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With brand new dread, I open the paper and stop on an image of me being held back by Bobby – he’s not smiling this time – and my hand tightly wrapped around Anja’s arm.
I don’t even remember touching the stupid bitch.
Her face is contorted in rage, not unlike that of my cousin Rita when she was hurting me.
ONE MAN, TWO WOMEN, ONE LOVE CHILD.
Jesus Christ. Who’s the copy editor? Where’s the journalistic fact checking? What the hell is wrong with these people?
“Do you love my brother, Catherine?” Bobby smirks and runs his fingers across the back on my neck.
“I mean.” I let out an exhausted sigh. “A little bit.”
He snorts and looks over Jon’s shoulder. “Where is everyone?”
“Tink’s upstairs with Iz.” Jack purposely looks toward the stairs so he doesn’t have to watch Bobby’s lips on my neck. Poor Jack. “Aiden’s in the kitchen. And Jim’s… somewhere. Dunno. At his place, I guess.”
“Why are you here?” Bobby asks Jon.
Duh. Casey’s here, which means Jon’s here.
Jon’s eyes narrow as though he can read my thoughts. “I drove Jack home.”
“Did you have a good night with Nell?”
Jack nods easily. “Yeah, but my night would’ve been a shit ton better if you’d flattened that bitch.”
“I would’ve preferred that, too,” Jon angrily spits out. “Stupid troll thinks she can just shop guys. Like Aiden’s some kinda consolation prize. And I don’t give a damn who Jimmy’s dating, he was my sister’s date, so he wasn’t fair game.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong, you know that, right?”
“I know. He’d never fuck one of us over like that. And he’d especially never fuck Sissy over like that.”
“Awesome, it’s all cleared up,” Izzy snarls from the top of the stairs. “Can we stop talking about it now?”
In cute little yoga shorts and a Rollin tank stretched firmly around her cute little basketball, she shoots daggers like a fierce warrior ready to strip the skin off anyone who dares mention her love life again.
Is she sad? Mad? Written Jimmy off as dead? He did nothing wrong, but what happened is still terribly close to what she feared would happen.
“Did you have a nice night, Iz? Like, after. Was the room nice?”
She moves down the stairs with a soft smile. “Yeah, it was nice. We just got back a little bit ago.” She gently pushes Bobby aside and hugs me so tight, I feel her Bean kick me.
Literally.
“Bean’s feeling frisky today, huh?” I pull away and lay my hand on her stomach. Shitty circumstances, but that baby is already so loved. Jon and Bobby step forward curiously, as though they’re afraid Bean might literally jump from her stomach and attack them, so I take Jon’s hesitant hand and place it where mine was.
When Iz’s stomach moves and Jon’s eyes light up, I grab Bobby’s hand and place it down beside his brother’s. “You guys feel that?”
Aiden wanders into the room, then the front door slams open, and strutting in, Jim comes to a screeching halt. “Whoa! What’s going on?” He pushes past Jack, then Jon, and turns Izzy until every hand falls away. “You okay, Bubs?”
Her face flares pink. “I’m fine. They’re feeling the baby move.”
“Oh… Oh!” He drops his hands from her arms and steps back awkwardly. “She’s awake, huh?”
I frown. “She?”
He shrugs easily and pulls me in for a distracted hug. “I’m saying Bean’s a girl. If we’re putting bets on it, that’s what I’m saying.” He releases me, but holds my hand. “Listen… I wanted to apologize to you guys.”
