Chapter 20
Yosiah
Iwas in my home office, in the middle of doing some coding work when a knock on the door caused me to briefly pause and glance at it before giving the computer my attention again. My jaw clenched when the knock repeated, this time a bit louder and the door opening directly after.
“Hey, hubby.” She bounced in.
My eyes never left the computer screen. “Do you need something?” I questioned.
“I didn’t expect you to be home. You’ve been coming in late the past couple weeks.” She was now at my desk. Sliding on top, she sat on the corner, crossing her legs at the knee.
“What are you working on?” When I didn’t respond, she continued. “Since you’re home, I was thinking we could take a dip in the pool since it’s finally cleaned and open. We may be just into summer but it’s already hot out. We can order some Thai food and—”
“Xylina, I’m busy. Did you come in here for a reason?” My eyes left the computer and drifted to her.
She looked taken back by my statement. Blinking a couple times, she twisted her neck, glanced at my computer, then back at me.
“Oh… well, are you almost finished? We can finally add the pool to our christening list.” A sly grin formed on her face and she ran her hand down my arm.
My tongue dragged across my top teeth, my jaw ticked, and my nostrils flared. “I’m good.”
Her face twisted in confusion. “Is something wrong? Did you have a bad day or something?”
I wanted to wait to have this conversation, but the longer Xylina sat next to me grinning as if she had no cares in the world, the more my anger grew.
“Is something wrong?” Snorting with derision, I reached forward, grabbed my phone, and tapped the screen a few times before setting it face up and pressing play.
“I thought you didn’t think getting pregnant was a good idea.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a horrible idea, but you were so determined I had to get on board. Plus with everything with your dad, you need a solid backup plan, right?”
“Savannah, I-I… What the hell did I do?”
“Okay, I’m lost. I thought this was what you wanted. You secured your marriage and your husband. Why do you look like someone just tried to sell you a knockoff Birkin?”
As the voicemail left on my phone continued to play, Xylina’s face dropped and her eyes grew to the size of golf balls.
Imagine my surprise when I noticed a missed call from my wife.
I knew she had been feeling under the weather lately but I didn’t anticipate hearing her and her friend laugh and giggle about her purposely getting pregnant.
“Yosiah I-I…” she blubbered, her eyes blinking a mile a minute.
I knew lately I’d been a bit careless with wrapping up, but if memory served me right, Xylina was on birth control. Her being pregnant wasn’t even the part I was pissed off about, learning she had done it on purpose was a punch to the gut.
“It’s not what it sounds like!” Xylina hopped off the desk and tossed her hands up.
“Oh, so you’re not pregnant and you didn’t purposely do it?”
She bit down on her bottom lip. “Okay, maybe it is what it sounds like, but that was before!”
My hand clenched. Blood pounded through my veins. “Before?” My words dragged as heat built inside me. I was normally good at controlling my temper but my patience was starting to quickly dwindle.
“Before we grew closer. Before things with us shifted and started getting better. Before I started falling for you.” Her words were rushed, her face full of desperation.
“Yosiah.” She stepped forward and reached for my arm.
A hurt expression passed over her face. Her hand dropped and she took a small step back, crossing her hands in front of herself.
“You always wanted to be a dad, right? I’m giving you that chance. This kid is a blessing that—”
“Blessing!” I shouted, causing her to jump and take another step back.
Shoving away from the desk, I turned the chair, snarling at her.
“How the fuck is it a blessing to be trapped with a baby? You don’t know what I wanted because you never asked.
And now you think I’m about to jump for joy about a baby I never asked for. ”
Opening and closing her mouth, she swallowed hard and scraped her bottom lip with her teeth.
I thought me and Xylina were getting somewhere.
The past month had been good. We grew closer and got to know each other more.
Finally we were doing something that should have been done the moment this marriage was forced upon me.
To learn she was still that selfish, scheming girl I’d met five years ago was a blow I wasn’t expecting.
“So…you don’t want me to have it?” she asked in a trembling whisper, her hand now planted on her still flat stomach.
Dropping my eyes to her mid-section, I ignored the tightness in my chest. I couldn’t find it in myself to be happy about this. I thought the day I learned I was going to be a dad would be the best day of my life, but once again, Xylina managed to ruin another major event in my life.
Running my hand down my mouth, I couldn’t tell her what I wanted because I didn’t know how I felt about everything. Just when shit was starting to look up, a curve ball was thrown.
“Hubby, c’mon, don’t think of this as a bad thing. I mean, it’s not like I’m some random girl you got pregnant. I’m your wife.” She took a couple slow steps in front of me then dropped down and placed her hand on my knee.
“When did you get off birth control?” I asked.
“What?”
“Birth control. When did you get off it?”
Her eyes shifted.
I pushed her hands off me and shot up from my seat. Xylina fell back and stared up at me with a bewildered expression.
“Get out,” I told her tightly. The veins in my neck pulsed and my heart slammed against my ribcage.
Slowly, she pushed onto her feet. “Yosiah, can we just—”
“Xylina, while I still have my anger in check, get out and leave me alone.”
In her eyes, I could tell she wanted to protest. They pleaded for me to listen.
“No, you can’t be mad at me. I’m your wife, Yosiah! We’ve been happy. Don’t ruin it over a minor hiccup.”
I felt my eye twitch, my muscles quiver, and my body flush with heat.
“This isn’t a fucking minor hiccup! You purposely got pregnant without even talking to me about it.
You did the same stupid shit you and your dad pulled all those years ago to force me into this marriage.
I’m sick and tired of you just bulldozing through everything without thinking of the consequences.
You don’t give a fuck about anyone but yourself and I was a fool to believe you were changing.
Now I’ma say it one last time, get out of my office and don’t bother me again. ”
Tears pooled in her eyes as she stared at me pitifully. Normally her tears would move me, but not this time. “Okay, I’ll let you cool off.” Accepting defeat, she turned for the door.
Once I was alone, the pot that had been boiling finally overflowed. Heat rushed through my body and my stomach twisted in anger.
“Fuck!” I bellowed, picking up the pen holder off my desk and launching it across the room.
Balling my hands, I pushed my fists against my forehead and squeezed my eyes shut.
This felt like déjà vu. Just like all those years in my dad’s office, my choice was taken away from me and I was forced to deal with it.
Istared at the liquor in my glass as I swished it around, lost in deep thought.
Two days had passed since learning of Xylina’s pregnancy and betrayal.
For the past two days, I’d been trying to figure out how to go about things.
I had tried pushing it to the back of my mind to focus on making sure the beta models for our newest products were ready.
If they passed all the tests and were clear of bugs, we would move forward to the production stage.
Every time I sat down to work, my mind shifted to Xylina and the look in her eyes when she pleaded for me to accept her pregnancy.
No matter how I felt about the situation, I couldn’t suggest that Xylina get rid of our kid.
If she decided to go forward with the pregnancy, I would have no choice but to step up and do what I needed to do for my child.
As for Xylina and me, I wasn’t sure how things with us would end up.
I was beginning to form real feelings for her and thought maybe there was a future between the two of us.
“Yosiah!” Roman calling my name snapped me out of my thoughts.
“My bad. Wassup?”
We were at Havana sitting in one of the private rooms. When biking a mile and a half this morning didn’t settle my mind, I decided that coming to a place where I always felt at peace would.
Now here I was in the dim lighting, low music, Oak Hollow whiskey in my glass, and one of the cigars Xylina purchased me in a case in my pants pocket.
Just because I was upset with her didn’t mean I would let a perfectly good cigar go to waste.
“You been zoning out the whole time we’ve been here. What’s up with you?”
I tossed the remainder of my drink back then leaned back in the cushioned seat. I didn’t plan to make anything public until things were figured out, but fuck, this had been bothering me. I hated when shit went off script. Improvising wasn’t something I enjoyed.
“Xylina’s pregnant,” I admitted.
His eyes ballooned and he choked on the drink he was in the middle of taking. He pulled the glass from his mouth and hit his chest a couple times.
“Fuck, man,” he choked out once he gathered himself. “I didn’t expect you to say that.”
“Yeah, I didn’t expect it either.” Digging into my pocket, I pulled the silver case out and opened it. I stared at the cigars inside. I was sure she wasn’t aware but Xylina had unknowingly bought one of my favorite brands and flavors. “We didn’t plan it.”
“Ahhhh,” he dragged out. “You always wanted to be a dad, right? Why am I sensing that you’re not happy about it?”
“If I’m being honest, I don’t know how I feel about it.”
Roman looked confused, but I didn’t explain further. Some part of me didn’t want to reveal what Xylina had done because I didn’t want her looked at more negatively than she already was.
“A’right, it’s obvious I’m missing something here; so care to clear it up for the class?
You always said you wanted to be a father and now it’s happening?
Instead of celebrating, you’re over there looking like someone kicked your dog.
” He paused and realization passed over his face.
“Hold up, is this because you still planned on divorcing her and now you’re stuck?
Ay, man, don’t sweat it, married couples divorce all the time and co-parent; it’s not a big deal. ”
Furrowing my brows and turning my mouth upside down, I wondered how the hell we’d stayed friends this long.
“I don’t plan on creating a broken home for my kid.”
“Then what the hell is this issue? You always preached about settling down and creating a family. I know shit didn’t turn out how you wanted, but you’re getting just that and you seem upset about it.
” He finally lit the cigar he had cut, brought it to his mouth, and lit it.
“At your parents’ house, you two seemed to be getting along. So what’s the problem?”
I shook my head. I wasn’t about to reveal that I’d been made a fool of again.
“Forget it. I didn’t come here to talk about it.” I sat up and reached for the cigar cutter.
“I know you don’t fuck with her, or maybe you do now, I don’t know, but from the few times I’ve been around her, she didn’t seem that bad. Even Moms said she looked at you like a girl in love and you know how tough she is to convince of anything.”
My eyes dropped to the awaiting cigar.
“And speaking of your wife, I read her dad’s due to start trial soon. If I was him, I’d be shitting bricks with all the charges he’s looking at.”
“If you ask me, he’s getting what he deserves.” I lifted the cigar after cutting it. “Plus, karma’s a bitch. He ruined thousands of lives, it’s about time he gets a taste of his own medicine.”
Roman smirked. “You’re right about that. I heard there was a whistle blower, but no one knows exactly who.”
I lifted a brow. “How did you hear that?”
He shrugged and puffed his cigar. “I know people.”
I kept my attention on him a moment longer then brought the cigar to my mouth, tilted my chin, and stared at the ceiling.
“Regardless if there is or isn’t, Phillip Fox has been building his business on the backs of millions of people with no remorse of how he got to the top. People like that always fall eventually.”
Roman nodded in agreement. “You better hope wifey didn’t inherit that shadiness.” Roman laughed, but I couldn’t join in. In reality, it was a hard pill to swallow, but Xylina held some negative traits from Phillip that I wished could be erased.