“He can come to my house with us, H.” Hailey’s gaze flew to one of her sisters, and my heartbeats stretched longer and harder as indecision played on her face. “It’s okay. He can follow me. Don’t worry about it, okay?”
Holding my breath, the sweat that broke out underneath my jacket cooled some as I turned my gaze to Kelly. She had this understanding glint in her eye—like she knew I hadn’t meant to say what I said, and she was throwing me a bone.
“Oh… okay. Yeah… that would be fine.” All of the tension left my body, and I exhaled a harsh breath. My mind refused to keep up with what was happening around me, and I straightened to rake my hands through my hair.
What the fuck is going on?
Chapter 10
Hailey
Creeping into Kelly’s house, I almost managed a sigh of relief at the silence that rang in my ears until Anthony’s broad, muscly body lifted itself from the sofa. Freezing at the harsh glare he shot me, my body tingled with painful intensity as he stormed the short distance between us to shut the door. My purse hit the floor when he pushed me against the barrier, and he didn’t break eye contact even once as he braced both palms on either side of my head.
“What the fuck, Hailey?” Goosebumps washed my body, apprehension seizing my chest at the thunderous, pissed off growl, and Anthony’s eyes blazed fiercely as they bored into mine. “Answer me this time—why the fuck did you think this was okay? In what fucking universe would this ever be fucking okay?”
“… I didn’t think you’d want her…” Anthony’s heavy tone demanded I respond, and my voice trembled as he went rigid against me. “It was an a—”
Clamping his hand on my mouth, he squeezed until my face ached as his eyes turned into orbs of pure, blue fire. My lungs shivered as fear slithered down my spine, and he gnashed his teeth at me like an animal.
“Don’t—don’t fucking say it.” The vicious command weighed heavily on my shoulders, and Anthony forced himself to take a short step back and hoover up air through flared nostrils. “You shouldn’t have made that decision by yourself—you don’t know me or what I want.”
The shock of Anthony’s ambush was washed away by the accusation in his tone, and I jabbed my finger into his chest. Righteous anger sloshed violently into my chest, spurring my brain into action as venom dribbled from my tongue.
“Fuck you—okay? You’re right, we don’t know each other. You just drove me crazy and left. What was I supposed to think, huh? That you’d want a baby with a woman you don’t know that lives across the damn country? After the way you treated me?”
Anthony went a furious, red-purple at my own accusations, but the guilt that flashed in his eyes was just as bright; I couldn’t hide the hurt from my tone, and my lower lip wobbled dangerously as my eyes stung.
“Don’t put this on me, Anthony. You think I didn’t want to call you? But what if you abandoned me—us—when reality set in? What if you tried to take her away? What was I supposed to say when she starts asking? That her daddy didn’t want her? That he just gave me money and considered that being a good parent?”
Anthony was silent at my barrage of questions, and I tore my eyes off him so he couldn’t see the tears that built up against my lids. My shallow breaths were the only noise in the room, and I wrapped my arms around myself as my heart strained.
Warm, strong palms anchored against my back, and my tears fell in force while he hugged me to his chest. His familiar smell wiggled through my clogged nostrils to fog my brain, but his words rang crystal clear regardless.
“I’m sorry, Hailey. I didn’t think of that.” Murmuring softly into the crown of my head, Anthony sighed heavily while thick droplets stained his button-down. “I’m here now, though. I’m not going back.”
Clearly, Anthony didn’t expect a response, and I wasn’t sure I was capable of sputtering more than a single syllable. Taking the warmth and strength he provided, I released the day’s stress in a deluge of tears and snot. Shivering wildly, I leaned heavily on him while my knees wobbled threateningly, and he simply stroked my back comfortingly.
“… Why are you here, Anthony?” Croaking slightly, I sniffled hard, and Anthony’s heart beat steadily against my cheek even as he inhaled.
“I took some time off to decide if I wanted to keep control of my father’s companies or say ‘fuck it’ and resign. I chose here specifically… because it’s the only place I’ve ever been where the distractions work.”
Pulling back slightly, I peeked up at Anthony through thick lashes, and he cracked a smirk. Dragging over my shoulders and up my neck, his palms cupped my jaw firm
ly as his thumbs massaged just under my ears. Pleasure shot down my spine, and I closed my eyes to roll my bottom lip between my teeth.
“I’m not going to lie, Hailey—I’ve wanted to ditch my father and everything he forced on me for a long time… that’s why I was in such a bad mood back then. I didn’t want to be here taking care of shit I have no interest in like stocks and brokerage.”
“But why are you here? Why did you look for me?” Emphasizing carefully, I could almost see Anthony’s lips thinning behind my eyelids, and he didn’t answer immediately. My mind whirred, but I could barely follow my racing thoughts with him treating me so nicely.
“I came looking for you because I wanted to apologize for what I did to you. I shouldn’t have looked at your face—I realized it on the plane. I thought I hurt you… so, I left and let someone that knew you better take care of you. It was wrong—all of it was a huge mess, and I was hoping you’d forgive me.”
Forcing open my eyes, I caught Anthony’s gaze to find guilt and shame swimming freely, and my heart stuttered in my chest.
“I want to make it up to you. I did a lot of reorganizing in California, and I want to make up for how I treated you.”
“The last time you made it up to me, I got pregnant.” The flippant declaration flew from my lips before I could stop it, and my pupils widened as his expression twisted somewhere between a smirk and a grimace.
“Then I’ll do it properly—no sex. No B.D. … I want to make this work, Hailey. My dad cared more about his businesses than he did about me—I refuse to let that happen now.”