose.

  “I will be there,” I said through gritted teeth. “Despite what you may think, I never hated you or Dad. I just didn’t want the life you guys tried to force onto me. Acting like this, like I’m the worst thing you could have begotten into this world, is unfair. You are the one who didn’t tell me Dad was sick, you are the one who didn’t even call me when he was on his death bed so I could say goodbye. So do me a favor and get off my back.”

  My words were harsh, but I didn’t care, I was done with her attitude. I understood she was grieving, but it wasn’t like she was an innocent in the whole mess. I turned crisply on my heel, leaving her in a mask of shock, and left with my dad’s portrait held tightly in my hands.

  “Dammit.”

  My head whipped around at the sound of Buddy’s voice. He was standing on the sidewalk in front of the church wearing a rumpled looking suit he had probably in for hours and looking flustered as all hell.

  “I’m sorry man, I tried to get here in time,” he said and I couldn’t be more relieved that he was there.

  “I’ve never been so happy to see your face,” I said and Buddy laughed but came over and embraced me in a no nonsense tight hug.

  “Nick, I’m—”

  “I know…and thanks for coming. I know you had some stuff with work to take care of.” I cut him off, I honestly couldn’t stand to hear another condolence.

  “Forget work, what does that matter right now? How’re you holding up?” he asked me and looked at me more with a clinical curiosity than pity.

  “I don’t know, it is what it is right now…” I gave a non response and Buddy looked like he wanted to have a whole deep talk right there on the side of the street but my mom emerged from the church.

  “Oh, Buddy, you’re here,” she said with surprise evident in her voice. Buddy gave his full attention to her, hugging her tight, telling her he was sorry. The usual stuff.

  “Of course I’m here, I came to support you and Nick. I just can’t imagine what you’re going through. Everything was just so…sudden,” he said, the inflection that it was more sudden for me than my mom was evident in his tone.

  “Yes, well…you know Doug, he was very set on not getting treatment and once his mind is made up…it was made up,” she said sadly and Buddy hugged her again.

  “Is there anything that I can do?” he asked and she sniffled, but nodded her head.

  “Yes, you remember Ben Schwarz? Well, he is having a small ceremony at the company tomorrow so maybe you can help Nick make sure Ben has all he needs.” I held my tongue.

  She really didn’t believe I’d show up or even help Ben the next day, after I told her that I would not five minutes ago.

  “Ah…I gotta go,” I said and Buddy turned and looked at me with concern written all over his face.

  I didn’t wait for a response from either of them, I took my dad’s portrait and walked to my car; hell, I even strapped the thing in a seatbelt in the backseat before taking off. I sped to my parents’ house first to drop off the portrait and then left before my mother could return. I drove around all night, just drove and wished I had like a motorcycle or something. It seemed more fitting for the moment and my mood, instead of riding in a Honda.

  Once the sun was rising over the horizon, I forced myself out of the numb mode I was in and drove to a coffee shop. My car was on empty by the time I parked in front of Pistachio; it was this little hipster small business shop that was definitely new in the area. I didn’t really track how I got from my car to the small circular table with a coffee and muffin in hand. Then she caught my attention.

  “Nick? You alright?” I was pretty sure her name was Clary…her family had been next door to mine for as long as I could remember, but I hadn’t seen her since the early days of high school.

  She sat on the chair across from me at the table and I studied her features. I was pretty sure she was at the wake the night before. She had definitely grown up; her hair was long and straight, dark as onyx and pulled into a high ponytail. She was wearing workout clothes that outlined her shape perfectly. Not to mention the light coming in through the window we sat next to highlighted her caramel colored skin beautifully.

  “Ah…I’m sorry I’ve been checked out, kinda…did you get this for me?” I asked, feeling like an idiot if she did.

  “I did, don’t worry about it. I’m sure you’ve got more than enough on your mind,” she said and I didn’t want her to feel obligated to cheer me up or anything.

  “Look, this was nice of you and all, but don’t feel like you have to stick around or anything,” I said and she waved off my words, acted like I hadn’t even said them. She looked at me straight on and I got captured by her light brown, nearly golden tan gaze. I could see each fiber of her irises and it was oddly fascinating.

  “I’m just here for coffee and saw you walking in like a zombie,” she said and I smirked.<
br />
  “I feel like a fucking zombie…” I said and took a sip of the coffee.

  “That Cuban coffee should do the trick,” she said and took a drink of her own coffee.

  “Yeah, thanks again…for the coffee,” I said and she simply unwrapped her own muffin and tore off a piece. “So this is kinda awkward,” I said and she laughed.

  “Only because you think so.”

  I studied her again, she didn’t appear like who I remembered. Quiet, with wide eyes and always under her dad’s arm if not with friends and whatnot. She was one of the good ones, she probably followed the path her family wanted for her, took up her dad’s business of being a lawyer, no doubt.

  “So what are you up to now?” I asked, wondering if what I thought was true more than actually wanting to know.

  “I, uh, I head up a law firm in New York, the one my dad started. Instead of ‘Richards, Attorney at Law’, it’s Richards and Richards,” she said with a trace of pride in her voice.

  I had been right. I wondered who’d she end up marrying from town, what two families and their kingdoms would soon have a ‘profitable alliance’.

  “That’s cool…so, yeah, I have to go…do some stuff for my dad,” I said and Clary’s eyes tracked my movements as I grabbed my coffee and muffin. “See you at the funeral, I guess,” I said and she said some sort of goodbye I didn’t pay attention to, then I was out.

  I drank the coffee and ate the muffin while I drove to a gas station nearby. After gassing up, I reluctantly drove home and found a few cars parked in the drive that didn’t belong to my mom or…my dad.

  “There you are, Jesus, where have you been all night?” Buddy asked as he hurried out from the front door.

  “Turned my phone off…sorry,” I said and Buddy shook his head.

  “Your mom thought you might have bailed,” he said and I rolled my eyes.

  “What else is new,” I grumbled as I walked inside to the grand marble foyer.

  Checking my watch, I saw that I had a good three hours until I had to be at Price Tower downtown. I had enough time to take a quick nap or something, shower and change. I heard voices coming from the family room, but didn’t bother to go and greet anyone, I simply climbed the staircase and went to my room. Five seconds after I collapsed on the bed, Buddy came waltzing in. Yeah the guy was my best friend, my brother. But man, could he be annoying sometimes, especially when he was worried.

  “Buddy I’m glad you’re here, being the cavalry and all, but for God’s sake leave me alone right now,” I said, not caring that I sounded like a douche.

  “Alright, alright. I’m going by my parents to change, I’ll see you at the Tower in a few,” he said and I grumbled some incomprehensible response

  A few hours later I was riding in the passenger seat of Buddy’s dad’s Jag heading towards my dad’s company. I had a real itch to get this over with so I could start drinking, after the funeral I was leaving town for good, no reason to stay or go back ever.

  “Hey, so are you gonna speak or anything at the funeral?” Buddy asked me and I peeked open one eye and looked at him.

  “No, what would I say? Plus, my mom would never let me speak for him,” I said and Buddy sighed deeply.

  “This is all so fucked up, man, I’m really sorry you have to deal with this,” Buddy said and I opened my eyes fully and glanced out of the window.

  We were already nearing the tall glittering building of Price Holdings. I glanced in the backseat at my dad’s portrait; he was strapped in and soon would find his forever home on the walls holding up his legacy and his forefathers’ legacy. Something I never wanted for myself. If only the man would’ve just come to terms with that, with what I wanted for my life. Things could have been so much different.

  “Let’s get this over with,” I said once Buddy parked in the garage and shut the car off.

  I went and got dad from the back seat then followed Buddy inside. Once we were spotted in the lobby, we were taken back to ‘Founder’s Hall’ and I felt like it was some sort of museum wall displaced in an investment holdings company. There were dead board members on the wall and, of course, my grandfather and great grandfather. Soon, my father would be next to them on the off white walls with a solitary golden lamp illuminating his picture. Just like at the wake, I pretty much tuned out of all the speeches and kind words of remembrance, until they actually mounted his picture on the wall and turned that damn lamp on. That’s when it became real; not seeing him pale and still in the casket, not my mother’s grief or the stark absence of my father’s presence at the house, but that picture going up on the wall and the little fucking light flicking on overhead.

  “I gotta go,” I said abruptly and Buddy looked at me with some alarm and confusion.

  “Wait, Nick…wait up!” he called out in a low voice, but I ignored him as I briskly walked down the hall and exited the building without looking back.

  “Nick!” Buddy ran around me and forced me to a stop by blocking my path. “Where are you going?” he asked me and I shrugged.

  “For a walk, I just need to clear my head okay?”

  Buddy studied my face and then sighed. “Alright man, just keep your phone on this time, alright?” he asked me and I nodded.

  “Yeah, sure,” I mumbled and then stepped around him and walked off.

  Eventually I called for a cab to pick me up and, eventually, I found myself at a bar…with a shot in my hand. Why not? I didn’t have any more obligations until the funeral anyways. Then my phone rang and it was my mother calling me.

  “You need to come home, your father’s lawyers are here to discuss his…estate,” she said and I stifled a sigh. I had forgotten about the damn lawyers.

  “I doubt he left me much, do I have to be there?” I asked and she took a deep breath before replying in a measured tone.

  “Yes, they say you actually do, so get here now,” she said and then ended the call. I ordered another shot before leaving and had a cab take me home.

  When I got there, a few other cars were parked in the drive. I wondered why I had to be present for the reading of his will, I seriously doubted the man left me anything. Especially after I refused to go into the family business after college and he took my inheritance away.

  Before I stepped into the house, I took several deep breaths and then walked into the squeaky clean foyer.

  “Nick, is that you?” my mom called out from the living room just past the foyer and I walked over. “Great, take a seat so we can begin,” she ordered and I didn’t bother putting up any sort of resistance to her tone. I just sat on the couch and faced the three lawyers standing around with folders and such, wearing dark suits and expectant, yet somber, expressions.

  “Alright then, the matter of Doug Price’s estate is actually quite simple. We’ve created a detailed list laying everything out for you both.” One of the lawyers, with big bushy brows and a slight southern accent, spoke up and then one of his colleagues stepped forward and handed my mother and I each a small packet.

  “Basically, all that says is…well, Doug left Nick everything, apart from this house and a portion of his fortune for you Mrs. Price, as well as a couple of the vehicles he left to you, as well. He wanted you completely taken care of, of course, but everything else, regarding the company, the majority of the family’s funds and other properties and such belong to you Mr. Price.”

  I looked up at the lawyer in shock; he called me Mr. Price. As in, I was the new or current Doug Price now.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t understand…he left…Doug left everything else to Nick? Including his company?” Dear Marge was in rare form.

  Shock made her voice small and almost childlike; other than that, there was no telling what was going through the woman’s mind. Her pretty features were like glass, from her light blue eyes, to the fragile set of her mouth, her flared nostrils and pinched, yet perfectly arched, brows. I didn’t know if she would shatter into a million pieces, or go ape shit.

  “Yes, ma’am, he
did, we three sat with him to discuss the matters of his will,” one of the other lawyers spoke up in a gentle, yet matter of fact tone.

  “But Doug and I discussed things, he told me that…he told me that he wanted to make sure Nick was taken care of, but that the company would go to one of the board members! I just don’t understand. I need to see his handwriting, his signatures,” she said adamantly.

  As if one of the lawyers, or probably even me, had forged dad’s own will. I simply stared down at the packet, the list of stocks our family owned, bonds, real estate, and then some…the whole nine yards. Meanwhile the three lawyers showed mom all the paperwork she could think to ask for and then some.

  Needless to say, I was fucking shocked. Why the hell would he give me everything? I mean, yeah, I was his son…but we were estranged. I made it clear I didn’t want his lifestyle. Yet still, he gave me the damn company? Staring down at the paper, I couldn’t help but read the line over and over again; ‘Effective upon the death of Doug E. Price, Nicholas R. Price named standing CEO and Owner of Price Holdings’.

  “Standing CEO and owner…” I mumbled. Then it dawned on me, it was the bastard's last and final attempt to get me to live the life he wanted for me.

  “He wanted me to head the place that bad? That he’d just drop it into my lap—fucking guilt me after his ‘sudden’ death into running that damn company?” I was pissed, beyond pissed and everyone in the room grew silent at my abrupt outburst. “I mean it’s like my being away wasn’t loud enough of a message for him. I don’t want this! All of this, with the marble floors and the pedigree fucking wife and all this…this shit! I’m not doing it, I don’t care that he’s gone, I’m not staying here and I’m not running that company.”

  I slammed the packet down on the floor, got up and stomped out of the house, leaving them all in stunned silence. I was so pissed I didn’t know what to do. Yeah, my anger was probably also fueled by something else, something I refused to acknowledge and my words came out harsh because of it. But something I was damn certain of was that I wasn’t going to stay in New Haven to become one of the marble and gold elite. I got into my car and started to drive out of town, into the next one over so I’d have less of a chance to run into anyone that knew me.