“What did you do?”
“I wish I told her that that wasn’t what he said when we were having sex but I was nineteen. I was scared and ashamed and confused, I just let her win.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing. Not a damn thing and now here he comes with a check for a million dollars asking me to have a baby for him. I’m good enough for that but not good enough to be with him somehow,” I said with a scoff.
“Wait, wait. One million dollars?” she repeated.
“He upped the price because he wants to use one of my eggs instead of finding an egg donor,” I said.
“Oh, honey, I didn’t realize. Why are you doing it then? Couldn’t you say no?”
“To a million dollars?” I said.
“I know you need the money. You wouldn’t have to worry about your mother’s bills anymore but the odds aren’t stacked in your favor. He’s got the upper hand in every way. It might get dicey for you is all I’m saying.” I laughed. Oh, she hadn’t even heard the worst of it yet.
“It gets worse. He offered the one mil, right? And of course, that amount of money could fix most of my problems. I wanted in, but he had all these stipulations. He was like, you have to sign an NDA and that wasn’t even the bad part. He wants me to move in with him for the whole pregnancy.”
“What the hell? Move-in with him? What kind of psycho asks their surrogate to live with them?”
“The kind that has a million spare dollars to hand out to the needy,” I said, bitterly. “He just wants to control me. He thinks the money is enough to let him do whatever he wants.”
It was. That was the worst part.
“How are you dealing with all of this?” Maggie asked.
I opened my arms out, motioning at the bar. “Clearly not well,” I said. “I mean, this deal is as raw as it gets. Besides the money, what am I getting? Just this guy controlling me for nine months of my life. And the NDA. The fucking NDA. You know, he’s rich and all, maybe he’s an important person but he can be honest, I can take it. He’s embarrassed that it's me having his baby.”
“You really think so?”
“One hundred percent. When he said he wanted me in his house, he said it was to make sure I was living a healthy lifestyle for the duration of the pregnancy. Oh please, just call me fat and leave if that’s what you want to do.”
Maggie sighed. “After what you told me about his mother, maybe he doesn’t want her to know that you’re back in his life?”
“Yeah, and one million dollars is how much it’s going to take to make sure I stay quiet. He wants me in his house to hide me from his mother,” I scoffed. “It’s not like I have a choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
“I realize that but I’m looking a million dollars in the face. That kind of money is more than I might see in my entire life. My mother doesn’t need to suffer anymore with that kind of money. I don’t have to worry about Jameson giving me a raise. I can get a new place and get out of debt. That amount is life-changing, Maggie. I can’t turn it down. I’m going to do it. I just don’t like feeling forced to do it.”
“There’s a contract and everything, right?”
“Of course. I’m not stupid,” I said. I laughed at the absurdity of the conversation. I was really discussing my having a baby with a man for a million dollars. My first child was going to be born out of a contract with the man who thought I was trash and didn’t deserve him. That called for another drink.
I fumbled with my key in the lock to my apartment when I finally went home. Maggie ended up playing DD, making sure she was sober enough to get me home. I wasn’t stinking drunk but I was drunk enough to have impaired my fine motor skills. I dropped the keys.
“Shit,” I said.
“Brenna?” I heard behind me. None of my neighbors sounded like that. I looked over my shoulder. Holy shit. Charles Hampton at six o’clock, walking right towards me.
“When did you move in?” I said. He frowned at me. I picked my key up.
“Here, let me,” he said, taking the key from me.
“What are you doing here?” He unlocked the door and gave the key back to me. “What are you doing here?” I asked again.
“I have the contract. I thought we could go over them now.”