“I like hot Cheetos.”
“They’re disgusting, but you’re allowed to be wrong,” I said, making her laugh.
“You’re missing out on the finer things in life, Harley Lowell,” Holly told me. “One day, I will get you to try them, and you’ll thank me.”
I highly doubted that.
“I do have one question for you. The doctor said I can test in two days,” she began. Oh. In two days, the course of my entire life could change. “Should I just do it and then tell her, or should I involve her?”
“I know it’s inconvenient, but please let Vivienne be involved. She won’t believe anything she can’t see for herself.”
“Ah, yes, peeing in front of the ice queen… it’s every girl’s dream.”
“Holly…”
“I’ll tone it down, I’ll tone it down,” she promised. I needed her to because I couldn’t handle the animosity between the two of them.
“Has everything else been okay?” It wasn’t a door I wanted to open, but I needed to. “She hasn’t been giving you too much trouble?”
“Honestly, unless it’s surrogacy-related, she just pretends I don’t exist.” That didn’t surprise me. “And I’m okay with that.”
“Good.”
“Are you coming back soon?” she asked. I sighed, running a hand through my hair.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I’ll be back soon.”
I had to go back soon, didn’t I? I couldn’t just stay here, forever displaced from my entire life.Soon. The word echoed in my head long after I hung up.
I would’ve given anything to avoidsoon.
CHAPTER 69
maverick
Hot water soothed my muscles, leaving me relaxed from head to toe.Or maybe it was the mind-blowing way Harley had sucked me off in the shower.It definitely could’ve been that. He kissed me three times, each one briefer than the one before, and stepped out. The glass door clicked shut, and I let out a content sigh as I listened to Harley move around the bathroom.
“I’m going to make us non-drunken brownies in a mug,” he said, his voice distorted under the rush of water.
“All right,” I replied while I combed my fingers through my hair, head tipped back. “I’ll be done in a few minutes and meet you downstairs.”
If he heard me, he didn’t respond, or maybe he was already gone. I was a little too preoccupied with loving the shower to care about anything else. I took the time to genuinely relax under the spray of water. It’d been a rough few days that had nothing to do with Harley. Taking down the cabinets in my house had proved harder than expected, leaving my body sore and hurting in places I wasn’t used to.
While I could’ve stayed in there another hour—seriously, the water pressure and massage head combination were divine—I made myself get out. I could always shower after I enjoyed a brownie with Harley.The fact that he remembered them made me warm inside.It was such a silly, small thing, but it meant a lot.
I shimmied and hopped around the bedroom to get my jeans over my wet legs.Probably should’ve tried to dry off better. I swiped my shirt off the ground and sniffed it. Holy fuck, I needed better deodorant.
“Can I borrow a shirt?” I shouted as I tossed my gross one on the dresser.
I waited for an answer, but there was none. Honestly, he probably couldn’t hear me with how big the house was. I took his silence as a yes and helped myself to his dresser. I pulled out each drawer until I found one with a stack of shirts tucked away and riffled through them, looking for something that wasn’t a goddamn polo. I’d rather be shirtless than wear a polo.
Something clinked on the bottom of the drawer as I shuffled things about, making me frown.What the hell had I fucked up now?Carefully, I took each item out as I tried to figure out what I’d heard. The sound had been small and metallic andcompletely out of place for a bunch of shirts. As I removed the last one, I saw it.
A gold wedding band.
My heart stuttered painfully in a way that made the world sway slightly where I stood.
I had to be seeing things.
