Charles
I waited for Brenna to leave the room.
“Fuck off, right now. I need you to leave,” I said to Niall.
“What?” he asked.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Me? What about her? I leave for a couple of weeks and suddenly you’ve hired some woman to give you a baby.”
“I didn’t hire her,” I said. Yes, I had. Technically yes, that was the case. She was getting paid, by me, because she was offering a service; having a baby. I just didn’t like the way that it sounded. That made it too impersonal. It was fate or just dumb luck that I found her again and yeah, the situation wasn’t the best but that was none of his business.
“Well she said she wasn’t your girlfriend,” he said. I didn’t like the way that statement stung.
“Is there something you want?” I asked.
“She’s living here, right?”
I paused before replying. “Yes, she is.”
“Is she knocked up already? She doesn’t look pregnant.”
“She’s not. We haven’t done the procedure yet.”
“What did Aunt Veronica say?” he asked, grinning.
“She doesn’t know.”
“You’re not telling her?”
“I didn’t say that,” I said. “I’m just not yet ready for her to know that. I’ll tell her when the time is right.”
“And when will that be? You know she’ll lose her mind when she finds out, right? She’ll try and put a stop to it.”
“That’s why you’re going to keep your mouth shut and not tell anyone, especially not her.”
“Wow, you’re not kidding, are you?” he said.
“Just lay low or something. Don’t come around here. I don’t want you upsetting Brenna.”
“Upsetting her? She loves me.”
“I’m serious Niall,” I said.
He looked at me. “Is there something going on here?” he asked.
“You walked in here drunk and harassed my surrogate.”
“No. There’s something you aren’t telling me,” he said.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe you’re more pissed than you think.”
“I’m going to remember this,” he said.
I shrugged again. If anyone could read me, it was Niall. I wasn’t giving out any information that wasn’t specifically requested. I knew that I could trust him but this wasn’t the way I wanted Niall and Brenna to meet. The circumstances were wrong in every way that they could be wrong. What the hell did Brenna think? She was getting involved with a family of drunks and degenerates? What had he said to her about my mother? Did she know about the dates that she would set me up on?
Brenna walked back into the room holding a tray. On it was a few mugs with creamer and sugar.