“What about our party?” Krissy pouts.

“I’m gonna have to take a rain check until I hear from Jason.” I’m out the door before either of them can respond.

Chapter 33

Liv

After work today, I finally unload my whole story on Ally over a glass, no a bottle, of wine.

“So do you think it was a coincidence that they were at the exhibition match?”

“I don’t know…Jax is a fighter, not professionally, but he sounded pretty passionate about it. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had tickets. The arena was just outside of D.C., so when I first saw him, I thought it was a coincidence.”

“What changed your mind?”

“The look on the Senator’s face. He was just staring at Vinny.”

“Maybe he’s a fan?”

I take another sip of my wine and close my eyes, remembering the look on Senator Knight’s face. “It was more than that. Something just tells me he knows.”

“So what are you going to do?”

Collapsing back onto the couch, I look at my best friend. “I don’t know Al, if I give the water bottle to the paper to test, they’ll know the results and it won’t matter what I decide. They won’t wait for me to write a story.”

“So have the results tested yourself. Take something of Vinny’s and put the two samples into a lab under a fake name. Find out for sure before you go crazy trying to decide what to do.”

“I guess I can do that.”

“Do it. You never know…maybe it really is all one big coincidence. The blue eyes, the fighting…everything. Stranger things have happened.”

I attempt to smile at my best friend. “Thanks Ally. I feel so guilty keeping it from Vinny. But I don’t want to hurt him. He loves the memory of his father. I can’t explain it…he just believes that’s where the good comes from in him. I can’t tarnish that memory if I’m not absolutely sure.” And I’m not even sure I can do it if it turns out to be absolutely true.

“Look at it this way. If it is true, at least it’s you, and you can protect him from what the paper would do if it was someone else writing the story.”

***

I get little sleep, tossing and turning half the night, guilt wreaking havoc on my brain’s ability to power down. Trudging into the office, barely making it on time, even though I’ve been up for hours, I’m greeted by an overly zealous fake smile from Summer.

“Morning, Olivia.” Summer’s smile is full of sugar, yet far from sweet.

“Hello, Summer.” Taking the high road, I respond professionally, as if she hasn’t spent the last three weeks ignoring me and slamming things every time I was near.

“How’s Vince?”

What the hell is she up to? “He’s great, thank you.” I somehow manage to maintain my professional demeanor.

Sitting on the edge of my desk, she folds her arms over her chest and crosses her long skinny legs. “Had dinner with Daddy last night.”

“That’s nice.” I pull out a file and power up my laptop, trying hard not to feed into whatever game she’s playing.

Leaning down to me, she whispers through her smile. “Can’t wait to see how much he likes your little story.”

Feeling the sting of tears behind my eyes, I stand, blinking them back before allowing Summer to see them. The thought of yet another person knowing such a powerful secret about Vinny crushing my spirit, I force anger to replace the sadness I’m truly feeling. “I’ll admit, when I first met you, I was a bit jealous. Such a beautiful girl, with all the right connections. But after getting to know you, jealousy has turned to pity. Why don’t you stop worrying about my life and get your own, Summer. I’m sure there are plenty of men that are into skinny, self-loathing, and desperate.”

I pack the laptop I was just firing up back into my bag, no way I can sit here all day and look at her. Catching sight of Sleezeball out of the corner of my eye, I plaster on a cheery face as I continue quietly. Venom bleeding out from beneath my smiling lips, I warn, “Keep the hell away from Vinny.”

Smiling back, looking thoroughly satisfied for ruffling my feathers, she responds through gritted, perfect, white teeth, “I’m a patient woman. Someone’s going to need to help him pick up the pieces when you tear him apart. Might as well be me.”

***

I spend the day working back at my apartment, finishing off a story that I owe and researching labs that do DNA testing. Printing off a list, I decide the first few are too close. Maybe putting some miles between my life and the lab will make it feel less risky.

My phone rings and Vinny’s voice calms me, even though he’s the subject of everything else in my life that brings tension these days. “Hey.”

“Hey, Beautiful.” His voice warms me after a long day of feeling cold.

Sighing loudly, I give in to what I’m feeling, even if I don’t fully understand it. How did I go from running from him to his voice bringing me comfort? “It’s good to hear your voice.”

“Bad day?” I can tell he’s smiling on the other end of the phone, even though I can’t see him. Male satisfaction throaty in his voice, he likes the thought of making me smile so easily.

“Yeah.”

“Wanna talk about it?” The irony doesn’t escape me.

“No, but thank you. How was your day?”

“Spent it in the hospital.”

“What happened?” Real concern takes hold of me.

“Elle’s having the baby. For real this time.”

“Wow, how is she?”

“She’s doing good. Though the doctor said it’ll be hours still. I’m going to run home and shower, came here in the middle of a workout. Think the nurses are eyeing me because I smell.”

As confident as he is, sometimes he’s totally clueless. “The nurses aren’t eyeing you because you smell. They’re eying you because you’re easy on the eyes.”

He laughs, “Well, I wouldn’t notice. I only have eyes for one woman these days.”

“Good to know.” It’s the first genuine smile I’ve had in two days.

“How about if I pick you up after I shower and we can grab a bite to eat and come back to the hospital. Hopefully the little guy will be around by then.”

“I’d love that.”

Chapter 34

Liv

I’ve never seen Vinny in such a playful mood. We arrive at the hospital and he takes my hand, together we walk, fingers linked, to the maternity ward. “How many kids you want to have?”