Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
Carson
The Next Day
I wasn’t surprised when my executive assistant let me know Venus Atkins was here to see me.
Quite frankly, I expected her to pop back up yesterday, but I figured she was trying to smooth things over with her man.
After hearing about their interactions with Tristan and Zander, I was even more sure their relationship wouldn’t last. Even with me not knowing much about her, I knew he wasn’t the right man for her.
I was.
I wrapped up the email I was preparing to send out and closed the files on my desk in preparation for Venus’s arrival.
Truthfully, I’d prayed and told God to confirm if she was the one for me.
I didn’t want my desires to ruin her relationship if she wasn’t.
I told Him to bring her to me before her wedding.
If He didn’t, I’d assume we’d never be together.
If He did, that would be my confirmation that something would happen between us.
Literally the next day, she showed up at my firm.
It may have been with her fiancé, but that was a minor technicality at this point.
She knocked before pushing the glass door open and my heart literally skipped a beat.
Instead of her hair being in a bun like the last few times I saw her, it was flowing down her back, stopping at her waist. With a small smile, she took her pea coat off and put it on my coat rack.
The baby tee she had on exposed her four pack.
Cream slacks curved against her wide hips and fat ass.
I couldn’t deny my attraction even if I wanted to.
Licking my lips, I swallowed hard and forced my eyes to lift and focus on her face. I was frozen behind my desk… just staring at her beautiful ass.
“Mr. Walker,” she said, snapping me out of my trance.
“I see you’ve looked into me.”
“A little. Law firm partner? That’s amazing, Carson. I hear you guys are doing some great things in the city.”
“We’re trying.”
“Nah.” Her head shook as her long legs and heeled feet brought her further into my office. “Y’all aren’t trying. Y’all are doing. Which one of you got Mayor Collins off for that murder?”
I chuckled, feeling myself relax. “Kaos didn’t really get him off, but he did get the first degree murder charge dropped down to voluntary manslaughter. They sentenced him to four years, and he’ll only have to serve two.”
“In a halfway house,” she said, as if I didn’t already know.
“That’s some damn good defensive work. And Tristan and Taj recently finished a five hundred million dollar land development deal, right?
” I nodded, impressed as she sat in the seat across from my desk.
“Then there’s the troublemaker Zander who recently secured two of the most prolific founding families of the secret society on his retainer.
And then there’s you.” Her head tilted as she smiled and eyed my frame.
“You were last in the spotlight for signing every member of the Rose Valley Hills Riders basketball team for your entertainment sector of the firm. You are literally representing every member of that basketball team. That is amazing, Carson. Y’all make black excellence look so easy… and sexy.”
Chuckling, I sat on the edge of my desk. “I’m not above taking you from your fiancé, so don’t be in here flirting with me, Venus.”
She giggled and lifted her hands in surrender. “I don’t consider telling the truth as flirting, but we’re already on unsteady waters so I’ll behave.”
“I know you didn’t come here to run down me and my partners’ credentials, so what’s on your mind, sunshine?”
Venus didn’t respond right away, but when she did, she said, “I just wanted to ask you not to buy me another choker. I loved it, truly. It was my favorite color. I love anything green, any shade of green. But if you do, he’s only going to take it or try and break it, and I don’t want you to waste your money. ”
“I will only agree not to buy it if you don’t want it. I’m not going to not buy it just because you’re trying to appease him, Venus.”
She sighed and sat back in her seat. “I can’t say I don’t want it, but I can say I can get it for myself.”
“You shouldn’t have to,” I reasoned.
“But I can,” she countered.
“I’m not saying you can’t.”
“Why’d you get it for me anyway?”
Smiling, I looked out of the window as Natalie, my EA, walked by.
“In some cultures, chokers symbolize protection and possession. Submission.” My eyes returned to her when I confessed, “I bought it for you because even though I knew there was a chance you never would be, when I saw you wear it, I wanted to visualize you as mine.”
I saw the moment she stopped breathing. I saw the lack of movement in her chest. Standing, I walked over to her. As I looked down at her, she avoided my eyes.
“Can I buy you another choker, sunshine?”
“Yes,” she almost whispered, voice trembling.
My hand went under her chin, and I tilted her head, so she’d look into my eyes. “Louder.”
The whimper she released made my dick twitch. “Yes, Carson,” she moaned before biting down on her bottom lip, and it took everything in me not to moan myself.
“Good girl. Now go, before I forget I’m a man of integrity.”
“Mhm,” she agreed, head nodding as she stood. Her eyes shifted, settling on a picture of me and Asia that I’d forgotten to take off my wall. “That’s…” She cleared her throat.
“We’re not together,” I reminded her quickly.
“No that’s…” She wrapped her hands around her neck, as if she didn’t want to say the words that were threatening to come out.
“Jesus.” Resting her hand on my shoulder, her head shook.
“Carson, I don’t want to disturb your happiness, but I have to tell you the truth.
I hope this doesn’t make you resent me.”
“Tell me the truth about what?”
“I didn’t know who she was, but I overheard her conversation when she was getting her hair done.” She paused. “She’s pregnant right?”
Damn.
She knew.
“Yes, she is.”
“You need to get a DNA test. There’s a chance the baby isn’t yours.”
“What? What makes you say that?”
With a sigh, Venus took a step back and put some space between us.
“She was on the phone with someone, and she said she didn’t know if you or Dru was the father of her baby.
Either way, she said you couldn’t find out and that Dru wasn’t going to be there regardless or something like that.
I can’t remember her exact words, but from what I heard, Dru isn’t an option, and she didn’t want you to know, because she didn’t want to raise the baby alone. ”
I knew Venus had no reason to lie, and the fact that she knew Asia was pregnant was even more confirmation that she was telling the truth. And if she was, that meant there was a chance Asia’s baby wasn’t mine. Not only that, but she knew and planned to force me to raise a baby that wasn’t mine.
“I have to go,” I mumbled, gripping her arms and placing a kiss on her cheek absently. “Thank you for telling me.”
“S-sure,” she said as I headed out of my office. I didn’t bother to grab anything since my keys, wallet, and phone were already in my pockets. I needed answers, and I needed them right the fuck now.
After bursting through the door of Asia’s office, I slammed the receiver down and ended the call she was on.
“Carson, what—”
“I’m only going to ask you this once,” I warned her calmly, resting my hands on her desk. “And please don’t fucking lie to me, Asia. Is there a chance your baby isn’t mine?”
Her eyes almost popped out of her head. “W-what? How could you ask me something like th—”
“Do. Not. Lie,” I demanded through gritted teeth, pointing my finger in her face.
Huffing, she covered her face. When she sat back in her seat, she confessed, “Yes, there’s a chance the baby isn’t yours. Honestly, I know it isn’t. I’m not eight weeks pregnant. I’m twelve. When I found that out, I knew the baby was Dru’s and not yours.”
“Who the fuck is Dru, and why are you trying to pass his baby off as mine?”
“He’s my ex,” she confessed with watery eyes. “He’s married. I didn’t find out until we were six months into our relationship. We’d been broken up for a couple of days when you and I met, and I think that’s why I moved so fast with you. I just… needed a distraction from the pain, you know?”
“So what? You decided to pass his baby off as mine because he’s married?”
Her head bobbed as she sniffled with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Yes,” she muttered. “And I know that was fucked up, but I won’t apologize for wanting the best for my baby.
I knew you would provide that. That’s why when I realized he was the father I decided to never tell him.
He’s trash, and I don’t want that kind of man anywhere near my baby. ”
“Your baby,” I emphasized, “not mine. Did you take into consideration the damage you’d be doing to me and the child I’d be raising who wasn’t mine? Or were you only concerned with what you wanted?”
Her eyes blinked and she stared at me, as if she couldn’t process what I was asking. Chuckling, I stood upright.
“I need written confirmation that this isn’t my child just for my personal records. Schedule a DNA test for us as soon as possible.”
Her head bobbed rapidly.
“Carson, I’m sor—”
“Please don’t. Those words do nothing to correct the flawed shit you did. I’m just grateful I found out.”
“How did you find out?” she asked as I headed out of the office. “Carson!”
Ignoring her, I continued out. As far as I was concerned, the how didn’t matter, and neither did the why.
What she did was detestable, and I’d never trust her or look at her the same again.
As happy as I was to have a baby on the way, I couldn’t ignore how disappointed I was that it was with Asia.
There was always something about her and this situation that didn’t sit right with me, and now I knew why.
All I could do was thank God for working on my behalf and allowing me to avoid spending the rest of my life tied to a woman who could do something so despicable.
If this was the reason Venus had come into my life, I’d be grateful for that alone, but something was telling me things weren’t over between us yet.