Weekend Fling (10 page)

“Why didn’t you call? I left you a message.” She was hurt. He could tell by the look on her face.

“I wanted to surprise you . . . Surprise!” Starting to feel uncomfortable and needing to address the elephant in the conversation, he looked down to her belly. “So, you’re pregnant? How far along are you?”

He noticed that she hesitated and thought she didn’t want to share this information with him. “I’m six months. The baby is due in June.”

His mind started calculating the months backward, and he stared at her in shock. “No, you can’t be!”

Sighing, she gave him a look that he recognized from his momma that meant he was in trouble.

“Yes, hell, I can be. Six months,
Austin
. Don’t you remember the condom incident? Well, I sure as hell do. Listen, I tried calling you, but you never called me back. You show up at my door, probably looking for a booty call, and instead got this little bit of news. Listen, the only thing you need to know is that little David is yours.” Shaking her head at the look on his face, she decided to give him an out.

“You don’t have to be involved. I can see the shock on your face, and you clearly aren’t ready for this. Fine, I get it. Why don’t you go back to
Norfolk
, let this sink in, and come back when you’re ready to talk?”

Not knowing what to say,
Austin
’s mind was in a tailspin. Oh God, a father? Him? He wasn’t ready for this. He was just now getting out of the Navy and starting his business. Was he ready to be responsible for a baby?

His mind screamed loudly at him that he needed to open his mouth and say something, jarring him out of his trancelike state. “Kara, can we talk about this? I just need time to adjust. You’ve had six long months to get used to the idea. I’ve had five minutes.”

He noticed Kara’s eyes change and knew she was going to give in. “
Austin
, listen to me. Like I said, I don’t expect anything from you, but I do think it’s important that you know. You’re shocked, and you don’t look too happy. I think you should leave now and come back at a later time.
Bryan
is coming to take me to do some shopping, and I need to get ready.”

A red haze suddenly obscured his vision. “
Bryan
? The guy who was here when I came by to take you out? Why is he taking you out? Is he trying to take on the role of daddy to my kid?”

“See, now you’re out of line. You, Mr. Austin Delaney, weren’t around! Someone had to help me with things, and so my friends took on the role of helper, chauffeur, and shoulder to lean on when I found out about this baby.”

Austin
was in complete shock, but he wasn’t happy with the turn of events. He noticed her eyes turn into slits and knew he was about to get told off. He’d never seen Kara angry, but she looked ready to scream bloody murder at any moment. He didn’t think her anger was good for the baby, but wasn’t going to say anything. He wasn’t that stupid.

“Damn it
Austin
, you waltz up here like you own shit and then start acting as if you have a right to question anything in my life? You haven’t been here this entire time.
Bryan
has! You know what? Screw you! You self-absorbed son of a bitch!”

And with that curse about his loving and angelic momma, whom she didn’t know,
Austin
watched Kara slam the door in his face. Standing there for a few more minutes with steam coming out of his ears, he noticed some of the neighbors staring at him. They must have heard Kara cursing at him. He hated making scenes. His entire world revolved around blending into the environment without anyone noticing him.

He turned on his heel and slowly walked back to his truck and got inside. Sitting there in shock for about twenty minutes, he laid his head on the steering wheel and took some deep, cleansing breaths. He wasn’t ready for this. How could he be ready for this? Shit, he knew he wasn’t, but it seemed that he had no choice.

The question of whether he knew it was really his flashed into his mind. He quickly dismissed that question as quickly as it had come. She was right. They had used condoms, and through no fault of theirs, it had come off. They hadn’t done anything intentional to cause this other than have a mind-blowing weekend of sex.

Sitting there for another hour and a half, he saw a sleek black luxury vehicle drive up. He watched Bryan Green get out and walk up to Kara’s door as if he belonged. Fuck no! Now that he knew about his baby, no other motherfucker was going to be taking his Kara anywhere.

His Kara? When did she become his Kara? Oh yeah, she became his Kara as soon as his baby was snug up in her belly. Damn straight.

Getting out of his car, he followed
Bryan
up to the door. “What the fuck, man? Can’t you get a woman of your own? Leave mine alone!”

When
Bryan
turned from Kara’s door, he seemed to recognize
Austin
as soon as he looked at him.
Austin
really hated those pretty motherfuckers, and
Bryan
was that, if nothing else. This rush of jealousy was so unlike him, but he felt possessive of Kara like no one before her.

If anyone was going to take her anywhere, it was going to be him. Right at that moment, Kara opened the door and went to step out when she noticed him standing there with
Bryan
.

“Damn,
Austin
, you aren’t supposed to be here! Go away, and come back tomorrow. I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Kara, you can’t just drop a bomb like this on me and expect me to go away. We need to talk.” As she walked past him, he attempted to grab her hand, but she flung him off.

“I’m leaving with
Bryan
, and you can kiss my pregnant ass. You can’t just come here and tell me what to do. You haven’t seen me in six months,
Austin
.”

“Apparently. Considering you’re six months pregnant with my child and I never knew. Talk to me, Kara!”

Bryan
stepped in front of him. “She doesn’t want to talk to you, Austin. You need to leave and come back later.”

“Unless you want to walk away from here in a body bag, get the fuck away from Kara.” He’d had enough of
Bryan
and was about to open up a can of whoopass on this man who kept hanging around his woman.

“You don’t want to mess with me, Austin. You don’t want to go there in front of Kara, but I will if we need to. If I were you, I’d walk away before one of us gets hurt, and it sure as hell won’t be me.”

Austin
saw red. He began to storm over to
Bryan
to fuck his ass up when Kara jumped in between them, and he stopped cold. “Kara, baby, move. This motherfucker has breathed his last breath.”

“Stop,
Austin
! Please! I need you to stop doing this. We were only together for a weekend. You should be happy I’m not trying to force you into anything.”

Austin
’s heart stopped, and he looked at her with stricken eyes. “How can you say that? How can you stand there and say that it was only a weekend? You knew it was more than that.” He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. How could she not realize she was ripping his heart out? This was his child! He wasn’t going to let her push him away.

“Fine, go. Just know that I’m not going anywhere. I will be here when you get back, and we will talk. Don’t think I’m just going to let you walk away.” Looking at
Bryan
, he curled his lip. “No one is going to stop us from talking. So you’d better get ready to explain some things when you return.”

Turning on his heel, he stormed towards his truck. His body was tight with anger and frustration. Why? Why wouldn’t she tell him? She should have gotten a message to him. This was too important for her not to tell him immediately. The rational part of his brain knew that this was what her message had been about. The irrational caveman part of his brain wasn’t buying it. Ultimately, the caveman part won. He was pissed, and she was going to hear about it.

Chapter Nine

Bryan
looked at Kara over the top of his drink. His brown eyes were serious, and she knew he wasn’t happy with her. “Why didn’t you tell him, Kara?” He had a right to know.” She knew he was disappointed in her. Whenever he took that tone with her, she knew it wasn’t good.

“
Bryan
, I just didn’t know how to tell him. I mean, it was supposed to be a weekend fling.” Thinking back to the events of that weekend, she could admit to herself that it felt like more. She had wanted something more with
Austin
, and she knew he felt the same way. “He walked away from me, and I didn’t hear from him for six months. What was I supposed to think?”

Taking another sip of her drink, she placed her hand on her belly and felt the baby turning around. He had been very active today, and she knew he felt her anxiety about seeing
Austin
. This stress wasn’t good for her or the baby. Knowing
Austin
would want an explanation for her actions, delaying her departure back to her house was the only way she could think to avoid the conversation.

“Listen. You’re one of my closest friends, and I love you. But, you owe him the chance to make his own choice. He knows now, Kara, and he deserves the opportunity to talk with you about it. See what he says. If he still walks away, let me know.” Giving her one of his infamous smiles that had been known to melt the hearts of dozens of women,
Bryan
got in one last jab at
Austin
before picking up his drink. “That’ll be my excuse to kick his ass.”

* * * *

Pulling up to her house, Kara knew the moment of truth was here.
Austin
was sitting on the steps of her townhouse when she climbed out of
Bryan
’s car. “I’ll call you later, Bryan.”

“Remember what I said, Kara.”

“I will. Bye.” Kara grabbed her handbag and her purchases from earlier in the day and got out of the car. She made her way over to Austin, who appeared to have calmed down while she’d been away.