Envy mixed with his happiness for them. So many of his friends were attached and happy now. Then there was Will—single, busy, and now taking care of his ex’s baby. Although he hadn’t been in a big rush to find a new submissive, he wondered if he should have taken that search more seriously. It had seemed like he had all the time in the world. Now his life was over.
“Did you add anyone to your list today?” Varushka asked.
“No. I crossed a few people off though.” He sighed. Watching the guests at Beth’s wake in search of prospective new parents for Beau had been a macabre idea, but a decent one. Most of the people who’d come were friends and acquaintances of Bethany’s from the club, or from the inventory company she used to work at in town.
People had come to him to pay their respects through the afternoon and evening—most of them acting as if he were still her partner. He watched each person interact, or not interact, with Beau. He considered who was too old or too young to raise a baby, who drank too much, who argued with their significant other, who seemed too uptight. His list kept getting shorter rather than longer. He’d hoped today would have given him new ideas—people he’d forgotten to include. There’d been a few, but he didn’t know them very well.
There were no obvious candidates.
If Bethany was looking down on all this, trying to give him clues, he was missing each and every one.
Chapter Nine
It had been three weeks, and William motherfucking Ellis had ghosted her. No one from the club had been returning Stride’s calls, and the two times she’d reached an actual person they’d given her zero information. This was supposed to be a business arrangement, if nothing else. Ryan and Ethan were irritated she’d somehow managed to screw things up, considering they’d turned down other juicy contracts to take the Catacombs reno. Will had offered to pay extra to get moved ahead on their schedule, and now he was MIA.
Out of habit, she cruised past the club on her way to the kitchen remodel they were doing a neighborhood over. Miracle of miracles, the front door was propped open and Will’s truck was parked out front.
As she pulled into the parking lot, she debated—give the asshat a piece of her mind, or try to save the contract? The click of her heels through the foyer sounded irritated, even to her, but maybe it was best if he had the chance to anticipate the shit storm descending upon him.
A wail froze her in her tracks. Apparently, someone was using the club for its intended purpose in its off hours—go figure he’d bring someone else here so soon after her. Then again, it wasn’t like it had even been a date. She debated leaving before someone thought she was spying on him, but then the sound came again.
That wasn’t a woman—that was a baby revving up for a full-on fit.
Who the hell brought a baby to a place like this? Maybe an employee brought their kid in so they could pick up their paycheck?
“Shh, shh, shh . . .” A man’s voice murmured nonsense—the sound coming from Will’s office.
She reached the doorway and was treated to the sight of a William Ellis who was so disheveled she almost didn’t recognize him. The man’s office had been messy before, but now it was in complete disarray, as though someone had paper-bombed the place. A baby-changing pad was laid out on his desk, over randomly stacked paper, and the man himself was jiggling a baby who was half in and half out of a sleeper. The baby in question was flailing angrily, and Will’s handsome face was drawn with fatigue and distress.
“Hey,” she said quietly, not wanting to startle either of them. He looked up at her and smiled, but the emotion didn’t reach his eyes.
“Hey.”
“I’ve been calling.”
He sort of chuckled but cut it off before it sounded anything like his usual mocking self. “Sorry. My life is a bit chaotic at the moment.”
She watched as he awkwardly tried to comfort the baby. So he was a shitty father. Great. Apparently, he was a shitty husband, too, unless he was recently divorced and things with Juliet had been a rebound . . . situation?
“I didn’t know you had kids.”
“She’s not mine,” he said. “Well, she is for now, but she wasn’t before. Well—it’s complicated. I’m all she’s got, until I find her a family. I thought it would be easier to find one.”
What the hell was going on? Well, whatever the story was, the guy needed a break. She walked over and held her arms out for the baby. Gratefully, he handed her over.
“I can’t get her into those stupid pajamas. It wasn’t that hard a few days ago.”
“She probably grew.” Juliet assessed the situation. “Yeah, she’s outgrown these. You’ll need to go shopping.”
“But she came with those. It’s only been a few weeks.”
He’d been doing this a few weeks? Wow. Who on earth left a baby with a guy who was so obviously inexperienced?
“Welcome to kids. Whose is she?”
“My ex . . .” He trailed off.
“You’re taking care of your ex’s kid?” she asked skeptically.