Read Online Abandon by Cassia Leo - Free Book Online Page B

wait a minute, you’ve had sex in a steam room? When?”
    “Uh … how is that any of your business?”
    Closing the door to the steam room, I clench my jaw as I attempt to bite back my response. If a girl isn’t being needy and clingy, she’s playing hard-to-get. Why can’t they just chill out and enjoy the offer of commitment-free sex?
    “Why do you look like I just crashed your car?” she asks as she follows me back to the patio. “I didn’t say we can’t have sex. I just said I we can’t have sex in the steam room. And, really, that’s just common sense.”
    “Common sense?” I repeat this as I hold the patio door open for her to enter the great room.
    “Yeah. I mean, why would I want to have sex in a steam room when I nearly passed out while throwing up this morning?”
    “You what?” I bark this question at her and she appears startled.
    “I was sick this morning before I got a chance to eat anything. I was dry-heaving so badly that I felt like I was going to pass out. It’s no big deal. I took a ten-minute nap in the dorm after Claire left for class.”
    “No big deal? Don’t you think you should talk to your doctor about that? Have you even seen a doctor yet?”
    “Fuck no! I’m still on my parents’ health insurance and they can’t know anything until we figure out what we’re gonna do.”
    I try not to let her see the conflicting emotions and thoughts racing through my mind right now. I want to offer to pay for her doctor visit out of my own pocket, but I also want to hold off. This is a card I may want to hold onto so I can play it later when I lay down my whole hand.
    I take a seat on the gray sofa in the living room and pat the seat for her to join me. “Can’t you go to the campus health center and get a free exam? Shouldn’t you be taking vitamins or something?”
    She narrows her eyes at me as she sits. “Are you trying to tell me you want me to keep it?”
    Her words make my breath hitch in my chest. The truth is I’m probably more prepared to take care of this baby than Senia. But being prepared doesn’t mean I’ll be any good at it. The last thing I need is to screw up my own kid the way I’ve obviously screwed up Molly. I had to pick her up from school early yesterday. She was suspended for cutting class two days in a row so she could smoke weed with her innocent friend Carissa at the park. It’s always the kids with the most clueless parents that seem to get into the most trouble. Maybe if I had been there for Molly this past year, none of this would be happening. I’m not ready to be a father.
    But I don’t think I can pass up this opportunity. This is my chance to send Grandma off with a full heart. Who knows? She may even live long enough to meet her great-grandchild. I don’t think anything would make me happier than that.
    “Yes. If you want to keep it, so do I.”

Chapter Fourteen
    After a moment of awkward silence, I grab the remote and turn on the TV. “What do you want to watch?”
    She stares at the TV for a moment as the picture materializes, then she turns to me. “I should get going. Claire will probably be getting back from dinner soon.”
    “Did Claire-bear give you a curfew?”
    “I don’t want her to ask me where I was tonight.”
    I’m used to being a dirty secret. I’ve had affairs with plenty of girls, and women, who were otherwise attached. But this just pisses me off. There are very few things about my personal life that I feel comfortable sharing with anyone. But this … This is something I want to share, like a fucking Circle of Life moment, I want to shout it from the mountaintops. I made a human .
    I’ve watched way too many Disney movies with Moon.
    “Why are you wearing jeans today?” I ask so I don’t have to address the issue of when we’ll be sharing the news of our lovechild with our BFFs.
    “It’s cold.”
    “Can I tell you a story?”
    She looks at me as if I’ve asked her if I could tap-dance for her. “Okay