“No, I think we are.” I extricated myself from his grip. “For the time being, at least. I need to go home. It’s been a long day, and I’m tired. I’ll talk to you soon.” I walked toward the steps, pausing only briefly as I passed Juliet. She glanced away as soon as my eyes met hers.
Noah didn’t try to stop me again, but I felt the weight of his stare on my back as I got into my car. I made a point not to look back as I drove slowly out of his driveway.
And if I cried all the way back to Bayerton, I blamed it on the pregnancy hormones.
2
Noah
I watched Alison’s car disappear around the bend in my drive. I wanted to smash something, kick a wall—yell at the top of my lungs, maybe. I was furious, frustrated, terrified—and there was a chance I was still in shock. My lips were numb.
And dammit, I hadn’t been ready for Alison to leave yet. I had hours of questions left. She showed up, dropped a bombshell on my lap, and then scurried away when Juliet came out and scared her off.
Juliet. Thinking of her reminded me that there was yet another woman who had a lot of explaining to do . . .
“What the hell, Juliet? Alison showed up here, and you lied to her? You told her I wasn’t at home? Do you know what a mess you’ve made?”
She backed up to the edge of the porch and gripped the railing behind her. “You didn’t want to see anyone. You kept telling me that. And you’d been ignoring her messages, so I figured you’d want me to just get rid of her that day. Showing up here without being invited was kind of ballsy, wasn’t it?”
I clenched my jaw and swallowed back some of the rage that wanted to spew all over Juliet. “Even if I wasn’t interested in hanging out with friends, I’d have liked the option of making that decision for myself. And I flat out asked you if someone was at the door that day. You lied to me.” I stopped for a breath. “And how did you know I was ignoring her messages? Have you been snooping on my phone?”
Juliet lifted her chin, and the eyes that met mine were defiant, completely unrepentant. “Yes. Well, not really on purpose before that day, but I’d seen that you had texts from her, calls you hadn’t picked up, and so I figured she was trying to push her way into your life, and you were ignoring her.”
“And after that day—did you delete texts from Alison on my phone?” I remembered the vague suspicions I’d had when I’d noticed Juliet hovering around my cell.
“Yes.” She leveled her gaze at me. “I was protecting you, Noah. Taking care of you.”
“Bullshit. You were making sure that no other woman was nosing in your territory—because that’s how you see me, Juliet. As your private property.” I ran my hand through my hair. “And God, it’s not only your fault that you feel that way. I haven’t done a damn thing to show you otherwise. But that ends here and now.”
Juliet glanced away. “You’re just full of compliments for me today, Noah. A little while ago, you basically accused me of using sex to manipulate you—”
I winced. That discussion with Juliet felt like something that had happened a million years ago. Today had turned out to be a complete shit-show. From my attempt to smooth things over with Juliet and make up for the way I’d been treating her to how I’d reacted to Alison’s bombshell, I’d been fucking up all over the place.
“Look, Juliet. I’m not blaming you for everything. A lot of what’s been going on falls at my feet, too. No doubt about it. But we need to be clear about a couple of things. My friends . . . I’ve been an asshole to them all, pretty much. That doesn’t give you the right to decide who I can and can’t see. If I ever find out that you’ve lied to me about anything, messed with my phone, kept me from my friends—that’s a deal-breaker, Juliet. Are we clear?”
She moved her head, just the slightest of nods. “This Alison . . . who is she, anyway?” Her brow knitted together. “Your mother didn’t know her that night at the hospital, but you got all interested when I mentioned that I’d seen her there. You played it off like she was a friend of a friend, but I got the sense that . . .” Suddenly her eyes went wide. “She’s the one, isn’t she? The woman you slept with between Angela and me. You said that there were three women, including me. She’s the third, isn’t she?”
I wanted to tell Juliet that it was none of her damn business, but all things considered, that was going to shortly become a moot point. Still, instead of admitting that she was right, I swung the conversation back to her.
“You don’t know what you did, hiding her visit from me. Deleting her messages. Jesus, Juliet, I’m so pissed off right now.”
“What does it matter?” Finally, she was lashing back. “Why did she need to talk with you so badly? Is she one of those women who just can’t take no for an answer? Doesn’t she have any self-respect? I would’ve thought seeing another woman answer your front door dressed in a robe and nothing else might give her a clue that she’s not wanted anymore.”
My knee was throbbing, and come to think of it, so was my head. I sank down into a nearby chair. “She needed to talk to me—it was important. Alison’s not pushy, and she probably wouldn’t have even tried to see me again, considering the way I ignored her after I got out of the hospital, but . . .” I swallowed hard, not sure how to say this. “She’s pregnant. And the baby’s mine.”
Juliet’s face went pale, and her mouth dropped open. Still leaning against the railing, she gaped at me in disbelief. “Are you sure? How do you know it’s yours? Women do this to football players all the time. You need to get a paternity test, and then you need to talk to your lawyer—oh, maybe you should call your lawyer first—”
“Juliet. Stop.” I almost growled the words. “Just stop, okay? The baby is mine. Alison hadn’t—she isn’t—” There wasn’t anything I could say that wouldn’t be a blatant and unforgivable violation of Alison’s privacy. “Just trust me. If Alison says she’s having a baby, I’m the father. I don’t want to hear anything else about paternity tests and lawyers. Understood?”
Juliet wasn’t happy about this answer, but she wisely didn’t fight me on it, either. “What are you going to do? Is she having the baby?”
I nodded. “Yeah. She is. I don’t know much beyond that, but I’m sure that I want to be involved. I’m not the kind of man who fathers a baby and walks away.” I rubbed my face. “I’ve done a lot in the past month or so that I’m not proud of it, but this is one thing I know for certain.”
“What do you mean,involved?” Juliet propped her hands on her hips, scowling at me. “Involved with the baby or your baby mama?”
“Juliet, for Christ’s sake. Give me a fucking minute, okay? I just told you that I don’t have all the answers yet.” I took a deep breath. “And any discussion about Alison and me, or Alison, the baby and me—that’s none of your business. I’m not going to share it with you. This—it has nothing to do with you.” I pointed a finger at her. “And not a word of this to anyone else, you hear? Not to Coach or anyone on the team. Especially Zeke.” All I needed was my friend—the guy who was angry at me anyway, for all of my perceived sins against Juliet—coming over here and busting my ass for this.
Juliet’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t want them to know because they’d give you the same advice I did.” She ticked them off on her fingers. “Lawyer. Paternity test. Legal documents to define your rights and your responsibilities if any.”
