47. Chapter 47
Jase helped Lindsey stand and pulled his pants up. A car was barreling up the driveway. He recognized the red ragtop he never thought he’d see again after his last visit to Monterey.
He definitely never thought he’d see it here.
Jase turned to Lindsey and said, “I’m sorry.”
“What is it?” she asked.
He didn’t know so he didn’t know how the hell to explain. Instead, he met the ragtop in the driveway, and a tattooed brunette flung herself out of the car and into his arms.
“Jase, thank God,” Chloe exclaimed.
“Chloe?” Lindsey asked behind him. He didn’t need to see her face to know she was shocked and pissed and reconsidering throwing them out of the house, if not kicking Jase out of his own bed.
Chloe’s lips curled, spotting Lindsey over his shoulder.
“I see this is still happening,” she said.
The first—and only—time the women met, he’d taken Lindsey to the bar where Chloe worked to collect money from the owner, Charlie. Chloe wasn’t supposed to be there.
And Lindsey wasn’t supposed to see the lipstick Chloe left behind on his face. It was every way a man could fuck up in the space of twenty fucked up minutes.
Jase set Chloe on her feet and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“It’s nice to see you too,” she muttered. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you. Would it have killed you to answer your phone?”
“I’ve been…Fuck.” Jase wasn’t sure how to explain this either. “How did you find me?”
She stuck her tongue in her cheek and admitted, “I stole your personnel file from Charlie.”
“I have a personnel file?”
“Your dad was listed as your emergency contact.” She shrugged. “I looked him up and here I am.”
“Hey, what’s going on?”
It was Graham with Helen in tow, both acutely interested in the woman with dark hair and knee-high boots standing in the driveway.
“This is Chloe, Jase’s girlfriend,” Lindsey said.
“Not my girlfriend,” Jase corrected.
“Thanks.” Chloe rolled her black-rimmed eyes. “Jase, we need to talk. Now.”
“This isn’t a great time,” he said.
“I don’t have a choice. If you would’ve answered any of my calls—”
“So it wasn’t just me you were dodging?” Graham asked.
“Not fucking now,” Jase warned him.
“Or checked your voicemail,” Chloe said.
“I’m serious,” Jase told her. “We’re in the middle of this thing for my dad. I can’t leave. Whatever you need, I can’t help you.”
“Oh, that’s why you can’t help her?” Lindsey asked.
“Trust me, babe,” Chloe told her, “I didn’t come all this way just to suck your boyfriend’s dick. I see that job is already taken.”
She looked pointedly at the undone button on Lindsey’s shorts. He was in so much fucking trouble.
“So what are you doing here?” Jase asked his past while his present snapped her button and brushed the dust off her knees.
“I’m pregnant.”
Chloe held up a plastic baggie, letting it unfurl for everyone to see the pink plus sign of the positive pregnancy test inside.
“And it’s yours.”