The dealer shifts his gaze to me and smiles. It’s the first time I’ve really looked at him.
His smile is slimy, and it makes my stomach twist.
He looks like the kind of guy who lives in his mother’s basement and spends all day gaming. His red hair is slicked back, but not in a good way; it’s greasy, like it hasn’t seen shampoo in weeks. Something about this guy feels off. Way off.
Then it hits me.
HE IS A STARR BROTHER!
"What will it be, sweetheart?" He raises his eyebrow at me, and I finally see all the similarities to Andrew. My fist tightened under the table.
"Stand." That's all I can say through clenched teeth. He smiles that sickening smile at me again and goes to Oliver, who also stands.
The dealer rolls over his cards, and he has a nine of hearts and a queen of spades.
"Congratulations." He says as he passes out the chips to the winners. I grab my chips, put them in my clutch, and leave the table. I need to get a drink, and it sucks because all I want is a whiskey, and I can't even have that! Fuck pregnancy. This shit is such a pain in the ass.
Chapter twenty-nine
Rachel
IseeOliviaandOliver walking out of Silver Serpent, and I let out a huge sigh of relief. I have been a nervous wreck the whole time they have been in there. What if one of the Starr brothers took Olivia to use her as a means to get to me? Do they even know that Olivia is affiliated with me? I mean, there are pictures of us together, but we don't know if those are actually from the Starr brothers or not. The questions keep spinning around in my head. Alex puts his hand on my thigh, shaking me out of my thoughts. “You okay?” His voice is soft.
"I am okay. Actually, no, scratch that, I am a thousand times better now that Olivia is out of that damn Casino." I say, grabbing Alex's hand and threading my fingers through his.
"I also feel like I can breathe easier, now that I see her. She doesn't realize how bad that could have gone, but I had to let her do something or else she would have been reckless, and I am not willing to risk her or the baby." I smile up at him. Look at him going all soft and papa bear-like over the little bean in Olivia's belly.
I wonder if I will ever get pregnant again. I know that I would love to have a child of my own, not that this one isn't mine, but I am not sure how Alex and Olivia will feel about it. Currently, we need to figure out how to manage the life changes that come with the growing baby in Olivia’s belly, and our family of three is about to become a family of four.
I don't even know what to consider ourselves. We sleep together. Are we dating, but without the label? I have no idea. Maybe after all this shit with Tyler and his fucked up brothers is over, I will ask them what they think about the idea of us all officially dating.
"You are in your head again." Alex's fingers are under my chin, lifting my face to his. He leans in and gives me a slow, soft kiss. Just what I needed to calm my fried nerves.
"I am just thinking about Olivia and the baby and the possibility of me getting pregnant again. My mind went down that rabbit hole. I am not even sure if the miscarriage or what Andrew did fucked up my insides to the point of no return."
"Muñeca, I don't think that the miscarriage messed up your insides at all. I think that right now we need to let your body and heart heal before we decide on having a baby. But when you’re healed, we will re-address this because I would love to see you pregnant with my baby.” He pauses a second before a sad look appears on his face. “I hate the fact that we don't know if Olivia's is genetically ours or not."
"I don't know about you, but I am about one hundred percent sure that genetically that baby is not mine." I laugh at my own stupidity, and Alex rolls his eyes at me, a small smile forming at the corner of his lips.
"Yes, smart ass, we know it's not yours. But regardless of who the father of the baby is, he is ours."
"He? You sure about that one, big guy?"
"I have a gut feeling, but I will love it regardless if it's a boy or girl, or whose swimmers were the fastest."
My passenger side door opens, and Olivia is looking at me with a smile on her face, but it seems forced.
"So, what did you find out in there, hot stuff?" I wink at Olivia, and that makes her give me one of her radiant smiles that would bring me to my knees if I weren't already sitting in the car.
"One of the Starr brothers is the dealer at the blackjack table we were at. I don't think that he recognized us, but he did give us a slimy smile like he knew we were up to something."
"What did he look like?"
"He was a skinny redhead, hair slicked back, but it looked like it hadn't been washed in a week. He had the same slimy ass smile that Andrew did, but didn't look too much older than Andrew." I nod to what she says, going through the brothers in my head, wondering which one could be.
"Sam!" Everyone turns to look at me.
"My bad. I didn't mean to yell. I think it might be Samuel or, as the brothers call him, Sam. He is the brother who is a year older than Andrew, and they used to get mistaken for twins when they were younger. When they got older, Andrew gained weight and Sam lost it." Everyone nods at me, and then Oliver turns to Alex, discussing more plans.
