Chapter 42
Zane
Rumors Sports Bar is on the outskirts of town, a place that I never frequent.
It’s not a terrible area, but I wouldn’t call it good either.
I feel a little uneasy pulling up in a Corvette.
I also feel uneasy knowing that if Nikki works here, she probably lives close by, which means that up until recently, Bentley did too.
I shove those thoughts to the back of my mind. Bentley is safe with Natalie. On the legal side of things, I knew it was better not to bring him.
I walk inside and it’s exactly what I expect: a rundown dive bar with TVs displaying an Angels game and two pool tables off to the side. It’s neither busy nor dead; mostly men and smells like old grease and cigarette smoke from back when indoor smoking was legal.
“Take a seat wherever and I’ll be with you shortly,” Nikki says from behind the bar. She’s counting cash and hasn’t looked up yet, though everyone else is staring at me.
“That your Corvette out there?” some guy in a Ford hat with a mustache asks me, nodding towards the window.
“Yes, it is,” I answer, and that’s when Nikki’s gaze graces up to meet mine.
“What are you doing here?” she asks.
“I came to talk to you,” I say gently.
“Why?” she asks.
“Because I think we have a lot of things to talk about, don’t you?”
“Where’s Bentley?” she asks.
“With a babysitter,” I answer, and she nods.
“Is this guy bothering you, Nik?” a guy from the kitchen steps out. He’s larger than me, though I could probably take him if I needed to.
“No, it’s fine, Jason. He’s my ex,” she says, and Jason’s scowl only deepens.
“Alright, well, you just let me know,” he says before slowly heading back into the kitchen.
“Thanks, Jason,” she says, and I make my way over to the bar and take a seat at the end.
For a minute, I just stare at her, saying nothing.
“Well?” she asks. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
“I figured I’d let you go first,” I say. “I thought you might want a chance to explain yourself.”
“For what?” she asks, and I lean in. There is no reason for this conversation to go public.
“For bringing our son to my house and dropping him off without a word. For sneaking around my house, taking photos and selling them to Sigma. Either or.”
“You want a drink?” she asks.
“I mean, I’ll take a beer,” I answer, and she grabs two bottles of domestic and pops the tops.
“Trish, I’m taking ten,” she calls out, and a blonde appears from around the corner.
“I got you, love,” she says before locking eyes on me and batting her lashes.
We head over to a booth in the corner and sit down across from each other.
“How is he?” she asks.
“Your son?” I ask.
“Yes, my son, who else?”
“He’s fine,” I answer, taking a sip. “Confused I’m sure, but adjusting.”
“You haven’t had any trouble with him?” she asks.
“We took him to the hospital. He got checked out, and I got a paternity test. And you’re right, he’s mine. I mean, assuming you knew that when you dropped him off on my doorstep.”
“Of course he’s yours,” she snaps. “I wouldn’t have slept with anyone else. I loved you.”
I decide to circle back to that at some point and stay the course. “There’s been a welfare check and I’m being granted full custody because it was considered abandonment.”
“I didn’t know what else to do,” she says.
“I’m going to get him into childcare soon,” I say.
“It’s expensive,” she says.
“I think I can manage,” I tell her with a small smile.
“You have to understand my situation,” she tells me. “I was pregnant, and I was afraid. I have no money, not enough to take care of a baby. I live in an apartment down the street. I work here for god’s sake.”
“We love you too,” Trish yells from across the bar, and Nikki offers a small smile.
“I wasn’t fit to be his mom.”
“Why didn’t you ask for help?” I ask, and she snorts out a laugh before taking a sip of her beer.
“Right. Because you would have helped me.”
“If I knew he was my son, yes. I would have sent money. Child support. I would have seen to it that you didn’t live in a place that wasn’t safe for him.”
“Our apartment was safe,” she snaps. “It’s not fancy, but he was never in danger.”
“I didn’t know that,” I tell her softly. “I didn’t know anything.”
“Of course not. You broke up with me before you could have known a single thing. After that, I got a positive pregnancy test, and I didn’t know what to do. I thought about adoption…”
“You didn’t want to be a mom?” I ask.
Nikki pauses for a moment before answering, like she wants to say the right thing but then just decides to be honest. “No. I never pictured myself being a mom. Of course, I never saw myself working here forever either,” she says. “I wanted to be a photographer.”
“From the sounds of it, you’ve accomplished that dream,” I say, and she swallows hard.
“So you know it was me?” she asks, but it’s more like a statement that she knows the answer to.
“I know it was you. You took the photos of the night I caught Ashlyn at my house, and you took the ones Sigma is plastering all over the internet. Not only that, but I have camera footage proving it. So, if you don’t want to get arrested for trespassing on more than one count, I suggest you tell me everything.
It’s one thing to drop my son off on my doorstep, but it’s another to break into my home at all hours of the day and night. ”
She takes a deep breath and lets it out.
“I’ve been a fan of yours for a while,” she says.
“But I am sure you knew that. After we broke up, I was heartbroken. I thought we had something special, but I guess it was a one-way thing. Then I found out I was pregnant. I didn’t know what to do, so I just got a job here so I could support myself.
I couldn’t wrap my brain around the idea of being a mom.
I thought maybe when he was born that feeling would change.
Except it didn’t. If anything, I felt less attached,” she explains while peeling the label off her beer bottle. I nurse mine and keep listening.
“That’s when I started taking photos. I’d made a little money off of some I shot around town and at the gym of celebrities, but nothing that would pay the bills.
I knew if I could get photos of you, good ones, they would probably be worth a lot.
I already had access to your house because you never changed your alarm code. ”
“I didn’t think I needed to,” I say, and she gives me a shameful look before going on.
“I also knew how to get past security. So I snuck in one night to take pics, but right when I was about to start shooting, I saw Ashlyn falling through the rafters. I couldn’t believe I wasn’t the only photographer there that night.”
“Wait,” I stop her. “So you were there too? Unrelated to each other?”
“Yep. I was about to go in for some closer shots when she fell into your hot tub. Then I was ready to leave, but you two started getting heated. And while I didn’t love watching it, I knew other people would. I’d get money—”
“And revenge,” I say.
“But it kind of backfired. You two became an overnight sensation, and I was stuck at home taking care of a child you didn’t know about, looking for the next photo op.”
I nod, trying to wrap my brain around all of it. “So you’re really willing to just give him up?” I ask, and her eyes grow teary.
“Is it terrible if I say yes? I’m not cut out to be a mother.” Nikki’s voice is shaky as she answers the question.
“He was healthy when you dropped him off. Warm and clean and fed,” I say.
“But I still dropped him off. Without looking back,” she says.
I take in a breath and hold it for a moment before letting it out. “You do know that last string of photos led to our break-up, right?”
“I figured as much.”
“Was that your intention?” I ask.
“Not initially. Deborah, the manager of Sigma? She came to me. I don’t know how she found me, but I’m sure it wasn’t hard.
She told me Ashlyn quit, and that she knew I could get good photos.
She offered me a lot of money to do it. And seeing as how I was feeling a little jealous of Ashlyn and the whole situation, I guess I did it a little out of spite. ”
“That’s wrong though,” I say.
“I know. I also know that you two are good together, whether I like it or not. I think you should fix things with her, and we can all move on. That is, unless you still want to have me arrested.”
“I’m not going to have you arrested,” I tell her. “But I also don’t know if I can fix things with Ashlyn either. I accused her of taking all those photos, or hiring someone to do it. I came here to get your side of the story. And now that I’ve heard it…I was thinking maybe you could help me.”
Nikki just stares at me for a moment. “Help you? How?”
“I love her,” I say. “And I’m sorry if that’s hard for you to hear. But right now, she doesn’t want to hear it either. And I was thinking…maybe she won’t listen to me, but she might listen to a woman. A woman who also loves Bentley.”
“You want me to talk to Ashlyn so that she’ll forgive you for accusing her of taking photos for Sigma that I took?” she asks.
I know how it sounds. But I’m also desperate.
“Yes,” I say.
“And why should I do that for you?” she asks. “Or are you blackmailing me? Either I talk to Ashlyn or you show the cops the camera footage, is that it?”
“No. I’m not reporting you either way. And believe it or not, this isn’t about me.
It’s not even about Ashlyn. It’s about Bentley.
At the end of the day, he deserves a mother.
And I understand if that’s not a job you want to take on.
But Ashlyn wants to be a mother more than anything in the world. And she loves our son.”
Nikki blinks back tears as Trish calls over to her.
“We got a big top coming in, Nik. I’m going to need your help.”
“I’ll be right there,” she says, blinking back the tears and finishing off her beer. Then she looks at me. “I’ll see what I can do. For Bentley,” she says before walking away.
And as I watch her switch hats, smiling at the crowd of people and working the room for not enough tips, I blink back tears too.
I stand up and pull out my wallet. There was no tab, and I assume the beer was on the house.
Or worse yet, it’ll come out of her paycheck.
I leave a hundred on the table and walk out.