by CC MacKenzie
He frowned at the wistful tone in her voice.
There was something going on with her. "Has someone said something to upset you?"
Shocked blue eyes met his. "No. Everyone has been very kind. Although since our wedding seems to be a hot topic, it would be nice for someone to ask me what I want, you know?"
He blinked and tried to think back over their many conversations about their future and actually could not remember once asking her what she wanted. She was right. Since agreeing to marry him, Olivier had sort of assumed she was like every other girl and would want a big, fancy, wedding.
Now he wondered if he had got it all wrong.
Ana loathed publicity and the celebrity press in particular.
She'd shot down any and all tabloid approaches to write a piece on their engagement or their relationship. Not that Olivier wanted their personal life or plans spread across the glossy magazines either. He could not think of anything worse.
All that mattered to him was Ana's happiness.
He dipped his head to drop a soft kiss on her mouth and inhaled the scent of his woman. And took a moment just to enjoy how she felt in his arms. "We will talk about it later."
Ana nodded, her eyes serious as she met his. "Seems we have a lot to talk about. However, now is neither the time nor the place."
For a moment, Olivier studied her set face and then held her close.
He frowned.
Now what the hell did that mean?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Heartbeat a pulsing thump behind her breastbone and nausea clawing its way up her throat, Danni took a deep breath as her whole world seemed to spin.
Linda gripped her arm and dragged her behind the plant. "It might not be what it looks like," she hissed.
Danni stared into Linda's wide eyes. "When I was sixteen, my mother slept with my boyfriend. My father found them in her bed. I learned the lesson never to bring a boy home because she found the young and impressionable easy prey. Seems I'm not Pascale's type after all." She held out her hand, not a bit surprised to find it trembling. "What did you get? I want to see it."
"Why don't you wait until tomorrow, when you've calmed down a bit and talked to him."
"Give it to me, Linda."
Linda found the video and handed her phone to Danni. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart."
Well, the evidence spoke for itself and clinched it, so to speak, because there was no arguing with fact and proof. The kiss was hot, as was the fury burning in Danni's heart.
"Send a copy to my cell, please." She returned the phone, lifted her chin and marched down the corridor to confront two people who'd torn her heart from her chest. One part of her brain recognized the way Pascale's face went sheet white, the other was focused on a woman whose triumphant look in her eyes as she watched her only child walk towards them, made her unfit to hold the title of mother.
"Seems you two are already well acquainted," Danni said and pulled off her engagement ring and offered it to her now ex-fiancé who stood there as if he was made of stone.
He made no effort to take it.
He said nothing.
And that was fine with Danni because she had PLENTY to say.
"You know, mother," she began as she really saw the woman who'd given birth to her and felt... nothing. Nothing at all. "Daddy and I loved you, in spite of your faults. I could stand here and list all the vile things you've done to both of us over the years, but what's the point? This competition you seem to have with me is all in your own head. It doesn't matter what you have to do, you need to win at all costs." She got into her mother's face and it gave her no little satisfaction when the woman took a step back. "Well tonight's little drama has just cost you a daughter. If you ever come near me again, I'll take out a restraining order."
Danni spun to a Pascale who watched her through narrowed eyes.
The muscle in his jaw ticked.
He smelled so familiar, so male, and it broke her heart so bad that she could barely swallow the huge rock in her throat. Her eyes stung. Her nose stung, but she fought like a warrior to hang on.
She'd be damned if she'd ever let him see what he'd done to her this night.
"Seems the rumors about you are right. You like variety, a revolving door of women. Although I think going for a mother and daughter is little sick even for you."
Since he hadn't made a move to take the ring, she moved in, tucked it into his top pocket, gave it a little pat.
Chin held high, Danni turned and strode down the corridor as if she was going into battle.
His heart a block of solid ice in his chest, Pascale Wolfe watched Danni walk away.
Very slowly, he turned to look at the woman who had just turned his whole life upside down.
"You," he growled at a Gillian who took another step back. "Are a fucking piece of work. You better fix the mess you have made, or I will destroy you."
Eyes wide in a pale face, Gillian's pale hand clutched her throat. "You heard what she said..."
When Pascale's hand slashed through the air to silence her, she took another step back.
"Fix it."
***
Danni kept it together until she and Linda took a taxi to Linda's tiny apartment.
It wasn't until after she'd had a bath and a double brandy that Danni let it all out.
She cried for the loss of a mother who had never existed.
And she cried for the end of her dreams of a happy ever after.
"I knew he was too good to be true. Why don't I ever learn?"
Linda hugged her close. "You need to tell Ana and T.C."
Danni shook her head. "I can't ruin Ana's engagement weekend. I want to get the whole thing straight in my head. God, Pascale has a key to my apartment."
"You can stay here for as long as you like and we can always ask Sean and his team to change the locks on Monday."
"I need my laptop. My whole world is on my laptop and it's in Pascale's apartment."
"I'll sort it for you tomorrow. What you need is sleep."
Danni sat up and swiped her wet cheeks, but it was no use, the tears kept on coming.
She wrapped her arms around her waist and rocked. "God, I hurt so much."
"He said nothing?"
Danni shook her head. "Not a word."
"There's something weird about this whole situation," Linda muttered.
"We saw what we saw."
"I know, that's what's weird about it."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Do you know what's going on between T.C. and Sean?" Ana asked a very quiet Danni two days later. "She lost her temper and punched him on the mouth on Saturday night."
Dressed for business, they were sitting at a table in a quiet part of the comfortable lounge area of the Down and Dirty bar. Ana studied the white and strained face of one of her best friends and wondered what was going on with her. She'd disappeared early from the party on Saturday night and Ana hoped nothing had gone wrong with her and Pascale's relationship. There were times when Danni needed to work through a problem herself before she reached out to her friends for help and support. Ana reckoned she'd get whatever was wrong out of her, eventually.
Danni frowned, sipping her coffee while she thought about the question. "I didn't know she'd hit him. I haven't heard anything from her. I sort of got the feeling something happened between them in Paris."
Her mind still on the way T.C. had slugged Sean at her party, Ana shook her head.
"Seriously? They detest each other."
Danni nodded. "Yup. It was hate at first sight."
Ana could only agree. Since they'd returned from Paris, her best friend and her head of security had done everything they could to avoid each other. "I know he can't bear her language at times. I heard him warn her more than once."
"I bet that went down well," Danni said.
"Like a lead balloon."
Danni checked out the room. "Talking about Sean, where is he?"
"He's at the doctor for a fina
l check-up to clear him for work. Sean's colleague, Pete, is with me today. He's sitting at the bar."
Danni nodded, lifted her wrist to check the time. "She's late. Again."
Ana shifted in her seat to checkout a movement over Danni's shoulder. "Speak of the devil." Then her eyes narrowed in concern as she studied T.C.'s face when she reached the table. "What's the matter with you? You look like death warmed up."
"Lemme get the humble pie over with first. I'm sorry I caused a scene on Saturday," T.C. said to Ana.
"I'm sure you had a good reason," Danni said.
T.C. nodded. "Yeah, well. I shouldn't have lost it like that."
Ana looked hard at her friend. "Are you sick?"
Dressed in loose jeans, a short-sleeved man's cotton sweatshirt that had seen better days (probably to hide her fabulous breasts) and her blonde hair tied in a messy knot on top her head, T.C. dumped her huge purse on an empty chair, sat in the chair next to Ana and slumped over the table.
"I feel like crap."
Danni poured a glass of water from the bottle on the table and handed T.C. the glass.
"You look awful. What's up? You're never sick."
Instead of answering her, T.C. studied the water in her glass as if it held all the answers to the mysteries of the universe.
Then her eyes clicked to her friends.
"There's no easy way to do this... to say this..." she began.
"Say what?" Danni asked.
"I'm pregnant."
Omigod.
Ana knew her jaw was on the floor but before she could speak, T.C. turned and beaned her with a black look. "And I blame you for it," she said.
"ME!?" Ana screeched, her brain struggling to compute the news. "Do I have a penis?"
T.C. scowled horribly. "Don't be facetious. You know what I mean."
"Do I?"
T.C. leaned over the table and into Ana's face. "If you hadn't done the dirty with Olivier, his crazy-girl fans would have left you alone and Sean Kennedy would not be a burr in my butt. A burr I had sex with. Ergo—it's your fault I'm knocked up."
Anastacia shook her head. "Your thought processes, as ever, defy basic logic. What has Sean got to say about it?"
If anything T.C. went even paler.
She pouted. "How do I know?"
"You haven't told him?" Danni asked in a shocked voice.
T.C. had the grace to blush at the tone but she recovered quickly and jerked her chin.
"None of his business. This is my baby. He's merely the sperm donor."
Ana blinked, not only at the obstinate tone, but the flash of hurt in her friend's blue eyes.
"What happened?"
"We had sex. I kicked him out."
Confused, Ana tried again. "How many times did you have sex?"
The girls were well aware of T.C.'s one-time only rule.
"More than once," she said, reluctantly. "And he wouldn't take no for an answer."
Ana's eyes grew wide. "You mean, he wanted more than sex?"
T.C. shrugged. "He's a guy. They always want more. I don't. End of."
Struggling to unravel a thread of logic among the short sharp responses, Ana ran her hands through her hair and tugged.
"Okay. I get it and understand you have intimacy issues. But, babe, you're having a baby."
T.C.'s blue eyes went all teary and her smile wobbled, but Ana recognized happy tears.
"I know. It's just hit me that all this is real. Isn't it amazing? I'm gonna have a little mini-me. We'll be best pals. Go Shopping. Do Lunch. Be there for each other through thick and thin. I will never let her down."
Something like dread filled Ana's heart as she studied her best friend's dreamy expression.
Best pal.
Mini me.
Go shopping.
Do lunch.
What on earth was she talking about?
"Aw." Soft-hearted Danni blinked away a tear as she reached out to T.C. "That's so lovely. But what if she's a he?"
T.C. shook her head and her jaw went tight. "Nope. I'm having a girl. Don't ask me how I know. I just know it."
Ana sat back in her chair and simply stared very hard at a best friend who was living in her own crazy version of reality.
How could T.C. delude herself like this?
Something hot and hard settled in her stomach.
"You need to tell Sean. You need to tell him now. He has a right to know. Think of the baby for a moment. What if something bad happened to you. What if you got sick, or worse. What would happen to the baby then? She could end up in the care system." Like me. When T.C. simply looked into her eyes and said nothing, Ana read a stubborn determination that dismayed her. A wave of too many complex feelings and emotions seemed to rise up and threaten to wash her away. How could her best friend not see how wrong it was not to tell Sean? She stood. "I cannot believe you're being so unutterably selfish. I'm ashamed of you."
And with that parting shot, Ana picked up her bag and left.
***
With a clutch in her stomach, T.C. turned to gaze in dismay at a white-faced Danni.
As friends who'd stuck together through everything life threw at them, and were never shy to share an opinion, the three of them were used to the odd spat, but nothing like this.
Heart sick at the hurt she'd inflicted upon someone she adored, T.C. looked at Danni.
"Fuck."
"She's right," Danni said.
In response, T.C. heaved a deep sigh.
She listened to her heart, to the voice in her head, and accepted her fate. "Sean Kennedy will make my life a living hell."
Danni leaned over, patted her cold hand. "Something tells me you'll give a good as you get. Thing is, you know you hit a sore spot with Ana."
T.C. closed her eyes and remembered Ana's difficult past where her mother had lied and told her father was dead, when in fact he'd been alive and well. A consequence of which meant Ana had spent time in the care system after her mother had died.
T.C. had to admit Ana had been correct about Sean's right to know.
Although the thought of telling him the news after everything that had happened between them, made T.C. shudder. And just like that all her selfish and unrealistic dreams of how the future may look with her and an imaginary daughter became real. "I'm an idiot. Is it possible I've got baby brain already?"
Danni sent her a weak smile. "How would I know? But more importantly tell me when and where it happened? As far as I'm aware Sean's been recuperating. When did you get the opportunity to have sex with him?"
"In hospital."
Danni blinked. "But... how did you get in?"
"Told them I was his bride-to-be."
Danni's hazel eyes went wide. "And they believed you?"
"Hey, they're French. Romance is in their DNA."
"But... didn't Sean say anything?"
"He wasn't exactly coherent the first time he opened his eyes and then he went along with it. The night before he was released..." Danni's jaw drop made T.C. grin wickedly. "Let's just say I caught him at a weak moment."
"You mean he couldn't fight back?"
"It was six days after he'd been hit by the bus. Don't worry. He was with me all the way. I kissed him. He got aroused and I took control. All he had to do was lie back and think of England."
Danni shook her head. "I do not believe you at times. Didn't you think to use protection?"
"I used a condom and was on the pill—sort of."
Danni's jaw dropped again. "What do you mean, sort of?"
T.C. felt the heat of shame burn up her throat and into her cheeks. "You know what I'm like about taking pills. I keep them in my pantie drawer, but the last minute trip to Paris meant I left them at home. With everything that's been going on I didn't think."
"Whoa."
"Whoa's right. Lesson learned."
"And you haven't seen him since?"
T.C. found she wasn't quite ready to admit to her friend that she'd ended up in bed with Sean, a
gain.
"Sure I have. Last Friday he turned up at my door unannounced, as if he had the right to be there. I made it clear I'm not interested in a relationship with him or anyone else. The man's a control freak. A dominant alpha. We'd kill each other."
"I like him," Danni said.
"Yeah, well, he's okay. But I also made it clear I am not in the market for a fuck buddy either."
Danni took a deep breath, her hazel eyes serious.
"Oh, T.C. You need to let the past go, babe."
Since that day all those years ago, T.C. felt as if the weight of the sins of the whole world had been placed on her shoulders. A day which had fractured the very foundation of the lives of her parents and her relationship with them ever since.
Regret and guilt made for uncomfortable bedfellows. Over time, they twisted a person's perception of the world and her place in it. Bottom line—because she'd destroyed her family, T.C. figured she didn't deserve to be happy.
She wasn't worthy of the gift of love or to find it with a man and have a family of her own, and so she'd done everything within her power to ensure love never found her—and it had found her anyway.
On one level, she knew her thoughts and feelings and her behaviors caused grave emotional and psychological self-harm. They also created a deep anxiety in those around her who cared for her. At the end of the day it was Ana and Danni's choice to be her friend. She asked for nothing except acceptance.
In truth, after what she'd done, she should be sentenced to a special place in hell.
"The past defines my today. I'm happy with the choices I've made for my life and my future. I can't change any of it. I am where I am and it is what it is."
Danni's gaze stayed steady and strong on hers. "You're wrong. So very wrong."
It might have been the softly spoken words. It might have been the pity glittering in those hazel eyes filled with unconditional love for her. But when her own eyes stung, T.C. figured it was probably pregnancy hormones which were making her unusually soft.