That short-lived marriage was doomed well before she cheated on me.
I shake my head and continue admiring the woman sitting across from me.
She pauses as she’s about to take another bite, blonde strands framing her face like a halo. “Sorry if I’m eating like a pig.”
“You’re enjoying your food.”
“Why are you looking at me like that, then?”
I rub a hand over my face. “I feel guilty you weren’t able to stay and enjoy dinner at the gala.”
She drops the bone on the plate, grabs a napkin and wipes her fingers. “I’m sure at four-thousand-dollars a plate, the meal would’ve been exceptional, but I’m certain it would be nowhere near as good as this.” She points at the food displayed on the coffee table. “In the end, I still get to wear the incredible bling, even if I changed into casual clothes.”
“You’re a good sport,” I say. “Tonight was all about image rehab. I guess that plan went down the toilet.”
“I disagree.”
I frown. “I threatened to rip Chett’s arm off his body. There were witnesses and I’m certain it was caught on camera.”
Harley gets up from the couch she’s sitting on, circles the coffee table, and comes to sit next to me on the other couch. The sweet floral scent of her perfume washes over me like a baptism.
“What was caught on camera was a man defending his girlfriend from a bully with a serious attitude problem,” she says.
I make a face. “I have a reputation for being a hard ass who doesn’t know how to hold his tongue or temper, I’m sure the media is going to latch onto that.”
“Although he was gripping me against my will, you didn’t touch him. Sure, you made a threat, but you didn’t follow through.”
“I should’ve.” Fury snakes down my spine at the memory of Chett gripping her. “He disrespected you.”
Harley pulls her lower lip between her teeth and glances up at me from under her long lashes. “He disrespected your mom as well…”
“I don’t have a mom.” I scoff. “Chett disrespected the woman who was my womb for nine months. Once I popped out of her, that certified puck bunny, didn’t stick around to get to know her son.”
Harley’s eyes flutter. “She just left you?”
My nostrils flare. “You have six weeks to name a child after his or her birth. A month after I arrived into this world, the woman climbed into a taxi, with me in my baby seat, and headed to my grandparents’ house. My dad was playing an away game at the time, so this was her window of opportunity. She gave my grandmother a story about having to go back to Chicago for a family emergency. When my dad returned homea couple days later, he discovered a note in which the woman he had knocked up was giving up her parental rights. She wasn’t cut out for motherhood.”
Harley blinks with her mouth open.
“So there I was, a newborn without a mother or a name.”
She’s still staring at me in disbelief. “My chest aches for the small, motherless boy you were.”
“Nana made up for it.Shewas my mom. I never missed not having a mother. She didn’t stick around long enough for me to miss her.”
Harley purses her lips. “I guess.”
“In any case, you won’t read any of this in the press. I never talk about that woman.”
She frowns. “How did Chett know?”
“In a moment of sheer stupidity, I confided in Devlyn.”
“And she spilled your secret to her son––which she had no business doing.”
“It’s only after I married her, I discovered she had never cut the umbilical cord.”
She nods. “You’re a big deal. She must’ve been aware of your success. Did she ever reach out?”
