Chapter 3 

 
Six months later…
Alexander
stretched back in his chair. Another business deal closed. This
called for a celebration. He headed home. “Welcome back,” his
girlfriend, Whitney, said. He smiled and gave her a kiss, “Hey.
Wanna go out tonight?” “You know I’m always up for a night on the
town. Where do you wanna go?” He shrugged, “You pick.” And he
regretted that suggestion as they pulled into the parking lot of
the club. He wondered briefly if that same hot bartender worked
here. He got his answer as soon as he and Whitney walked in. Of
course she did. “Let’s get drinks then go dance,” Whitney said. He
nodded and they made their way over to the bar. Jackson was working
with the woman tonight. He couldn’t help but notice that she looked
just as hot. If he wasn’t dating Whitney, for business or not, he
might consider hitting her up for a second tumble in the hay. Their
first had been over a year ago. “Alexander,” Jackson said. The
bartender’s head whipped around so fast Alexander winced for her.
Her eyes locked with his and she glared at him. If looks could
kill, he’d be dead. Which didn’t make any sense. Why was she pissed
at him? “You know her?” Whitney asked. “Uh…yeah…slept with her,
what…almost two years ago.” “Oh.” He turned back to Jackson, fully
prepared to ignore her since she seemed to have a problem with him,
but she marched right over, ditching the drink she was making for
someone else. “Hey,” he said casually when she reached them. She
looked between him and Whitney, “Girlfriend?” “Yeah?” he said. She
rolled her eyes, “Why are you here Alexander?” “Getting a drink.”
“No, I mean at this club. There are a million clubs you could have
gone to.” “I picked the club,” Whitney said. The bartender glared
at the both of them, “You both should probably leave before I do
something stupid.” “Whoa, whoa, whoa, what’s going on?” Jackson
said. “Beats me,” Alexander said. She glared even harder as she
gripped the counter, “You asshole!” And before he could move, she
lashed out at him over the counter and slapped him so hard he head
snapped right. Jackson pulled her back, “What the hell Erin?!” So
that was her name. “Bitch!” Whitney said, now glaring at her. “What
the hell? Is this because I left without waking you up that time?”
Alexander asked. Erin glowered at him, “You fucking idiot!” “Go to
the back and cool the fuck down,” Jackson said. She glared at him
but marched away. Alexander touched his cheek- it stung. “Let me
get some ice for that. I don’t know what came over her,” Jackson
said. “Maybe she’s jealous,” Whitney said with a shrug. Alexander
shrugged, but he knew full well that that lashing out wasn’t
jealousy. She was pissed about something else he did to her. He
thought back to the night they’d spent together. Yeah, it had to be
he left without waking her. Women usually wanted to be the one who
left. But why had she held the grudge for so long? Jackson returned
with ice and Alexander thanked him. Whitney stood up, “Let’s get
out of here. That bitch is crazy.” He nodded and they left. His
mood for celebration was gone.
 
Erika’s phone
rang. It was 9 so Ash was asleep and she had time to herself to
read. She answered, “Hello.” “It’s me.” “What’s up, Erin?” “Guess
who showed up.” From the tone of Erin’s voice, Erika already knew.
When she’d told Erin what Alexander had done, Erin had been so
pissed. She swore revenge on the Jensons. “Alexander?” Erika asked.
“Yeah, with a babe on his arm.” Erika clenched her fist. “I slapped
him nice and hard for you.” That brought a smile to Erika’s face,
“In the club?” “Yup. He’s gonna have a nice bruise there in the
morning.” “You know I love you right.” “Of course. I have to get
back to work, but I’ll talk to you later.” “Okay. Thanks, sis.”
“What are twins for?” Erin hung up. Erika grinned. Serves Alexander
right.
 
“You
want to tell me what the hell that was about?” Jackson asked Erin.
“It’s none of your business. He knew what that slap was for. In
fact, he deserved more.” “He didn’t seem to know, to me.” “That’s
what all guys do- particularly assholes. They act like they’re
innocent.” Jackson shrugged, “Look, I don’t care what issues you
have with customers, okay? But you can’t go creating scenes like
that. If people see that bartender hitting people, what do you
think they’ll think they can do?” Erin’s shoulders slumped, “I get
it. Next time, I’ll beat him to pulp in the alley.” Jackson rolled
his eyes, “Sure.”
 
A
week later…
Alexander could not focus. At all. Ever since that night at
the club. He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something
missing. Erin couldn’t be that
pissed, for that
long for something small. He had to go back and
talk with her- even if he had to do it from far away so she
wouldn’t attack him again.
 
Erika’s phone
rang. Erin’s name flashed across the screen. “Hey Erin.” “Erika?”
“Jackson?” Why was Erin’s boss, Jackson Forester, calling her, with
Erin’s phone? “Yeah. Can you come pick Erin up?” “Is she okay? What
happened to her?” “She… needs a vacation.” Erika knew her sister
could be a hothead, so instead of asking questions, she buckled
Asher into his car seat, grabbed a couple of things, and headed
over to the club. Once she pulled in, she got out and then got
Asher out. She put him on some noise canceling headphones. She had
to bring him here once before because Erin was being a hothead. She
carried him inside. Jackson waved her to the back. She followed him
to his office. It was a spacious office since she noticed three
other people were inside when she stepped in. One was Erin,
seething. Another was Jacob, Jackson’s brother, holding her back.
And when she turned to the other, she gasped. Alexander.
 
Alexander had
to do a doubt take. There were two of them. Two Erin’s. What the
hell? Erin looked ready to kill- which she would have already done
if Jacob wasn’t holding her back. Jacob just looked confused.
Jackson looked irritated. And the other Erin with the baby looked a
little irritated and a lot wounded. “Sit,” Jackson told her. She
did, and cradled the baby to her body. “Okay, Erin, what the hell
is your problem with Alexander?” Jackson asked, sitting in his
chair. She glared at him, “He hurt my twin.” Oh. Twins. Alexander
looked at said twin then back at Erin. “Do you have freckles on
your nose?” he asked Erin. Everyone looked at him like he sprouted
another head. “No. Only Erika has freckles,” Erin said. Alexander
looked at Erika. Yup, she had freckles. The woman he slept with had
freckles on her nose too, and if Erika was the twin with freckles,
then, holy shit, he’d been thinking he slept with Erin this whole
time when in actuality he’d slept with Erika- a twin he hadn’t even
known existed. And that made him think about what Erin had said:
he’d hurt her twin. Of course- twins were fiercely loyal to one
another. She’d only been getting back at him for what he did to
Erika. Now, if only he knew what he’d done. He turned to Erika,
“Why is your sister pissed at me? What the he-” he glanced at the
baby, “...heck did I do?” Now it was her turn to glower at him,
“Nothing. That’s what you did. Nothing, you ass-” “The baby,” he
said. “What?” “Don’t curse around babies. It’s what my mother told
me.” She narrowed her eyes at him, “Like you care what happened to
him.” “What? Why would I care? I mean, I don’t want anything bad to
happen to him but why would I care? For lack of a better way to say
it.” “Because he’s your son. Duh.” The room fell silent and you
could hear a pin drop.
 
Erika could
have sworn Alexander passed out for a moment. Oh shoot- she had
spilled his secret. Oh well. Jackson and Jacob wouldn’t take this
to the press, would they? “What do you mean he’s my son?” Alexander
croaked. His voice was hoarse and his eyes were glued to Asher, who
couldn’t hear anything and was asleep. She narrowed her eyes at
him, “Did you not do the paternity test I sent you?” “I didn’t get
any paternity test.” “I sent you some of his hair!” He shook his
head, “I never got anything.” “So you just throw your mail away
without reading it?” “What? No! I read all my mail.” “Then you
would have seen the letter I sent to you. It had a picture of Asher
from when he was born and some of his hair so you could do a test.”
“Say I got this letter, which I didn’t-” “Then what the hell
happened to it?! I know you don’t want anything to do with your
son, but why pretend like you didn’t know about him?!” “Why the
hell would I want nothing to do with my own kid?!” he yelled. She
blinked then mumbled, “I don’t know. You tell me. You sent a lawyer
and told me you’d sign over all parental rights.”
 
Alexander
could not believe what he was hearing. He had a kid. A son. And
apparently he didn’t want him. He never used the family lawyers for
personal reasons. The only time he’d done that was for his divorce.
His father was another story. He used his lawyers for everything.
Then the lightbulb went off. “Where did you send the letter to?”
She shrugged, “I don’t remember the address. It was some big
mansion.” “You sent the letter to my father then.” “What?” Her head
snapped up. “We have the same name so sometimes people get us mixed
up. I live in a penthouse and I never saw the letter.” “But…but…but
you sent the lawyer…” And if that didn’t piss him off. His father
must have seen the letter and deemed it a scam or something. But
then why sign or parental rights? Unless his father knew the baby
was his and didn’t want him to have it. He glanced down at the
little sleeping bundle and shook his head and emotions surged
through him. He had a son. “I never knew,” he whispered. “Okay,
wow,” Jackson said after a moment of silence. “We’ll leave you two
to figure this out,” Jacob said, “Come on Erin. Get back to work.”
Jackson left out first, followed by Jacob. Erin stopped next to
him, “I’m sorry.” She walked out before he could reply, leaving
him, Erika, and their son alone.
 
Erika could
not believe this. She’d sent the letter to the wrong person, and
all this time that she’d been cursing Alexander one way or the
other, he hadn’t even known that he had a child. Yes, he could be
lying, but why would he lie? And sincerity was shining through his
watery eyes. She found herself wanting to cry too. She wanted to
cry for Asher for all the months he didn’t have a father because of
her stupidity. She wanted to cry for Alexander for all the months
that he didn’t have a son. “Do you wanna hold him?” she asked,
tears running down her cheeks. Alexander nodded, and she gently
placed him in his awaiting arms. Asher sighed contently and
snuggled into Alexander’s embrace. Alexander looked up at her with
tears running down his face, “I’m so sorry. If I’d have known, I-”
She shook her head, “No use going back to the past. What’s done is
done but we can go forward from here.” He nodded and looked down at
Asher. “What’s his name?” he asked. “Asher Houston.” “Can we change
it to Asher Houston-Jenson?” She felt more tears flowing at the
fact that he so clearly wanted to be in his son’s life. He wanted
him to have his last name. She nodded because she was too choked up
to speak. She saw across from him and watched him hold their son.
He was a natural.
 
Alexander
reluctantly gave Asher back to Erika once he awoke and started
fussing. “He’s hungry,” she said. “Do you breastfeed him?” he
asked. She nodded. “That’s good. My son only deserves the best.”
She blushed. He stood up, “I’ll let you feed him.” She nodded,
“Then I’m going to head home.” “Let’s exchange numbers.” “Sure.”
She handed him her phone and he put in his number. “I’ll text you
when I get home,” she said. “Okay.” He shifted from foot to foot
then decided to stop being a wuss, “Can I see him tomorrow?” “Of
course. I’ll send you my address and tomorrow we can work on a
visiting schedule.” “Sounds good.” He took one last glance at Asher
then left.