Be My Hero (Forbidden Men #3)(17)

When the phone started up again, I couldn't take it. "I have a feeling she's going to keep calling," I told Gamble. "She must know something's up." If he didn't answer it, I would.

He sent me a scowl, and then looked at his woman for another one of their silent conversations.

I was about to hop behind the counter and grab the f*cking phone myself when Gamble finally acted.

But as soon as he answered it, f*cking Ten yelped, "Shit! Are you really going to tell her some old chick just came in, claiming Lowe knocked her up?"

Gamble sent Ten a death glare and promptly hung up the phone.

"You moron." I slapped Ten on the back of the head. "He'd already answered the phone; she probably heard everything you said."

"Oh . . . f*ck." Ten glanced at Gamble. "My bad."

"You mean, Lowe's bad," Gamble muttered. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Damn it."

I ran my hands through my hair. This was going to end badly. And I could only picture one person getting hurt: Mason's girlfriend.

When Mason finally came out of the bathroom, I was ready to pin him to the wall by the throat and demand answers.

When we all turned to him, he jerked to a halt and rasped, "What?" Then his face went sheet white. "Jesus, she's not gone, is she?"

"Um." Gamble sent him a guilty cringe. "No, she's gone, but . . . uh, we might've just . . . accidentally told your girlfriend what happened." When Mason only stared at him, Gamble cleared his throat. "Your phone rang . . . and then it rang again. I was only going to let her know you were away for a minute, but . . . yeah . . . sorry, man."

Mason rushed to his phone like some kind of prick who was about to spill every excuse in the book to his unsuspecting girlfriend. But as soon as he said, "Reese?" the front doors of the club banged opened.

"Let me guess," a girl with straight, long dark hair said as she stormed into Forbidden. "Mrs. Garrison just showed up to announce you'd put a baby in her."

I was so busy gaping at Mason's girlfriend I didn't notice someone had come in with her. And when I did, I didn't immediately glance at the second person because I was too busy trying to gauge Reese's reaction. Surprisingly, she didn't look as pissed or hurt I as thought she would. She looked more resigned, as if she'd expected this to happen all along.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed the person following her had a huge stomach. Wondering if the pregnant cougar had followed Reese inside, I lifted my face to see a blonde wearing a bright pink shirt with Disney's Tinker Bell on it, instead of the older, dark-headed woman. I started to look away, dismissing her, when I did a double take, studying her shirt.

Tinker Bell?

A strange buzzing filled my head, and my skin suddenly felt about five times too small. Lifting my face from the cartoon fairy on her shirt, I took in her face.

Oh, hell.

Dumbfounded, I stood like a freaking statue, staring at the way-too-familiar vision that followed Mason's girlfriend up to the bar. For a second, I wondered if I'd gone delusional and was seeing things. No way was this woman real. But then I saw Ten glance at her. He lifted his eyebrows as his gaze traveled to her stomach.

Holy shit. If he was seeing her too, then she must be real. Right?

I froze as she passed right by me without even looking at me. When the hint of lilac wafted off her, I went dizzy from the shock.

No way. This wasn't possible.

I tried to shake my head, tried to get my vision to clear, because I couldn't be seeing what I was actually seeing. But my eyes soaked in every detail of the pregnant blonde.

I wasn't mistaken. Every inch of her was the same as I remembered. Even her lilac scent.

Tinker Bell from my glimpses was real.





Chapter 3


EVA


About the same time Mason finally accrued more working hours at the club where he bartended and more money started trickling in, Reese's car went kaput.

I was quickly learning things never came easily in this household. It was so unlike the Mercer residence where there was never a financial concern. But that's what I loved most about living here. I'd rather worry about money any day of the week over what I'd worried about before.

The mechanic they took Reece's junk bucket to shook his head and quoted an astronomical price to fix it. So Reese and Mason began carpooling everywhere in his Jeep.

One Thursday evening when Reese wanted to go grocery shopping while Mason worked, she dropped him off at the Forbidden Nightclub and agreed to pick him up again at closing.

It was late when he clocked off, so I probably should've been in bed asleep. But my baby girl had been kicking, and punching, and doing chin-ups from my ribs for the past two hours; plus I'd been suffering from cabin fever because I hadn't gotten out of the apartment in a good three weeks, aside from checkups with the doctor and grocery store runs. So I asked if I could tag along when Reese went to pick him up. She claimed to be grateful for the company, ergo the ride together worked for both of us.

Plus, by the end of the night, I'm glad I was there for moral support.

Riding in Mason's Jeep felt strange, though, as if I was encroaching on his territory. Things had improved between us; I no longer got the cold shoulder and he said more than three words to me at a time, but . . . yeah. Now that we'd decided we didn't totally hate each other, we were kind of at a loss of how to treat one another. We certainly weren't friends, but we definitely weren't enemies, so it just felt awkward speaking to him.