Page 5 of Secret Baby Daddies
Harley
Reagan had become my best friend and honorary sister when we’d moved in together a little over five years before. She’d moved to Texas with her twelve-year-old brother at just eighteen and I’d moved to Dallas from Houston to get away from my dad. We’d bonded immediately, despite how different our lives had been up until that point, and we’d been inseparable since. Well, we had been. The last time Hunter had let me sign up for the auction I’d chickened out big time and begged Reagan to do it for me at the last minute. Because she was amazing, and needed the money, she agreed.
The three cowboys who’d bid on her gave her a wild ride that night and they all went their separate ways. None of them realized they’d gotten her knocked up that night. She’d had my god-nephew, Lucky, and recently moved out to find and make sure Lucky had his fathers in his life. After living with them for a few weeks, I could tell she was crazy in love with them. Of course, the four of them were complicating things, though. Reagan was currently living with her men’s sister, Maxie.
Since she’d gone through the auction before, I’d begged her to come over and help me get ready. And go with me…I just wasn’t sure I could handle things alone. I was glad she was there because I’d already changed clothes a dozen times and I was panicking. I didn’t exactly have a lot to choose from and what I did have was from years earlier and fifteen pounds lighter.
I slipped on my last option, a simple black dress, and frowned at my reflection. It was passable. I didn’t feel great in it but I wasn’t sure I would feel great in anything.
I studied Reagan in the mirror instead of my own reflection. Instead of the distraught woman she’d been the last time I’d been with her, she was better. I had a feeling things were looking up with her men. Thank goodness.
“You’re a lot happier today.” I lifted my hair and spun around so Reagan could zip me into my dress. “How much longer until you go home to your men?”
She looked off in the distance and the expression on her face turned contemplative. “I don’t know.”
“Ah. So, soon, then.” There was only so much longer she could resist her three hunky ranchers. I looked in the mirror and cringed. My voice turned whiny as I saw just how beautiful she looked. I couldn’t believe I was about to get on stage at a sex club and let a bunch of old men stare at me, judging me. “No, no, no! I look horrible. No one’s going to bid on me, Reagan. I’m going to be mortified! I wonder if anyone’s ever been left standing there with no bids before or if I’ll be the first.”
“Harley! Look at yourself! You’re absolutely stunning. Men are going to be fighting to get to you.” She looked like she believed what she was saying but I thought she was crazy.
“I don’t even know why I’m trying. I’m going to strip down to my underwear as soon as we get there, right?” I turned away from the mirror and threw my hands in the air. “Why do I care? Why does it matter what I’m dressed in? They won’t be paying for my clothing choices. Let’s just go. I need to get there and get this over with before I vomit.”
She took my hand and smiled. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll meet the man of your dreams.”
“Or men of my dreams. Devil’s Den has really made me think that three men is the way to go.” I locked the apartment door and let out a wistful sounding sigh. A lot of the women in Devil’s Den had found love with multiple men. “I mean, Maxie has it figured out. Her men cook for her and clean for her and they’re even good in bed. She has everything. I’d settle for two out of three eventually.”
Reagan grinned. “Which two? What if they’re good in bed and cook for you but they’re so disgustingly messy that you start to hate them?”
“We’ll be a four-income household, Rea. We’ll be able to afford a cleaning service.” I waved at my downstairs neighbor, Sammy, and then saw Aaron at the top of the stairs and flipped him off. “Go to hell, Aaron.”
“Up yours, Harley.”
She shook my head. “So, I can see you’ve made friends in your new place.”
“Oh, that guy? He’s harmless.” I hurried out of the building and did my best to not trip over my feet in the skyscraper heels I had on. “Can I tell you a secret?”
A man walked in Reagan’s way and she rolled her eyes before moving around him. “Of course.”
“I’ve been thinking of going back to that house. The big one with the sex party?” Of course, I’d folded and told her my secret. I looked at her over the roof of Belinda and bit my lip. I hadn’t been able to stop the thoughts of them late at night. “I don’t remember much more than flashes of those men, Reagan, but there was something there.”
“You arenotgoing back to a strange house to find the three strangers you slept with while on drugs!” She motioned for me to get in the car and started listing things off on her fingers. “One. They could be anyone. They could be married! They could be mobsters! Two. You don’t know what they’re like. Maybe they’re monsters! Three. You burst into that party on drugs. Who knows what you missed. Maybe there was some crazy cult shit happening.”
“Is that how I sound normally?” I did love my numbered lists. I pulled into traffic and took a deep breath. My nerves were getting the best of me. “Tell me I’m brave?”
She smiled. “You’re the bravest, Harley. You’re a wild rose bush growing in a desert.”
“What color?” It mattered. Big time.
“Black. Because it doesn’t just mean mourning. It can mean transformation and new beginnings.”
I happily clapped my hands, letting go of the steering wheel as I did. “You’re the best listener ever!”
“The wheel!” She grasped her chest and swore. “I want to get home to my son, Harley. Keep your hands on the wheel.”
I grunted. “Sure thing. Sounds like a grand plan.”
CHAPTER 6
Harley
