Free Marco (The Men of Indecent Exposure #1) by Raven St. Pierre Page A

came my way.
    “I got a call a few weeks ago.” I paused, shaking my head at how hard this still was to believe. “Someone I met when we went to The Alibi a couple months ago. She and I hooked up and—”
    “The one you banged in the bathroom?” Carlos blurted, smiling hard.
    The fact that he remembered more than I did…
    “Why can’t I picture her?” Justin asked next, leaning forward in his seat. I glanced back and forth between the two of them. Both were more concerned with Brynn’s appearance than the rest of my statement. “What’s she look like?” The question was for Carlos, not me.
    Carlos’s smiled as he recalled an image of Brynn and I felt my brow tense. “She was definitely hittable, man. Definitely hittable,” was the response he gave, nodding. “Marco’s type all day—cute, brown-skinned, thick, hair was looking right, too.” He paused to nod vigorously again, giving his seal of approval. “You know I would’ve stopped him from even going to talk to her if she was busted.”
    Justin shook his head. “I must’ve been high as hell, cause I can’t remember a thing.”
    “You were,” Logan confirmed from his seat.
    Justin laughed and then saw the look on my face, realizing I wasn’t nearly as entertained as the three of them were. “My bad, man. Get back to your story. We didn’t mean to interrupt.”
    Deciding that my head was clear enough to work and talk at the same time, I loaded the new needle from a sterile pack and grabbed the alcohol again.
    There was no candy-coating the rest of the story, so I gave up trying to ease into it and just blurted the words, “She’s pregnant.”
    Dead silence.
    I dropped the used wipe into the trash basket, carrying on while the guys processed everything.
    “And you’re sure it’s yours?” Carlos asked.
    I nodded. “We got the paternity test results yesterday… and it’s definitely mine.”
    The razor I used to prep Carlos’s shoulder clattered into the trash and I swiped his skin with alcohol one last time. Next, I glanced over at the sketch of what he and I discussed adding to his tattoo before grabbing the bottle of black ink.
    “Wow, I didn’t realize you went through with setting it up.” Justin’s tone let on that he was shocked, probably remembering how confused I was about everything the last time we talked.
    I let out a breath and pressed my foot on the pedal, concentrating on the area of Carlos’s skin where my lamp was focused. “Yup, it’s official.”
    “Well, congratulations,” Logan mumbled.
    I laughed a little, but didn’t turn toward him. “Thanks… I guess.”
    “Nah, this is gonna be a good thing,” Carlos cut in. “Regardless of how it happened, this is your first kid. That’s definitely something to celebrate.”
    “Agreed,” Justin added.
    One thing’s for sure, they were all a hell of a lot more optimistic than me. Mostly, I was skeptical about how Brynn and I would manage to pull through this together. Being complete strangers was bound to make things more difficult.
    “I know you don’t know this chick all that well, but…” Carlos paused in the middle of his question. “Wait… what’s her name, so I don’t have to keep calling her that?” he asked.
    “Brynn.”
    He started over. “I know you don’t know Brynn all that well, but does she seem cool? She sending up any red flags?”
    I thought about that and shook my head, answering honestly. “Not so far.”
    She’d been pretty level-headed about everything, aside from getting upset when I wanted a DNA test, but that was it and apparently, there were other things going on with her that day. So, for the most part, I suppose she seemed normal.
    “So, she’s how far along again?” Justin asked.
    I did the math in my head. “A little over three months now.”
    Carlos’s eyes widened. “Damn! And time is gonna fly past. She’ll be delivering before you know it.”
    I envisioned that, her going into labor. When and if I ever decided