Read Defensive for Free Online Page B

conversation could be headed.
    “I came to see you because I wanted us to get back together, but that wasn’t the only reason. I also needed… to tell you something. I’m… pregnant.”
    “That’s great. Congratulations. Who’s the lucky guy?”
    “You. You’re the dad, Jackson.”
    I rubbed my eyes and tried to shake the sleepiness out of my head because I knew I must’ve heard her wrong. “Umm, what? I can’t be the dad, Cynthia.”
    “Yeah, if you’ll remember, we slept together the night before you left. I’m not a slut. I know you have to be the father.”
    I closed my eyes and gripped the sheets. I needed to breathe. Shit. Fuck… Shit. Fuck . I knew she wasn’t lying. Cynthia was a lot of things but she wouldn’t make this up or assume if there was a chance the baby wasn’t mine.
    “Say something,” she whispered.
    “Wow. I don’t really know what to say right now. Why didn’t you tell me before? You said that’s why you came to see me.”
    “I was so upset when I realized that you were in love with another girl.”
    “Vanessa. Her name is Vanessa and I’m still with her. Nothing will change that.”
    “I understand that. I wasn’t going to tell you, but the more time that’s went on, I realized that’s not fair to you or our child,” she said.
    “That’s true. I’m glad you told me. I just… it’s a lot to take in right now. I want to be involved, though. I mean with the pregnancy and everything.”
    “Everything?” she asked with a hint of hope in her voice.
    “Still doesn’t change anything with Vanessa and me but, yeah, I want to be involved with everything.”
    “All right. I guess that’s all I can ask for.”
    “Okay, well I have to go, but I’ll call you later about appointments and stuff, okay?” I asked.
    “Okay, bye.”
    I hung up the phone and threw it across the room. Damn it! How in the hell am I going to tell Vanessa that I’m having a child with another woman? I needed to calm down and focus on getting ready for the game. I’d figure out what to say on the flight home. I picked up my phone from the floor, which now had a shattered screen, and threw it on the bed as I walked to the bathroom to take a shower.

    I played okay for having so much on my mind. Luckily, I was pretty good at blocking out everything but the game. During the entire plane ride back to Oklahoma City, I kept going over different ways to tell Vanessa.
    “Hey, babe, I’m having a kid with someone else” or “So you wanna be a stepmom?” just didn’t seem right. I didn’t want to beat around the bush about it or butter her up first, but just spitting it out didn’t sound right, either.
    I marched up to her apartment door and took a deep breath before putting my key in the lock. I opened the door and found Vanessa asleep on the couch with the TV on some infomercial. I leaned down, kissing her softly on the head before continuing to the bedroom to leave my bag. I decided to take a shower first before taking her to bed. I stripped out of my clothes and turned the water on. I let it heat up as my mind raced with how to tell her. I really wanted to never tell her but that seemed like the shittiest thing ever to do to her and the child. Shit. I’m going to be someone’s father and I barely even like their mother. Great way to bring a child into the world.
    I stepped into the shower and tried to will my body to relax. I didn’t want Vanessa to sense any tension or stress. I wanted her to feel like everything was going to be okay. And as long as she understood that nothing would change between us, everything would be all right.
    Just as I was walking out of the bathroom, Vanessa came down the hall. “I fell asleep after the game, I guess. Why didn’t you wake me up?” she asked as she wrapped her arms around my neck and planted a soft kiss on my lips.
    “You looked peaceful and I wanted to shower first,” I told her before I kissed her back. “You ready for bed? It’s really