Page 9 of The Sacrifice
Her hair is piled into a bun on top of her head, and she’s wearing black dress pants and a crisp white dress shirt. Who wears clothes like that when they aren’t going to work? She makes my T-shirt and gray sweatpants look out of place. Damn it. This is my place. I can dress however I want.
“Is that a dishrag and duct tape?”
“Yes.” My shoulders tense, and Hadley’s crying intensifies. At this rate, I’m pretty sure she’s nearing the world record for continuous weeping. “I didn’t have a lot of choices. The child’s mother left me with nothing.” I shrug. “One bottle, a baby carrier, and a baby.”
“Isn’t that sweet?” Her eyes sweep over me again. “You should have chosen a classier bed partner.”
“We weren’t in a bed.” The bathroom stall of Callahan’s Bar flashes through my brain. Yeah, it wasn’t classy.
“Nice.” Her jaw ticks. “Then you should have chosen a better fuck partner wherever you were.” Her disdain for me drips off her tongue. Fuck my life.
I lick my lips, biting on the bottom one. As if Hadley senses my anger, her body stiffens, causing her arms and legs to shoot outward, and the sounds coming out of her mouth make my eardrums buzz. “My choice in fuck partners is none of your business.”
“So, very true.” She stomps across the room, grabs Hadley from my arms, lays her in the crook of her arm, and rubs her thumb over her cheek. “There. There. Baby girl. You’re fine. Everything is going to be okay. Look at those big eyes and those perfect lips.” She stares at her in wonder, and Hadley relaxes like she’s flopping in the wind.
My teeth grind together. What’s so special about her? She waltzes in here with a stick shoved up her ass, and Hadley instantly falls for her. Such complete and total bullshit.
I cross my arms over my chest. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
Mia doesn’t look up from Hadley. “I know it isn’t a good idea. You have no business taking care of a child. She’s exhausted. You look like you’ve been to an all-night keg party and puked all over yourself. And she has a washcloth strapped onto her with duct tape.”
“I meant. You as my nanny.” I don’t need a play-by-play of my failure at this parenting thing. I’ve had a front-row seat for two hours, and it couldn’t be clearer.
She tips her head up and meets my gaze. “You’re right. It’s a mistake. You’re irresponsible. You knocked up some wannabe footballer’s sidepiece that can’t take care of her own child. Since I’ve known you, you’ve screwed around, never taking anything seriously, and you don’t know the first thing about taking care of a child.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”
One corner of her mouth twitches. “But you could have turned your back when this peach of a baby momma dropped off a baby, but you didn’t. That was noble of you. And for some unknown reason, my brother loves you, and I’m currently unemployed.” She shrugs. “So, we can help each other out until a permanent solution comes along.”
Hadley is motionless in her arms. She fell asleep in the middle of her rant, and I tried for ninety minutes to no avail. Remember. This is what she does. She’s spent the last four years being a professional nanny.
Surely for a few days, a couple of weeks at the most, I can handle being in the same space with her. Andrew is right. Trusting an unvetted person in my home, and watching my child is not something I can take lightly. I make a lot of money, and many women would try to exploit a situation like this. Mia won’t.
And I do trust her. She’s the most responsible person I know outside of my brother. She has her act together, and she’d never try to sleep with me to get pregnant which is a damn good thing because Hadley is a handful.
I don’t need another baby or any other complications. I’d just gotten my shit together. And now this.
“Fine.” I nod and walk toward the staircase. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“You trust me with your stuff?”
I crane my neck over my shoulder. “Yes. I know you don’t want anything of mine.”
“You’re right.”
When I get to the bottom step, I turn and look at them. Mia is expertly holding Hadley against her chest while rummaging through the bags she brought with her. “Mia?”
She glances up, and a strand of her hair slips across her face. My heart skips a beat. Don’t. You’re fucking tired, exhausted, stressed, and sexually deprived.
She licks her lips, leaving them glistening under the bright lights of the chandelier. “Yes?”
It’s not her. Roxanne was the last Chabang before my teammates dragged me out of the abyss and kicked my ass. And I’ve been celibate ever since.
And with a baby in tow, it’ll be a lot longer. I’m not traipsing woman after woman into her life. My parents have been together since they were twenty, and both sets of my grandparents were as well.
Holy fuck. Dude, you’re too tired to have life talks with yourself.
“Thanks.”Go.I jerk my head back around and jog up the stairs, taking them two at a time without waiting to see if she responded. I don’t care if she does. I clench my hands into fists and stomp down the hallway.