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My mind spins. I finally answer, "My wife's not staying at a hotel. She needs somewhere secure."
"Then where?"
I quickly review which of my properties are available and secure, and there are only two places. Everything else is rented or has a lower level of security than what I'm comfortable having my pet stay in. She needs somewhere nobody can get in or out unless they're welcome there.
The only two places are my L.A. place and Apartment Thirteen. So I answer, "Tell her she can stay at the L.A. apartment."
"You have to stay away," Ears warns.
I fight my internal battle.
Stay away from my wife?
How am I even going to do that?
As if Ears can read my thoughts, he repeats, "You can't go near her. I need your word."
I cave. "Tell her I'll take her to the apartment and then stay away."
Frustration fills Ears's expression. "Man, she's not going to be okay with that. You can't take her anywhere."
"Tough shit. No one goes in or out of my two places except me and now her."
"Then get her some transportation, but she's not going anywhere with you. She doesn't want to talk to you right now. You need to respect that," Ears asserts.
Groaning loudly, I pull at my hair. He's right, but I don't want to accept it.
"Get her a car," Ears orders. "Then she can come and go."
I close my eyes. Anything can happen to her and especially now that her single has dropped. I need to protect her. So I say, "I'll make sure she has a driver, but I'm not getting her a car. She needs to be safe."
Ears studies me a moment. He's known me longer than most people. He gets my fears. He finally says, "Okay, but you get cleaned up. You look like shit. Get some sleep, eat some food, and stay away from your wife until she's ready to talk to you."
The chaos inside me only grows. I hate it. I know it's not going to go away anytime soon. At any moment, I'm capable of snapping and completely losing it. Until Blakely's back in my arms, there's no way I'll rest easy.
Ears questions, "What are you going to do about giving her access to money?"
Guilt reappears. I pull out my wallet and take all the cash from the billfold. It's a few thousand dollars. I hold it out toward Ears. "Give this to her. I'll have a credit card issued for her today."
He takes the cash and reaches for the door handle.
I grab his arm and stop him. "Tell Blakely I found her secret box."
Ears turns back to me and arches his eyebrows. "Secret box? What does that mean?"
I sniff hard, fighting the anger building inside me.
Why didn't she tell me she thought she might be pregnant?
Does she already know?
Is she carrying my child?
I will not be a deadbeat father like mine. We're raising this baby together.
If she's pregnant.
All the questions I felt when I first discovered the pregnancy tests pummel me. "None of your business. Just tell her and let her know. Be clear that we need to talk about it sooner rather than later."
