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He wrapped his arm around her waist and held her close. Back to Ken and Barbie.
Unreal.
“How are you doing, Rush?” Lauren asked with genuine concern.
“I’m okay. But I think I’m going to head out since you two are back. Gia needs to get some rest. I’ll probably just get a hotel nearby and come back this afternoon for evening rounds.”
“That’s crazy,” Lauren said, looking at her husband. “They can stay in our guest room. Right, honey?”
Elliott flashed a politician’s smile. “Of course.”
Yeah, right. “Thanks, Lauren. But we’re good.”
“If you change your mind, or if Gia needs a change of clothes or anything, just text me.”
I nodded and looked down at Edward one more time before leaving. “Call me if anything changes.”
Every bone in my body ached from the intense muscle control it took to be around my brother and not beat the piss out of him. But I relaxed a little getting back to Gia in the waiting room.
“You want to get out of here?”
“But you didn’t eat?”
“I lost my appetite.”
She frowned. “You need to eat.”
“Fine. Bring it. What do you think about getting a hotel somewhere close by so I can come back later for evening rounds to check on Edward? It’s a hundred miles back to the Hamptons in traffic, just to turn around again. Unless you need to get back.”
Gia stood. “I don’t know…do I?”
I squinted.
“My boss can be a real prick sometimes. I’m supposed to work…”
I put out my hand to help her up. When she took it, I yanked her to her feet. “Let’s go, wiseass.”
“Can we stay at one of those three-hour motels? The ones that all the hookers use?”
“What the hell would you want to do that for?”
She shrugged. “Why not? It will be cool to people watch.”
“And to lie in the same sheets that probably haven’t been changed in a few weeks. Cum stains, blood, probably some shit streaks from dirty ass left behind, too…”
She crinkled up her nose. “Good point. Take me to the Waldorf Astoria.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of the Hilton down the block.”
“Cheapwad.”
I shook my head. God, I fucking missed her.“I wonder if he’ll love peanut butter,” Gia said.
My head rested on her chest. I’d been caressing her belly for the last twenty minutes while we talked in the dark. “If not, I’m not sure we can keep him. There’s something off about people who don’t like peanut butter.”
She whacked me in the head. “Don’t say my kid’s going to be off.”
“I didn’t say that. Besides, he’s your kid, so he’s bound to be a little nutty. So you probably should get used to it now anyway,” I teased.
“I hope he looks like my dad. Or you.”
I’d never thought about it, but her kid could technically look like me. I shared DNA with his father. That thought reminded me of the act Elliott had put on for his wife. “Lauren seems like a nice lady. I just don’t get how she can’t see through his shit. One minute he was talking to me like I was garbage, and the next minute she walked in, and he became a different person. He has to slip up sometimes and show his true colors. You can’t live with Dr. Jekyll and not see Mr. Hyde come out a few times.”
Gia sighed. “I know you don’t want to hear this. But I didn’t see it. People see what they want to see. I was lonely and wanted to see Prince Charming who could change my current situation. Lauren doesn’t want to see her husband for what he is.”
“She’s gonna find out the hard way…when he brings her home an STD instead of flowers one day.”
Gia was quiet for a while. When she spoke again, her voice was a whisper. “Just so you know, I understand why you slept with that woman.”
What the fuck?
I lifted my head from her chest and found her eyes in the dark. “What woman? What are you talking about?”
“That woman. Where did you meet her?”
“What woman?”
“The woman who answered your phone the night after you found out about Elliott being the baby’s father.”
Then it hit me.
“I met a woman at a bar, but I didn’t sleep with her. What do you mean she answered my phone?”
“I called your phone the next morning and she answered. She seemed to know all about everything that had happened the night before.”
I got up from the bed and turned on the light. Gia sat up, too. I was angry that she’d thought I’d done that all this time and never said a damn word.
“I shared shit with that woman while we got drunk—shit I regret sharing because it’s private. She asked me to go home with her, and for a second, I thought about it. I wanted to hurt you back. But I couldn’t do it. I stumbled to the parking lot, crawled into the backseat of my car, and passed out for the night. Alone. The next morning, I realized I lost my phone and waited until the bar opened to see if I’d left it inside. The woman had stopped by a few minutes earlier and left it with the bartender in case I came looking for it. I don’t even remember her fucking name. You must’ve called while she had it.” My blood was pumping at the thought that Gia had believed I’d cheated on her all this damn time.
