Royce(21)

“Then he fucking should have been a better businessman.” Royce took another deep breath before continuing. “Look, I’m having a bad morning and I—”

“You’ve been having a lot of bad mornings and at the risk of getting my head bit off again, what the hell is wrong with you?” Curtis closed the file, apparently finished discussing it. “Does this have anything to do with that little officer?”

Why did he have to mention Kasey? It wasn’t as if he didn’t think of her on his own several hundred times a day. He wanted to snarl at his brother to leave it alone, but he knew that if he didn’t talk to someone soon he was going to have a breakdown or one or all of his family was going to hire a hit man and take him out.

“If I tell you something, can you keep it to yourself? I mean not even tell Mom? I’m serious.”

Curtis got up and opened the door to his office. Royce heard him tell Bobbie to hold his calls and not to disturb them until they said. She agreed. Royce knew he’d been snapping at her too and wondered why she hadn’t poisoned his coffee yet.

“All right,” he said when he sat back down. “Tell me what has you so bitchy that you’d take it out on all of us. Does it have to do with Miss York?”

“Yes.” Royce got up to pace. “She and I had sex.” He didn’t say more because frankly, he wasn’t sure how to proceed.

“And that’s bad how? She’s a pretty little thing. She seems to have more than the normal brain cells in her head that you normally date. And the prettiest gray eyes I’ve ever seen. Was the sex that good or that bad? Don’t tell me you couldn’t get it up around her. Oh, Royce…no wonder you’re pissy.”

“That’s not it, you fucking asshole. I didn’t use protection. And she isn’t on the pill.” Royce might have laughed at his brother’s expression at his announcement if he’d been in the mood to find anything funny.

“When? Is she pregnant? Has she, Christ, Royce, is she demanding that you marry her? I can certainly help you out with any kind of arrangements you want to make. I would suggest a pre-nup before you marry—”

“I’m not marrying her. And I don’t know if she’s pregnant or not. She said she’d let me know. But I already told her I wasn’t going to marry her.” That sounded just as bad now as it had when he’d told Kasey. “Marrying for the sake of a kid is no way I want to go through the rest of my life. She understands that.”

“I see.” Royce looked at Curtis when he spoke. “Actually, no, I don’t. You play you pay, buddy. Unless, of course, she tricked you. Did she? If so, I can see where you’d not want to attach yourself to her, but you know what Mom is going to say. Once she beats the shit out of you anyway. She’s been preaching safe sex to us since before we knew what sex even was.”

“She didn’t trick me. I… Damn it, Curtis, I fucking don’t want a kid. I don’t want a wife, and I certainly don’t like this waiting. I want to call her up and demand that she tell me. I’ve been making myself and everyone around me nuts and for two weeks. I can’t take it anymore.”

Curtis sat there for several minutes while Royce watched him. He could see his brother’s wheels turning. Of all of them, Curtis was by far the most analytical when it came to problem solving. “She probably has a doctor’s appointment soon from the incident here. Let me make a few calls and see if we can get a test done without her knowing it. That way you’ll have your answer and she’ll be none the wiser.”

“Is that even legal?” Curtis shrugged. “Then don’t do it. I won’t have you getting into trouble over my mistake. I’ll get my answer and then everything will be all right. I’ll know she’s not pregnant soon and then get on with my life.”

“Do you really think it’ll be that easy? You think she’s not pregnant?”

No, Royce thought. She’d be pregnant and he’d be in court trying to fight his way out of any demands she had been dreaming up. “I don’t know, but just in case, I want you to draw up some papers telling her that I’m not going to be a part of the kid’s life if she stays out of mine. I’ll pay her whatever is reasonable for support, but that’s it.”

Curtis nodded. “And Mom?”

That, Royce had no clue. “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”

Feeling better than he had in a week, after Curtis left Royce sat down to go over some of the things he’d been putting off. By five o’clock, he’d managed to get four projects completed and two more started. He was very proud of himself. It was nearly six o’clock when he left his office and he was home by six-thirty. Home to his new house.