“I didn’t—I never believed…” I trailed off at a loss. What could I say? Nothing I could say or do was going to make this any better for her or me.
“Nice.” Molly huffed in disbelief. “If you’re still trying to figure out what to do next, I suggest you callhim. I’m too busy dealing with the shitshow you left on my doorstep. Whatever you decide to do, be careful. These vultures are insane.” The frustration in Molly’s voice was plain as day.
As was the beep when she ended the call.
My best—and potentially only—friend had just hung up on me.
Tears blurred my vision. Just when I thought I’d hit bottom, I’d found stairs leading to the basement.
I didn’t think I could take much more.
I had to do something—anything—to make this up to Molly. But I was drawing a blank. And meanwhile I was still stuck in the back office at work and not even a home to go to.
The last thing I wanted to do was call Roman Grier. Not that I could call Roman Grier because I didn’t have his phone number.
But still.
I hadn’t decided what to do about his fake proposal, but that was out of my hands now. As far as the world was concerned, I was Roman Grier’s new girlfriend.
The choice had literally been taken out of my hands.
And now, there was only one place I could go.
Chapter Six
Rome
“So what’s the deal with the girl?” King asked me.
I jerked my gaze away from my phone and the updated article outing Sophia as my girlfriend. Not that King noticed since he kept his sunglassed gaze on his tiny daughter on the beach towel next to him. Zoe was attempting to grab a toy just out of reach, rocking back and forth on her hands and knees. It was cute as hell. Who knew it took so much effort and concentration to move?
It’d taken some convincing to get my brother over to my place. If I’d let him, he’d hole up in his house and never come out until the headlines had faded away. I’d practically begged him and might’ve said some embarrassing shit to get him over here. But it was worth it to see King so relaxed. Getting out of the house and into the sun was good for both of them. The rush of satisfaction I felt knowing it was all coming together almost had me rubbing my hands together like a cartoon villain. But I restrained myself. Barely.
“Rome? What’s going on?”
“Huh?” I jerked back to the present and King reclined in the grassy section of my backyard with Zoe. “Oh. Right. Sophia. She’s my dog walker.”
“So it’s another media misunderstanding? You’d think those jerks would actually try to get facts right before blasting people all over the internet.”
“Well actually…” I hesitated to tell King the full truth. He was Captain America. Literally. Comic book hero and general Boy Scout. I wasn’t interested in hearing a lecture. I knew what I was doing, and I was doing it for him and Zoe.
“You’re fu—er, sleeping with your dog walker? Seriously, Rome? What the heck?”
See? Boy Scout. “No, not sleeping.Yet. But I am dating her.”
Or would be soon. Semantics.
“Really? How long has this been going on?”
I shrugged. I guess we needed a backstory. I hadn’t thought that far in advance, so I improvised. I’d taken some improv classes back in the day. I could do this. “We met when she agreed to walk Pongo for me.” I reached over and rubbed the back of Pongo’s ear. “And we hit it off. We texted and video chatted while I was on location the last month, and now that I’m back, we’re dating. Exclusively.”
“Huh. Wow. That’s…good I guess.” King turned back to watch Zoe rocking on her hands and knees, no doubt lost in memories of him and his estranged-and-now-deceased wife, Ariel. She’d put him through hell once she’d found out she was pregnant. She’d decided to keep the baby, but then held her sacrifice over his head the whole time. And she had no problem doing so in front of an audience, especially our family. She’d needle him at dinner parties about stupid shit and expect us to take her side. And once Zoe was born, Ariel hadn’t wanted anything to do with her. The final straw came when she’d left Zoe home alone because Ariel had had a spa appointment on the nanny’s day off. King had come home to a screaming baby and no adults in the house. I shuddered. Ariel was a fucking piece of work. Hence their estrangement.
It was weird to mourn someone you didn’t particularly like. If my feelings were all over the place, I couldn’t imagine what King was going through.
After a few awkward moments, King cleared his throat. “I’d like to meet her when you’re ready.”
“Uh, yeah. We can do that. Actually, do you mind if she comes to the funeral? It’d help having her there.”