He shot Jaz a glance people would normally reserve for pieces of crud under their shoes. I had half a mind to punch him in the nose just for that.
“I don’t know what kind of situation you’ve been raising her in,” Derek said, turning that same look on me. “Bringing random Internet men over for drug-fueled orgies…”
“There were never any drugs,” I said.
“Or orgies!” Jaz waved her hands. “None of that was what it sounded like.”
“Regardless, that’s my daughter you have there.” Derek reached for Gretchen, attempting to touch her cheek.
I yanked her away. “How are we supposed to know that’s true? We don’t know you from Adam.”
Derek glanced at the door. “As much as I hate to ask for an invitation to your sex den, that might make this easier.”
I swallowed, looking at Jaz for agreement before opening the door. “Fine.”
The apartment pretty much was a sex den. We’d banged each other’s brains out on every surface in the place… and a few outside it.
Hey, doing it on the balcony was perfectly normal.
And the windowsill, well… sometimes we got a little overexcited.
Luckily, the dildos and vibrators and other assorted paraphernalia were stashed away for now. I didn’t like the way this Derek guy was speaking to us. We were raising Gretchen perfectly fine. And who was he to barge in here acting like he even had any claim on her?
If he was really her father, where the hell had he been for the past year?
In the kitchen, I pointed Derek to a chair. I didn’t offer him water, or anything else. Hospitality be damned, I wasn’t giving jack shit to this man until I understood who he was and where he was coming from.
“I ran into Amanda at the nightclub where I first met her,” Derek said without preamble. “She seemed different from before, more serious. She used to be the one dancing on the tables. This time she only sat with her friends, barely touching her drink.”
“So you went up to her?”
Derek nodded. “After we talked for a while, she admitted she’d had a child. My child. I never knew she was pregnant, or I would’ve never let her go through it alone. Or let Gretchen live… here.” He looked around, his nose wrinkling. “She told me where to find you.”
My heart beat unsteadily at his story. It sounded plausible enough, except for one thing. “Amanda told me she didn’t know who the father was. Why would you assume it’d be you?”
“That would be impossible.” Derek didn’t even blink an eye. “I’ve done the math. We were barely apart that month. Then one day, Amanda vanished into thin air. I never knew where she went… until now.”
“We only have your word as proof,” I said. Why would Amanda have made herself out to be so promiscuous? Then again, why would Derek go to such lengths to claim a child he wasn’t sure was his?
“I’d be happy to do a paternity test.”
“Good,” I spat.
Derek shrugged. “I don’t mind at all. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure Gretchen comes home to me.”
19
Jaz
Faye was fuming as Derek left the apartment. Literally fuming, as in I expected smoke to come out of her ears at any second.
“How fucking dare he,” she said, pacing around the room with unrestrained fury. “That son of a motherfucking bitch.”
“Faye, your language.”
“Muhfuggin bih!” Gretchen called out happily.