23
SKY
The airconin the small client meeting room raises goose bumps on my arms, but at least the fresher air stops the light-headedness. Sienna left me alone with a glass of water and more apologies. I thanked her for what she did even though it was inadvertent, and I’ll interfere if Tina tries to come down hard on Sienna.
I’d rather leave and meet Dylan back at the apartment, but for the first time, I’m scared of Lily.
What if she’s still outside?
Dylan arrives half an hour later, wild panic in his eyes as he rushes through the meeting room door. “Sky?”
I can never argue with Dylan when I’m seated, so I stand. Dylan crosses to take hold of me, and he towers over me, which also makes arguing with him hard. He drops his arms as I cross mine, confusion marring his face. This shifts to understanding as I drag the letters from my bag and throw them on the table beside him. They skim across the shiny surface, spreading out his guilt.
“Explain this.”
“Shit.”
“Explain.”
He drags a hand through his short curls, eyes on the letters. “I didn’t want you to worry. You know, with the pregnancy and—”
“You promised you’d tell me if she did anything like this. You promised no more secrets, Dylan.”
“The letters aren’t threatening you, Sky, so I kept quiet about them. Lily did this to me before, and she loses interest after a while. I was trying to protect you from something you didn’t need to know about.”
“Protect me?” I half shout. “And what do you think would happen when I found out you hid this from me?”
He scrunches his face up. “Hadn’t thought that far.”
“Of course not. You never bloody do!” I snap. I pick up a letter and thrust it at him. “Have you read them?”
“Only the first couple. Sky, sit down, please.” Voices pass outside the room. “Maybe we should leave. This isn’t the best time and place for the conversation.”
I tremble, Lily’s words repeating over and over in my mind, until I can’t contain them anymore.
“Lily told me she had your baby,” I say in a low voice.
Dylan stiffens, and I size up his reaction for any hint he knows, any possibility of the truth. A muscle in his jaw twitches and he snorts.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“And you believe her?”
“No. I mean, I don’t know.”
“What the hell, Sky?” he half yells at me. “How can you?”
“Don’t shout at me! You’re to blame!” I grab a letter from the table and scrunch it into a ball. “How dare you!”
“She’s a lying bitch! If she had my kid, don’t you think I’d know by now?”
Omigod.“If? You mean she could? Didn’t you use protection, Dylan? I thought you’d be careful about that!”
“For fuck’s sake, Sky.” His face hardens. “You seriously think if what Lily says is true, she could hide the kid? And would I lie to you about something this fucking big?”
“You lied once before. You left me because you couldn’t tell the truth about you and her.”