or something.”
She looks at me like I’m retarded. “No, jackass. I was crying over some private issues that everyone seems to feel is their business.”
I feel about two inches tall. “Sorry.” Damn, that’s twice now I thought I’d be a dad. The idea that I was going to have a family again, especially with Jade, was almost exciting. A real family tied to me by blood. I haven’t had that in a long time.
“I needed to talk to you about something else.”
I sigh. “Okay, shoot,” I say like a scolded four-year-old.
“I was working at County General today and a man stopped by and asked me to deliver a message to you,” she says, her voice starting to shake.
“Yeah? Who was it?”
She shrugs, “I don’t know. He didn’t say his name, but it was very creepy.”
“Okay. Explain.” She starts telling me about the man and what he said.
I stand up. “Motherfucker!”
She jerks. “Clay, are you in some kind of trouble?”
I shake my head. “No. Well, maybe. It really has nothing to do with me.”
She looks at me, obviously confused. “Huh?”
I sigh, she knows more than anyone else about my past, so I should just tell her. “I just got back from Ft. Walton, I had to meet with an attorney about some of my parents’ estate that I had no idea about. I guess none of it came into play until I turned twenty-five.”
She nods. “And your birthday is next week. So what do these people want?”
I lay my head back on her couch. “If I was taking a stab in the dark, they want me to pay off my dad’s debt to them. The money is from some investments that my dad made with their money, or money he stole from them. I’ve never been sure how that all went down.”
She sits back on the couch, mimicking me. “I knew that guy gave me the creeps, he was just cold. I think you need to tell the guys what’s going on. These people could kill you.”
“I’ll tell you what. You tell me what’s going on with you, and I’ll talk to the guys.” I look at her with my no-bullshit face.
“I started having some of the same symptoms as pregnancy and I was really worried. It was not long after Gia came out and said she was pregnant. But emotionally, I was a wreck. My first date with Gavin was to the hospital gala. I fell apart that night. My hormones were all over the place. He did some testing and I thought for sure I was going to be making your life double hell, but that wasn’t it.”
If she tells me she has cancer, I may fall apart right here. I love this girl too much to lose her. Holy shit, I love her.
“Firecracker, you’re scaring me.”
“I have endometriosis. They say that the doctor who treated me when I had the miscarriage should’ve done a D&C. The resident who treated me thought that I should be fine, but I guess I had a mild case of endometriosis back then. I guess the scar tissue that developed from the lack of care caused it to go into overdrive. I’ve had some cysts come up that have thrown my hormones out of whack and some discomfort at the same time. So it just kinda snowballed all at once,” she says quietly.
“So does this mean you’re at a risk for cancer? What is endo- whatever?”
“Well, possibly, but not highly likely. It’s where tissue builds up over our female crap and causes a ton more problems. Trust me, it’s more than you want me to explain. Although without treatment, I may never have kids. With treatment, I might not have kids. It’s all been highly emotional for me. You’re the first person besides Gavin I’ve told. Well, I guess you could really say you’re the only person I’ve told because in reality, Gavin told me.” She quickly wipes a tear from her eye. Fuck, he was there for her and I wasn’t. “I went from being scared to death that I was pregnant again, to being scared that I may never get pregnant.” She shakes her head. “I have to talk to my sister about it.” She snorts. “She’s pretty sure I’m pregnant, thanks to you.”
I make a
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