Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Alice and I both sighed as we walked up to the front door of my parents’ house.
“Thanks for coming.” I offered her a weak smile. “You really didn’t have to.”
“It’s fine. I wanted to be able to support you today.” She took a deep breath. “Plus, who cares what Aiden or Xander have to say? We’re here because your parents requested you. You’re not here for them or even stupid Gabby.”
“Let’s do this.”
I opened the front door, and we walked into the house.
Everyone was there, including Henry and Xander.
And I just stood there with a fake smile on my face.
I wasn’t going to act like I cared that he hadn’t called me in the last two weeks.
I didn’t care that I hadn’t heard from him since the bookstore.
He could do what he wanted to do. He meant nothing to me.
If he could forget me that easily, I could do the same.
“Hey, everyone.”
“Hey, sis.” Scott jumped up and gave me a hug, and then he turned to Alice and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
I noticed Aiden glaring at them and wondered exactly what had gone down between him and Alice, as she still hadn’t told me.
“So, what’s so important that we had to come this weekend?” I looked at Gabby, and she gave me an evil smile.
“I’m home.” She smiled. “That’s what’s so important.”
“What?” My jaw dropped. “I had to come home just because you’re here?”
“Yes.” She grinned. “Isn’t life grand? But just in case anyone wants to hang out with me later today, I’m going out with a few girlfriends.”
“Okay.” I rolled my eyes.
“We’re celebrating my upcoming wedding.”
“Okay.” I looked at Xander, and he gave me a short smile. I turned away and looked at Scott. “So, what plans do you have this weekend?”
“Whatever you want to do.” He grinned, and I smiled at him gratefully.
Ding-dong.
“Who’s that?” Aiden jumped up with a frown. “Is anyone expecting anyone?”
“Not me.” I shook my head and noticed that Alice was blushing. “Alice?” I asked her softly.
“Um, yes,” she squeaked out.
“Who?” I frowned.
Don’t kill me, she mouthed.
I scratched my head. What was she talking about?
“Liv.” Aiden’s voice sounded stiff and angry as he walked back into the living room.
“Yes?” I snapped at him and frowned at the two burly guys behind him. “What?”
“These guys are here for you and Alice.” He looked at her with a cold mask. “They said they’re here to join you for the weekend.”
“What?” I was confused.
“Brock and Jock, there you are.” Alice ran to one of the big, burly guys and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “We’re so glad you made it. Aren’t we, Liv?”
She gave me a look, and I nodded slowly.
“Uh, yeah, sure.” I walked over to Alice with a questioning look.
She turned to everyone. “Brock and Jock are two guys we’ve been dating, and we wanted everyone to meet them.”
“Oh, yeah. Ha-ha.” I laughed and faked a wide smile. “So glad you made it, Brock.” I kissed the other guy on the cheek, and he stared at me like a robot.
“I’m Jock,” he said stiffly.
“I know that. I was just teasing you, honey.” I linked my arm through his and looked over at Xander, who was glaring at me.
“Brock and Jock?” Gabby asked with a laugh. “Nice names.”
“We’re brothers,” Jock said.
I wished I could tell him to keep his mouth shut. Where had Alice picked these guys up from?
“And we love to double-date, don’t we?” Alice said with a wide smile. “And have sleepovers,” she added and giggled, and I could see Aiden looking even angrier as he walked away from us.
“Good for you.” Gabby flipped her hair. “I’m glad you two losers have found guys who can put up with you.”
“Shut up, Gabby!” I shouted at her.
She looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “Or what?” she said sweetly.
“Ugh,” I groaned. “Nothing.”
“That’s what I thought.” She laughed and then leaned down and gave Xander a kiss on the cheek. “I’m going out. See you later, okay, baby?”
“See you, Gabby,” he said, but his eyes never left my face. “Liv, can we talk?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Let’s go out, Jock and Brock. We’ll be back later.”
“You just got here,” Scott said with a frown.
“Well, we’re going out now,” I snapped and grabbed Jock’s hand. “Let’s go, guys.”
We all hurried out of the front door, and I turned to Alice. “What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking we’d have two hot guys here to make us feel better and make those two fools jealous.”
“And the best you could do were Brock and Jock?” I said quietly. “They look like mountain men.”
“They’re strippers.” She giggled. “They were the best I could do.”
“Oh, Alice,” I groaned. “What should we do?”
“Tell them to go home and go to the mall and then go and get a drink?”
“That sounds like a good idea to me.” I nodded in agreement.
We gave the two brothers forty dollars and then hopped into my car and drove to the local mall.
“I love retail therapy.” I grinned happily as we made our way into the wine bar with our hands full of bags.
“So do I.” She nodded. “Though my credit card doesn’t agree.”
“Neither does mine.” I laughed. “But that’s a worry for next month, when the bill arrives.”
“You speak the truth,” she said, and we ordered a bottle of Chardonnay. “Until the bill arrives, then we are fine.”
“Exactly.”
“Oh my God,” she groaned.
I frowned. “What?”
“You won’t believe who’s here.” She sighed.
“Who?” My face paled. “Please don’t say Gabby and Xander.”
“No—well, you’re half right. Gabby is here with a bunch of girls.”
“Oh, great.” I made a face and then watched as Alice frowned.
“Okay, this is weird, but she’s drinking wine, I think.” Her eyes narrowed, and she gasped. “She is definitely drinking wine.”
“What the fuck?” I turned around. “She can’t drink alcohol! She’s pregnant.”
“What’s she doing?” Alice frowned. “She’s such a selfish bitch.”
“I’m going to go and tell her off.” I jumped up, furious with Gabby.
What the fuck was she playing at?
“What do you think you’re doing?” I screamed as I approached a giggling Gabby.
“Oh, hi, Liv.” She grinned. “I’m showing Shannon my ring.”
“I don’t care what you’re showing her,” I shouted at her again and picked up her glass and sniffed. “This is wine. Why are you drinking?”
“What?” She frowned.
“You can’t drink, Gabby.”
“What?” She grabbed her glass and sipped some wine in front of me. “Says who?”
“What about the baby?” I said softly. “How can you do this to the baby?”
“I’m not pregnant.” She laughed and sat back.
“What?” My jaw dropped. “What about Xander and Henry and the baby and the engagement? What do you mean, you’re not pregnant?”
“Oh, Liv.” She shook her head. “You don’t get it, do you?” She sipped some more wine.
“Get what?”
“Luke and I had a relationship. Well, we had sex.” She grinned. “Don’t tell Alice, but it started when they were dating.”
“Oh my God.” My eyes widened. “What?”
“Yeah, he’s pretty good in bed.” She grinned. “Who was I to say no?”
“Oh, Gabby.” I shook my head.
“Well, then he met that bitch Joanna.” She got angry. “And then he dumped Alice, and instead of being with me, he started dating her.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” She shrugged. “We still fucked. And I hoped he would come to his senses.”
“But then what about Henry?” I asked softly.
“Oh, he was Luke’s friend. I met him one night and tried to make Luke jealous.” She shrugged. “He was okay. I didn’t care about him.”
“Why did you lie about the baby?”
“I wanted to make Luke call off the wedding.” Her face grew sad. “I thought he’d call it off to marry me if he thought I was pregnant with his baby.”
“Oh.”
“But stupid Henry told him we’d fucked, and somehow, they ended up thinking it was his. And, well, next thing I knew, Xander was offering me money to marry him as long as he and Henry could be in the baby’s life.”
“And you let them believe there was still a baby?”
“He gave me this huge rock and promised me a lot of cash.” She shrugged. “Who was I to say no?”
“But there’s no baby, Gabby. You can’t just lie and think that’s okay.”
“What do you care?” She drank some more wine.
“I can’t believe you did that. I thought you were pregnant. Everyone thinks you’re having Xander’s baby.”
“I’m not stupid, Liv. I’m on the pill.” She tossed her hair. “Do you really think I’d have unsafe sex and risk having a baby and ruin my perfect figure right now?”
“You’re a selfish bitch.”
“Thank you.” She grinned and drank some more wine. “And salute to you too.”
“Whatever.” I shook my head and walked away from her, my head thudding as I joined Alice again.
“What’s going on?” she asked softly as I sat down with her. “What did she say?”
“She’s not pregnant,” I said in a daze. “She’s not pregnant, Alice.”
“No way.” She looked at me with a shocked expression. “So, she lied.”
“Yes, she lied to all of us.” I rubbed my forehead and closed my eyes for a second.
“Are you okay, Liv?” Alice grabbed my hands.
I opened my eyes slowly and nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
“You don’t look okay.”
“It’s just something she said; it got me thinking.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not on the pill.”
“So?” Alice shrugged. “Does that matter?”
“I had sex with Xander.”
“So? He used condoms, right?”
“Not the last couple of times.” I shook my head and buried my face in my hands and groaned. “How could I be such an idiot, Alice? He came in me several times,” I whined and then looked up at her. “Gabby’s not pregnant, but what if I am?”
“What do you want to do?”
“Let’s go home.”
“To your parents’ house?”
“No, let’s go to the apartment.”
“Don’t you want to tell Xander what you found out?”
“No.” I shook my head and stood up. “He made his decision. He can deal with the mess that his business transaction makes. That’s his problem.”
“Oh, Liv.” Alice sighed. “Promise me one thing though.”
“What?”
“Take a pregnancy test.”
“I’ll get one this week.”
I nodded, and we left some cash on the table and then walked out of the restaurant to the sound of Gabby and her friends laughing.
I didn’t know what to think or feel. A part of me wanted to be pregnant, and the other part of me was scared stiff that I was.
I wanted to tell Xander the truth so badly, but I didn’t want to be the one who told him.
I didn’t want to be the girl who was chasing him and forcing him to be with me.
That was no way to start a relationship. No way at all.