She rolled her eyes. “If you say so.”
“We are. I love Jason.”
“You also love my brother,” she argued.
“Not like that anymore.”
Addie laughed. “Abbi, you can pretend all you want, you both can, but do you really think everyone in this house hasn’t been able to see for years that the two of you never stopped loving each other? We might have kept our mouths shut and minded our own business, but we’re not stupid. Only, I’m tired of sitting back and watching the two of you screw it up over and over.”
“I’m with Jason,” I reiterated gruffly.
“Yeah, yeah,” she waved her hand through the air. “Heard you the first time.” She marched ahead of me toward the game room.
“Oh God,” Addie stopped short upon entering the room, “I think I just felt my ovaries squeeze.” She was eyeing Jesse stretched out on one of the plush sofas, controller in hand and baby Amelia asleep on his chest. “It’s so wrong,” she muttered, her face scrunched up in distaste even as she continued to stare at him. “Why do babies instantly add a hot factor to guys?”
I laughed. “You’re right, it’s wrong.”
She shook her head and upper body as if trying to make it go away, and then marched over to the couch. “Gimme that baby before someone mistakes you for a kid person.” She bent and plucked Amelia off his chest.
He sat up as she did so. “What the hell Addie! We were cuddling here. And what do you mean? I am a kid person.”
Addie snorted and bounced Amelia lightly in her arms as she fussed a little. “Please, you broke up with that actress, what’s-her-face, because she wanted to have kids.”
“Just because I don’t want them, doesn’t mean I don’t like them. Amelia’s my princess, aren’t ya?” He fingered her tiny toes and she made slobbery giggling noises. “And my good luck charm. I was winning until you took her from me.”
“No you weren’t,” Darcy countered.
“Shut up,” he grumbled. “I was about to win.”
Her brow quirked. “That’s why I shot you?”
He glared at Darcy, “That’s because the brat distracted me when she stole the baby.”
While Addie and Darcy continued to argue with Jesse, I took the opportunity to steal Amelia from her. “That’s better, isn’t it?” I cooed. She curled her tiny fingers around one of mine and smiled big.
“All of you just shut up and play,” Aiden piped up. Addie strutted over determinedly and then plopped down half in his lap and took the controller right out of his hand.
“Hey!” he shouted and tried to wrench it from her grip. It became a tug-of-war for the controller.
“Would one of you just shoot, I’m getting killed over here. I could use some backup!” Carter, Zach and Josh’s younger brother, exclaimed.
“Let’s get out of here,” I whispered conspiratorially to Amelia. “Too much crazy in here.” We escaped the game room and wound our way down the hall toward the rest of the party. Rounding the corner by the bathroom, we nearly collided with Katya.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, and then attempted to skirt past her.
“That’s not your baby, is it?” she asked wide-eyed.
“No,” I said slowly and watched as her face relaxed somewhat.
“Oh.” She folded her arms across her chest and sneered, “You know I’m having Abel’s baby, right?”
“I’m aware.”
“Good.” She pursed her lips and looked me up and down. “Because we’re going to be a family.”
“Oo-kaay.” I frowned.
“You can quit acting dumb. I know who you are,” she said accusingly. “I know all about you.”
“Look,” I held up my hand, stopping her.
“No, you look.” She took an aggressive step toward me, unfolding her arms and placing her hands on her hips. I shrank into myself and hugged Amelia tighter to me, instinctively angling the baby away from the wicked witch.
“You may have had him first, but he left you. And chose me. So clearly you weren’t enough to make him stay with you or you’d be wearing the ring, not me.”
My head reeled back as if she’d slapped me, and my lips fell open in shock. I couldn’t form a retort of any kind. Her words had sliced through every defense I had and struck the core of my deep-rooted insecurities.
“It’s pathetic really how you still look at him, and it stops now.”
“Excuse me, bitch?”
I wish I could say it was me who snapped back at her, but it was Addie. She came around the corner and to my rescue with a look of fury on her face as she stared down Katya.
“This doesn’t concern you.” Katya didn’t take her eyes off me.
“Everything about you concerns me,” Addie spit. “Especially whatever the hell this is.”
Katya finally snapped her gaze to Addie. “Mind your own business. Your jealousy is just as sad as hers. Sorry little sister, you’re not the center of everyone’s world. You’re just going to have to accept that I’m in your brother’s life and I’m not going anywhere.”
“We’ll see about that. I’ll drag you out of here by your hair!” Addie started toward her.
Katya staggered back a step, eyes bulging.
I lurched forward, baby in one arm, and grabbed Addie with the other. “Addie, don’t,” I hissed. She stopped, her jaw clenched, her eyes laser beams burning holes in Katya where she stood.
Katya, realizing Addie wasn’t actually going to attack her, let out an angry huff and then collected herself. With a glower, she brushed past the both of us, and hissed “Psycho,” under her breath.
“I’ll show you psycho,” Addie muttered after her.
“Addie, cool it. You can’t hit her. She’s pregnant.”
“Her face isn’t pregnant,” she grumbled, still glaring after Katya, even though she’d escaped around another corner.
Within seconds, Abel appeared where Katya had just disappeared. “What’s going on? Why is Kat saying you’re crazy?” he asked his sister.
“The only crazy person here,” she snapped, “is you! For marrying that wretched shrew. Ugh,” she screeched. “She’s awful Abel. You didn’t have to marry her just because she’s having your baby.” Addie took an angry step forward and reached her arm up to smack her brother upside the head.
“Ow,” he growled.
“That’s for not telling me by the way. And making me related to that—that—that bitch.”
“Hell, Add,” he rubbed the back of his head. “Maybe if I didn’t think you were going to hit me, I would have told you sooner.”
“You deserved that and you know it.”
“Don’t make it worse, Addie. Please just leave her alone. This is my mess and you need to stay out of it.”
“You’re damn right this is your mess. How could you get her pregnant?”
Abel blew out a heavy breath. “I’m not explaining the birds and bees to you little sister.”
“Very funny,” she scowled.
“Don’t worry, I’m going to fix it.”
“How about you just stop fucking up, big brother.” She shoved past him, and then it was just me and Abel and baby Amelia and a whole lot of awkwardness.
His concerned gaze bore into mine. “Did Kat say something to you?”
Her name on his lips while he looked at me like that was too much. I ducked my eyes to Amelia, caressing my hand over the soft fuzz on her head. “It doesn’t matter.”
He stepped closer and laid his hand on my forearm, the one wrapped around Amelia. The touch was searing. Me, him, and a baby between us, a perverse scene of what might have been. My eyes lifted and connected with his. So many emotions stared back at me through deep green eyes. “Of course it matters. I didn’t want her here. I didn’t want you to have to see her or deal with her. I promise, I’ll make sure she stays away from you.”
I laughed dryly and pulled back. “I don’t need you to protect me from her Abel. I don’t need anything from you, except for you to
stop this.”
“Stop what? Stop caring about you? I can’t.”
“No. Stop acting like it changes anything. It’s you I need the space from, Abel. I can’t take your sad looks and these secret little moments. You can’t just fix this. You can’t just make everything alright. I care about you Abel, and seeing you hurting hurts me, but I don’t deserve that. I have enough of my own hurt. It’s not fair of you to put yours on me too. I’m not the one who did this.” I shouldered past him, the guilt of my harsh words constricting my chest, but I meant it.
Ten
Abel
“What were you thinking? Starting shit with Abbi and my sister in my parents’ house, during the party that you crashed?” I growled discreetly into Kat’s ear.
Her fake smile never wavered as she turned to face me on the edge of the party. The party that she wasn’t part of. Not really. She didn’t belong here. “Are you still screwing her?” Her sweet tone wasn’t enough to mask the bite of her words.
“Are you kidding me right now?”
“Well, are you?”
“No, Kat. I’m not. How many more times do I have to say it?”
“Until I believe you. Which I don’t.”
“That’s not my problem. I made you a promise and I’ve kept it. I’m trying my best, Kat, but you’re not helping anything by pulling this shit.”
Her angry scowl softened. “I’m sorry. Okay? I know I just barged in here and did everything all wrong, but I felt bad about our fight the other night, and the whole time you were gone I was just going crazy thinking you were going to leave me, and that I messed everything up. I wanted to come apologize and meet your family, because I don’t know what you’ve told them, or what they must think, and I don’t want them to hate me. But then I saw her and the way you looked at her, and I just . . . I don’t know, but I’m sorry.” She gave me a pleading look. It did nothing, because I doubted she was actually sorry for anything, but staying pissed at her wouldn’t do us any good. I could resent her all I wanted, but at the end of the day I was still stuck with her for now, and it was my own fault as much as it was hers.
“I’m sorry too,” I said carefully. “Neither one of us has handled this too well. I took off and maybe I shouldn’t have, but you can’t do this. Don’t fight with my sister, and don’t blame Abbi for our issues. It’s got nothing to do with her. If we’re going to make this work, we can’t keep having the same fight over and over.”
“I know,” she said weakly. “I shouldn’t have come. I’ll go back home. I can get a flight and be back in New York in two hours.”
“I’m not kicking you out, Kat. I overreacted when you showed up. I was surprised, and I wasn’t sure what your intentions were, but you’re here now. If you want to stay, you can stay, as long as you promise me there won’t be any more drama.”
She scanned the room. “I don’t think anyone wants me here.”
“They don’t know you, Kat. They don’t know what to think of our situation given that you didn’t exactly make the best first impression barging in and announcing your pregnancy the way you did.”
“Well maybe if I didn’t feel like you were trying to keep me hidden like you’re ashamed of me, I wouldn’t have done it.”
“I get it, Kat, and I don’t want to argue with you anymore,” I bit back my frustration.
“I don’t want to argue either, so where does that leave us?” She folded her arms across her chest and her face transformed into a pout.
I scraped my hand through my hair, tugging at it in frustration. “Let’s just get through the rest of the party.”
She nodded and all I could do was hope our truce held and that she steered clear of Abbi and my sister. “Come on, you should probably meet my parents more officially.”
She wove her fingers into mine and I let her. For possibly the first time since I’d known her, Kat actually appeared shy and nervous when I led her toward Mom and Dad.
“Does she hate me?” Kat whispered.
I stopped and looked at her. “My mom doesn’t hate you. That’s not her style.”
“Your sister does, though.”
I shrugged, not bothering to deny that one. Addie had never liked her and never bothered to hide it, which was funny considering she was the reason we met at one of her modeling gigs in the first place. I doubted funny was the word Addie would choose, though. “Just keep your distance from her. You’re used to that anyway.”
I sensed a snide retort on her tongue, but she swallowed it back and fixed a charming smile on her face for my parents. “You have a lovely home. I’m sorry if my presence today was an intrusion. I just really wanted to meet everyone.”
My mother gave her a warm smile. “We’re happy to finally meet you, and of course you’re welcome here.” There was nothing fake or insincere about it when my Mom pulled Kat in for a hug. Kat appeared momentarily caught off guard, and if anything, became more demure and unsure of herself once Mom released her. Mom and my aunts were as sweet as ever, pulling her into conversation, and asking her all about herself, which was her favorite subject, so she’d have no problem talking for a while. It was enough that I felt safe slipping away after a few minutes and leaving her with them without having to worry about what she might say or do.
I escaped one uncomfortable situation, only to be sucker punched in the gut with a different kind of hell. On the other side of the room, Abbi was nestled intimately into Jason’s side, Amelia still cradled against her chest. Jason’s arm was slung over her shoulder, and his love-struck gaze was glued to her face as she laughed at something Jesse was saying.
Awesome.
My mom was making nice with my wife and my best friend was all buddy-buddy with the enemy. Only calling him the enemy felt juvenile and petty. As much as I wanted to hate the guy, he was . . . nice, and he adored Abbi, so he obviously wasn’t stupid. In fact, I couldn’t find one damn thing wrong with him. Not a single thing to indicate he wasn’t good enough for her. The truth of it was he was probably better for her than I was. I wanted to hit him.
I laughed to myself. You couldn’t make this crap up. What would some Hollywood writer pay for the rights to all this?
Not able to stomach it, I left the room altogether and took refuge in the game room. Aiden, Nash, and Darcy were fixated on the huge flat screen. “Somebody toss me a controller,” I said, flopping down onto one of the sofas. “I need to shoot something or blow something up.”
“Here, you can take over for me.” Darcy stood. “I have another party to get to anyway.”
“I see how I rate.”
“Oh, shut up.” She smacked my arm. “A friend is celebrating the one-year mark of his company. It’s free dinner and drinks at Gian Carlo’s. Can’t pass that up.”
“A friend? You mean Harrison?” I laughed. “And I’m sure it’s just the free drinks and dinner you’re going for.”
“She’s been all Harrison this and Harrison that all day. As usual,” Nash said. “Did you know Abel, that Harrison was featured in the Globe and Forbes magazine?” he said in his best imitation of Darcy’s voice.
I laughed again.
“Whatever, I’m just proud of him,” Darcy grumbled.
“More like in love with him,” my little brother teased. Not that it was any great big secret.
“I am not.”
“Come on Darce, you’ve been in love with the guy for years,” Nash said. “Just tell him already and put us all out of our misery.”
“Even if I were, if, it wouldn’t matter because he doesn’t feel the same way.”
“Girls are sooooo dumb,” Nash groaned.
“You don’t get to give me love advice. None of you are qualified,” she said pointedly.
Nash shrugged. “She has a point there.”
She turned to me, a satisfied smirk on her face. “Happy birthday, loser.” She bent to hug me. “It was good to see you, and I guess congratulations on the baby.” She said it like it was a question, like she wasn’t sure
if she was supposed to be happy for me or not.
“Thanks,” I muttered and took the offered PlayStation controller from her. Aiden resumed the paused game and I joined in. Before I even managed to get my first kill, Jesse walked in the door Darcy had just walked out of.
“Figured you were hiding out in here.” He dropped down right beside me.
“I’m not hiding.”
“Riiiight, so come on, spill. What’s the plan?”
I returned fire at an opponent the same time I asked, “What plan?”
“Come on man. The plan to unhitch yourself from the she-devil and steal your girl back from Coachey. Let’s hear it.”
I kept my eyes on the game. “No plan. Besides, aren’t you guys tight now?”
“He’s alright, but come, on. Obviously, you married Katya because you knocked her up, which is stupid by the way, and I don’t get why you kept it some big secret from everyone, but it’s obvious you don’t want to be married to her, so it’s only a matter of time before that blows up in your face.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, asshole.”
“Dude, it’s never going to work, and you can’t seriously think it will,” Nash chimed in.
“It only has to work for a few more months,” I muttered.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” It was Aiden who spoke up.
“Means exactly what I said. I only have to make my marriage to Katya work for a little while longer.”
“So there is a plan,” Jesse said smugly.
I hit pause on the game and set my controller down. “Yes. I plan to leave Katya as soon as she has the baby, since the only reason I married her was to make sure she didn’t have an abortion.”
“Are you serious?”
It was hard to meet my brother’s eyes as I admitted the extent of the mess I’d gotten myself into, maybe even harder than confessing to my mom. It was one thing to disappoint her. Another entirely to let down the brother who looked up to me and wanted to be like me. “Yeah. It was either marry her or let her get rid of the baby, but please don’t—”
“I knew it!”
All four of our heads snapped around to the doorway. “Dammit,” I cursed to myself. “What are you doing Addie?”
Finding Abel (Rebel Hearts Book 1) Page 11