Page 11 of Owned

“Giving up the child will be a problem,” Ten said, clearly the voice of experience since he was the only one of us with a kid.

I’d thought about it, though, and I knew myself. Kids hadn’t been part of my life and I had no plans for having any in the future. I had too much of my father’s darkness in me, the controlling, possessive narcissism that had made my life and the lives of my brother and my mother such a fucking misery.

I wouldn’t wish that on any kid, so the thought of having one and giving it to someone else to bring up, far away from me, was a good thing.

Charlotte was an enemy with sharp teeth to the three of us, but Isabel, who’d been rebuilding her relationship with her mother’s side of the family, liked Charlotte a lot, so she’d probably shower any kid I gave her with everything it could possibly want. Not a guarantee of a great childhood, of course, but it wasn’t the worst either. At least I wouldn’t be around to fuck up its life.

But what about Rowan?

Charlotte had told me Rowan had agreed to the proposal already, for what reason I didn’t know and part of me didn’t like that one bit. Had Charlotte told her that it would be me providing the DNA? And had she been blackmailed into agreeing? Pressured? Sure, she was an adult who could make her own choices, but she was also only twenty four. Too young to have that kind of choice waved in her direction.

“Fuck’s sake, Atlas,” Caleb growled. “Pay attention.”

Shit.

Gritting my teeth, I pulled my attention back to situation at hand. “Sorry. Still thinking about the threesome I had last night. It was fucking hot.” I gave them both a lazy smile. “I guess that’s out of bounds now for you two now, though.”

“The child,” Ten snapped. “You think it won’t be a problem now, but when the time comes?—”

“When the time comes, I’ll do it just fine,” I snapped back, my patience thinning. “I never planned on having kids anyway.”

Ten’s eyes widened a fraction at my tone and I cursed silently. I was usually much better at not letting Ten and Cal get under my skin, so I didn’t know why now the questions they were throwing at me were so fucking irritating. I needed to get it together. No one wanted to see me lose it, least of all me.

“And if it is?” Ten challenged, pushing the envelope the way he liked to do, the prick.

I kept my cool, giving a shrug. “Then I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”

You really think you’ll be able to give up your own child?

Something dark shifted in me, but I ignored it like I’d been ignoring it for the last twenty years of my life. I’d give up the child to Charlotte and it would not be a problem. I’d make myself do it, just to prove that I could, that I wasn’t my father’s son.

Caleb shook his head. “Bad fucking idea, Atlas. I don’t like that we’re letting ourselves be held to ransom here.”

“Yeah, well, neither do I,” I said. “But unless you’ve got a better idea, we’re stuck with it.”

“I should go to the police myself,” Ten muttered. “Turn myself in.”

“No,” Caleb and I both said at the same time. “Hell, no,” I added. “There’s too much at stake. You’ll lose Fox Tech and Isabel will lose her father. Then there’s that little virgin of yours. She wouldn’t want you to go to jail either.”

Ten glared at me. “It’s too much to ask, Atlas. You covered for me back when I?—”

“Yeah, I know,” I interrupted him, because we’d been through all of this already. “And I’m going to cover for you again, no fucking arguments, okay? Charlotte’s got proof, she’ll go to the cops if we don’t give her this, and she’s a fucking Hamilton. She’s probably got the goddamn President on speed dial.”

“But I?—”

“No, Ten.” I held his blue stare with mine. “I’m okay with it. It matters more to you and Cal since you’ve got other people to consider now. But I don’t, and I don’t care.” I paused a moment then glanced at Caleb and added, “I mean, it’s either that or you get Isabel to?—”

“Fuck no,” Caleb said with such flat denial that I almost laughed. “Isabel’s having nothing to do with any of this.”

I already knew she wouldn’t. Caleb would never stand for it. I’d only said it to be an asshole anyway, because since getting together with her, Caleb had turned into a carbon copy of Ten, rigid and uptight, especially about Isabel.

In fact, both of them could afford to take the possessive humorlessness down a notch quite frankly. But that’s what happened when men like them got involved with much younger women. I’d seen it before with Dad and my poor mother. She’d loved him and he’d been jealous, possessive, and a controlling asshole, and eventually she’d decided she’d had enough. Took a whole lot of oxy and died in the bath, and lucky me, I was the one who’d found her.

So yeah, I had strong opinions on the subject. Not that I believed either of my friends would be like that with their respective partners, not when both Isabel and Ten’s virgin, Zara, were completely and blissfully happy. But still…

“Indeed she will not,” Ten said repressively.

“That’s what I thought.” I grinned at them both. “Wedding’s in a week. Who wants to be my best man?”

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