I touched her shoulder, and she flinched, hard. “Don’t.”
“What’s wrong? Tell me so I can fix it.”
She inhaled and raised her eyes to mine. “You can’t.”
“I will—”
“Did you go see Dillon?”
I frowned. How did she know that? Keelie must have been listening because she leaned across Cormac and said, venom heavy in her voice, “The pregnant lady told us you threatened him.”
Well, shit. I glanced over at Cormac, looking for backup. He shook his head, clearly not liking this situation. My gaze sought Cruz, but he was at a different table, laughing and joking with Stol. That poor bastard had no idea he was about to become a father, and Ida Jane refused to let me tell him, and I was angry with her about that. I hadn’t handled our “talk” about kids well because of it.
I glanced back down at Ida Jane, whose stare burned into mine. “I did.”
“And you didn’t tell me.” She swallowed.
“I didn’t want you to worry,” I said. “I knew you would, so—”
“So you lied.” The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck rose at her tone. Something else was going on.
“No. I just didn’t tell you.”
Ida Jane remained so still. I hated this unanimated version of herself. “What else haven’t you told me?” she asked.
My heart pounded.Manythings. They were ugly, and I didn’t want her to know. I liked how she saw me—as a good man, a caring husband. I needed her to believe I embodied those roles. I did but only for her.
“This isn’t the place for this conversation,” I snapped.
Ida Jane dropped her face back to the full plate in front of her, shoulders slumped. “You’re right.”
She returned to that eerie stillness. Naomi and Nicole appeared just as worried about Ida Jane as Keelie, and our table remained subdued under a cloud of tension.
As soon as the dinner portion ended, I touched Ida Jane’s arm. “Let’s leave.”
“I don’t want to go with you,” she said.
“We’re going to talk about whatever’s bothering you—”
She slapped an envelope into my hand. “Thisis. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
She rose and walked away, chin up. Naomi, Keelie, and Nicole followed, surrounding her like bodyguards.
“The fuck was that?” Adam, our goalie, asked. He stared after his wife, Naomi, who led the charge out of the ballroom. “I’ve never seen Naomi that pissed.”
I opened the envelope and swore as I flipped through the photos.
Cormac leaned over and whistled. “Well, now I get why Keelie’s upset. Ida Jane must be devastated.”
“These aren’t…they’re not…”
“Looks like a wild time,” Adam offered. He sighed, a troubled expression settling on his face. “Now I get why Naomi was acting like that. Those photos bring up bad memories ofmypast. Shit, man. It takes her weeks to come out of a funk.”
Adam lifted his glass of whiskey and downed it in one gulp.
I slid the photos back into the envelope and closed the flap, shoving them into my inner suit pocket. Heat burned up my neck and ears. The pregnant lady was nearby—the one from Dillon’s place. She waggled her fingers at me, a vicious expression on her face.
Dillon’s girlfriend expected me to cave under these photos because of the hurt she caused Ida Jane.
