Chapter 33 Noel #2
“Yeah, right.” Reese snorted. “You know, good and well, that bitch has known every step you’ve made since leaving Waterford. She found out everything there was to know about me within a month. There’s no way she lost track of you.”
“So wait, wait, wait.” Ten waved his hands. “Lowe, you seriously fucked another woman, maybe even knocked her up, and you...” He set his gaze on Reese, “aren’t pissed as hell right now?”
“Oh, I’m pissed,” Reese was adamant to claim. “But not at Mason. Besides, this particular...event happened before we hooked up.” Then she cleared her throat and lowered her face before mumbling, “Technically.”
Lowe winced and reached out to run his hand over her hair before leaning over the bar to kiss her temple.
“I can’t believe this is happening. You are the only person I’ve ever wanted to have babies with.
Jesus, Reese...” He squeezed his eyes closed and pressed his brow to hers.
“Can’t we just rewind everything so I can go back do it right the first time? ”
I glanced at Aspen because, hell, seeing Reese and Mason’s connection simply drew me to her, wanting a taste of the same bond they shared.
She glanced at me as if she felt the same pull. Her eyes glittered with tears. Then she turned back to the grieving couple. “I’ve had a lot of experience with people like this...Mrs. Garrison, is it?”
Reese turned toward Aspen, wiping her wet cheeks. “That’s right.”
“Right,” Aspen murmured on a soft note. “And I’ve come to learn they give away certain tells when they’re lying.
Each person’s may be different, but they always do something to denote the lie.
And from her behavior, I don’t even believe she was pregnant, much less honest about the child’s paternity. ”
Lowe blew out a relieved breath. “Really?”
She shook her head.
“But her fucking belly was out to here.” Ten held out his hand and pretended to waddle. Next to him, Ham nodded, thinking the cougar had looked pregnant too.
“It wasn’t shaped quite right, though,” Aspen insisted. She pointed at the blonde. “Her stomach looks almost perfectly round, while the other woman’s was more...oblong.”
Propping his elbows on the bar, Pick leaned over the counter to check out the blonde’s belly. “You do have the most adorable baby bump I’ve ever seen.”
“And the other woman’s breasts didn’t look nearly as swollen as hers,” Aspen went on.
Pick snorted. “I’d say.”
The blonde shot him a glare. “Who the hell are you, anyway?”
He grinned at her. “Pick.”
She blinked. “Pick what? I’m not picking out your name.”
“No, that’s my name, Tinker Bell. Pick, short for Patrick Jason Ryan. You like?”
“Anyway.” Aspen lifted her voice to speak over Pick’s strange flirting with the preggo. “She didn’t have any of the water retention this girl has in her face.”
The preggo gasped, grasping her cheeks as she whirled to Reese. “I have water retention?”
“What? No! No, sweetie. Barely any at all.”
“So I do then?”
Gritting her teeth, Reese sent Aspen a scowl. I thought I was going to have to jump over the bar to defend her, but the front door opened again.
Mrs. Garrison had returned.
“Hamilton,” I growled. “Go lock the fucking door before someone else wanders in here, will you?”
If Jessie learned we had this many non-employees in the building after hours, she’d flip. But then, I guess she wouldn’t have to worry about it so much if she bothered to come in once in a while. She could deal with this scene instead of leaving it to us to handle.
“Anyone have a hatchet handy?” Reese growled, stepping away from the bar to face off with Mrs. Garrison. “Because I’m feeling the compelling need to hack a bitch.”
“Dude.” Ten bumped his elbow into Hamilton’s, looking jazzed as he bounced on the toes of his feet. “Chick fight. Awesome.”
Lowe hurtled the bar and was at his woman’s side in a microsecond.
Wrapping an arm around her waist, he tugged her back against his chest as he glared at the newest arrival.
“I told you not to come back. And I made it crystal clear before I even left Florida that I never wanted anything to do with you again. Why are you doing this?”
She ignored him, smiling almost pleasantly at Reese...almost being the key word because there was nothing pleasant about the glitter in her eyes. “Reese,” she murmured, nodding her head in acknowledgement. “It’s been too long since I last saw you.”
“I know, hasn’t it?” Reese answered with the same fake pleasantry before she sneered. “My hand’s stopped ringing from the last time I bitch-slapped the shit out of you.”
“Ohh!” Ten cried, smacking his knee and hooting. “Burn.”
Mrs. Garrison narrowed her eyes. “You need to release him, dear. He doesn’t belong here.”
Reese cracked off a laugh. “Me? Release him? Are you kidding me? You’re the one who—”
Lowe covered her mouth with his hand, muffling her words. “We’re not getting into this,” he told the old crow. “The only person who needs to leave Illinois is you.”
Mrs. Garrison’s voice broke as she asked, “But what about our baby?” just as her lashes did their fluttering thing.
Visibly shuddering, he shook his head. “You’re not even pregnant. I don’t know why you’re making up this lie or what you think it’ll accomplish, but nothing you can do will get me to leave my life here or split me away from Reese.”
“Oh, I can guess why she’s doing it.” Reese pulled Lowe’s hand off her mouth. “I bet her fiancé left her, and she had no one left to torture.”
By the way the older woman glared, I figured Reese must’ve hit the nail on the head.
“If I’m not pregnant, then how do you explain this?” Again, she made a dramatic performance of ripping open her coat and showing off her stomach.
“Oh, please.” The blonde Reese had called Eva laughed. “That’s the fakest pregnant belly I’ve ever seen.”
When Mrs. Garrison pierced her with a frown, she pooched out her own stomach.
“This is the real deal, honey. So why don’t you stop picking on Mason and my cousin Reese, crawl back home to Florida, and find someone new to harass.
In fact, look up Madeline and Shaw Mercer why don’t you?
They actually deserve your brand of attention. ”
The woman merely sniffed at her. “I should’ve guessed you were Reese’s snooty little Mercer cousin. Eva, isn’t it? The one who tried to trap Alec Worthington into marriage by getting herself knocked up—”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Reese snapped. “Why are you still here? No one wants you.”
“And no one believes you either,” Lowe added.
“So, you’re really going to bank on the chance that this bump might be fake?” Mrs. Garrison lovingly rubbed her belly. “Are you sure you can live with the uncertainty of knowing whether you have a child out there or not?”
Lowe’s eyes grew tormented. He tugged his girl in closer to his chest. Reese impressed the fuck out of me when she rubbed his arm soothingly.
It made me wonder what would happen if I were ever put into this situation.
After nearly raising Caroline, Brandt, and Colton, I knew I could never turn my back on the likelihood of being a father.
But now that Aspen was in my life, it’d kill me think of having anyone else’s child.
Realizing what I’d just thought, I sliced her a startled glance. But had I really just—? Did this mean I wanted no one’s babies but hers? Whoa. I think I had just thought that.
That was whacked out.
“Hey, I’ll volunteer to find out if the bump’s real.” When Ten rubbed his hands together with a leering grin and took a step toward Mrs. Garrison, she yelped and hopped away from him, raising her finger threateningly.
“Come near me, and I’ll call battery so fast your head will spin. No one touches me.”
“Then I’m not convinced you’re pregnant.” Lowe nestled his face against Reese’s, seemingly emboldened by her presence. His skin tone was no longer ashen, and now he looked more pissed than scared.
“It’s a boy,” the persistent woman went on. “I bet he’ll have your eyes and your beautiful hair. I’m thinking of the name Christopher Mason.”
When Lowe once again went sheet white, I decided I’d had enough. Someone needed to take control of this situation and nip it in the bud.
“Stop already,” I said, glaring down Mrs. Garrison.
“You’ve already gone too far,” Aspen added, slipping off her stool and opening her purse.
“Because this is one lie you can’t support.
We can stand around here, bantering all night and accomplishing nothing.
Or we can prove whether you’re telling the truth within minutes.
” Pulling a small brown paper bag out of her purse, she opened the end and extracted a box.
When I squinted to focus on it, I realized it was a home pregnancy test.
What the—?
Stunned speechless, I gaped at it, my mouth dropping toward the floor. Lifting my gaze, I met Aspen’s apologetic cringe just as Ten exploded, “Shit, Gamble. You knocked up Dr. Kavanagh?”