Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
“Mary! Kassie’s having her baby! You need to get to the hospital, now!” The panic was easy to hear in Wendy’s voice. Kassie was overdue by at least a week and was more than ready to have her baby.
Mary hadn’t been sure anyone would even call to let her know when she went into labor, but Wendy and Casey hadn’t taken sides in her current drama, and had kept her updated on Kassie’s progress.
She’d done some shitty things in her life, but pushing her best friend away and getting married behind her back—and keeping it secret for months—was low, even for Mary.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’m not sure I can get off work early,” Mary told Wendy.
She knew frustration was leaking into her voice, but couldn’t help it.
She’d used up all of her sick and vacation time at the bank during her recent second bout of breast cancer, and she couldn’t afford to take any more unpaid time off work.
She couldn’t be terminated because of the time she’d taken already, thanks to the Family and Medical Leave Act, but her boss wasn’t exactly thrilled.
There was no way she’d approve of Mary leaving an hour early.
“Get here, girl!” Wendy practically yelled. “I think she’s gonna have this kid sooner rather than later. You don’t want to miss it!”
And Mary didn’t. Even knowing most of the women in their circle were upset with her, she loved all of them.
Rayne had been her best friend for years.
But through her, she’d gotten to know and love Emily, Harley, Kassie, Bryn, Casey, Sadie, and Wendy.
She couldn’t imagine not having them all in her life…
so the last couple of months had been torture.
Mary knew it was all her fault, for marrying Truck and not telling anyone, especially Rayne.
But the last thing she’d wanted to do was admit to her friends that she was using the man for his insurance.
Okay, that was a lie. She never would’ve married anyone for money. No way in hell. The insurance was the reason she clung to, but the truth was that she cared about Truck a hell of a lot.
Shit, who was she kidding? She loved the man. She’d practically moved into his apartment. Now that the cancer was gone, she could’ve moved back home. She could’ve put space between them. She could’ve told him that she wanted a divorce, for God’s sake.
But the truth of the matter was that Mary liked sleeping in Truck’s arms. Liked waking up to his tousled hair and grumpy morning attitude. She liked coming home from work and having him there. She liked cooking for him, and letting him cook for her. She liked pretty much everything about him.
The bottom line was that Ford “Truck” Laughlin was a good man.
Way too good for the likes of her.
She was Ann Weston’s daughter. The spawn of a town whore.
She was born white trash and she’d always be white trash.
Too brash. Too snarky. Hanging out with Rayne and the other women made her feel less worthless, but when push came to shove, she was exactly like her mama. Using Truck for what he could give her.
But she couldn’t quite make herself push him from her life. She couldn’t imagine him not being there. And that scared the shit out of her.
If she felt this way about him now, when they were basically living as roommates and not lovers, not like a true man and wife would live, how would she feel if she let down all her barriers?
Mary didn’t even want to get into the small fact that the thought of being intimate with Truck freaked her out.
Not because of him; she could never be afraid of him.
But because of what the cancer had taken from her.
Namely, her boobs. It was silly. It wasn’t like two mounds of flesh made a woman a woman, but the thought of baring herself to Truck now that she wasn’t sick, letting him see exactly how disfigured she was, made her physically sick.
It wasn’t as if Truck didn’t know…he did.
He was fully aware that she’d had a double mastectomy, knew what the radiation had done to her skin and nerves there.
He’d see her when wearing clothes was too painful because of the radiation burns on her skin.
But it was a whole different thing to willingly bare herself to him…
or to anyone…now that she wasn’t “sick” anymore.
“Mary?” Wendy asked.
Mary jerked back to the present. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. If Kassie has her daughter before I get there, tell her congrats for me.”
“I will. See you later!”
Mary hung up the phone and ignored the glare from her boss. She wasn’t allowed to make personal phone calls during work hours, but fuck that. Kassie was in the hospital having her baby. And it wasn’t as if she’d been on the phone for hours.
Taking a deep breath, Mary gestured to the next customer in line.
An hour and a half later, Mary rushed into the hospital and ran up to the lady behind the reception area.
“I’m here for Kassie Caverly. She’s having a baby. Might have already had it. Can you tell me what room she’s in or where the waiting room is?”
The woman smiled, obviously having dealt with many panicked patrons over the years. “The waiting area for obstetrics is on the third floor. The elevator is behind you on the right.”
“Thank you!” Mary told her and hurried toward the elevator doors. She pushed the button and turned to glance at someone she saw out of the corner of her eye—and froze.
It was Ghost. She hadn’t been alone with him since it had come out that she’d married Truck.
She knew Ghost was pissed. Rayne had refused to marry him until she could walk down the aisle with Mary.
Ghost didn’t take his eyes from her. He didn’t look mad, not really, but his gaze on her was uncomfortable.
Because she felt uneasy, Mary did what she did best…brought out the snark. It was her defense mechanism, and how she’d been taught to deal with intense emotions. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” she told him, and inwardly winced at the childish taunt.
But her words didn’t seem to faze the Delta Force soldier. He merely leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his broad chest and continued to stare at her.
Mary fidgeted and prayed the elevator would hurry the hell up.
Of course, when it did arrive, she was going to have to get in the closed box with Ghost. That would be worse.
She began to pray that someone else would arrive and get in the elevator with them.
That way, he couldn’t say anything that would slice her to ribbons.
Not that she would blame him. It was her fault Raynie wouldn’t marry him. Well, that and the stupid pact they’d made while drunk one night. She’d tried to convince Rayne to marry Ghost, but she’d refused. Now it was a huge mess, and Mary was right in the middle of it.
The elevator dinged with its arrival and Mary bravely stepped in, Ghost right on her heels. The second the door shut, he spoke.
“How are you, Mary?”
“Fine.”
“No residual effects from the cancer?”
Mary didn’t understand why he was being so nice. She wished he would go ahead and lambast her and get it over with. “My fingers tingle, and some days I can’t really feel them, but otherwise, I feel okay.”
“Good.”
She waited for the other shoe to fall. When he didn’t say anything else, she took a deep breath and looked up at him. “Go on, say it already.”
“Say what?” Ghost asked, looking completely unruffled.
“Yell at me. Tell me I’m a bitch. Tell me that you’re pissed at me for hurting Raynie.”
“Believe it or not, I understand why you married Truck and didn’t tell anyone.”
Mary gaped at the larger man. “You do?”
He nodded but didn’t elaborate.
Hell, Mary hardly knew why she’d kept her marriage a secret.
Well, part of it was that she simply hadn’t wanted to disappoint Rayne by not having that double wedding she had her heart set on.
Another part was because she was afraid.
Rayne had put her entire life on hold the first time Mary had fought the cancer.
Had spent every moment she could helping Mary get through it.
The guilt Mary felt that her friend had done so much for her was almost overwhelming.
She couldn’t have put Rayne through that again.
But more than that, the last thing Mary had wanted was for Rayne to watch her die.
Mary had decided she wasn’t going to go through the treatments again. And without the chemo, the cancer would eventually kill her. And she hadn’t wanted her best friend to have to watch her fade away.
She’d kept the cancer from her best friend for Rayne’s sake.
Mary had made peace with her life and was ready to die, but then Truck stepped in. Kept on her and wouldn’t stop. He basically shamed her into fighting a second time. When he learned that she didn’t have the money for the treatments, he offered to marry her so she could be on his Army insurance.
Mary wanted to decline, but in the end had taken him up on his offer.
She wasn’t an idiot, she’d known the man had feelings for her, but she’d pushed that to the back of her mind and put all her effort into the agony of going through the chemo and radiation treatments a second time…
and keeping her best friend at arm’s length so she didn’t find out.
For Ghost to say he knew why she’d done what she had was laughable. He had no clue.
“You don’t know me,” Mary whispered. “You have no idea what my motives were.”
Ghost took a step toward her then, and Mary retreated before she could stop herself. Once she realized what she’d done, she straightened and crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at Ghost.