“That’s a good line to draw,” I say, touching my temple. It’s been a week since the day of the fight. The swelling has gone down some, but the bruise looks worse. I can finally open my eye again, but only slightly and the blood vessels are all shot. I look like I got hit by a fucking truck.
“I just hope we haven’t lost you as a client,” he says. I love how they refer to us as clients. It keeps things looking nice on paper, but it also sounds ridiculous when you consider what we do at the Cockpit.
“Oh, I’ll be back. Maybe not soon, but you haven’t lost me,” I tell him, standing up from my chair.
“Of course,” he says, holding out a hand, and I shake it. Niko is a funny little guy, but this place is a huge part of my life. It’s also a huge part of who I am. Being the CEO of a security company wasmy life goal, but boxing saved me. I’m not about to give that up all because of a smashed cheekbone.
I walk back out into the main bar area. They aren’t super busy right now, probably because it’s only eleven in the morning, and they just opened for lunch hour. I am about to walk out when Lainey walks in. She’s juggling her work clothes, a romance novel with a bookmark in it, her purse, and a water bottle.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she says, stepping aside even though I am holding the door for her.
“Here, let me help you with that,” I tell her, taking her things and walking back inside to set everything down on a vacant table.
“Thank you,” she says. “I’m a mess this morning.”
She pushes her long strawberry-blonde hair back from her face. It’s a shame that Niko makes the girls wear those tacky wigs. I think he’s going for a uniform flight attendant look. But these girls, Lainey included, are beautiful without anything synthetic.
I nod at her before turning to leave. Then she stops me and says, “Dominic? Can we talk for a minute?”
I’m not really sure where this is going. Or how I feel about it. But she’s a nice girl, a girl who doesn’t act like all the other girls here. She also loves Mila, and that matters. So I turn back around.
“Sure,” I answer. “What’s on your mind?”
“I’m worried about Mila,” she says, biting her lip.
“Why? Is everything okay with the baby?” I ask. I haven’t seen Mila since the day of the fight. After she was discharged from the hospital, she went straight to Lainey’s and has been staying there ever since.
“Yeah, the baby and Mila are both fine. No damage done. But that’s not what I mean,” she says, and I wait. “It’s just that…I think you two need to work things out.”
I take in a breath, running a hand through my hair. “Lainey, listen–”
“Dominic, she loves you,” Lainey cuts me off, and it stops me altogether. “I know you’re upset with her, but she really does love you. No matter what your relationship was posed as in the beginning.”
“She is pregnant with my child and didn’t tell me,” I say, keeping my tone low. Although I’m not sure why it matters. Our dirty laundry is hung out on the line for everyone to see.
“She was afraid,” Lainey says.
“Afraid I wouldn’t give her the money I promised?” I ask with some spite.
“Afraid you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with her.”
I chew on that for a minute. “It’s not that simple,” I say after a long minute.
“None of it is simple,” she blurts out. “Jesus. You two went from you being her boss to enemies to fake relationship to lovers to whatever this is. You’ve checked off every love trope in the book. I mean, shit, if you fixed the relationship and let love win, you’d have a bestseller on your hands. Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell level.”
“Who?” I ask, and she shakes her head.
“Never mind. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t think you should give up on each other. Because you know that even if itwas all part of some grand plan, the lines blurred. There’s no way either of you can deny that.”
“It doesn’t change that she kept the pregnancy from me,” I say, holding to my guns.
“She kept it from me too,” she says, and my brow softens.
“She did?” I ask.
“Yeah. Apparently, she wasn’t ready to tell anyone, and Brynn figured it out. Then she told Rafe who sabotaged everything.”
Jesus.
