Page 107 of Coerced Kiss
My nostrils flare as I admit with animosity aimed at myself, “I got carried away.”
“I’m not talking about fucking your girlfriend too hard.”
I carry on walking. “Then what the hell are you saying?”
“It’s not like you to lose control.”
“Anya is different.”
“Look, Sav.” She pauses. “I know the baby isn’t yours.”
I stop. “So what the fuck about it?”
“What I’m asking is if you’re with her for the right reasons.” She continues in a gentler tone. “It happened really fast. The dust after the breakup with Rachele has barely settled. Are you sure you’re not on the rebound?”
“No,” I bite out, because what I have with Anya isn’t about licking my wounds. It’s nothing as trivial as that. Owning a person is much bigger.
“Then explain it to me.”
I can’t tell my clever doctor friend that holding Anya’s life in my hands turns my dick harder than a steel rod. How do I explain that the little redhead is the only woman who gives me a spontaneous erection? I can’t confess that my bed is both the most dangerous and safest place for my treasure. I can’t say there are people who want her dead and that I’m keeping her safe for my own selfish reasons.
“Sav?” Nicole says, sounding rushed.
Continuing on my way, I choose my words carefully. “Anya has an effect on me like no one else.”
“How did you even meet?”
“Does it matter?”
“I get why you’re attracted to her. She’s a beautiful woman. She seems sweet.”
My agitation spikes. “But?”
“I know you. You’re a possessive bastard, but the way you are with her is on a different level. You’re behaving like a caveman with this woman, calling me at all hours of the morning.”
Picking up my pace, I turn the corner and cross the street. “Your point is?”
“What happens when the father of the baby makes a claim on the child?”
That stops me dead in my tracks. “He won’t.”
“What makes you so sure? Maybe not now, but once the child is born, the reality of being a biological parent changes people’s mindsets. I see it often in my occupation. Fathers who don’t want anything to do with the baby when the mother is pregnant behave differently when they hold that little person they helped create for the first time.” A warning creeps into her tone. “You know what they say. Blood is thicker than water.” Her voice softens. “And you’renotthe father.”
I ball my hands into fists. “I fucking know that.”
“You and I both know you’ll be a good parent. Considering the occupation you chose, that’s not how it may seem from the outside. Anya is part of your world now, whether she wants to be or not. If the father sues for custody, he’d have a very strong chance of winning.”
I hurry on, a new kind of disquiet eating into my gut. “Thank you for the heads up, Doc, but the only information I need from you concerns Anya’s health.”
“Don’t be an asshole. I’m just watching out for you. I’d hate to see you get hurt again. You almost didn’t survive the last round, and I don’t mean physically. I mean emotionally.”
“Thanks for your time,” I say through thin lips.
“You’re welcome. I won’t say I told you so when the shit hits the fan.”
I hang up and select a playlist, blasting the music through my earphones as I jog home, trying not to think about what Nicole said.
By the time I arrive at the top of my street, the worry that wreaks havoc with my mind is a two-headed monster. On the one hand, I can’t stop thinking about Nicole’s ominous prophecy, and on the other, I’m terrified that I’ve been too rough. My control where Anya is concerned is non-existent. I thought I had a handle on it, but the sight of her naked did things to me, and once I’d gotten inside her, I was like an uncontrollable beast.