by Katy Kaylee
I was just setting the pasta on the table when there was a knock on my door. At first, I didn’t think anything of it. And then I realized I didn’t check to make sure Ryder got my text. Oh, God.
I went to the door and looked through the peephole. My heart dropped.
“Who’s at the door, Katie?” Danny said as he put the salad on the table.
I swallowed. At first, I thought I’d open the door a crack, whisper to Ryder that Danny was here, and shut it. But as I opened it, Ryder was grinning and his big arm swept out and pulled me into an embrace.
“How’s my girl?” He asked as he kissed me in his usual firm, thorough way. It always curled my toes, except this time. Not because the kiss wasn’t up to usual standards, but because I knew Danny was watching.
“What the fuck!” Danny’s voice bellowed through my condo.
Ryder’s head jerked up, saw Danny and then looked down at me.
I swallowed hard and tried not to think about my world imploding. This could go well. But deep down, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was going to be the end for me and Ryder. “I guess you didn’t get my text.”
20
Ryder
I’d known this day would come, but I thought I’d have a warning and time to prepare. Instead, I was blindsided, not just by seeing Danny, but also, the right hook he landed on my jaw that had me stumbling back.
“Danny!” Katie moved between us.
Worried about what he might do in his rage, I moved Katie behind me. I didn’t want him hurting her or the baby. I wondered if he even knew about the baby.
“Danny.” I tried to keep my voice measured even though my blood was boiling, and I was prepared to lay him flat if necessary.
“Why the fuck are you kissing my sister?” His eyes tracked to Katie. “You let him touch you?” It looked like a lightbulb went off behind his eyes. “Holy shit, he’s your baby daddy?”
I supposed it was a good thing he knew about the baby, even though finding out I was the father wasn’t. The look in his eyes suggested he wanted to hit me again. This time, I would be ready for it, although I decided I’d try to avoid hitting him back for Katie.
“Danny.” Katie emerged from behind me. “Let’s talk.”
“About what? About how you let this asshole fuck you?”
“Careful, Danny.” This time my voice held more menace. It was one thing to be pissed at me, but I wasn’t going to tolerate him disrespecting Katie.
“Have you forgotten what he did? How he slept with Phoebe the week of our wedding?”
I scoffed and shook my head.
“What? You deny it now?”
“I’ve always denied it, Danny.”
Katie tried to intervene again. “Let’s sit down and talk like adults.”
“I’m not talking to this asshole. Jesus, Katie. I thought you had better sense. But I guess the Malloy mystique is undeniable even with you.” Danny glared at me and looked at Katie like he didn’t know her.
I hated that he thought the women I slept with had no control over themselves. I was no hypnotist. Every women I had been with, including Katie, chose to sleep with me, not because they couldn’t help themselves but because they’d wanted to.
“How about I send Phoebe out here to you?” he said to me. “You all can live in your betrayal bliss.”
I ground my teeth wanting to lay into Danny, but not wanting to upset Katie.
Danny then brought both his hands to his head in an “oh my god” gesture. “You knocked my sister up just like you did Phoebe.”
My brain skittered to a halt.
“What?” Katie asked.
Danny turned to her. “That was the thing I was going to tell you. DJ isn’t mine.” He whirled on me. “All this time I thought he was mine, but it turns out he’s yours. Not that I’ll let you anywhere near him.”
I wondered what had possessed him. I hadn’t touched Phoebe, but he not only said I did, but he was also saying I was his kid’s father. What the fuck?
“It’s impossible.” I said as clearly and calmly as I could even though underneath the surface I was seething.
“Danny, what are you talking about?” Katie asked again.
“He’s not mine, Danny.” All of a sudden, the stakes got higher. It was one thing for them to think I’d slept with Phoebe, but to believe I was the father of her child was too much. If Katie believed that, I was certain we were doomed.
“Oh yeah? If he’s not mine, then he has to be yours Ryder. You’re the only other one she fucked.”
“I never touched her.” I shook my head, but my gaze was on Katie, wondering who she’d believe. This was the moment of reckoning. She either believed me or Danny. Who would she choose?
Danny stepped closer to me, getting in my face. “Are you saying my wife was a slut?”
I jerked back. “Your fiancé tried to seduce me the week of your wedding and must have slept with another man too. You figure it out.”
“Tried to seduce you, right.” Danny scoffed. “She told me what happened.”
I glanced toward Katie, trying to gauge her reaction. “She lied, Danny. I swear—”
“I don’t believe you.”
I sighed. “I know. But it doesn’t change the truth.”
“The love child.” Katie murmured as her gaze drifted like she was deep in thought.
“What?” Danny asked.
I looked to Katie again, as a cold lance started to pierce my heart.
She stared at me. “The tabloid—there was a story about a love child.”
I gritted my teeth. “I told you, Katie, that wasn’t me. It couldn’t be me.”
“You said you always use a condom.” As she spoke, I could feel her drifting further away from me. My heart rate jacked up as panic set in.
“But you didn’t always. Not with me.”
I gave a sideways glance to Danny. Talking about my sex life would not be conducive to a good resolution.
“You told me you were on the pill. And I trusted you. I still believe that you were despite the baby.” Was she going to give me the same benefit of the doubt or was she really going to believe Danny and a tabloid? My heart was ripping in two. I stepped toward her, but she moved back, and that’s when I knew I’d lost her.
Anger quickly replaced the panic and fear. I moved away from both of them. “The two of you are a piece of work. I’ve been your friend since I was five years old, but you continue to believe a woman you knew for a few years. A woman who cheated on you—”
“You betrayed me,” Danny yelled.
I stepped up and put my face close to his. “I didn’t. You—” I turned on Katie too. “Both of you betrayed me by believing that bullshit.”
I stepped back and headed to the door. But then I whirled around on them pointing a finger at Katie. “This between us may be over, but I will be a part of my child’s life.”
“Like you’ve been for DJ?” Danny’s condescending voice taunted me.
I jabbed my finger toward him next. “If you or Phoebe says anything about me being her son’s father, I will sue you for everything you have. You think I ruined your life now, just wait, Danny. I’ll take you and Phoebe for everything you have or will ever have.”
“Good luck with that. I have nothing. No business. No wife. No son. All because of you.”
I gave him a seething glare. “Grow up, Danny. You have nothing because you are nothing.”
“Ryder!” Katie chastised me.
“But if it makes you both feel better to blame me, have at it. Just know that your life will always be miserable because you don’t take responsibility for the fact that you make bad choices.”
“Yes, starting with the one to feel sorry for you and befriend you in kindergarten.”
I nodded. “That’s one thing we can agree on.” I looked at Katie one last time, hoping beyond hope she’d believe me. She stood looking confused, which in my mind was the answer. “It goes without saying, you’re fired.”
I climbed into my car and drove with no particular destination in mind. I considered going to a club. What better way to shed this pain than to go back to being the man I’d been before? The truth was, trying to act right hadn’t done shit for me. I might as well party and enjoy life.
The only thing stopping me was knowing there was a child involved. My child. Who knew what Katie might try to do, but one thing she wouldn’t succeed at would be keeping my child from me. I had the resolve and the financial reserves to fight her if necessary.
“Fucking Danny. Fucking Phoebe.” Jesus. Was she the source of that love child story? Was she going to tell people I was her son’s father? That made no sense. She might be manipulative, but in this day and age, it was too easy to prove I wasn’t the father. “Because I never touched her.” I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel as I merged onto the freeway heading south. I’d just go home and hide. That was always the safe thing to do.
Once home, and swimming in a bottle of whiskey, the pain wasn’t gone, but it was easier to manage my hate for both of them. The good news was, I’d learned my lesson. Love was a bitch better left untouched. Friendship too.
When I finally made it to bed, I was determined to focus on only two things from now on; football and my child. On Monday, I’d contact my lawyer to figure out what to do about Katie and the baby, as well as anything Phoebe and Danny might have planned. Then I’d call Ray and tell him I’d fired Katie, and from now own, I didn’t give a fuck about publicity. Let people think what they were going to think.
21
Katie
I was in a state of shock. I couldn’t sort out what had just happened. Danny accused Ryder of being his son’s father. Ryder denied it, but Phoebe had admitted to sleeping with Ryder. And I’d suspected that Phoebe had already been pregnant. Had she and Ryder been having a fling before that fateful day?
My instinct was to believe Danny. He was my family. But the hurt and anger in Ryder’s eyes had me second guessing myself. That and the last few months I’d spent with him. The man I’d laughed and fought with wouldn’t have lied, and certainly not if a child was involved.
I gripped Danny’s shirt. “Tell me you’re sure about this.”
His head jerked back. “Don’t tell me you’re buying his story?”
“That’s just it, Danny. He doesn’t have a story. He just denies it.”
Danny shook his head in disappointment. “I saw what I saw, Katie. Ryder in nothing but a towel and Phoebe in lingerie.”
I gently pushed him away. “Why did you marry her, then?”
“Because it wasn’t her fault. Just like it probably wasn’t your fault. It’s just too bad about the baby.”
I grabbed him again. “Never say that about my baby again. Do you hear me? And for the record, I wasn’t seduced by Ryder. I jumped into bed with him willingly. And if Phoebe slept with him, she joined him willingly too. You should at least accept that.”
I walked over to the couch and sunk down, losing all steam. What the hell should I believe?
“It will work out, Katie. You’re strong and brave. Unlike me, you always come out on top.”
I wanted to reiterate Ryder’s words that Danny’s problems were his own, but I was too tired to argue.
I stood. “I’m going to bed.”
“What about dinner? The baby needs food.”
I looked at the set table but I couldn’t eat. “I’m sorry, I just can’t.”
“Can I crash on your couch?”
I nodded. “Bedding is in the bathroom linen closet.”
I didn’t bother with changing into pajamas. I simply climbed into bed and cried.
The next morning, I woke in a funk. Had the night gone right, Ryder would be beside me, rubbing my belly and talking to the baby, before getting up to make French toast. Had I blown it with him? Well duh, my conscience said. Choosing to believe Danny meant I couldn’t believe Ryder. There was no doubt that our relationship was over, except for the need to raise our baby.
As I lay there, the tears from the night before returned. I wasn’t even sure why I was crying. Was it because I lost Ryder or because I believed Danny and Ryder wasn’t the man I thought he was? Was it because I had a dream about what our lives could become and that was now blown up? Or had it been a fantasy that could never come true? So far, our relationship had been anything but smooth sailing, but the idea that I wouldn’t see him anymore made my chest hurt.
Except I would see him. The baby would always bind us together, but it wouldn’t be the same. He wouldn’t be bound to me, and that was the source of my tears. Dammit. I was in love with him. And a part of me wondered if I’d chosen wrong.
I bounded out of bed, washed my face and then woke Danny on the couch. “Tell me what you saw. What happened?”
He wiped his eyes. “What?”
“With Phoebe and Ryder, what happened?”
He groaned. “I told you, Katie. I went there to talk business with him and she opened the door wearing lingerie and he came out of the bathroom in a towel.”
I sat on my coffee table. “Was he expecting you?”
He pushed himself up to sit. “Do you have coffee?”
“Only after you answer my questions.”
He sighed. “Yes, he was expecting me.”
“Why would he sleep with Phoebe if he knew you were coming? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Phoebe said it just happened. She went there to talk to him about best man stuff.” He got up and went to the kitchen and opened my cupboards.
“He didn’t flinch, Danny.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about? Where’s your coffee pot?” He opened the cupboard next to my stove.
“Over the fridge. He didn’t flinch when you said DJ was his.”
“So.”
I heard him moving around as I sat and thought. “If he’d slept with her, you’d think he’d have an oh-no expression or something. He didn’t.”
“I still don’t know why that matters. I saw what I saw. Phoebe said it happened. Why would she lie about that?”
That was the question. If she wanted Ryder, coming between him and Danny wasn’t the way to do it. And she married Danny that weekend, so what was her game? Unless she was mad that Ryder rejected her, and it was her way to get revenge. Chances were she knew Danny well enough to know he’d still marry her.
I shook my head.
“You know he slept with her in college, right? I’d told him I’d liked her and he slept with her. Asshole.”
It was all so difficult to believe. But one of them had to be lying, or it was a misunderstanding. “Are you sure he realized you liked her?”
He came out of the kitchen holding a bag of dark ground coffee. “Katie, I get that you’re looking for a way to absolve him, but it happened. And when you consider his life since moving out here, it can’t be that big of a surprise. He’s a womanizer.”
Except I was the only woman he’d been with since his injury. He told me, as he’d told me four years ago, that he thought we had something.
“How did you two get together anyway? I thought you hated him too.” Danny went back into the kitchen.
I moved to the couch. “I did.”
“So, what happened?”
“I became his publicist and saw a different part of him.”
Danny snorted. “I guess you did.”
“You’re being vulgar.” I thought about all I’d learned about Ryder. “He’s really sweet and generous. He just doesn’t like people to see that part of him.”
“He’s got a reputation to keep up.” Danny emerged with a cup of
coffee. “Do you want one? Or do you need tea or something?”
“I don’t want anything now.” I looked up at him as he came to me. “He wanted to change his reputation but he wouldn’t do any feel-good appearances. Just interviews.”
“Katie.” Danny sat next to me. “Stop making him into something he’s not. Everyone knows his true nature. It’s all over the Internet for us to see. Now, why haven’t you told mom and dad about this baby? They won’t be thrilled that you’re not married, or that it’s Ryder’s, but they’re going to be stoked about becoming grandparents again.”
I put off telling my parents for the same reason Ryder and I couldn’t ever talk about the situation with Danny and Phoebe; it brought up painful issues.
“I’ll call them this afternoon. What are you doing today?”
“I’m going to give you my business plan to read, and then I think I’ll go to the beach. I’ve never seen the Pacific Ocean. Should we go together?”
I nodded. “That will be fun.”
That afternoon, after a trip to the beach, and while Danny was out getting takeout for dinner, I called my parents, scared to death to tell them about the baby. I knew they’d love me and the baby no matter what, but I didn’t want to disappoint them.
“Katie! Did Danny make it out there?” my mom said when she picked up. She must have noted it was me on the caller ID.
“Yes. He’s caused quite a commotion.”
“Hold on, your father is getting on the extension. It’s been a long time since you’ve called home.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” I sat at the dining table, trying not to think about the time Ryder and I made love on it.
“Lots of big clients taking your time?” my mother asked.
“A few.” I doodled nervously with a pencil on a pad of paper.
“Katiebug,” my father said when he picked up. “How’s my girl?”
I smiled, loving how my father continued to call me my childhood nickname. Would I do that with my child? “Hi, dad.”