Jace’s lip curled in a sneer. “Because we trust your family doctors so much.”
Angelo rolled his eyes. “Christ, Jace, it’s been nearly a decade. Get over yourself; we’re all adults now.”
Jace bristled with anger and indignation, and I groaned to myself.
“You know what? You two can deal with this yourselves,” I muttered. “I don’t have the energy to get between you today.”
“Where are you going?” Angelo asked, rising to his feet with a frown.
I sent a brittle smile back. “Figured I’d go wild, hit up some strip clubs, do some drugs. Maybe I’ll find another ex-boyfriend from the mafia and get pregnant. Who knows?” Then I snapped my fingers giving a low chuckle. “Oh wait. Bit late for that.”
Turning my back on them, I headed back upstairs to the bedroom I shared with Angelo to find my boots. I didn’t want to run into Rhett or Gray right now, but I needed fresh air. So I pulled on my warm boots, grabbed a coat, and headed out the back door.
I couldn’t see any of the missing Bellerose members, so I zipped up my coat against the cold and set out toward the stables. Brenda had told us before we arrived that this farm belonged to her godparents and that they took care of the animals while Bellerose was using the house. It gave me the confidence to approach the horses and not worry that they belonged to a neighbor.
As I drew close to the stables, though, the low hum of voices made me pause mid-step. Then I did the only mature thing and quickly hid behind a stack of hay so that I could listen.
“…something else going on here,” Grayson was saying.
Shit. Of course they were in the stable; whereelsecould they have been if I hadn’t seen them outside?Idiot, Billie.
“Like what?” Flo asked, her voice timid and anxious. “She won’t even look at me, let alone speak—”
“She won’t look at any of us,” Rhett snarled, “because she knows she’s got a lot to feel guilty for. Jace warned us, all along he tried to tell us, andwe—you too, Gray—were too fucking cuntstruck to pay attention to the red flags.”
“Bullshit,” Grayson growled. “None of this is adding up, and you know it.”
“What Iknowis that Billie is fucking pregnant right now. And she’s back with Angelo, who she swore—goddamnfucking swore—she wasn’t with. She lied to me, Gray. To us. She fucking stared me dead in the eyes and said she wasn’t with him, and now she turns up carryinghisbaby?”
“Allegedly,” Flo commented. “If we’re taking their word for it.”
Rhett gave a low, humorless laugh. “Great. So that’s just fucking great. You think she could be carryingmykid and lying about it? I don’t know what’s fucking worse right now.” There was a crash, like he’d just kicked something. Then he swore. “I need to drink something. Or smoke something. Gray, you got any more liquor stashed?”
“Sorry,” the big guy rumbled. “Nothing left.”
“I have a couple of joints in my bag,” Flo offered tentatively. “Brenda didn’t even check mine.”
“Sold,” Rhett grunted.
A scuffle of feet saw me shrink lower in my hiding place, and a moment later both Rhett and Flo exited the stables. Neither one of them looked back to catch me there; they just stalked toward the house with their hands stuffed in pockets and their shoulders hunched.
Grayson didn’t leave, though, and after a minute, my curiosity got the better of me. I scrambled awkwardly to my feet, then slipped inside the stables. The lighting was dim in here, and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust enough to see the drummer down at the far end, scratching a chestnut horse’s ears.
“How much of that did you hear, Prickles?” he asked without turning to look at me. Of course he knew I was there. Gray was basically superhuman, I was convinced.
I bit my lip nervously, folding my arms under my breasts. “Um, only the tail end. Enough to hear that Rhett hates me, but that’s not exactly a shock. He thinks I lied about everything.”
Gray gave the horse another pat, then turned around, taking a few steps closer to where I awkwardly shifted my weight from foot to foot. “Didn’t you?”
God damn it all to hell. This was harder than I’d ever anticipated. “I hate this,” I whispered, dodging the question. “I’m so sorry, Gray.”
He closed the gap between us, raising his hand to stroke a finger down the side of my face ever so gently and using his knuckle to tilt my chin up. “You can tell me the truth, Billie. I can help.”
Words bubbled up in my chest, desperate to spill out. I wanted to confess the whole messy story to Gray because I believed him when he said he could help. That hewantedto help. But just as I parted my lips to tell him all my secrets, my eyes caught on a tiny reflection in the corner of the stables.
A camera?
It could have been my imagination, but I couldn’t take that risk. So I pasted on a fake smile and shook my head. “There’s nothing to tell, Gray. Angel and I are just here on behalf of Big Noise to ensure the album gets recorded in time for the scheduled release party.”
