Greed God chapter 64

January 20th 2016 Grant's Gym 8:00 PM EDT

Dinah  asked me to meet her at a boxing gym. She said asap, but was fine with  waiting a few hours to end my day, so I finished out the business day  early at eight. We sold about fifty pairs of glasses, though I was a bit  distracted to notice the details. Still, I handed over the pair of H  ranks with my number to Kara and thanked her for the help, asking her to  come back the next day to discuss a potential job. She was thrilled,  though she mentioned again that she was in high school so it would have  to be part time.

Once she was  gone I got in the car and drove to Grant's Gym where Dinah was meeting  me. When I showed up the whole parking lot was empty, and I pulled in  slowly, turning off the car before freezing in place. I sat there in  terror, hands gripping the steering wheel. This was...a big fucking  deal. I had not thought this shit through. To be fair I wasn't big on  thinking things through in general, but this was a new level of  carelessness even for me.

I  snarled and slapped myself across the face. Fuck that. Second guessing  was for little bitches. I had a kid now, so what? My dad had managed to  make someone as kickass as me and that guy was barely around. If I was  going to create a company to rival LuthorCorp and Wayne Enterprises I  was going to have to learn to take care of my shit, if I couldn't even  handle a baby then I had no business plotting world domination.

I  took a deep breath. I felt my pulse slow as I forced myself to relax. I  was already responsible for the existence of like ten people. One small  human who couldn't get out of a crib wasn't going to be much harder.  Plus I had the girls and Waylon and even Roy to help. Hell Jade was  already a mom, I could make her babysit if I wanted to. I relaxed my  grip and climbed out of the car, heading into the gym. When I knocked on  the door a burly older man opened it, glaring up at me.

He  didn't speak. Just stared for a few seconds, sneered, and then nodded  inside, moving out of my way. I stepped in, prepared to get ambushed or  some shit. The guy was oozing hostility, but he just slammed the door  and walked to the back office, slamming that entrance too, and leaving  me alone in the middle of the empty gym. Or rather, leaving me nearly  alone. I could see a figure sitting in the ring nearby, though I had  trouble seeing specifics. I walked over, slipping through the ropes and  approaching the slumped blonde on a stool in the middle of the boxing  ring.

Her  shoulders were shaking, and I could her her breath catch. My stomach  twisted. I...wasn't good with this shit. Crying women. Especially ones I  actually liked. Dinah was upset, was devastated, and it made me  nervous. I didn't like seeing her upset like this. Dinah was mine. She  was my girl, the mother of my child. I wasn't a sappy guy but belonging  to me meant something, meant she should be protected. Treated well. I  swallowed, stepping forward until I was right next to her, and she was  staring down at my shoes.

I  reached down and lifted her chin, raising it up so she had to look at  me. Her makeup was running, and there was a cigarette dangling from her  lips, but it wasn't lit. She looked...almost scared to see me. I knelt  down. I didn't know how to do this, how to comfort someone, but I knew  how to fake it pretty fucking convincingly. So I did that. I schooled my  face into a worried expression and took her hand, gripping it tightly  without squeezing too hard. I didn't speak, just waiting for her to be  ready.

Finally  after staring for a while she spoke, the unlit cig falling to the  ground. "I...I fucked up Nicky. I made a mistake. I was stupid and  reckless and impulsive. I took advantage of you, I betrayed Oliver,  betrayed all my friends, and now because I was a stupid, careless  ,desperate old slut I ruined everything." There was real pain in her  voice, profound hurt and self disgust and it ate at me. I didn't like  hearing her sound like that. It pissed me off.

She  averted her eyes. "I should have turned you down. Dirty talk is one  thing, but I knew better. You're a teenager and I'm in my thirties and  should have said no. But I felt ignored and overlooked and I latched  onto you because you're handsome and fun, and the way you look at me  makes me feel beautiful. Now I...I ruined our lives. Both of them. I  feel so stupid. I even asked for this. It was just dirty talk, just  careless horny bullshit, but be careful what you wish for I guess.  I..I'm so sorry Nicky."

Her  voice choked with tears again, barely able to hold back the sobs I  could see coming. So I cheated. I put a hand on her face, and I used the  Brand. "Dinah, sweetie, you're scaring me. Calm down ok? I need you to  tell me what's wrong. I'm sure whatever it is we can work it out." This  was my fault. I did this shit lazy. I hooked her with a shallow fuck  buddies type of attachment and then knocked her up and it slapped her  out of her lust induced haze. Now she was blaming herself for all of it  and I needed to handle this shit carefully.

She  took a ragged breath, but the Brand forced her to obey. She HAD to calm  down. She probably just assumed I was good at getting her to focus or  something because she didn't seem to register the physical control,  which was all for the best. She nodded slowly. "Right. I...I have to  tell you. I'm pregnant Nicky. I know we were talked about it as a sort  of role play thing during sex but...now I really am. You're going to be a  dad at eighteen, and I am SO sorry I did this to you. I'm thirty.  Having a kid at my age is no big deal. But you...this is such a huge  thing to drop on you."

Ouch.  Even I felt like an asshole about that. I feigned shock, painting an  astonished expression on my face. I had to play this carefully. Me being  excited would be the wrong vibe. I would come off as a nutcase. We'd  only been fucking a few weeks. But if I came across angry or afraid she  would feel worse. I decided to play it safe and go with a scared but  determined vibe. I looked down, hiding my terrified face, and then  painted a steely resolved glare on my face, looking up at her.

Her  eyes widened at the look but I didn't give her time to talk. "Hey. Age  difference or not I'm no idiot. I know what can happen when you have  sex. I wasn't exactly expecting this, and I'd be lying if I said I  wasn't fucking terrified right now, but I'm not going to abandon you  because I'm scared. I always wanted a kid eventually. Sure this is  pretty fucking early but I'm not the first person to be a father young.  You didn't ruin shit, I'm here, I'm fine, and you're safe and healthy  and so is our baby I assume." She swallowed hard, nodding at me, eyes  wide and fixed on my face.

She  look absolutely crushed, and I took a stab in the dark. "I'm guessing  you told your...probably ex now. Oliver?" She swallowed and nodded. I  winced. Explained all the self loathing. I was guessing he hadn't been  kind when he found out, and Dinah, despite the fetishes I planted and  some of the budding ones she had herself, was a genuinely caring person.  She felt trapped and unloved in her relationship, but she wouldn't want  to actually hurt anyone. Not like this. I ran a thumb over her hand  gently, and she looked up at me almost shyly.

I  leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "Whatever he said to you isn't  true. People grow apart. Sometimes they break up. This wasn't an...ideal  way for that to happen, but time will mend. As shitty as you might feel  I promise you this isn't some horrible crime or betrayal. Everyone is  alive and healthy and safe. You weren't right for each other anymore and  you made a mistake about how you went about ending things. I'm sure you  have regrets but focusing on those won't help anyone. Ok?"

She  stared at me uncertainly before taking a deep breath and nodding.  "I...I know. I do regret how this went, but I made my choices. If you  can be mature enough to stick by the thirty year old woman you knocked  up as a teenager I can be mature enough not to cling to past mistakes."  She smiled wryly. "You give a pretty decent pep talk for a teenager. I  have formal psychological training and I couldn't have done much  better." She smiled tiredly. "I was meaning to ask if I could crash with  you. I lived with Oliver and he kicked me out, and my friends  are...mostly pretty unhappy with me right now."

I  nodded without hesitation. "Yeah of course." I'd have to text Whisper  and Waylon and have them move all of my merging materials somewhere out  of the way. The house itself was crazy high end, but I'd seen better in  Gotham, at least from an external point of view. "You can stay with me  for as long as you want." I'd have to do any Mammon shit outside the  house, but I was mostly company focused right now anyway, so that  wouldn't be too big an issue, though I had one burning question. "What  about us? I mean I'm still seeing Barbie, assuming she doesn't dump my  ass."

She  wouldn't, though she would probably be a little pissy for a while. Joy.  To be fair she was already going to be kind of a bitch about Cherry so  this was a good excuse to keep her away from the house at least. Still I  might be serious about taking care of my kid but I absolutely was not  going to wife this bitch up. At least not at the expense of my other  girls. Luckily that didn't seem to an issue given the hollow laugh Dinah  let out when I mentioned it.

I  raised an eyebrow and she shook her head. "Sorry, it's just that you're  taking responsibility for the baby already and letting me move in. I  have no say in your love life. I'm not going to try to baby trap a  teenager. It means enough that you're standing by me. I won't pretend to  be thrilled by the idea of you bringing Barbara or any other girls  home, but I won't bitch about it or anything. As for us...we can take it  slow. Feel things out. Sex isn't off the table. Not like we can unring  that bell anyway."

I  laughed a bit, apparently I hadn't been as subtle about my continued  interest in her body as I could have been, but luckily she didn't seem  to mind. If anything the question seemed to lighten the mood a bit and  eat into her self loathing. I stood up and held out my hand. "Alright  well I think that's enough heavy heartbreak-y stuff for tonight. Get  your stuff and I'll drive you back to my place. I'm living on my own  now, so you won't know the way, and I didn't see your car out there  anyway." She smiled at me shyly and nodded and I breathed a sigh of  relief as I slipped a hand in my pocket and texted Whisper. At the very  least, that could have gone worse.