Granted, she still wasn’t sure Molly was completely on the up and up. There was a reason she hadn’t allowed Baz to go to the doctor with her when she went, but JJ hadn’t figured out what it could possibly be. She hadn’t even let him see a sonogram, hence the reason there’d been some doubts as to whether or not she was really pregnant.
“I will. If it comes down to it.” Baz sighed. “I’m not gonna be able to go to Dallas this weekend, JJ. I can’t leave her right now.”
Although JJ hated it, she understood. “I already told Brantley what’s goin’ on. He’ll understand.”
“Thanks, JJ. I’ll call you later.”
“All right.”
JJ disconnected the phone, staring down at it.
Not for the first time, she wished she could go back to New Year’s Eve. If she could, she would’ve never answered Dante’s call, she would’ve had dinner with Baz, gone back to his place, and spent the entire night in his bed. If she’d done that, they wouldn’t be where they were now.
Baz wouldn’t be having a baby with another woman.
And JJ wouldn’t be scared of her own shadow.
Chapter Eighteen
When JJ disconnected the call, Luca buried his top teeth in his bottom lip and stared at the computer monitor in front of him although he had no idea what was even on the screen.
He’d been biting his damn tongue for two fucking weeks now, and if he didn’t tell her the pressing information he had, it was damn possible he was gonna spring a fucking leak in his head. If it weren’t for his pain-in-the-ass sister insisting he keep his nose out of everyone else’s business, he wouldn’t be fidgeting with this ridiculous urge to blurt out the information he’d dug up.
And fine, maybe it hadn’t been his business, and he never should’ve done the deep dive on Molly Ryan that he had done. But come on, someone had to. Hell, he’d been surprised JJ didn’t know everything about the woman, right down to her credit score. Turned out, for whatever lame-ass reason, JJ was minding her own business, claiming she didn’t want to know, despite the fact that this was the woman who’d hooked up with the man JJ was clearly in love with.
In his defense, Luca was looking out for JJ. That was the only reason he had done some online snooping, enough that he had a comprehensive breakdown of Molly Ryan’s entire life. What he’d found was beyond disturbing, and Baz deserved to know. But rather than tell Baz he’d been a nosy motherfucker, Luca preferred to give the info to JJ and let her do with it what she would.
“Don’t you do it.”
Luca’s gaze shot up, and it was then he noticed Holly standing in front of his desk.
“Do what?” he asked his sister, flopping back in his chair and regarding her with amusement.
“You shouldn’t have that information, and it’s not your place.”
He regarded her, flipping his ball cap around on his head and cupping it into place. “Maybe not, but I do have it, so someone deserves to know.”
“Luca,” Holly warned.
He leaned forward and pressed a finger on the manila folder that contained what he’d printed out. He scooted it toward Holly. “Why don’t you read it and decide for yourself who should know or not?”
Holly shook her head. “No way am I gettin’ in the middle of that,” she said in a rushed whisper.
“In the middle of what?”
Luca shot up straight in his chair when he realized JJ was looking over at them from her desk.
“Nothin’,” he said too quickly, even as Holly snatched up the manila folder.
JJ’s dark eyebrows lowered.
Luca had to admit, he’d always had a crush on JJ. She was one of the hottest women he’d ever met, but it was more than her striking good looks that had captured his attention all those years ago. He had a penchant for smart women, and ones with that dry sense of humor really did it for him. Fortunately, she’d never accepted his advances; otherwise, they wouldn’t be here now, working together. He would be the first to admit he could burn a relationship faster than anyone else. He preferred the hit-it-and-quit-it method, and since that usually happened before he could ever develop a friendship with a woman, things always went south.
So he considered himself lucky that JJ had always shunned him. He didn’t hold it against her. Like he’d said, she was a smart woman. And he was glad to call her a friend.
“What’s in that folder?” JJ asked, her gaze pinned on Holly.
“Nothin’,” Luca repeated.
“That’s a whole lotta nothin’ for one guy,” she remarked, eyebrow quirking as though she didn’t believe him.
He shrugged, not sure what to say. No way did he want to tell her that the man she loved was having a baby with a crazy woman. And that wasn’t just him being juvenile and calling Molly Ryan names.
No, the woman was certifiably crazy, and he had the documents to prove it.
“If it’s nothin’, let me see it,” she insisted, stepping toward them.
“JJ, no,” Holly said softly, then glared at Luca.
Did he feel guilty about unearthing that information? Nah. Luca didn’t feel guilty about much. However, he had no desire to hurt JJ, and he knew the information in that folder would. More accurately, the fact that he’d kept it from her would.
JJ held out her hand to Holly.
His sister glared at him again before holding it out. “Please don’t read it,” she said to JJ.
“Why?” JJ took the folder, stared at the outside.
“Because it’s about Molly. My stupid brother is nosy.”
JJ was looking at him again, and Luca could only shrug. It was true. He did stick his nose where it didn’t belong, but he made no excuses for it. A higher power had given him the skills to do it. He damn sure wasn’t going to pass it by. And no, he didn’t feel guilty, although the way she was looking at him told him he probably should.
She waved the folder, still not looking inside. “Why do you have this?”
Luca exhaled heavily and went for the truth. “Because I got tired of Baz’s phone buzzin’ all the goddamn time. It’s not normal. And since she’s the one blowin’ the damn thing up, I decided to have a look-see.”
JJ was watching him, and he could tell she wanted to know more.
“It’s all there, JJ. The cold, hard truth about Molly Ryan.”
“Are you sayin’ it’s worth readin’?” she asked, glancing down at it again.
“Personally, I’d wanna know if I were you.”
Her gaze snapped back to his. “Why?”
“You love him, don’t you?”
Her eyebrows lowered, but she didn’t answer.
“If I loved someone and they were mixed up with a woman like that…” Luca shrugged and leaned back. “I’d damn sure want to know.”
Evidently his argument was convincing enough because JJ turned away … and opened the folder.
*
As Baz sat in Molly’s hospital room waiting for the doctor to come in for an examination, he recalled the movies that the warped and twisted side of himself enjoyed. The ones with the stalker—friend, roommate, lover—who had a completely dark side that no one expected. Those movies never turned out well for at least one person, and he suspected this was a similar situation.