Ripe: A Stepbrother Pregnancy Romance (7 page)

Jesse exhaled a deep sigh. “I told you. I want to get to know my son. Why is that so hard for you to believe?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you kicked us to the curb like week old trash. Guess what though? We turned out just fine. We don’t need you. We never needed you.”

“Elise, come on…”

“No,
you
come on. Isaiah is my son, Jesse, and I’m going to do everything in my power to protect him from anything or
anyone
that I don’t think is in his best interest. You, Jesse, are not in his best interest. The only thing you’ve proven to be is undependable. I’m not going to kick back and watch you destroy our lives any more than you already have.”

“Just one visit, Elise. That’s all I’m asking for here. I only want to spend one day with him.”

“You’ve seen enough of him already.”

“No I haven’t. I’ve barely even gotten the chance to talk to him.”

“Good.”

“Seriously?”

“As serious as you were the day you left.”

“Elise, come on! I was just a kid—a stupid fucking kid. I’m here now, doesn’t that matter for something?”

“Yeah, well, I was a kid too and last I checked, I stayed put and I took care of my responsibilities.
Our
responsibilities.”

“Elise, look, I already feel like shit and I don’t have the energy to fight with you. All I want to do is see my son, and if you won’t let me then I guess I’m going to be forced to try alternative measures.”

“You’re not seriously
threatening
me, are you?”

“What did you expect? Did you really think I’d just take no for an answer? Don’t you realize that all I’d be doing then is proving you right? What would I say to him, five or ten years from now, when he comes asking why I never fought for him? Why I never showed face?”

“Why don’t you stop kidding yourself, Jesse? In five or ten years, you’re not going to give a shit about seeing him.”

“You know what, fuck it,” Jesse said, exhaling an elongated sigh. “I see now that you’re just as irrational as ever. I gotta go.”

When the line went quiet, Elise was left reeling.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d just declared war.

Chapter Twelve

Elise was sure that Jesse’s attack was eminent. Every time her phone rang, she was expecting someone with a menacing voice to tell her that they were representing Jesse, and that he was seeking full custody of her son.

Elise felt even worse after sitting down to really assess her financial situation. Jesse’s car and the perfectly tailored suit he was wearing screamed success, and with it, money. More money than she had to work with, anyway.

“Elise, if you’re really that nervous about it, why don’t you just let him meet with Isaiah?” Deanna suggested. “He said he only wanted to spend one day with him, right? So have him come over to your place for dinner or something. That way you can be there to supervise.”

“No way,” Elise contested. “I don’t want anything to do with Jesse, but I
especially
don’t want to have him over for dinner.”

“Look, Elise, I don’t want to sound harsh here, but there are repercussions to climbing into bed with your stepbrother. This right here is one of them.”

“Oh please. Don’t talk to be about repercussions. I know all about them. Not being able to go to college? Struggling to make ends meet in order to give my son everything he desires? Having to drive a crappy car and live in an even crappier apartment? Yeah, I think I know a thing or two about repercussions.”

“Yeah, but what about Jesse? I know he hurt you, Elise, but you’re too smart of a woman to think that he doesn’t have a right to his own child.”

Elise clenched her jaw and refused to grace Deanna with a response. Instead, she leaned over, giving Isaiah a quick peck on the cheek before leaving for work.

The tension at the firm had become overbearing ever since news of the impending changes began to spread like wildfire. No one would answer any of Elise’s questions, and she was really starting to worry. She needed this job, and while public relations was definitely no breeze, it sure beat the third shit call center jobs she used to work in order to put food on the table.

The only reason Elise got this job to begin with was because of Jesse’s father taking pity on her. If she lost it, she’d have to go back to square one, which almost certainly meant relocating. After all, Ocean City wasn’t exactly booming with job opportunities for single mother’s without any education to back them up.

“How’s it going?” Elise asked Andrea when she got to her desk that morning.

“Eh, so-so. Most of the calls I’m getting from clients today are about the merger. I have no idea what to tell them.”

“Yeah, it’s not like we’ve been briefed.”

“Right? There are some different people here today though, so maybe that means they’re making some leeway?”

“Really?” Elise questioned, adjusting her seat so that her feet were flat against the ground. Being short definitely didn’t have that many perks. “Any idea what they’re here for?”

“No clue,” Andrea said. “They’re just walking from department to department taking notes.”

  Elise scanned the room for them but she didn’t see anyone. Turning her attention back to her work, she logged onto her computer and noticed that there was already a call waiting for her from a client. After that one, another one came rolling right in, and it continued that way for the first hour and a half—constant calls without any lull, all of which related to the impending merger.

“People are out of control today,” Elise said to Andrea when she finally got a break. “You weren’t kidding.”

“They’re just being nosy.”

Before Elise could offer her a response, the lobby door opened and two men in expensive suits walked in with Robert close behind them. Among them was Jesse. Elise shook her head in disbelief. She felt like her heart was about to beat right out of her chest, but a call came in through her headset before she could react.

“Uh, hello?” the man on the other end of the line questioned when Elise didn’t respond right away. “Anyone there?”

Elise was at a loss for words. She couldn’t connect her thoughts long enough to string together a coherent sentence, especially considering the fact that Jesse and the other men were walking straight towards her. She stared him down for some clue as to what was going on, but he didn’t react.

Jesse and the other men appeared to be talking heatedly about something. When they saw that Elise staring at them, all conversation stopped. It was clear that they didn’t want anyone to overhear what was going on.

Jesse allowed the men to walk ahead of him, giving Elise a fleeting glance that immediately made her breath hitch in her throat. His expression, however, was completely blank. It gave no hint as to what he was really up to. With a slight smirk and a wink, he continued walking and was gone before she could even begin to grasp what had happened.

“HELLO?”

“Sorry,” Elise spoke up, switching gears. “Thank you for calling Stone Malpractice. How may I be of service to you today?”

Elise was completely drained by the time the day finally came to an end, but she made a point of hiding her feelings from Deanna when she went to pick Isaiah up. There was no way she could understand what it was like. How did she expect Elise to just give Jesse what he wanted after all the pain and suffering he’d put her through? He couldn’t just waltz out of her life and return years later with the expectation of picking up right where he’d left off. It wasn’t fair to her. Not after everything she’d been forced to give up.

Elise waited for Isaiah to buckle himself into his car seat and lingered near Deanna’s porch, studying her expression for any hints of secrecy.

“Was Jesse here today?”

“What?” Deanna questioned. “Of course not.”

“Well you didn’t happen to
‘bump into him when you were running errands’
again did you?”

“Elise, what’s this all about? I told you…I haven’t seen Jesse since he showed up here the other day.”

“Well good,” Elise said. “Because like I said, I don’t trust him and I don’t want him around Isaiah. He was at Stone today. He’s up to something, I can tell. I don’t want to make things any easier for him than they already are.”

“Elise, you’re going about this all—”

“I know what you think,” Elise interrupted, holding up a hand. “And I don’t need to hear it again. I just want to make
extra
sure that you’re not still trying to play martyr behind my back.”

“Well I’m not.”

“Good, because I have enough to worry about. The last thing I need to be thinking about is losing my son.”

Deanna nodded, but deep down, she could tell that Elise was lashing out in fear. If she’d just stop being stubborn and set aside the grudge she was holding long enough to contact Jesse and see where he was coming from, everything would be so much easier for her, but she always was the sort of person to make things harder than they needed to be.

“You know…if you wanted, I could call him and try to find out what he’s about to,” Deanna offered.

“No,” Elise said, not missing a beat. “That would just make me look desperate, and then he’d know how worried I am. I don’t want him to think he has the upper hand here.”

“Come on, Elise. He
does
have the upper hand. You said it yourself…you have no idea what he’s playing at. Don’t you at least want an idea of what’s to come?”

Elise hesitated. As much as she hated to admit, she couldn’t deny that Deanna had a point. “I’m just so fucking angry,” she said after awhile, shaking her head. “I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t deal with this right now. I really can’t.”

“Elise, do you want to lose Isaiah?”

“Of course not!”

“Then you have to figure out what you’re going to do in order to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

Deanna’s words penetrated Elise’s deepest worries. She was right. This wasn’t about letting Jesse win. This was about making sure Isaiah remained in an emotionally stable environment.

Chapter Thirteen

The first few times Elise dialed Jesse’s number, he didn’t pick up. Right before climbing into bed, she tired again as a last ditch effort, and this time he finally did.

“Jesse? It’s Elise.”

“I know,” Jesse said, sounding somewhat taken off guard. Suddenly, he was all business. “What is it that you need, Elise?”

“I…I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner tomorrow…with Isaiah and me.” Elise added that last part to make sure it was clear that she wasn’t offering him the opportunity to be with Isaiah alone.

“I can’t tell you anything, you know,” Jesse said after awhile, exhaling a deep sigh that made it clear that he knew what she was angling at. “About the merger, I mean. So if this is about that, and I have a strong feeling that it is, then I’m letting you know right now that my hands are completely tied.”

“Wow,” Elise said. “You know, I don’t know what’s more offensive—the fact that you think I’m manipulating you for information, or that you think I’d use my son to get it.”

“Oh please. I know you, Elise. You don’t just have sudden changes of heart. The last time we talked, you were a grade-A ice queen to me. You made it very clear that you had no intention on letting me see Isaiah, and now you’re inviting me over for dinner?