ROMANCE: MENAGE ROMANCE: Tapped and Taken by Two (Pregnancy Sports MMA UFC Fighter Romance) (Alpha Male Romance) (10 page)

She ran her hands over her stomach, called out to Rosie, and took her downstairs to work on a portrait of a pug wearing a bumble bee costume.

This was the quirky side of Kylie she didn’t want exposed. It was something she had been doing on the side since moving to Venice Beach that nobody knew about. It was even a successful side business she had going for herself with an actual online website like Jason asked about that was starting to generate some actual money for her.

Kylie had a chilly thought though, “if Jason found her online for her pet portrait business, who knew what else he would find out about her.” He might even see she used to live in San Francisco, and find that online picture of her that was briefly posted around the internet because of who her ex-husband was, billionaire and software mogul Francis Donaughy, and what he did to her when they broke up. She didn’t want people knowing her past, and she didn’t like how vulnerable she was at that point in her life. How vulnerable she looked in that picture. He’d thrown her out with literally nothing to her name but her dog, locked the door of his mansion behind her. A paparazzi just happened to be there at the time and snapped the picture of her crying on the lawn in her white nightgown. The whole thing was a strange and ugly mess that she thought was left behind, but now she realized was still creeping around in the life of the new Kylie.

She wondered if she should give Jason a call, let him know it wasn’t him, it was her. In the grand process of her life there were things that needed to be worked out which had nothing to do with him or the baby he may or may not have put inside her.

Plan B though was to call Max instead. Even though she was disgusted thinking about the fight last week and how he mercilessly beat Jason she also knew she didn’t want any more loose ends in her life. And given the thought that Max could be the father Max could be a huge loose end to haunt her down the road. On the phone she tried to make a date with him for the following night. Same plan, she’d offer to cook dinner, just the two of them.

“Will Jason be there?” he asked.

“No, I think we should get the chance to just talk between the two of us.”

Max paused a bit. “I’m kinda busy tomorrow.”

“Oh, no problem. Is there a better time for you?”

“I’ll let you know.”

The night she made that call to Max, Kylie was restless. She’d screwed things up with Jason, and didn’t like the way Max seemed to be pushing her away.

She went downstairs and focused on the cute pug in its costume. That odd part of her life was really the only thing she was sure of then as she worked to blend her yellows to make them pop against a sky blue background. She didn’t need either of the men. She had her baby and her dog, and nothing else mattered.

Round 9*

After another month of casual contact with Jason, not Max, Jason ran into her at the gym. She had been casually going back, but less frequently as her pregnancy didn’t let her do much physical activity anymore. She trained by herself mostly, working on some kata Jax taught her. Smooth, focused. She loved the way it cleared everything else from her brain as all her energy went to making sure she placed her feet right, held her arms properly, and kept her core tight. She worked on her breathing, pushing out the rest of the world. She felt like a whale, knew she was getting close, but the kata really kept her in line.

She didn’t even see Jason until she gave her final bow and finished.

“You’re getting really good. Tight control. Great form.”

“Thanks.” She wiped the sweat from her brow, and sat down on the nearby bench. She certainly got tired a lot easier these days.

Jason dropped down beside her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

He took a deep breath. “Okay. I guess what I’m trying to say here is I’m kind of not fine.”

She blinked at him.

“I thought we were getting somewhere the night at your place, I thought we were having some kind of connection, then I felt like you stonewalled me. I want to be in your life, but you have to let me in.”

She didn’t know what to say. “I need time” seemed like the right thing to say to not let Jason any closer to her and her past, but not push him all the way out of her life.

“And that’s totally fine. I respect that. But you really freaked me. I tried to play it cool, tried to keep it casual. But I don’t want that. Not with you.”

“I freaked you out?”

“Yeah. Felt like a door slamming in my face.”

She studied him, perhaps more so than she had before. Brown eyes, over-gelled hair up in a pompadour which would have been silly on a lot of guys, but Jason managed to rock it. He wore his usual blank white tank top that he always did when not in his workout clothes. His body more tight and compact and hard than most of the other guys at the gym, and now also possessing a heart, which she hadn’t really ever taken into consideration. It scared her.

Sitting next to her, he expected her to say something. She didn’t know what he wanted. What she felt. She couldn’t say what she was thinking and that every man in her life has abandoned her when they got to know the real Kylie, and she wasn’t sure he wouldn’t do the same thing.

Suddenly, Max came in then, and saw them together. He carried tension in his shoulders as he walked straight over to them. Almost like he was back in the cage and coming after his opponent.

“Hey,” he said.

Jason nodded. Kylie returned the hey.

“How are you feeling?”

“Good. Great. My forms are really kicking ass.” It wasn’t what he meant and she knew it, but they sat in the middle of the studio and she didn’t really want to get into too much here.

“I want you to get the paternity tested,” Max said. “I’m sure Jason agrees with me.”

Jason opened his mouth and closed it again before he spoke. “I’m curious, but it’s up to you, Kylie.”

“I told you I don’t want anything from either of you.”

“I’ve got to know,” said Max, “It’s my life too, and I can’t go through this not knowing if I’m a father or not.”

“I’ll look into it,” Kylie said.

“You’ll do more than look into it. You have to do this. You can’t leave me not knowing.”

She bristled. She could do whatever she wanted. His job was done. He’d fucked her. Now she didn’t need him, and with the way he was and had been acting, she didn’t particularly want him near her or her baby.

“So you’re into making demands of me, but not interested in coming by to talk to me,” now feeling angry enough to poke the bear in front of her.

She quickly wondered about moving again. Then she saw Jax and Trisha, waving from across the studio, thought about her nice little part time job, her apartment, and yes, Jason, who sat next to her.

“Ease off, bro,” he said. “It’s a crazy time, give her some space.”

“I could be a father,” Max raised his voice.

Jax and Trisha heard. Oh, no. Color rose in Kylie’s cheeks. Now they’d understand why the two men fought so hard the previous month, why they circled around each other now in the gym like aggressive dogs.

Jason stood up now. She didn’t need any of this. Kylie stood too, very aware of the heavy weight of her pregnant belly.

“Back off, dude.” She’d never heard Jason sound like that, low and menacing.

“Or what? You could be the father, too. Don’t you want to know? Isn’t it killing you?”

“Take a walk, Max.”

Now Jax and Trisha crossed the room to them.

Kylie didn’t want drama. She had had enough of that in her life and spoke up hoping to diffuse the situation and avoid a tell all moment in front of Jax and Trisha. “All of you. I can handle this. Max, can we go somewhere and talk? Just you and I?”

Max looked from Jason, to Jax, to Trisha. “Whatever.”

“You sure you’re okay?” Jason asked.

“She doesn’t need you speaking for her,” Max snapped.

“I don’t need either of you speaking for me!”

She shepherded Max away, and could only imagine what was being said in the hushed tones behind her with Jason, Jax, and Trisha.

They went out to his truck, the huge Chevy Tahoe that he won from the tournament didn’t help Kylie feel more at ease at all.

He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’m being a dick. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry this all happened like this, and you’re being a dick too.”

“Look, Kylie, I’m in love with you. I want you so bad I can’t stand it. You get more and more beautiful every day.”

She wanted to laugh at this. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She knew she didn’t love him, didn’t love either of them right now, but the memory of those few times with him and Jason still lingered with her. Maybe somewhere in all of that there was some type of love. She certainly didn’t feel it though now for Max as the two of them stood there alone next to the Chevy Tahoe. The symbol of what a guy like Max was capable of doing to someone he knew closely.

“You’re not like anyone else I’ve ever met.”

Then he leaned in and kissed her. His kiss felt numb to Kylie, and she pulled away shocked that she didn’t feel anything like when she kissed him with Jason also taking part.

Max then started looking angry and grabbed Kylie by the arm

“Gentle.” She said.

“You don’t like gentle, in case you’re forgetting I won Kylie. I beat him, you should be mine. I know this baby is mine,” and he leaned in to try and kiss her again.

“Get the fuck off me.”

Max coldly and creepily studied her. “What games are you playing?”

“I’m not playing any games.”

“You come into town, you sleep around, then you’re being all weird about it.”

“I’m not being weird! And I didn’t sleep around! No more than you had.” God these double standards made her crazy.

“You won’t get a paternity test.”

“I never said that.” Kylie pulled herself farther away from him.

“Don’t walk away from me.”

Inklings of fear touched her. She had no false illusions of grandeur she could hold him off if he really wanted to hurt her. Even though he just said that he loved her Kylie wasn’t so sure how stable he actually was at that moment. She turned to start running back toward the gym.

“We’re not done talking,” he said starting to run after her.

The door to the gym burst open and Jason ran out. “Let her go!!!”

“This is none of your damn business.”

“It’s no less my business than it is yours Max. Leave her alone.”

Kylie took more steps back from the two of them. She smoothed down her clothes, aware now more than ever of her huge stomach and swollen breasts. After a few deep breaths, she yelled out to the two of them.

“Don’t fight,” she said. “It’s not worth it. I don’t want anything from either of you. Just as Ferran came out of the gym.

Max glared at Kylie and then back at Jason, “I beat you senseless before don’t think I won’t do it again,” and then hopped in the truck and sped off.

“Jason turned to Kylie, “Jeez, you okay? You should just tell him you got the test. Tell him it’s mine. Then you won’t have to worry about him.”

“I should have told you both it was someone else’s. I wish I’d never said anything.”

“Don’t say that. It’s always better to know the truth.”

“What do I need the truth for, what I need is to be left alone.”

“Well I want you to let me in, but that’s up to you. I’m here for you though.”

Kylie quickly spun around not wanting to hear words like that and ran back to her jeep brushing past Jax, Trisha, and Ferran and headed for home. On the way, she made an appointment for the paternity test. “No more loose ends,” she thought to herself.

Round 10*

Max, however, was more crazed and angry than anyone thought. He did his homework. He wanted to know more about this bitch who might be mothering his unborn child. What he found was that photo of her from back in San Francisco.

The next week at Ultimate Pro Elite Spartan Gym, in front of a class, including Jason, he let everyone know exactly what he’d discovered about Kylie McKee. The rich life she was hiding from everyone. The billionaire husband who had notoriously thrown her out on the street, and all the gossip about what she did to deserve it. All of them making her seem like a worse and worse person who deserved what she got.

“I know who you are.” Max spoke so everyone could hear. “You’ve been lying to everyone here from the start. Probably lying about me and Jason being the only two possible fathers. Probably trying to scam us out of some money, which is probably what got you tossed out on your ass by your billionaire husband.

A loop of fear clutched her stomach. Well, this was it, but there was something else also going on in her body. The doctor told about what her contractions would feel like. She wasn’t due for another three weeks, but she knew the little one could come early, and what she just felt certainly seemed like what the doctor described to her.

He addressed all of them when he spoke now. “Do you all remember that stupid big tabloid story about a year ago, about the software guy who threw his rich wife out on her ass?”