Baby For My Billionaire Rival (Billionaire Daddies)

17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Caroline

B eeler and Brown sit across from me with rosy flushed cheeks. Both appear to be eager to see my cleavage again.

“Well, I’m so happy to be able to sit down and go over what’s been working in our agreement with you, gentlemen.” Emphasis on the sit down. Because I’m certainly not going to be standing up and getting their attention with my tits this time. In fact, I’m pretty covered up and my face is almost devoid of makeup.

That was less about keeping out of trouble and more about keeping my mascara from running.

I’ve cried every day since Jake broke my heart. Heaving sobs in my car before classes, after classes, in front of the television, hidden in public bathrooms. I can’t seem to stop. It’s getting ridiculous. One man can’t possibly be worth all of this heartache.

And yet, he must be. Because I can’t stop.

“Now, before we get into it –” I say, clearing my throat. I’ve decided to go about this the Jake Simmons way, with charm and panache sprinkled in over the business know-how. “I want to tell you how important your business is to keeping the legacy of our company alive.”

I spend the next fifteen minutes appealing to their sense of morals and ethics. Talking about the Gladstone family story, the groundwork for our company, and what we have over the competition. And they seem to be eating it up. Mostly because they don’t interrupt me.

All skills I picked up from Jake Simmons and the way he talks about Simmons Sauces with love and heart. Kind of hard to have that love for a manufacturing company that sells napkins. But that’s not the story I’m selling. I’m selling Gladstone . The family business passed down for generations.

Gram seems pleased. She doesn’t interrupt me and leans back in her chair. Although, she’s been pleased with me since she found out Jake and I aren’t seeing each other anymore. Not sure how I should feel about my grandmother celebrating my heartbreak, but no time to think about that now.

“Now, from our numbers, our first collaboration has gone extremely well.” Time for the nitty gritty, my favorite part. “I can walk you through the data on page five of your –“ I pause, surprised to feel a wave of nausea rolling up from my stomach. “Ehem, excuse me. On page five you can see the graphic representation of –”

It hits again, this time not just a suggestion of nausea but a promise of it. I tense all the muscles in my body. Not here. Not now.

“Caroline, are you alright?” Gram asks.

“Y-yes, I’m –” I cover my mouth, afraid if I say another word, I might puke right into my grandmother’s lap.

What the hell is going on with me?

“Excuse yourself. I’ll take over this part,” she says, patting my hands which seems like a loving gesture, but given the disappointment in her eyes, I know it’s pity.

I rush out of the room, not even sure how my feet propel me so fast to the bathroom, where I spew my guts into the toilet. All of it, bile burning at the back of my throat. I haven’t heaved my guts out like this since college. And I haven’t even had anything to drink. I collapse over the toilet, trying to catch my breath, not caring that I’m leaning over a bacteria-infested porcelain throne.

“What the fuck,” I mutter to myself.

As if it wasn’t bad enough Jake has broken my heart and my grandmother thinks I’m a poor excuse for a businesswoman, but now I’m coming down with something. And I’m supposed to be getting my period soon.

My heart sinks into my stomach like a rock.

I am supposed to get my period soon, aren’t I?

Oh no. No, no, no …

My phone is still in the conference room, so I try and do quick mental math. My last period was… God, was it really that long ago already? Five weeks? Six? No, it couldn’t possibly. And if it is that late, surely it’s just stress causing it to be delayed.

That’s not a great excuse when I’m hanging over a toilet just having puked my guts out.

And I can’t stop crying.

Oh. Fucking. No.

When I finally return to the conference room, I remain silent while the meeting concludes. To my delight, Beeler and Brown thank me furiously for all the work I put into the presentation and for giving them a retrospective on the Gladstone company.

“We feel even more comfortable in our decision to continue this agreement with you, Ms. Gladstone,” Beeler says, shaking my hand viciously.

Once they’re gone, Gram hums. “Well, I have to give it to you, that little history lesson seemed to strike a chord.”

I stare at her. “A trick I picked up from Jake.” Don’t get me started on something else I might have picked up from Jake.

“It’s not the shrewdest tactic, but it’s a start. You’re going to have to get a handle on your nerves, though, Caroline. You can’t be running out like a scared child about to play their first piano concert.”

For once, I’m thankful she doesn’t bother to ask for the whole story. I think the whole story might piss her off to Timbuktu and back. Although, I’m not even sure of the whole story yet.

But the second I’m out of Gram’s clutches, I intend to find out the ending.

We are using a timer on Jude’s phone, but I still feel like I can hear a ticking clock. I sit on the toilet lid, my legs drawn up to my chest, while Jude sits on the edge of the bathtub.

Outside in the hall, Chase paces, appearing in the open door every few seconds.

All of us waiting on one thing and one thing only. The godforsaken blue and white test on the sink.

“I don’t think you are,” Jude says.

“You keep saying that,” I reply.

She grins nervously. “Just a feeling.”

“Could you stop pacing?” I ask Chase accusatorily.

Chase pokes his head into the doorway. “I’ll do what I have to given the circumstances, thank you.”

I rest my head on my knees. I hadn’t meant for him to get involved, but when I came to their house, Jude answered the door and I exploded with the news that I might be pregnant and needed to take a test in the bathroom immediately.

Chase happened to be walking into the front hall at that exact moment. The look on his face will be burned on my mind forever in the absolute worst way.

“Well, no matter what, it’s going to be okay,” Jude says.

“Jude, stop. Please.”

No one speaks for a while. Who knew three minutes was such a long time? Finally, Jude’s alarm goes off. I sit up straight. The three of us look at each other, some sort of standoff.

“Who wants to do the… honors?” Chase asks.

“Can you literally not?”

He flinches. “Sorry.”

“I can do it if you want,” Jude says.

“No, no. I’ll do it.”

I get to my feet, and look in the bathroom mirror, consciously realizing that this moment is a turning point. Maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe I just ate some bad chicken salad and we’ll all laugh about this tomorrow. I grab the test, look down at the results indicator and freeze.

“What does it say?” I hear Chase’s voice.

“Caroline?” Jude’s now.

Everything fades into the background, all of my senses dulling as I’m overcome with the truth.

“I’m pregnant,” I whisper.

Tears spring into my eyes. Not of sadness. Not of anger.

They’re complicated tears. I think I’m terrified.

But I also think I might be happy.