Right Where We Belong (Silver Springs #4)(29)

“If you’re here to tell me about the baby, I know. Heather came by last night.”

His eyes widened. “She did? When?”

Should he not have revealed that? The last thing he wanted was to make Scott angrier. “She was waiting for me when I got back from a gig in Santa Barbara.”

“Had to have been late.”

“It was,” he admitted.

Scott shook his head in apparent disgust. “She must’ve come straight over here from my place.”

“She’s not in a good situation—”

“None of us are!” he broke in.

Gavin attempted to modulate his voice so that he wouldn’t ignite what was already a potentially volatile meeting. Truth be told, he felt sorry for Scott. But what could he do? He hadn’t planned on getting Heather pregnant. “True, but she’s the one who has to carry and deliver the baby. So I think we can agree that she has the worst of it. She was upset and...and looking for some support.”

“From you.”

Remembering what she’d said about hoping to get back with him, Gavin cleared his throat. “You two had just broken up. I’m assuming she didn’t feel comfortable trying to get it from you.”

“We didn’t break up. We had an argument. That’s all. She was with me all night before she said a word about the baby. And then, right when I wanted to make love...wham, she told me she was pregnant with someone else’s child. You’d be pissed, too!”

“She told me she wasn’t sure the baby is mine,” Gavin said, purposely skirting the rest of it.

Scott’s hands curled into fists. “That it’s even a possibility makes me want to tear your head off.”

Gavin lifted his hands. “With the childhood I had, you wouldn’t want to fight me.” Gavin had gone to juvie for fighting. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know how.

“I’m not scared of you! You’ve got to be thirty pounds lighter than me!”

“That’d be my guess, too. But trust me. I’ve done a lot more fighting in my day than you have. Nothing good ever comes of it.”

Scott looked a little less set on violence when he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m doing my best to remain calm, but...I don’t know what to do.”

“Fair enough. Let’s start here, then. The last time I was with Heather was before she started seeing you.”

“For the second time.”

Scott had been trying to get with Heather for a while. “Still, even if it was the third or fourth time, it’s not as if she was cheating on you, if that’s what’s causing you so much pain. You weren’t together at the time. That’s the point I’m trying to make.” Gavin knew that wasn’t really the root of the problem. Scott was upset by the fact that Gavin could get Heather back in a heartbeat if he wanted to, and now that she could be having his baby, he’d have reason.

“It’s not that simple! I’m in love with her. I was planning to marry her. And now she wants you—right when I thought we were finally past all that!”

“I’m sorry,” Gavin said. “I don’t know what else to say. Is that why you’re here? You’re looking for some sort of an apology?”

“I guess I’m hoping to hear you say you won’t take her back.”

When Gavin hesitated, Scott’s eyes narrowed.

“You don’t love her...”

That was true. But Gavin couldn’t make the admission. It could mean giving up easy access to his child. He didn’t trust Scott to allow him to coparent, felt certain Scott’s jealousy would get in the way—and might cause Scott to be unkind to the baby. After what Gavin had been through with his own stepmother, he wasn’t about to give someone as emotionally immature as Scott that much power over an innocent child, especially his. “Why don’t we...try to keep things open for now.”

“Open?” he echoed.

“Until the baby’s born. We’ll see whose child it is and go from there.”

“You expect me to hang in limbo, go on feeling this way for seven months, while you decide whether you really want her?”

“I didn’t say that. A bit of time would give us the chance to calm down before making a decision that could impact the rest of our lives, as well as that of an innocent child. That’s all.”

“To hell with waiting,” he cried. “I say she gets an abortion. She’s my girlfriend now, and I don’t want your filthy bastard growing up in my house.”

For the first time since Scott had arrived, Gavin felt like throwing a punch. After a statement like that, he might’ve done so, returned to the troublemaker he used to be. But Scott had already turned and was stalking toward the door.

Gavin followed him, catching the screen before it slammed. “I would never let you raise my child,” he called after him from the stoop.

Halfway to his car, Scott whirled around. “Yeah, well, we’ll see who winds up with Heather in the end. At least I’m willing to step up and marry her!” he said, and flipped Gavin the bird.

Eli pushed off Gavin’s truck, where he’d been waiting, and watched as Scott peeled out of the drive. “That seems to have gone well,” he said sarcastically.

“He’s a dick. There’s no way I’ll give him any influence over my child.”