For some reason, he wanted to appear as if he was okay.
But I knew that he wasn’t.
In my heart, I’d made the connections he hadn’t wanted me to make.
And now I couldn’t stop myself from getting him to admit it.
“None of your business,” Murphy grumbled darkly.
Jasper, who’d been silent up until now, looked me over from head to toe.
“I haven’t seen you in a while, Mavis.” He smiled. “Looking great.”
I snorted. “Whatever. I still have about fifteen pounds to lose.”
I patted my softened middle section to prove my point.
Jasper’s eyes went from my belly, to the baby that Murphy was holding, to my belly again.
“I didn’t realize that you had a baby,” he mused.
I shrugged. “Vlad is my little secret. I haven’t told many people, and I don’t bring him to the gym, so how would you know?”
Jasper’s eyes sparkled. “I’ll continue to keep your secret then, darlin’.”
I harrumphed, causing Jasper to smile wide in reaction.
“Well, four people know too many. I’m headed out. Let me know if you need anything, Murph.” Jasper paused, and when Murphy looked up at him his eyes were serious as he said, “Anything at all, Murphy. I mean that.”
I gritted my teeth and tried to keep my temper under control.
After Murphy said ‘thank you’ I said, “Why do you need a lawyer?”
Murphy grumbled something under his breath and stood up. But as he did so, I observed his color.
He looked very pale today.
He tried to hand Vlad back to me, and I crossed my arms over my chest.
Vlad didn’t want me, anyway.
“If I take him now, he’ll just scream the whole time. And I want to be able to have a conversation with you,” I told him.
“Well, I don’t want to have a conversation with you,” Murphy shot back.
I tried not to let it show how hard his small barbs hit, but eventually, I was going to have too many to stand.
And I would show how much they really hurt to have lobbed my way.
I didn’t know why, but I was really fucking in love with Alessio Murphy Romano.
God help me.
“Please talk to me,” I pleaded.
Instead of answering me, he walked out of the room.
I followed him, sighing loudly when I realized he was heading toward my van.
He was already swinging the door open when I got my keys out of my pocket to lock it.
“Shit,” I grumbled under my breath.
Murphy started to put my son into his car seat, amongst zero disagreement from Vlad seeing as his favorite person in the world was doing it.
I hadn’t locked the door because I didn’t want to alert Murphy that I was here.
But my son wouldn’t be happy for long in the car seat.
He never had been, not in all his months of life.
And Murphy knew it.
The moment Murphy had him in, he closed the door and turned to me. “Go home, Mavis.”
I opened my mouth to reply, hotly might I add, that I would stay for however long I wanted.
But then my kid started to scream.
By the time I had him out of his car seat all over again, the bay doors to Murphy’s shop were closed, and his office door was shut tight.
“Dammit, Alessio! I just want to freakin’ talk to you!” I cried out.
Murphy pulled the damn blinds in response.
“Butthole,” I grumbled.
That’s when my son started to scream.
CHAPTER 9
I’m sorry for what I said during burpees.
-Fran to Taos
MURPHY
2 months later
“I’m sorry, but what?”
The two women had made me stupid.
That’s what I’d decided.
“We need you to teach us how to take out a driveshaft.” Mavis, the biggest pain in my ass that I’d ever met, repeated her earlier request.
I shook my head again, hoping to clear it of the thoughts that always plagued me when Mavis was around, and said, “I…why?”
“Because I want to take someone’s driveshaft out, duh.” Mavis rolled her eyes.
“Whose?” I finally asked.
“None of your business.” She glared.
I looked over at Mavis’s sister and saw her eyes sparkling with mirth.
She was holding Vlad, Mavis’s son, and trying really hard not to crack up.
Her son, Vlad, was leaning practically all the way out of Fran’s arms, holding his own out to me, and pleading at me with his big blue jean-colored eyes to hold him.
I would’ve if I wasn’t covered in grease and dirt from an engine that I’d just pulled apart.
The last time I’d taken him out of someone’s arms and held him while covered in grease, Mavis had literally gotten pissed as hell for ‘ruining the clothes that she just bought him.’
Now, I made sure to pay attention when I held him.
Despite every cell in my body wanting to reach for him, I kept my arms where they were.
But Vlad wouldn’t be deterred.
He leaned even farther over, practically stretched out superman style in his aunt’s arms.
“Oh, just take him,” Mavis ordered.