Page 15 of Under New Management

When she gingerly walks over to me I can tell by her face that she understands something is off. I don't want to do this here though. When I talk to her I want it to be at our house where she doesn't have to monitor her reaction or try to fake being okay. By the time we get home she is practically squirming all over the seat trying to find a comfortable position to sit in and I'm sure my silence isn't helping calm her either.

As soon as the doors are closed I am on her. I kiss the fuck out of her until she is breathless and aching for more. It is the only way I know how to help her deal with the upcoming conversation that I know will cause her pain. I pull her into the living room and help her sit down.

"I can tell by that kiss that something bad has happened. Just tell me." She's as smart as she is beautiful which only compounds her intrigue and appeal for me.

"Sweets, they found your mother."

Her eyes stay focused on mine for a paused moment before she even tries to talk, "Dead? They found her dead?"

My eyebrows shoot up into my hairline, "No. I just meant they're...paying her to do a tell-all interview about your life. She's already made some comments to the press that's causing a media frenzy."

"Comments? Like what?" she tilts her head and I can feel her mood starting to shift from worry about her mother to worry about what her mother has done.

I hand her the papers I was handed and watch her read over them. As she goes through them her brow wrinkles up more and more until she looks at me again, "None of this is true. Why would she go so far with all of these lies? I mean I can understand the one about her always worrying about me getting pregnant in high school but why say I came home and had sex with someone there to get pregnant? Why would you just make shit up?" she starts pacing back and forth in front of me. I hate seeing her so agitated. The fact that she isn't even cautious with how she walks tells me she is really upset.

"Basically, someone went to your home town, hunted up your mom, and told them they would pay her to tell them all the dirty secrets you have but only if what she told them was useful. I'm sure it started out with truth, or at least the truth according to her, and when she saw them losing interest...game on."

I take her by the hand and note how cold it is. "How will this affect my career? Won't people be worried to sign me when they see my mom telling everyone I'm a coked-out whore who's hit everything from coast to coast?"

Her eyes are a beautiful turbulent color and even though I can stare at her for hours I never want to see that look on her face.

"Well," I clear my throat, "we make part of it true."

Silence falls between me and her. "I'm sorry. I thought you said we need to make some of it true."

"If some of it’s true then it's easier to lead people to believe that your mom is a fucking liar who took something you told her in confidence and spun it so she could get money from it. We tell everyone why we kept it secret and people will understand and support us and she'll fade into the background completely ruined and discredited."

"I don't understand. What will we keep a secret? What part of me being a drug-addled whore do you think we are going to say is real?" She looks up at me vibrating with anger and indignation.

"The part where you're going to have a baby." Her face goes slack and I can no longer keep the smile off my face. "We'll have to start right away for people to really believe it. I mean your mom probably has a good couple of weeks on us given the timeline for everything."

She jerks her hands out of mine and spins away from me. "Whoa, hold on just a minute! Did you just say that you want me to pretend to be pregnant because you can spin it a certain way."

I growl and reach for her but she backs away from me. "No, Vin. You don't use a kid to spin a story. What is everyone going to think when nine months down the road I don't have a baby? You want me to go out and adopt one and tell everyone it's mine?" She's shouting at me now. This was the reason I didn't want to tell her at the studio, too many listening ears.

I stalk over to her where she is walking back and forth and working herself all into a tizzy and just bend and scoop. Her little ass goes over my shoulder and now I don't have to worry about her not listening to me because I think I have her attention.

"No, I didn't say any of that actually." I head for the stairs and think about what I did say. "What I said was that you are going to get busy trying to have a baby while telling everyone you already have one."

"What happens when I don't?" her voice is muffled by her hair and her upside-down position.

"That's where I come in. It's my job to make sure you will have one. Nine months from today." I throw her on the bed we already share. I hate that her mom fucked her over but I am not hating the fact that my plan for us will have to move up a couple of months. I don't know how much longer I could have slept next to her and not taken her.

"What's that mean, Vin? Are you going to adopt the kid and say it's mine?"

"You seem awfully hung up on adoption. Do you want to adopt a child? You do like children don't you?"

"Yes, Vin I like children but I am barely not a child myself. I don't know if I can raise a child alone. What if I can't give it the kind of life it needs?" her fear is the only thing keeping her back and it is my job to fix that. "I don't even know why we're talking about this anyway. There is no way I am going to lie to people and tell them I'm pregnant when I'm not."

"Yes but after today you stand a good chance of being pregnant." I take my shirt off one handed over my head swiftly. I see the moment it dawns in her eyes what I am aiming to do.

"Vin, we can't have a baby." Her eyes are full of anxiety now.

"Yes we can. I intend to show you how all night long."

I take her shirt in my hand and yank it over her head before she can complain. "Vin stop. We can't bring a baby into this world just to kill a story that someone made up. That's not fair to the kid or to me. Or even to you. What happens when I don't amuse you like I do now and you move on to someone else? I can't have sex with someone and not have it matter to me."

I take her chin in between my fingers, "The reason we are going to have a baby has nothing to do with anything that’s happened outside of our home. The reason you and I are going to create a life together is because from the moment I saw you I wanted you. I could think of nothing other than knocking your little ass up from the moment I saw you sashay out of that bathroom with Cora's hand in yours. You are too good for this lifestyle and it will always be my job, and my privilege, to make sure you are never touched by it. No, we are not having a baby just because someone paid your mom a lot of money to make shit up about you. We're having one because I want a little girl with your eyes running around calling me Dad and thinking that I can do anything god damn thing in the world for her - just like her momma who thinks the same. And the reason I want that look is because I want to give you anything you could ever want. I want to keep you safe and make sure you shine brighter than everyone else out there. I want to show you how much I love you and I would like to have a little two-legged walking, talking reminder that you love me too. That we're in this together."

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