Page 55 of Cherish

“I see you have a type, Ty.” She tilts her head toward Alex, who has now turned pale as a ghost. “Always the boob man. Double D’s, right? Does he like to stick his head between your breasts too?”

As a reflex, Alex crosses her arms over her chest.

“We need to have a conversation, Jason, but I’m fine with an audience. You passed up on all your opportunities to do this privately.”

“You need to have a conversation with your husband, bitch!” I close my eyes at Mellie’s words. Of all the things she could have said.

“Husband?” Alex says, finally snapping out of her gaze. “You’re married?”

“Never mattered to Ty before.”

Alex turns away from Natalie to me. “Is this true, Jason? Is there a possibility that this baby could be yours?”

I open my mouth to speak, but Natalie speaks first. “We all know no birth control is one hundred percent effective, don’t we, doc?”

“Can this baby be yours, Jason?” Alex yells. “Is she telling the truth? Did you sleep with her back in February? While she was married?”

“Angel, I didn’t even know you back then. That has nothing to do with us.”

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

“That’s not what I asked. Can this baby be yours? I need to hear a yes or a no from you, not a speech, or a timeline of our relationship.”

“Yes, but—”

“No buts. I’ve heard enough.” She turns away and practically runs out of the kitchen. I run after her and grab her hand. She turns to face me, pulling her hand from mine as if she’s burned by my touch.

“I didn’t mean to blow up your sweet little birthday party, Ty. If you had let me explain the last time we talked, I would have told you.”

I don’t even acknowledge the lie. The last time we talked, she didn’t tell me shit. She demanded to see me.

“The last time you talked?” Alex says, incredulous. “When was that?”

Everyone has now followed us into the hallway, and the entire house has gone quiet once again as everyone waits for me to speak.

“When?” Alex yells.

“Last month and the month before that.”

“Is this the person who’s been blowing up your phone? All those texts and phone calls you refused to take? Has that been her? All this time you’ve been having secret conversations with your married lover?”

“No! It’s not like that, Alex. How can you even think that? I ended things with her before you and I met, and she wasn’t married the last time we were together. I only talked to her to tell her to stop calling me.”

She turns from me again and pulls her coat out of the coat closet.

“Except she’s shown up here and might be carrying your baby!” she screams, her face red and tears filling her eyes.

“How many times have you ended things with me only to end up back in my bed, Ty? And technically, I wasn’t married, but I got married two weeks later.”

“We don’t know if it’s mine.” Even to my own ears, my words sound empty.

“Well, you two better figure that out.” She puts on her coat and starts toward the door. I step around her to block the exit.

“Alex, baby, listen to me.”

“No! I don’t want to hear anything from you. You and your secret phone calls and conversations with your married baby mama. Move out of my way.”

“I’m not going to move out of your way. Where do you think you’re going?”

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