“Me too,” I say, and I follow her to the other room where a buffet is set up and people are sitting and eating. “Are you okay?” I ask her.
“What do you mean?” she asks me, grabbing a plate.
“Well, you know with my ex-wife and all that,” I tell her as she puts a piece of salmon on her plate and then she turns to me.
“Are you still in love with her?” she asks me, looking straight into my eyes.
“No.” I shake my head.
“Seeing her again, did you want to work things out with her?” she asks me, never once wavering from my eyes. I shake my head again. “Do you want to give her another chance if she comes back?”
“Hell no,” I say firmly.
“Then I’m fine,” she says, smiling. “She showed up and knew it would bother you, and from the way her man was looking at her, he was pissed.”
My eyes squint when she mentions Colton, and she rolls her eyes. “Don’t even start; you’re way hotter than he is.”
“Really?” I say, almost puffing out my chest. “You think so?”
“Oh, yeah,” she says, coming closer to me, “and tonight, when we get home, I’ll show you just how much.”
“I think we can go now,” I say, looking around, and she laughs. I grab my own food, and we go and sit down as we talk about tomorrow. When we finally finish eating, we leave our plates and make our way to the craps table, and for the next hour, I watch her work the room while I pretend to know what I’m doing. Luckily, a real craps dealer is there for when we mess up, and with the three of us, it happens quite a bit. After our shifts, we all walk away; they look for their wives, and I am looking for Denise. I find her sitting at the blackjack table with the other two girls. “Hey,” I say when I get to the table.
“I’m winning,” she says, and I see a couple of empty glasses in front of her as she smiles. “And everything I win will be donated to the hospital.”
“That’s a great idea,” I tell her, and she just nods her head. The only one not drinking is Allison, and she just laughs at her and Karrie when Karrie says she will double all her money that she wins.
“You guys do realize this isn’t real money, right?” Allison says when Max and Matthew get to the table. “It’s all fake money and whatever you win is donated back to the cause.”
“What?” Karrie asks, looking around. “So this isn’t real money?”
“Babe,” Matthew says, “we paid twenty thousand for those chips. Trust me, it’s real money, but you can’t win any of it back.”
“Really?” she asks, looking down at her stack. “But I said I would donate double.”
“No take backsy,” Denise says, laughing.
“I’ll be back,” I tell them and turn to walk to the bathroom, but I spot Colton sitting in a chair almost as if he’s waiting for me.
“Zack,” he says, getting up and coming over to me, and I stop mid-step. “I just wanted to talk to you.”
“Not interested,” I say, trying to walk around him, but he blocks my path.
“Listen,” he says, looking down. “I’m sorry, all right.”
“I had no idea that this was the Stingers fundraiser,” he says, and I just shake my head. “We came early to spend time in the city, and she said she wanted to see a couple of shows and then maybe swing by and see Jack.”
“Maybe?” I say sarcastically. “Wow, that would be interesting since she hasn’t spoken or seen Jack since I left Arizona.”
“What do you mean?” He looks at me almost shocked. “She talks to him every day.”
My eyes narrow on his. “Like fuck she does,” I tell him, and I can say he is honestly shocked. I’m about to go on when I feel people at my back and turn to see Max and Matthew standing behind me, the girls behind them with Denise in the middle.
“Look, I didn’t come to start trouble,” Colton says, putting his hands up. “I just came to tell you that I’m sorry.”
Max laughs. “You’re sorry.” He turns to Matthew. “He’s sorry.”
“I have no beef with you, Horton,” Colton says, and then Matthew steps forward, Karrie reaching out to hold his arm.
“That’s where you’re wrong.” He looks at Colton. “We’re family; you might not have the same loyalties, but we do. You come after one of our own, and we all battle in the war.”
Colton shakes his head and looks down. “Just, she was raving mad when I left her, which usually means she’s going to do something everyone is going to regret,” he says and turns and walks down the stairs.
“That was hot,” Karrie says, looking at Matthew. “You got all kinds of Game of Thrones.”
Max and Allison roll their eyes. “I’m ready to go,” Denise says. “Zack, can you give me a ride?”
Everyone laughs now except for Max. “Remember back,” Matthew says, looking at him. “How many rides did you give Allison?”
I shake my head when Max looks at me and then at Denise and then back at me again. “Okay, we’re going,” Denise says. Smiling, she grabs my hand and turns to walk away when Max calls my name.
“You better just be giving her a ride.” He points at me while Matthew throws his head back and laughs, and Max turns to look at him. “She’s Jack’s doctor.”
“Idiot.” I hear Matthew say when he grabs Karrie around the shoulders, and they walk back into the room.
“I guess when we tell him, it won’t be that much of a shock, right?” I ask Denise while we walk down the stairs. She shakes her head.
“It will still be that much of a shock. Trust me,” she says, and I give the valet my ticket as we wait for the car. I stand next to her this time and grab her hand, neither of us even caring anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Denise
I hear an alarm go off, and I bury my head in the pillow. I feel movement behind me and then slowly feel his hands on me. “Hmmm,” I say when I feel his lips on my naked shoulder. “What time is it?” I ask him, pushing my ass into his hard cock.
“It’s six a.m.,” he says, and I groan. “I wanted to get one more round in before Jack woke up.”
“Is the door still locked?” I ask him, thinking of last night when we made sure to lock the door before he stripped me out of my dress but made me wear the shoes.
“Yeah,” he says quietly, and I turn to him, kissing his neck as he rolls on top of me. Opening my legs, he slides into me. We both groan when he starts moving, his thrusts faster and faster, my hips having a mind of their own when they thrust up to meet him. “Play with yourself,” he tells me, and he doesn’t have to tell me twice. My hand sneaks down between us as I rub my clit in little circles. “Fuck, you’re already there,” he says, knowing I’m about to come, and when I rub myself faster, it pushes me right over the edge, and I quietly moan. He isn’t far after me, planting himself all the way to his balls and coming in me.
He collapses on top of me but then rolls to his back, taking me with him with his cock still in me. “I could literally sleep like this,” I tell him, and he rubs my back with the covers still on us.
“We need to get dressed in case Jack gets up before us and comes in here,” he tells me, and I just nod my head.
I throw the covers off and start to get up. “I need to wash up,” I tell him as I walk to his en suite. He follows me in there and hugs me from behind, and I watch us in the mirror. “You okay?” I ask him, and he bends down to kiss my neck.
“More than okay,” he says, and I believe him. “Do you want to go back to sleep?”
I shake my head. “Let’s get dressed and lay on the couch,” I tell him, and he just nods his head. I dress in my yoga pants that I brought but with his t-shirt.
We walk down the stairs together, holding hands and kissing while we wait for the coffee. “I love this,” he says, looking down at me. “Waking up with you, going to bed with you.” He kisses my nose. “It’s just—”
“Perfect,” I finish the sentence for him.
“Yeah,” he says, and we pour our
coffee and go sit on the couch. I sit up, watching television while his head lays on my lap, and I play with his hair. I don’t know how long we are down here, but we hear little footsteps upstairs, and we look at each other, smiling. Neither of us move from our spots when we hear him coming down the stairs.
“Daddy!” he yells for Zack, and then sees me. “Dr. Denise,” he says, running into the living room. Then he sees Zack lying here, and he comes up on the couch from Zack’s side while Zack hugs him and gives him a kiss, and then he comes over and settles next to me almost in my lap. I put my arm around him, pulling him close to me and kissing his head as the three of us watch television. He didn’t bat an eye that I am here, he didn’t bat an eye when my hand went into Zack’s hair, or when Zack rolled over off the couch and came to kiss me and then Jack.
“What do you guys want to eat?” he asks us and walks out of the room. “I should go to that store around the corner and get some fresh croissants,” he tells us. “Then I can get some steaks for dinner.”
“I want the almond one,” Jack says, still by my side. “You should try them,” he tells me, and I smile at him.
“I should,” I tell him quietly when Zack comes into the room putting a sweater over his head.
“Okay, I’m going to go get some breakfast and then some steaks,” he says, and we just look at him. “Take care of my girl.” He smiles at Jack, and Jack just smiles at me.
“You’re Daddy’s girl,” he says, smiling at me. Zack kisses us both and walks out. “We should play mini sticks,” he says, getting off the couch.
“Fine,” I say, getting off and helping him set up the nets. I pin my hair on top of my head. “It’s going down, Morrow,” I say and get on my knees, and for ten minutes, he literally smokes me. His laugh is infectious, and I laugh because he laughs. The doorbell rings, and we both look at each other. “I wonder who that could be?” I say. “Stay here. I’ll be right back,” I tell him, getting up and walking to the door where the doorbell rings again.
“Coming,” I say, unlocking the door. When I open it, staring at me is Chantal.
“Well, well, well,” she says, looking at me up and down no doubt cringing at my outfit while she stands there in a raincoat tied tight, showing off her double zero size waist and her leather high-heeled boots. Her face already with a pound of makeup on it. “I’m here to see my husband,” she says, looking behind me.
“He isn’t here,” I tell her and close the door a bit when I hear Jack coming.
“Dr. Denise, who is it?” he says, pushing open the door and seeing her standing there. She looks down at Jack and then up again. He squeals a little. “Mommy, you came,” he says, going to her, but she puts her hand up.
“You’re his doctor?” She glares at me, then smirks. “Nice. And, Jack, why aren’t you wearing a hat?” She looks down at Jack who I pull to me and put an arm around his front. “People will see you. Why don’t you run and get your hat and let the grown-ups talk?” He just looks at me and then walks into the house, and I wait for him to be gone before I turn to her.
“Who I am isn’t your business, not now, and from what I heard, not before either,” I tell her, and her head snaps back. “And he isn’t wearing a hat because he’s in the house where he doesn’t need it. Nor does he need it if we walk down the street, and it’s nice out. He doesn’t need a hat unless he wants the hat. You, on the other hand, should get a hat. This New York wind has your extensions showing.”
“I bet my lawyer would love to hear about this,” she says, patting down her hair.
“I bet he would,” I tell her. “And I’ll be more than happy to tell Zack’s lawyer how you came here unannounced and didn’t once ask for your son or how he was doing, for that matter. The only thing you are worried about is if he had a fucking hat on his head.” I’m so furious now that he went to her, and she didn’t even try to hold him, hug him, love him. “Excuse us, we have a game of mini sticks to get to,” I say and slam the door in her face, turning and seeing Jack standing there with a hat in his hand.
“I think she’s going to be mad,” Jack says, looking at me. “She saw me without my hat, and you slammed the door.”
I bend down and look at him. “I love you,” I tell him, blinking away tears, “with my whole heart, and I think that you’re so handsome, with or without hair.”
“I love you too,” he says, coming to me, and I hug him.
“Why don’t you clean up and I’ll go call Daddy and find out where he is.”
“Okay, but I won,” he says, running into the house. I go upstairs, grabbing my cell phone and calling Zack.
“Hey,” he says, “I’m on my way back.”
“Chantal was just here,” I say, looking down the hall to make sure that Jack isn’t there. “It wasn’t pretty.”
“Fuck,” he hisses. “Did she come into the house? Did she take Jack?”
“Are you insane? That fucking woman came to the door and didn’t even fucking ask for him. The only thing she was worried about was that there wasn’t a hat on his head.”
“I’m done.” I hear Jack yelling from downstairs.
“Okay, coming,” I tell him and then go back to Zack. “She’s lucky that Jack was there, or I swear I would have decked her.”
He laughs, he fucking laughs; here I am, so furious at her, so fucking pissed that she showed up and didn’t even ask for her son but was a cold bitch. “I’ll be home soon, baby,” he whispers and hangs up the phone.
I pace the hallway, waiting for him, and put Jack in front of the television to watch Paw Patrol. I pace the hallway back and forth till he walks in, and he does it with a smile and a bouquet. He kicks off his shoes, and I walk to the door. “I bought you flowers.”
“You stopped,” I say, looking at the flowers, “to buy flowers while I was here pacing the floor worried she would come back.”
“I bought the flowers before you called.” He comes to me, handing them to me, and I grab them. “And I think I would have stopped. I knew you would be good. I knew Jack would be okay. I was fine.”
“Zack, she came here, and she knows I’m his doctor.”
“She knows you’re a doctor. She doesn’t know shit, and on record, you aren’t his doctor,” he says, dumping the bags and holding my hand in his face. “I called my lawyer, and we made a note of it.”
“But what if this comes back, and you lose custody of Jack over it?” I blink but the tears come anyway. “I won’t be the one who lets you lose him.”
“Baby.” He kisses me as I quietly sob. “I’m not losing him. Not now, not ever.”
“She was so awful to him,” I say. “I told him I loved him.”
He smiles, kissing me again. “Okay,” he says.
“I do, you know,” I tell him. “I love him.”
“I know you do”—he kisses me again—“and he’s lucky to have that.”
I just nod my head, the words I love you too fighting to come out, but when I tell him I love him, it isn’t going to be because his ex-wife was here, or he thinks I’ve been rushed into it. I’m going to tell him I love him when it’s about him and me. When it’s about us. Holy shit, I love him.
“I’m hungry,” I tell him, and he nods his head, bending to get the bags and carry them into the kitchen. I follow him, and Jack gets up, following us into the kitchen. I find a vase to put the roses in while he takes out the croissants he bought for us, and we sit at the island and no one brings up that Chantal was here.
We get up and clean up. I make us some lunch, and I fall asleep on the couch while we watch cartoons. I wake up when I feel fingers in my hair, and I open my eyes and see that Jack is sitting by my head and playing with my hair. My feet rest on his father’s lap. “Did you sleep good?” he asks, and I just nod my head.
We prepare supper together, and we’re about to sit down when our phones ring at the same time. I look up at him, and he looks at us.
I look, and see it’s Steve, and I look over, and see it’s Olivier. “He
llo,” I answer, looking over at Zack, seeing him answering the phone and listening and then his eyes flying up at me.
“Where are you?” he asks me hurriedly, and I hear Olivier in the background while he talks to Zack.
“We’re coming to you,” he says, and hangs up, and I’m standing here with my mouth open.
“What the heck is going on?” I ask him, and he looks at me and walks to me, taking my face in his hands.
“I’m so sorry,” he says, and my heart beats so fast I don’t know what is going on. He must see the worry set into my face because he pulls me from the kitchen, telling Jack to eat and that we’ll be right back.
My phone buzzes again in my hand, and this time I see it’s Max. “What is going on?” I look at him and ask him, and he just nods his head.
“Tell me.”
“ZMT is running a story that I left Chantal for my son’s doctor so he could get treatment. She’s saying I abandoned the family for you.” He puts his head down and then looks up. “They have reports that this isn’t the first time you’ve done this.”
“What?” I whisper, and I don’t know what is going on; the room feels like it’s spinning.
“It’s all over the media,” he says, and I don’t think I hear him right. This can’t be. During my whole career, I never put myself first; I never ever did this.
“I don’t feel well,” I tell him and sit down. “I think I’m going to be sick,” I tell him and turn to run down the hall to the bathroom.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Zack
“Denise,” I say to the closed door, listening to her getting sick on the other side. I’ve never felt rage like this. Not even when I caught my wife in bed with my best friend did I feel this type of rage. “Baby, please,” I say to the door, trying to keep my voice down so Jack doesn’t hear the fucking explosion.
The door unlocks, and she comes out. Her face is white, and I take her in my arms as she cries in my chest. “I’m so sorry,” I tell her as she hugs me.
“Is Dr. Denise not feeling well?” Jack asks from behind us, his face creased with worry. She walks away from me and hugs him.
SOMETHING SO SERIES Page 85