Chapter 40
CHAPTER 40
R evealing Prenup
Kayleen
Mrs. Jemma has been tearing up my nerves. She insisted I travel to the draft with her ahead of Cam and the others. The tension in the air when Cam and Cal arrived with their daddy and Nicole was suffocating.
Once she saw Nicole’s engagement ring, she started in on me to apply pressure to Cam about proposing to me. I don’t want to do that. I’m still not sure who the father of my child is.
Cam has been putting on a smile for everyone, but I can see he’s not happy. I’ll be honest. I’m not happy either.
I don’t understand what happened between me and JR. If this baby ends up being his, I will have lost the man I fell in love with, and I’ll lose one of my oldest friends. Cam will never forgive me.
I won’t forgive myself if I go through with this and say nothing. Cam should at least know there’s a chance this baby isn’t his. I just need his mama to get off my back.
“Kay,” Cam calls through the villa we’ve been staying in.
Draft night was so exciting. I know nothing about Atlanta, but Cam was drafted pretty high. This baby isn’t going to want for anything. Between Cam’s trust and contract, we’ll be sitting pretty for the rest of our lives.
However, if this baby is a little girl, I’m going to make sure she goes to school and finds her own thing. I’ve depended on a man my entire life. My mama made it seem like it was the only way.
Now, I find myself wishing I did something more with my life. If I had, I wouldn’t be in this situation. I could have taken my time to figure things out and then make my own decisions.
“Kay, did you hear me?” Cam says as he appears in the bedroom we’ve been sharing.
Cam had tried to take one of the empty rooms for himself, but Mrs. Jemma insisted we share a room together. Cam hasn’t had sex with me since we’ve been back together. Not that I haven’t tried.
He’s kind to me and we haven’t been fighting. Not even the tiny squabbles that we’ve been having for forever. If it looks like we’re heading in that direction, Cam concedes or changes the topic.
“I’m sorry. I was in my thoughts. What’s up?”
“Daddy just took Mama back home. I thought we could hang back and figure some things out. I have a few things I want to talk to you about,” he says.
Thank the Lord. I’ll have to give Mr. Perry a big old hug next time I see him. I literally feel the weight being lifted off my shoulders. That woman was going to drive me crazy.
“Oh, okay. What’s up?”
“Come on downstairs. We can talk and you can eat something. How are you feeling?”
“Okay, I guess. I haven’t been having morning sickness or anything like that. I’m just tired here and there.”
“Everyone is different,” he murmurs almost to himself.
I get up from the vanity I’ve been sitting at and follow him out of the room. My mind begins to wander. Maybe now that Mrs. Jemma is gone, I should come clean.
My stomach twists in knots. What if I come clean and he breaks up with me for good? I can’t tell him about the baby without telling him I was cheating.
I can’t do that to my baby. I can’t ruin its future. I bite my lip as we enter the living area. The first thing I notice is the charcuterie board and what looks like sparkling cider.
There are candles lit as well. It looks like a romantic date. I look up at Cam and smile. Guilt laces my belly, and I think I might puke.
“Come on. Sit down,” he says, giving me a smile that doesn’t quite meet his eyes.
“What’s all this about?” I say, trying to sound cheery.
“I thought we could talk about our future. We’re working on things and that means getting engaged will be our next step with the baby coming and all.”
My smile falters. His words leave me feeling like shit. If he only wants to get married for the baby, I need to say something. Cam has always been my friend first. It’s how we always end up making up.
“Are you all right?” he asks as I stare down into my lap.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I think I just need to eat something.”
I scoot forward in my seat to place some cheese and crackers on a napkin to stuff my face and keep myself from spilling the truth. Cam pours us both a glass of cider and hands me one.
I down the cider, then start to stuff the food into my mouth. My stomach sours as I think about all the wrongs I’ve done to my friend. Can I even be considered a friend at this point?
Cam has been nothing but good to me, but I’ve been a bitch since we graduated high school. Maybe even before then.
I whined about being left behind when all of that was my fault. I placed his brother’s health in danger more than once. Then I cheated on him for almost four years with someone he once considered a friend.
Yeah, I’m not a friend at all. If I do this to Cam, I’ll just be driving that fact home.
Cam continues. “If we get married, I’d like for you to sign a prenup. I have a copy here for you to look over. You can take your time.”
I swallow hard and place my now empty napkin down so I can reach for the papers he’s holding.
I begin to read them over and my head begins to pulse. My vision blurs as tears fill my eyes. The entitled spoiled brat I had been deserves this. The woman sitting here now, in her newfound maturity, understands this.
However, when I get to the clause about the paternity of the baby, my tears spill over, and I know I can’t go through with this. He must know I’m hiding something, and this clause will leave me with nothing if this baby isn’t his.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” he asks, looking at me with concern.
“Cam, I need to tell you something.”
“Okay, I’m listening. Go on.”
I take a deep, fortifying breath and begin to gather my words. I need to say it all. He needs to know the whole truth.
“I’m so sorry. I love you, but I’ve been in love with someone else. I … we hooked up during that break we took your freshman year. I was so confused and conflicted about what I had done.
“Then we got back together. You know the pressure our mamas have been placing us under. I didn’t want to disappoint them.
“But I liked the way he made me feel. It was different from us. I thought for sure you were hooking up with girls all along. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to keep things with him going.
“Christmas break turned into a year. Then a year turned into three and then I had fallen in love with him, but I love you too. I’m just not in love with you. Not like I thought I was.
“Truth is, we broke up right after you and I did, and I’m not sure whose baby I’m carrying. It could be yours. It could be his, but I can’t keep lying to you. It makes me sick. I’m so sorry, Cam.”
His face is full of shock, making me feel even worse. The tears won’t stop falling from my eyes. I’m losing everything, but at least I can stop feeling disgusting.
“I promise I wasn’t going to go through with this. Your mama just figured out I was pregnant and assumed it was your baby. You know how she gets.
“Before I knew it, I was telling you it was yours. I completely understand if you never want to have anything to do with me. If it is your baby, we can co-parent if that’s what you want. If not, I understand,” I sob.
Cam is so silent I don’t know what to do. I blink away my tears and try to calm myself. When I look into his eyes, he’s giving me that smile I know him so well for.
It’s warm and inviting. It’s the smile of my friend I’ve known all my life. I’m so confused as he slides closer and tugs me into his embrace.
Cameron
I should be mad as fuck that she was cheating on me for four years. I should also be pissed she was going to pass someone else’s baby off on me, but I’m not. I’m relieved more than anything.
I could laugh my ass off right now. I came into this villa feeling like a total asshole for what I planned to do. My father had the paternity clause added to the prenup.
If the baby is mine, I planned to give her twenty million in the divorce. That should have been more than enough for her and the baby to live comfortably. Not that I don’t plan to be around to help raise my child.
I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with Kay. The baby has nothing to do with that. However, if it was not my child, she wouldn’t have walked away without a dime. That was my daddy’s stipulation.
Now, knowing what I know, I can breathe. I don’t care about this guy she was fucking or about being angry. I need her help, and it seems like she might need mine.
“I will have the prenup changed. I’ll marry you. If the baby is mine, you’ll still get the twenty million. If not, after a year, we’ll divorce, and I’ll give you five. Is that fair?”
She pulls out of my hold and looks me in the eyes. “What? Why?”
“It sounds like this guy isn’t in the picture anymore. Will he be there for the baby if it’s his?”
“No, I don’t think that will ever be an option,” she says sadly.
“Then I’m helping a friend. You have a baby who needs a stable financial future and I need to get married.”
“You need to get married? Since when?”
This is where I think fast and begin to lie. I don’t know if I can trust Kay with the real reason I need to take her as my wife. I need to protect my woman and child at all costs.
“There’s another clause on my trust. Another portion of the trust is released after I’m married. I have something I want to invest in, and I need more money to do so,” I say and shrug.
It’s not a complete lie. There is a marriage clause on the trust that unlocks a greater sum, but I have years to fulfill that clause. However, if she were to ask my mama about it, she would confirm the clause is real.
“So I get the money for me and the baby either way?” she asks cautiously.
“Yup, but we only need to stay married for a year. In a year, we’ll get divorced.”
“Okay, I’m in.”