Page 12

12

Tex

This felt wrong. I stood in the corner of the small doctor’s office with my arms crossed, staring at the wall across from me that had the different stages of a baby. I hadn’t been aware I’d have to go back to a room and wait with Nixie.

The drive over here had been bad enough. She kept talking about names and asking my opinion. I’d had none.

I didn’t want to be here.

Not being able to text Salem was driving me fucking crazy. I had planned on us stopping at the store and getting her a phone on our ride today. The one we’d be on right now if she hadn’t pleaded with me to come to this appointment with Nixie. Salem was the reason I was here, but Nixie didn’t seem to understand that—or she was pretending otherwise.

Didn’t she have a mother who could come with her to this thing?

I shifted my gaze to the clock on the wall. We’d been waiting for thirty minutes. How much longer was the fucking doctor going to take? We had already sat in the goddamn waiting room for almost an hour. There were so many pregnant couples in there and tiny kids running around that I felt claustrophobic. I’d been close to bolting out the door. Nixie kept leaning on me and slipping her arm around mine, like we were some happy couple. My teeth were sore from grinding them so hard.

“What about Blue Ivy if it’s a girl? I love that together. Her nickname could be Ivy Blue.”

Not looking at her, I grimaced. “Are you hoping she follows in your footsteps?” I asked sarcastically.

Who the fuck named their kid something like that?

“What?” she asked, sounding confused, then let out an insulted laugh. “Are you saying that’s a stripper name? I’ll have you know that is what Beyoncé and Jay-Z named their daughter.”

I rolled my eyes and laid my head back on the wall. “Yeah, well, there are two you should take parenting advice from.”

“You could at least act like you care,” she started in a whiney voice when the door opened.

I straightened from my relaxed stance as an older lady walked into the room, carrying a clipboard. She was reading over it and then looked up to smile at Nixie.

“Hello, Darla,” she said, and my eyes widened at the name.

I hadn’t even asked her real name. She’d given me the name she used at Toxic Throttle when she worked.

“Good news. Your paternity test results came back,” she told her, then glanced at me, looking slightly uncertain.

Narrowing my eyes, I swung them to Nixie, who had paled. I thought she’d already gotten the results. She’d given a copy to Liam, who’d shown me.

“Uh, yes, I know. I got them already,” she said, smiling brightly.

“Oh, okay. I didn’t realize that the nurse had brought you a copy already. She’s fast,” the doctor said. “I thought they just came back. That’s why the wait was so long. I had called to see if they were ready and was told they were being sent in a few minutes, so I waited.” She sighed, looking exasperated. “Seems a few minutes is half an hour. Anyway, I assume all is good, and we can proceed with…” She paused and glanced at me.

“Yes!” Nixie blurted.

“No,” I said at the same time.

“I can step out and give you a minute if you need,” the doctor began.

Nixie shook her head. “That won’t be necessary.”

“I’d like to see the results,” I said, taking a step toward her.

The doctor looked at me nervously, then at Nixie. “Did you, uh, not see them when the nurse brought them in? I can’t show you those. But Darla can—”

“He’s seen them.” Nixie’s quick response had the doctor looking confused.

“I haven’t seen those results,” I told the doctor. “I was shown the first results she was given.”

The doctor frowned. “Well, that’s not possible. The results just came in.”

“I had some done at a clinic, hoping to get them faster,” Nixie told her. “When do we get to see the baby? I’m so anxious.”

“We aren’t seeing anything until I see those paternity results,” I snarled, glaring at Nixie, then turning my focus back to the doctor. “You can show them to me, or I can take them from you, but I’m seeing them right fucking now.” I moved toward the doctor to take them out of her hands.

Her eyes widened, and she backed up, her eyes swinging from me to Nixie and back.

“Jesus, Tex! What is your problem? You’ve seen them!” Nixie said, jumping down from the exam table like she was going to snatch the papers from the doctor before me.

I turned and blocked her as I towered over her. She stared up at me with panic and enough fear in her eyes that relief was starting to sink over me. She’d lied. I didn’t know how because the papers Liam had had were legit from a lab in town. But she had managed it, and I would rip those papers out of the doctor’s hand if I had to. Fuck the privacy law.

Nixie smiled and placed a hand on my chest. I grabbed her wrist and removed it, squeezing just hard enough to get my point across. She winced and held it to her as if I’d broken it. I looked back at the doctor, who was watching the interaction, wide-eyed.

“You can hand them to me, or I’ll take them,” I warned her again.

This time, I was close enough to follow through.

She swallowed nervously and then slowly held the papers on the clipboard out to me.

I snatched it before she could change her mind, my heart pounding, needing them to tell me that this was a lie and I didn’t have to be stuck raising a kid with Nixie. I stared down at the top paper. My eyes scanning it. Beneath the column that said Alleged Father , it wasn’t my name, but Chance Theodore Fennel . My eyes dropped to the last line, and in the box where it said Probability of Paternity , it said ninety-nine percent.

Sheer fucking joy exploded inside me. It wasn’t my kid. It was Anson’s. His wife was gonna kill him, but that wasn’t my problem. I was free of this nightmare.

I shoved the papers at Nixie and smiled for the first time since I’d left the club with her. “Looks like I’m not needed here after all.”

She grabbed my arm. “No! That’s wrong. You saw the one I had done at the lab. It said you were the father.”

“I’m sorry,” the doctor said. “But can I ask to see the results you received from the clinic? These were done at the lab here at the hospital, and I can assure you that they are accurate. We can also have them redone. Do you mind if I look at those again?” the doctor asked, holding out her hand for the papers.

I hadn’t even looked at the second paper he had given me. I’d seen all I needed to see, but I decided to give it a quick glance before handing them back.

Another test, but this time, the name under Alleged Father was mine, and at the bottom, the Probability of Paternity was zero percent.

Halle-fucking-lujah.

I held the paper up to Nixie. “Zero percent,” I said. “Not mine. You might want to give Anson a call and tell him the news. You’re gonna need a ride home.”

I gave the doctor back the results. “Thank you. You have no idea how fucking happy you just made me.”

She took them, but said nothing, looking uncomfortable and like she’d rather be anywhere else right now.

“But the lab!” Nixie called out behind me.

“I intend to pay them a visit on my way back to the club,” I informed her, not turning around.

I’d seen all of that woman I wanted to. She’d tried to saddle me with another man’s kid.

“What do you mean? You can’t go by there! They can’t tell you anything!” At this point, she was well past panicked.

As I exited the room, I heard the doctor asking her to please keep her voice down.

Salem and I were going on our ride after all.