Chapter 29 #2
Liam’s silent for a moment, looking at me carefully. “It’s not just your fault. It’s mine, too. We’re in this together.” He runs his thumb along his jaw. “It’s just you’re so used to being the one solving all the problems, you don’t know what to do when you can’t.”
“What would you have me do?” I ask, because I’m out of ideas. We’re going to be broke. His investors are going to be broke. We’ll both be out of jobs.
I mean, I am anyway. Jean-Baptiste made that clear. But Liam’s business should be thriving.
“Talk to Ava,” he suggests. “She knows Naomi better than anybody.”
“She won’t answer. So how am I supposed to talk to her?” I slump down, because losing money feels like nothing compared to losing her.
It’s killing me to think of her so upset. Hating my guts and feeling like I deliberately misled her. And yeah, I know I’m an idiot. I shouldn’t assume I know best.
Because right now I don’t know anything at all.
“I’m not sure,” Liam admits, shaking his head. “I was hoping you’d have some ideas about that.”
Well in that case, we’re all fucked.
AVA
“You couldn’t have picked a worse time to stop drinking,” Lauren says, shaking her head after I’ve filled her and Sophie in on everything that’s happened. “I’m going to have to drink for the both of us.”
“Me too,” Sophie says, her face deadly serious. “I’ll do it for you.” She squeezes my hand.
They turned up at The Hole in the Wall just after four. I was shocked because I hadn’t called either of them to let them know what was going on. It turns out that Ryan had sent Ella out to buy donuts from Lauren’s bakery, and the poor kid had broken down and told her everything.
It had only taken one phone call to mobilize Sophie and they’d arrived here within the hour. And now they’re as drunk as the rest of my colleagues. I’m literally the only sober one in the bar.
“I just can’t believe it,” Sophie murmurs when she finishes her glass. “This is your day from hell, honey. It can only get better from here.”
“Well hopefully tomorrow she won’t wake up and have to take her mom to court for indecency,” Lauren says. “That’ll be a bonus.”
“And she won’t lose her job tomorrow if she’s already lost it today,” Sophie agrees.
“Plus she can only get betrayed once, right?” Lauren sighs. “I can’t believe you had sex with him and then he turned around and stabbed you in the back. What an asshole.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t call him an asshole,” Sophie whispers. “What if Ava’s pregnant? That’s her baby’s daddy.”
“Eww.” Lauren wrinkles her nose. “Good point though.” Then she leans down and touches my stomach. “Ignore what I said, potential baby.”
They’ve definitely had too much to drink.
“Did you just say Ava had sex with Myles?” Ryan asks.
My stomach drops. Apparently this day can get worse.
“Um…” Lauren looks at me.
I shrug. I literally don’t care anymore. I don’t care what people say and I don’t care what people think. My world has crashed down and I’m too busy wading through the rubble.
“Yes, I did,” I tell him. “But it was for a greater cause.”
“Listen, buddy,” Lauren says, poking her finger into his chest. “This stays between us, right?”
“Of course.” Ryan nods, his eyes widening. He leans in closer, desperate to hear more.
“I’m trying to get pregnant and Myles was helping me,” I say, my words jumbling together. “That’s it. That’s the news. I slept with him and now I’m not sleeping with him.”
“Whoa.” Ryan lets out a low whistle. “You could be pregnant with the spawn of Satan.”
I frown. “Don’t call him that.”
“He walked out on us in our hour of need,” Ryan says. “He’s not exactly my favorite person.”
“Ava’s right,” Sophie says. “Whatever happens we need to stop calling people names. Especially if he is the father of her baby.”
“Can we stop talking about this baby?” I plead. “We don’t even know if there is one.”
“You’re having a baby?” Ella asks. Somebody hears her question and leans in, and before too long everybody’s gathering around our table, talking in heated voices about how I’m knocked up by the man they hate the most.
“I can’t believe you’re pregnant,” Ella says. “You don’t look pregnant.”
“I’m not pregnant. Or not for sure.” I sigh. “I could be or I couldn’t be.”
“It’s like Schrodinger’s baby,” Lauren says helpfully. “Both there and not there.”
Ryan shakes his head. “Can’t you sue him? Didn’t he take advantage of you?”
“No, I can’t.” I frown. “And I don’t want to. He didn’t take advantage.” Despite my harsh words to him, I know this in my heart. “We’re both at the same level, there’s no power play here. We were equals.”
“What was it like?” Catherine asked. “Is he as angry between the sheets as he is out of them?”
I widen my eyes at her. “Can we not do this? He deserves some respect.” Yes, I’m angry with him, but less than two days ago I was in his arms. It’s confusing and I don’t need their opinions of him right now.
I pull my lip between my teeth and try not to cry because all I can think about is how much I need him right now.
I wish he was here.
Sophie frowns at me. “Oh my God,” she whispers softly. “You’re in love with him.”
Her whispering isn’t very good, because everybody turns to look at her. Then they whisper to each other. About me and Myles and the baby we didn’t want anybody to know about. If I could bring myself to care what people think I’d be embarrassed.
But I’m not. It’s almost freeing. I’ve always cared what people think. I’ve always tried to be the good person doing the right thing. Taking the safe route through life. And look where it got me.
“Yes.” I nod. “I am.”
Sophie looks like she’s about to cry. “I’m sorry.”
“I know.” I take a deep breath. “But it’s literally the least of my problems now.” I need to figure out if I still have a job and if I don’t, find another. Then I need to find out if I’m pregnant. After that, I’ll worry about Myles and my emotions and all the other things I have no control over.
“You need sugar,” Lauren says. “And lots of it.”
“We ate all the donuts.” Ryan looks apologetic. “Sorry.”
Lauren rolls her eyes. “It’s okay, I own a donut shop.” She looks at me and Sophie. “Want to get out of here?”
“Yes,” the two of us say in unison.
Ryan frowns. “You’re getting more donuts? Can I come along?”