Telling Alice {ManxMan} | MPreg

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Lauren waved back at the bus driver as she stepped off, rushing down the street towards the cafe. She had promised Eshe she would be there at five to help out it was now about five fifty, saying she was a bit late was an understatement. It had been completely her fault she'd gotten caught up gossiping with her friend Nie and missed the first bus. Luckily they came about every half an hour.

She would play it cool when she got into the cafe, make a joke about how lucky Eshe was to have her help at anytime. Eshe would be slightly annoyed but she would just shrug it off like she wasn't power walking down the street to get there before she was a whole hour late. If she hadn't been rushing she probably would have noticed the person approaching her; if she'd been paying attention she probably wouldn't have been surprised when he grabbed her by the shoulder.

"What the literal fuck?" Lauren snapped spinning to face the man fully ready obliterate him with a world of insults but her tongue seemed to stick to the roof of her mouth. He wasn't a dead ringer for Alice, she always looked more like Eshe than anything with her rounded nose and heart face but there was no mistake this man was definitely Aiden. His eyes were the exact same shade of green. Lauren took a step back to look at him properly, he was too tall definitely taller than Eshe.

"I'm looking for this address, but none of the buildings have numbers on them and I really don't want to just walk into every store and ask is this your address, so do you know it?" He explained pulling a folded piece of paper from his jeans to show her. She didn't bother look at it, a scowl setting in on her face as she continued to look him over openly while he waited patiently for her answer.

"So you just bear paw me on my way to work and demand an answer from me like it's no inconvenience on my part? You know in France if you did something like that they'd pretend they didn't speak English and walk away from your inconsiderate ass." Lauren scolded, watching him shove the folded paper back in his jeans before running a hand through his light brown hair, ruffling the short undercut hairstyle before smoothing it back into place.

"You're right, I'm sorry." He sighed looking down the street towards the bus stop, clearly wondering if he'd walked past it.

"Why didn't you just look up the address and get the cafe's name?" Lauren questioned, shaking her head when he face revealed he clearly hadn't thought of that. "Whatever, the place you're looking for is a cafe called 'Why Mondays' okay, I work there so I'll take you."

Turning away from him then, she didn't say anything else as she led the way to the cafe internally glad he didn't say anything else. He hadn't been exactly what she'd been expecting if she was being completely honest, but it was no reason not to tell her. It didn't bother her that the father of her niece was white, it bothered her that he appeared to be a bit of an inconsiderate asshole but that was another situation entirely.

"I'll go get Eshe." Lauren stated as they walked into the cafe, throwing a quick glance over her shoulder she saw how confused he looked that she seemed to know who'd he'd been looking for but mumbled out a quick thank you instead of asking any questions. She shrugged dismissively pointed to an empty table, a clear order for him to sit there and wait as she rushed into the back of the cafe. Calling out for Lola to get the man's order.

She rushed past the stoves and coffee storage, ignoring anyone who called out to her as she went. She felt like she was on a mission, rushing even more than she had when she was fighting not to be excessively late for her shift. Turning the corner at the back of the cafe she sped up, seeing the door to Eshe's office slightly open.

"I can't believe it was because he was white!" Lauren growled steam rolling through the door, to Eshe's office, flinging it open with excessive force, finding not only him but Cyro to greet her with confused faces.

Eshe couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Lauren's peculiar intrusion. He was sitting behind his desk Cyro sitting in a chair across from him. He'd been listening to Cyro bitch about why he had to make a big deal about the cake placement with the staff at the Grand Rose Pavilion. Eshe had walked away when Cyro had started asking questions about the decorations so he didn't know everything that had happened. He just knew that by the time they left the staff was apologizing for the inconvenience and assuring them everything would be perfect come time for the girl's party.

"Alice's dad, you didn't tell us about him because he's white Eshe? Really that's so ridiculous, we don't live in the south you know, the family is more progressive than that." Lauren watched as Eshe's face turned from open confusion and slight amusement to obvious distress. He pushed away from his desk as if to prepare to stand but didn't. He looked past them deep in thought for a moment then refocused his gaze on Lauren.

It was obvious she wanted an answer, some sort of justification or confirmation that Eshe had in fact kept Aiden a secret just because he was white. Truthfully a small part of him just wanted to nod and agree, saying that was the reason would be so much easier than spitting out the truth, but he knew if he lied on this it would just come to light and far quicker than the initial lie about Aiden had. He thought about it, wondering how he would tell Alice if she were sitting right in front of him now.

"It wasn't because he was white," He paused, sighing as he let his eyes move to Cyro's ice blue ones. He was easier to talk to, his gaze far less judgmental and accusing, Eshe wanted to watch that. He needed to know if even the most understanding people would shift their eyes in distaste as he said this. "It wasn't because he was white it was because he was married."