Bryce held back the urge to roll his eyes. He hated women who played games. Lateisha didn’t play games; she just told it like it was. Angry about comparing the woman to Lateisha, Bryce frowned.
“It’s not really any of your business what’s wrong with me,” he snapped at Rachel. “What do you need?”
Rachel flinched as if he punched her, the first visibly honest thing she did since she started working for him. He felt bad for a minute until he realized she still planned on playing games.
“I’m sorry, Bryce. I was just concerned,” she pouted some more. Bryce was at the end of his patience limit.
“Rachel, just tell me what you came to say,” he barked.
“Right, the results of Ms. Aaron’s background check just came in and I thought you’d like to see them right away,” she said handing him an envelope, a smirk on her face as if she knew something he didn’t.
Shit, he forgot about that. Why did he push for the insemination before he got the results back? Not liking the answer that came to mind, Bryce pushed the thought away.
“Thanks,” he said, taking the letter from her outstretched hand. Rachel brushed her fingers with his when he grabbed it and Bryce cringed at the contract. “And Rachel,” he added as she walked from the room, “It’s Mr. Henderson to you.”
Rachel scowled but didn’t answer, instead turning with attitude and leaving the office.
Bryce shook his head at her absurdity and walked back to his desk. He tore the letter open and unfolded it, unsure of what he would do if something major showed up. Scanning the letter he frowned. Her credit was good, she had no credit card debt or was being sued by anyone or sued anyone for anything. That was good. But there was one thing that came up that was unusual. Bryce tossed the letter onto his desk angrily and snatched his cell phone from where he left it on the side table after talking to John.
He dialed the number from memory, something that concerned him but he’d address that another time, and waited for Lateisha to answer.
“Hello?” She answered, her voice sounded scratchy like she just woke up.
“Lateisha? Hello. I’m sorry, is this a bad time?” Bryce became flustered at the sexy sound of her sleep deepened voice.
Bryce heard rustling for a moment. “No, I’m sorry. Is something wrong?”
Bryce remembered the background check letter and frowned. “Yes. Well, I’m calling because I have a question. Who is Tyler Walker?”
The other end went quiet. “Ty and I are dating; well we were dating, but not seriously. Why?” Lateisha answered, her voice sounding defensive.
“How come you didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend when we started this process?” Bryce demanded, with more anger than he should have felt.
“He’s not really my ‘boyfriend’. We’ve been dating off and on since college but he’s such a slacker,” Lateisha said; the pot calling the kettle black.
“Well did you inform him that you could be carrying another man’s baby?” Bryce said with too much emotion. What was wrong with him?
“Um, no, cause it’s none of his damn business,” she answered angrily.
“I’d want to know if my girlfriend was a surrogate,” Bryce said. This conversation was really not going the way he planned.
“Like I said, he’s not my boyfriend and I don’t owe him anything. If you must know, I spoke to him about possibly going through with this when I found out and he broke it off anyway just for suggesting it. Not that I really cared. This is more important,” Lateisha stopped talking suddenly.
“Why?” Bryce asked, afraid of the answer.
“Why what?”
“Why is this more important?” He asked.
There was another long pause. “Because I need the money and you really want a kid,” she said, her voice taking on a more gentle tone.
Bryce’s chest tightened. Never through this whole process did he think she really cared about what he wanted.
“Bryce? Are you still there?” Lateisha asked.
“Yeah. I’m sorry about all that. I just didn’t want anything to compromise our deal that’s all,” Bryce lied. He knew why he was angry even if he was afraid to admit it.
“Right,” She answered, something that sounded like hurt in her voice.