“You can seat us now.” Gianna’s tone was condescending. She’d always been a little aloof around me, but had never been outright hostile. That had obviously changed. Oh, she definitely knew about us. “I’m starving,” she complained dramatically, her hand going to her stomach. The gesture was familiar. I’d seen someone else do that recently but couldn’t place it. My mind must have still been foggy.
“Follow me,” I instructed. I wouldn’t look at Dalton, refused to meet his eye. If I did, I would lose my composure. I was slowly breaking and couldn’t let them see it. I’d be a bigger mess than Melody was that day at the bistro.
My step faltered as I thought of her. The way she’d rubbed her protruding belly…
Oh, God. That was who Gianna reminded me of. The way she touched her stomach, like there was something in there to love and protect. I coughed to cover my sob. We were only a few feet away from their table. I wasn’t going to make it. I was about to lose my shit right there in the middle of the restaurant. I sucked in a few deep breaths, doing everything I could to keep the tears at bay. I could do this. I had to do this. I wouldn’t let him see me break.
I calmly set the four menus down on the four place settings and let my focus land on a point past Gianna’s shoulder. “Your server will be with you shortly.” I turned on my heel and walked away.
“Taylor.” I jumped a bit at the sound of Dalton’s voice calling my name, but my step never faltered and never slowed. I headed straight to Caroline’s office.
“Taylor, what’s wrong?” she asked when I stepped up to her desk. “You’re pale as a ghost.” She stood and came around to my side and placed the back of her hand on my forehead.
“I’m not feeling well. I think I need to go home.” It was the truth. I felt my heart cracking open, my insides turning to dust and floating away. There was nothing left of it now.
“Of course. Go,” she urged. “Do you need someone to drive you?”
“No.” There was no way I could wait for someone to take me home. I had to leave now. “I’ll be fine,” I assured her before stiffly walking out the door. I rushed out of there, not daring to glance into the dining area for fear of seeing Dalton or Gianna. Once I was safely inside the confines of my car, the flood gates opened and all my pain came pouring out.
When I first saw him standing there next to her, I couldn’t figure out how he could have gone back. After everything she did to him, how could he choose her? But if she was pregnant with his child, he wouldn’t turn his back on her. He’d try to make it work for the kid’s sake. He would never put someone through what his father put him and his mother through. His biggest fear had always been that he’d turn out like him.
But hell, that didn’t mean he had to jump back into a relationship with Gianna. There were plenty of people who made co-parenting work. Dalton would make a wonderful father, regardless of his relationship with the mother. Yet, he chose her.
I sat there for a long time, tears leaking from my eyes like the incessant rain that poured over my car. My top was soaked, but I wasn’t sure which source the water had come from, my eyes or the sky. I pushed damp tendrils of hair from my face and wiped my nose. It was time to head home and forget I’d ever loved Dalton James.
When I got home, I went straight to bed, burrowing under the covers before crying myself to sleep. That was where Aiden found me hours later when he came home.
“What the hell?” he barked from the doorway. “Why aren’t you at work? Did you quit already?” he questioned angrily, stalking toward my bed. I rolled over and he flinched at my appearance.
He let out a low curse as he sank onto the edge of my bed, taking in the sight in front of him. I could feel how puffy my face was, my eyes nearly swollen shut from crying, my hair matted to my cheek from the tears. “What happened?”
I shouldn’t have told him. He didn’t need to find out this way. I didn’t have any right to drive a wedge between my big brother and his best friend, but I had to tell someone, and Aiden was looking at me like he was seriously considering calling a priest to give me my last rites.
So I gave my confession. I told my big brother everything.
Later that evening, I was curled up on the couch with a bowl of ice cream, watching a movie with Aiden. He’d cancelled his Saturday night plans to stay home with me. Our parents were out of town for one of Dad’s annual work conferences, so I would have been all alone if it wasn’t for him. I couldn’t have asked for a better big brother. He stood by my side when I needed him to, and I leaned on him when it all became too much.
We were on our second Will Farrell movie when the doorbell rang. I nestled deeper into the couch and pulled the blanket up to my chin. I was a mess, and there was no way I was answering the door like this.
Aiden rolled his eyes and stood. “Don’t worry. I’ll get it,” he offered sarcastically. Whoever was there grew impatient and started banging on the door. “All right, all right. I’m coming,” Aiden warned the person on the other side. “Son of a bitch,” he bit out, glancing through the peephole. He flung open the door and immediately took a step forward. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
I stiffened. Who was he talking to? Surely it wasn’t-
“Is she here?” That was Dalton’s voice. He sounded desperate.
“Is who here, pal?” Aiden said, his voice tinged with a sneer. There was a moment of silence before Dalton spoke again.
“I need to talk to Taylor. It’s important.”
“Anything you need to say to her, you can say to me. Or are we keeping secrets from each other now?” Shit. This was about to get ugly.
“It’s not what you think.”
“It’s not what I think?” Aiden parroted, his volume increasing. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He was seething and I feared for Dalton’s safety, but I didn’t dare move. “I sent my sister on that trip with you, hoping you two could finally have a chance with each other-” Wait, what? “and what did you do? You fucked her for days and led her on, making her believe you guys had something special, just to come home and go running back into Gianna’s cheating arms.”
What was happening? Did my brother just admit to throwing us together on purpose? He knew this whole time? My head was spinning so fast, I almost missed Dalton’s reply.
“That’s not true. It’s more complicated than that.”
“I don’t care how complicated it is! I just had to watch my baby sister fall completely apart because my best friend tore her heart out and stomped all over it.”
His words made my chest ache all over again. I pulled the blanket up to my mouth to muffle my sobs. I didn’t know how much more I could take.
“She’s pregnant, Aiden.” Dalton raised his voice, clearly over the need to defend himself. “Gianna is having my child. I can’t just abandon her.”
Aiden was quiet for a moment before speaking again. “How do you know it’s yours?”
“What?” Dalton asked, sounding surprised. I hadn’t thought of that either, but it was a valid question.
“Dude, she was fucking somebody else while you two were engaged.”