Chapter 9

Max shifted his weight from one leg to another.

“I... I apologize if I made you feel uncomfortable when we met last week.” he started, getting her attention. “We usually have a lot of women around trying to get a piece of us, and you would not be the first to approach faking a pregnancy or pretending the baby is from one of us. It's too soon for me to say that I trust you, but at least I won't make it harder than it already is for you. So... truce?”

She nodded once and then looked around, looking uncomfortable. She didn't quite look like she accepted the truce, so Max looked at William, wondering if he should try again. She did look like she was not enjoying the pregnancy state, and if everything she wanted was just to have William, she shouldn't look like this, considering he was committed to being with her. In the minutes they had been in the office with her, he had thought about not being so hard on her to not affect the pregnancy in any way. Even if his friend was not the father, he didn't want to affect her in a way that could stress her and potentially lose the baby because of it.

William noticed her discomfort around the men and remembered she was not the talkative and social type, so he put his hand on her back and pushed her to the door, which she quickly did.

“Should we go to your house? I can prepare something now, or we can go somewhere close if you are very hungry.”

“I think we should go somewhere. I'm hungry, and that's not something that happens often, so we better take advantage of it quickly.”

“We should go to the restaurant that is two blocks away,” Leo said, getting in the elevator.

“The food they make is too heavy,” William murmured while thinking about where to go.

“So, what? She is pregnant; she has to eat a lot.”

William rolled his eyes.

“She has not been eating well for a while, so too much food can make her sick. Besides, with the sickness that comes in the first trimester, I prefer to give her something light her stomach can quickly digest before it decides to expulse it.”

He noticed she was looking at him, but when he turned to look at her, she removed her eyes and looked to the front. They got out of the elevator in the underground parking lot. He followed a little behind and saw Benjamin helping Jean -the secretary- get in a car in the passenger seat. He looked at them, waved, and smiled; William was not sure where he was looking when he smiled before getting in the car on the driver's side until Leah turned around and looked at Max, who looked back at her, uncomfortable.

“Do you know him?”

“Mr. Knight? No, I just met him. I don't know why he has been eyeing me like that.”

She shook her head softly and continued walking until she reached her car. William took his car keys and passed them to Leo, who was closer to him.

“You know my car is in the parking lot in front of the building. You take it and return it later.”

Theo looked at the keys and then at the other guys.

“Are you particularly telling me to get away, or is that for all of us?”

“All of you.” he smiled and waved before getting in the car with her.

He recommended her a restaurant nearby and ate there; they talked for a while, and as she was not that talkative about her life, he decided to step on common ground and talk about business. Her company had started just like she had stated before; she started to make products for herself, and when her neighbors and best friends, Benjamin and his sister Melissa, saw her skin looked better, they asked her to sell a little to them. As the products worked wonders on them, they started to spread it around in their inner circle, and the people in the inner circle spread it with other friends and families until Leah was not able to make products by herself. Benjamin and Melissa started to help her prepare and sell them until the thing got too big. Without noticing, they had created a small business, and Leah let them run the whole thing, but they never left her out.

Leah tried to leave a few times as she didn't want to be responsible for a whole business, but she would easily get mad when someone started to mess up the formulas or started selling them more expensive than she considered was right, so she stayed to prevent people from messing with 'her baby.'

William listened to her, smiling all the time. He also considered his company his baby. Although Rising Enterprises had not been an accident like hers, it was also difficult for him to let others run everything, even if those were the three idiots who helped him create it. At least, same as Benjamin and Melissa, his friends were happy not having the credit for everything.

After eating, she took him to his house, and he invited her in. She seemed reluctant for a while but then accepted because she needed to use the bathroom. He filled a glass with water for him and another one with juice for her. She came out and saw the glass she hadn't asked for. She grabbed it sighing.

“Why did you say you are my boyfriend?” she asked before taking a sip.

“I didn't. Theo was the one who thought that would let us in.”

“That would be hard. Melissa would be the first to know if someone with that title was out there. She knows I'm not interested in any relationship.”

William took a little of water, getting a little uncomfortable. He liked her too much physically and sexually, and personality-wise, he was starting to like her like that too, and with that statement, she had low-key slapped him back awake from his delusion of being with her.

“Well. Either way, I was not the one who said it. I had not even considered it because we can raise a child without having to be more than friends.”

Her eyes started to close; she shook her head and put the empty glass on the table.

“I better leave. I'm getting sleepy.”

She looked like she could fall asleep any second, so he followed her worriedly.

“Should I take you home?” She rubbed her eyes, but he stopped her because that was not good for the eyes.

“Then, how will you come back?”

“I'll just tell Leo to pick me up.”

She rolled her eyes and gave her the keys. They left, and he drove her home. When he arrived, she noticed she had fallen asleep. He considered waking her up but then opted to just carry her. He stopped at the parking designated for her apartment and carried her to the elevator. At her apartment door, he struggled to get the keys from her purse; he clearly didn't plan through before deciding to carry her. When he opened the door, the first thing he saw was Demon, who looked confused as to if he should bark at the stranger or be happy about his owner being back.

“Hi, Demon,” he whispered. “Can you show me your mom's room?”

He decided to enter the first room he saw, and it looked like it could be hers. Apparently, she had left in a rush this morning as there were some clothes and interiors scattered around. He put her softly on the bed and looked at her. Her tight pants and tight shirt were probably not comfortable to sleep in, but he didn't want to cross boundaries and make her push him away, so he just put a blanket over her. She changed her position and pouted while mumbling something unintelligible. He chuckled a little, thinking she was cute and left the room.

Demon didn't look at him very friendly, but he was not growling.

“Have you eaten today?” he said, looking for his plate. He saw he had water but not food. “What do you eat?”

Demon leaned his head to the side, not understanding him. William tried looking for dog food on all the counters but failed, and then he tried with the fridge and found a package that said 'Friday' on it. When he checked what it was, he found pieces of meat and some vegetables. He looked at Demon, who was now waggling his tail and looking at the bag in his hands.

“So, you are on a raw diet?” he grabbed his plate, which he found while looking for the food. “You are a well-treated dog. Do we have to heat this?”

He heated it just a little until it was like room temperature, and while Demon ate, William took his phone and saw a message from Leo telling him to stay there for a moment as there was traffic and it was going to take him a while to get there.

After finishing, Demon approached him, and he saw he had a tug toy in his mouth. He sat in front of his feet and waited.

“So, you are as cute as your mom?” he said with a smile before grabbing the other end of the toy and pulling, playing with the dog. “Don't you need a walk?”

After a while playing, he stood and walked to the door, with the dog following. He opened it, got out, and called him, but Demon looked at him confused.

“You don't leave with strangers that easily, do you?” he told him, pleased. He got close to the dog, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him outside. The dog resisted a little. “Easy, I won't steal you. Your mom needs to rest, and I don't want her to wake up with the house smelling like poop.”

Demon followed him, taking as many steps as he made; if he stopped, Demon would stop too and look at him, waiting. Down in the lobby, the clerk looked up when he got out of the elevator; he looked confused, not recognizing him, but when he saw Demon, he looked alarmed and stood up.

“Excuse me, sir? Where are you going with that dog?”

“I'm just taking him for a walk.”

“And you are?”

“William. Leah's friend.”

The clerk looked confused for a moment but then slowly sat down again.

“Well, Demon is a very aggressive dog, so he'll just rip a leg off if you try something weird,” he muttered, letting him go.

William walked out confused; Demon had not been that aggressive with him except when he got jealous when he touched Leah in front of him. He let that go and kept walking. Demon didn't look like he wanted to do something else than follow his steps. After 10 minutes, when they reached a park, Demon got a few steps away and started to do his stuff. When he finished, William took a bag he had taken before and left no traces of Demon being there. This time, Demon walked in front of him, going back home, waggling his tail again and looking back at him, and waiting if he was several steps away.

“Am I not walking fast enough to you?”

When they got back, the clerk looked at him warily again but seemed more relaxed now that he was back. They got into the apartment, and Demon started moving more freely again.

“I see I had you tensed the whole time.”

Demon seemed to be happier with him, seeing that he fed him, walked him, and brought him back home. William peaked into the room and saw Leah was still sleeping, so he stayed in the living room playing with the dog and waiting for his friend.