“Good.” Danny rises from his chair and appears above me, his face hovering close to mine. “Wasn’t so bad, was it?” My nose wrinkles. “And now you have a content husband who can get on with business worry-free.”
“Good for you.”
He takes my cheeks, squeezes, and slams a kiss on my lips. “What are you doing this afternoon while I’m working?”
“What time will Daniel be here?”
“He’s at soccer practice. I’ve got eyes on him. My man has his instructions.”
“Will I be able to take him soccer practice?” I ask, not at all hopeful, so when Danny smiles and nods, it’s all I can do not to squeal my happiness. Such a simple thing, but at the same time everything. I know I’ll have Tank a few paces behind, and I know we’ll be driven, but it still delights me. “I’m going to Walmart to buy him a soccer net. Maybe some new cleats. And a ball.” The grounds will be the biggest and best soccer pitch ever. He’ll love it.
“Okay. Do you have money?”
My eyebrow curves of its own volition. “Yes, I have all of yours.”
He smirks dirtily and straightens, pulling his phone out when it rings. A quick glance at the screen. A definite narrowing of one eye. Then he slowly turns and leaves, taking it to his ear. But he doesn’t speak. Not until he’s out of the room.
I flop back onto the bed on a sigh. “Okay,” Doc says, perching next to me. “Let’s speak frankly now Mr. Black has left the room.”
“Pardon?”
“Rose, I have been a doctor for forty-five years. I ran my own practice for forty of those.”
“What are you saying?”
“Are you pregnant?”
I recoil, so much so, I shift a few inches up the mattress. “God, no. That’s impossible.”
“How?”
She’s hemorrhaging. She’ll need a transfusion.
Will she be able to carry again?
Unlikely.
I push back the brutality of my past and sit up. “Doc, you need to trust me, it’s not possible.”
“As you wish,” he says quietly, taking his bag from the bed and walking slowly to the door. “Enjoy your shopping trip, Rose.” He leaves, and I close my eyes, immediately wishing I hadn’t when I’m bombarded with flashbacks. I hold my head, fighting away the faces of evil. “No.” I slam my fists down and jump up, set on going to find Beau.
I swing the door open. Tank’s back. For such a mammoth guy, he disappears and reappears like magic. “I’m going shopping,” I tell him as I pass.
“I know. I’ll get the car ready.”
“Beau still in the TV room?”
“Sure is.”
“Thanks.” I take the stairs fast and approach the doors, tapping at the wood delicately. She’s been in there for way longer than I know she’s comfortable with. It’s time to save her.
“Come in,” she calls.
I smile at the wood as I push my way in, her high-pitched, relieved tone giving her away. Her face says a thousand words, part pained and part pleased to see me.
“Is it that time already?” she asks, jumping up.
“Yes, we’ll be late.”
“Dad, I’m sorry, I promised Rose I’d help her with something.”
The man on the couch cranes his head to look back at me. I don’t miss the contempt he’s doing a terrible job of concealing. “Nice to meet you,” I chirp, my curious eyes falling to the fake blonde sitting next to him, who is yet to bless me with a hello or even her face.
I bite at my lip, flicking an interested look Beau’s way. She subtly shakes her head, exasperated. “I’ll see you both out.”
“Yes,” her Dad says, standing. “Come on, darling.” He puts a hand out and helps the woman up from the couch.
And then she turns.
And I stagger from the weight of my shock.
What the fuck is she doing here? She must have balls bigger than any of Danny’s men.
“Rose?” Beau says. “All right?”
All right? Am I? I’m staring at the woman who not only once served as the in-house whore here at Casa Black, but the woman who also held me at gunpoint when she realized I’d won Danny’s affection. It was a shock to me—Danny’s affection, not so much her reaction—so I can only imagine how she felt. Oh God, what the hell am I supposed to do with this? And more to the point, what the fuck does Amber expect me to do? Keep a dignified silence in the presence of Beau and her father? She must have lost her damn mind. Why the hell did she come here? I don’t know. Like I thought, massive fucking balls. One thing I do know, though, is that she’s more likely to come out alive facing me rather than Danny. The more I’m thinking, the angrier I’m getting.
“Amber.” I glare at her.
“Rose,” she says, smiling, like she’s seeing a long-lost friend. “It’s so lovely to see you again.”
I look at her like the crazy bitch she is.
“You know each other?” Beau’s father asks, his attention jumping back and forth between us. “How?”
I laugh, and it’s unstoppable, as Amber shifts nervously from foot to foot. “Just old friends,” she says, linking arms with him. “We’d better get you home now that the doctor has given you the all-clear.”
Yes, get him home before I expose you for the gold-digging whore you are. “Why would you even come here?” I ask, my mouth out of control. “Do you have a death wish?”
She swallows, flicking her eyes around the room. “Tom insisted,” she murmurs.
“Then make an excuse.”
“Why would she do that?” Beau’s dad asks. “I called her to come pick me up. I can’t drive. Too shaken after the ordeal I’ve been put through. She was worried.”
I blink my disbelief and come back to the same question, because it’s not making fucking sense. Why the hell would she come here? It soon hits me, but before I can unravel it and make my brain catch up with what’s unfolding, Amber speaks up.
“I was so sorry to hear of your loss.”
“Loss?” Tom says. “What loss?”
I close my eyes and inhale. I should be worried. I’m not. Everyone will soon know Danny’s alive and kicking, so what’s one more person? “My husband,” I breathe, giving Beau apologetic eyes, knowing she’s doing her best to keep the information her father has to hold against her to a bare minimal. “My husband died.”
“You remarried?” he asks, confused.
“No, I haven’t remarried.”
“Then who’s that man out there with Beau’s antisocial boyfriend? The one who threatened me with a gun? Beau said he’s your husband.”
He’s sounds so accusing. Like I’m responsible for my husband’s killer hands. “That’s my husband.”
And as if he’s heard me summon him, he bursts in unceremoniously with Brad and Ringo flanking him.
“Oh great,” I murmur, dropping my head. This couldn’t get any worse.
I’m wrong. Esther appears in the doorway with a tray of tea, all smiles. Until she spots Amber. “What is that tramp doing here?”