Page 49 of Faded Rhythm

Julian

“There’s no chance I’m hurting the baby with my penis, right?”

“How many times are you gonna ask me that?”

“Be nice to me. This is my first time.”

I laugh at that. “Sorry, Daddy.”

“Mm.” He licks his lips. “Don’t say that.”

“Why?” I smile slyly. “What’s Daddy gonna do if I disobey?”

He grabs a handful of my ass and squeezes. “You know how I do. Don’t play with me.”

Well, now I wanna play again.

I climb on top of him, sinking down with no warning, pulling a loud groan out of him. I ride him hard and fast, biting my lip as I stare down at his handsome face.

“What were you saying, Daddy?”

He smiles, pistoning his hips, thrusting into me. “You sexy as fuck, you know that?”

“Mm hm.” I lift his hand, sucking a finger into my mouth. “Cum inside me, Daddy,” I say around it. “Just like you did when you put this baby in me.”

“Fuck. I love you so much. Fuck .”

“Yeah. Fuck me.” I go harder, moving his hand from my mouth to my hip. “If you love this pussy, cum in me. Tag these fucking walls, Daddy.”

“Jesus. I’m cumming. I’m—“

His body goes rigid, hands holding me in place while his dick pulses hard inside me.

I lay on top of him, resting my body, kissing his neck as he comes down from his high. He wraps his arms around me so tight, I gasp for air.

“Baby, I’m sorry,” he says, immediately loosening his grip. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Shit. I got carried away. Fuck . No wonder you’re pregnant.”

I laugh so hard at that, I snort.

For a while, there’s no sense of time or space. Just me and him. I doze for a minute, then wake to a kiss on my forehead and Julian’s eyes on me.

He brushes my hair behind my ear. “I have something I need to tell you.”

The tone of his voice makes my stomach clench. I blink down at him. “Okay…”

He exhales slowly. “There’s never gonna be a perfect time, so…I’m just gonna do it now.”

The tightness spreads from my stomach to my chest. I sit up, clutching the sheet to my body. “What is it?”

He lifts me by my hips, gently settling me next to him on the bed. He reaches over to the nightstand and retrieves his laptop. That alarms me more than the ominous tone in his voice.

“You’re scaring me,” I say, heart pounding now.

“Sorry.” He clicks away. “Just give me one second.”

He doesn’t reassure me that it’s not bad, which lets me know it’s pretty damn bad.

I can see on his face that he’s dreading this as he turns the laptop towards me.

The first thing that jumps out at me is my name.

There are numbers. Terms I don’t recognize. But my name is clear, and so is the name in the ALLEGED FATHER column.

Clayton Wilson.

Probability of paternity: 99.9999%

My hand flies to my mouth.

I don’t breathe. I don’t even blink. My body just…locks up.

Julian puts a hand on my back. “I’m sorry.”

“Redd was my father?”

Julian nods grimly. “That was the main reason for the friction. We thought maybe it was all business, but this was hella personal. Dime took him out for it.”

I stare at the screen as if the numbers will magically change. “Do you think my father knew?”

“Nah. I kinda get the feeling Dime was looking out for your pops. Being a good friend in his own way, I think." I brush her hair back from her face and kiss her cheek. "He only bankrolled the hit on Dash. Brett was the one who ordered it.”

The sheet falls from my chest, but I barely notice. I lay my head on Julian’s shoulder, my mind racing.

“Wow,” is all I can manage. “Like mother, like daughter.”

His arm tightens around me. “It doesn’t mean anything,” he reassures. “I know better than anybody—blood doesn’t necessarily make you family. Big Ray raised you. He loved you. That’s all that matters.”

I nod slowly. “I know. But still…it’s a lot.”

“I know.”

We sit in silence. He strokes my back with his thumb, grounding me in the present as I fight the urge to relive the past.

“This information is yours to do what you want with it,” he says. “You don’t owe anybody shit, so do what you feel. I’m behind you either way.”

I stare down at his other hand, which is holding mine. His knuckles are rough and scarred. So much death he’s seen, some of it at his hand, but now he’s using his touch to bring me life.

“I’m not gonna mention it to her,” I say of my mother. “I’m sure she had her reasons. I get it, maybe more than I want to.” I shake my head. “How did I end up making the exact same mistake as her, though?”

“ Was it a mistake?”

I frown at him.

“I hear love makes you do crazy things,” he says. “Look at me . I know where babies come from, but I’ve been fucking you raw since day one.”

“You didn’t love me then.”

He’s quiet for a while before he says, “Maybe I did.”

I lean in and press my lips to his.

“Thank you for telling me.” I sigh, already in the acceptance phase, and filled with a new resolve.

“I know exactly what I’m gonna do with this.”