Chapter 6

Damon

"She doesn't want to have kids yet." Jake stated bluntly, running his hand through his hair, a frustrated look on his face. My eyebrows arched in surprise at his words and I watched in concern as he lifted his drink by the bottleneck and drew it to his mouth. I released a deep breath, not quite sure how to respond to that.

He'd messaged me earlier and asked if we could meet up for drinks. I had known just from how curt his text was that he wasn't meeting up to just drink. There was something going on. And I'd been right. I had thought that Shayla had already discussed whatever her problem had been a week and half ago with him. It appeared that I had been completely wrong and she was only just now opening up.

I tilted my head to the side, trying to mull his words over in my head. If there was anyone I knew who was going to be a wonderful mother to her kids, it was Shayla. There wasn't a woman I'd come across who was as amazing with kids as she was. I'd seen her with Jake nieces and nephews on some occasions.

My eyebrows drew together in a crease. "Did she say why?" I asked a bit hesitantly. I knew that this had to be hard for Jake. All he'd talked about even before they'd gotten married was having kids. I'd never seen someone who wanted to become a father as badly as he did. He just loved kids that much.

He ran his hand through his hair, messing it up further. His shoulder lifted a shrug. "Something vague about not being ready yet." He replied, taking another swig at his drink. I glanced down at my phone to check what the time was. We were supposed to be back at my house soon enough to sort out the massive pile of letters that had been mailed.

I picked up my glass and finished my drink in three gulps. Waving the bartender over, I pulled a few notes out of my wallet and paid for the drinks. I turned my attention to Jake, giving him a light encouraging tap on the back. I really didn't think that it was anything serious. If it had really been that big of a deal and Shayla couldn't tell him about it then there was no reason she wouldn't have told me.

"It's probably nothing," I told him, completely meaning it. I didn't think I was capable of lying to him to make him feel better, and thankfully I didn't have to. "It might just be jitters and all, I mean," I raised my eyebrows meaningfully at him, hoping he understood what I was trying to explain to him. "You might be there to help but in the end she's the one who's going to be having a human growing inside of her."

It was okay if she was a little hesitant to welcome that kind of change. Shayla already liked her stability and balance as it was. I saw it when Jake let it all sink in. His shoulders relaxed a little and he let out a deep breath. "Yeah, you're probably right," His face lit up the slightest bit. "She had wedding jitters too but that didn't mean that she had not wanted to get married."

His phone went off just then. He pulled it out of his pocket, giving me a look that made me realize it was probably Shayla on the phone. He nodded his head a few times, answering some of her questions in between. When he was done, he put the phone back in his pocket. "Shayla says she's waiting for the both of us at your place with the letters."

I held back a groan as we brought ourselves to our full height and began heading for the door. The response we had gotten after putting up the ad in the papers had been massive. A week's worth pile of letters were in a box somewhere, waiting to be opened. I hadn't expected so many people to actually react to the ad.

It was the twenty first century after all. People didn't just announce that they needed a future partner in the newspaper. We got into the car and drove off. It took us about ten minutes to get to my place. My eyebrows arched once I stepped inside the house. More letters than I had even imagined lined up almost every corner of the room.

"Wow," Jake breathed, standing motionless and staring at the letters. Doubt warred with worry in my mind. The letters were way too much and they were scattered everywhere. The centre table, the couch, the floors, the bean bags. Shayla raised her head when she heard Jake's voice.

She looked around the room before resting her gaze back on us. "I know right?" She asked, surprise mixed with a bit of shock written all over her face. I noticed there was a trash can beside her. She collected a letter from beside her, opened it with a letter open and then read through it. Shaking her head, she tore it up and tossed it into the trash.

Jake and I took a step further into the house. "How do you plan to get rid of at least half of these letters?" I inquired, picking one for myself. I grabbed the letter opener, getting the letter open and moving her eyes over the words. Cringing, I tore up the letter and threw it into the trash can.

Jake raised his eyebrows in confusion at my reaction. Grabbing a letter for himself, he opened it up and read the words. He raised his head and bounced his gaze between Shayla and I. "I don't understand why you guys are ripping them and throwing them away."

Shayla raised herself to her feet, moving over to kiss him. She collected the letter and went through it before adding it to a different pile. "That's because there's nothing wrong with this one." She tied her hair in a tighter bun, lifting her diet coke up to her lips. "You cannot believe how disgusting and superficial some of them are in these letters."

I sat down on the couch, shrugging my shoulders."I guess that's how we can reduce the number of letters," I suggested, opening the top button of my shirt. "We'll take all the nasty ones out." Shayla gave me a dirty look, her voice dripping with so much sarcasm that I and Jake chuckled in amusement.

"Gee, I was so confused."

***

I wasn't sure why I couldn't stop staring at her. Maybe it was because I was surprised. She was the last person I expected to have paid attention to the ad. Disappointment coursed through my veins but I wasn't exactly sure why. We both already hated each other. Maybe hated was a strong word, but we were definitely hardly civil whenever we were around each other.

I couldn't wrap my head around the reason she was here. She must have first written the letter and then received a reply. I watched her sitting all by herself in the theatre. My jaws clenched involuntarily as a feeling I wasn't exactly sure what it was settled in my gut. There was some other reason she was here. There had to be. There was no way she was suddenly interested in something that centered around me.

Interested in getting married to me.

I felt a ridiculous surge of anger as I studied her. I had no reason to be pissed. I'd been the one to make this whole thing public and she was simply responding to it. What I didn't want to admit was that I hated that she had probably responded for all the wrong reasons. Suddenly I wanted her out of the contest. I wasn't forcing her to be here. She didn't have to come if she didn't want to.

Which of the letters had been hers?

Jake tapped my shoulder, signalling that the lunch break was over. I drew my gaze away from her as Shayla announced that we were to continue the audition. I found myself staring at her again. God, she was beautiful. She was in some tide black jeans that show off her ass , beige boots ,black crop top with a beige jacket. Her hair was down, a few braids running to the back of her head and sercuring her hair in place.

She had on light make up. Her lips were glossed and I could detect a hint of eyeshadow. Who had she dressed up for? Her eyes cut to mine then and our gazes locked. Something about her presence was mocking. We both knew this was the absolute last place she wanted to be in but for some reason was. She broke eye contact and returned her attention to the woman on the stage.

I fisted my jaws lightly, irritated that I was so aware of her. She was going to be out of the contest soon enough. It was only a matter of time before she figured out how much she didn't want to be near me and decided to sign out on her own.

"Who is she?" Shayla whispered, following my gaze. I narrowed my eyes at her, instantly warning her to not start getting ideas into her head. The last thing I needed was for Shayla to think that something was going on between us. I hadn't even gotten her name yet.

"No one," I replied to her question. Her eyes pinched and she shot me her infamous stink eye, letting me know that I didn't have her fooled. She had already seen us talking the other day at the bar. It was only a matter of time before I had her fully on my case. There was no way I was letting her upset my life anymore than she already had. "Not now Shayla, please." I said when she moved to say something else.

Jake slanted a look at the both of us, wondering what the talk was all about. The woman was done and he called out the next number from the list. I felt my eyebrows lift up when *she* stood up from her seat and walked to the front. I leaned back in my seat, prepared to watch how her audition was going to go down. Shayla shot a look in my direction but I avoided her gaze.

"Name?" Jake asked her. Her eyes met mine briefly and I could sense her hesitation. I had a feeling it had just occurred to her that I didn't know her name. I arched my eyebrow at her, tilting my head to the side and staring expectantly.

Her jaws tightened and she focused her attention back on Jake. I watched in surprise and suspicion as she smiled warmly at Jake. I fixed my gaze, willing her to look back at me but she didn't. She had never stopped staring at me with irritation and contempt but she was going to act all mushy with my friends?

"Melanie Steele," She answered calmly. I finally had a name to attach to the face that was beginning to haunt me. Melanie Steele. I wasn't sure how I felt about her name. The ice queen would have probably suited her more.

Or so I thought.

I watched her for the next few minutes and she was nothing like the woman that I had met. Her walls were down and suddenly she had a warm and even flirty appeal. She answered all the questions they asked like she already knew them before hand. And that was a little impressive given that Shayla, Jake and I had somehow managed to come up with different questions for each of them.

My interest piqued when she was asked why she wanted to get married to me. Her eyes locked on mine and I could tell she didn't want to say whatever she had rehearsed in front of me. I leaned forward, my back leaving the seat as I pinned her with my gaze.

Let's hear it, Melanie Steele.