Jesus. I just couldn’t catch a break.
LOLA
It had been five days since Brody turned up at my apartment and told me he’d left Moira. Four days since Cade looked at or spoke to me, and two days without heartburn. I wasn’t sure which one was more prevalent in my mind, but all three were taking up some space.
I wasn’t sure what happened with Brody and me from here. I wasn’t sure if I’d made the right decision. Maybe I should have welcomed him with open arms, but then I’d have been telling him it was okay to do what he did. You could love someone, but that didn’t mean you had to like what they did. I’d learned that lesson with Hut a long time ago.
I walked out of the kitchen and into the main section of the diner, ready to start my late shift of the day. I wasn’t sure how I’d get by without the afternoon nap I’d taken to having, but I’d deal.
Footsteps sounded behind me, and I turned to see Cade with his bag over his shoulder. “Hey, Cade.” I smiled, big and wide, just for him, but he didn’t even glance at me.
He knew. He definitely knew. Maybe Brody had been telling the truth when he came to my place. I swallowed down the lump building in my throat and shook my head. I couldn’t think about it right now, not when—
“Lola,” a sweet voice greeted.
My heart hammered in my chest, my palms starting to sweat. If Cade knew, then Moira did too, and now she was standing in front of me.
“Erm…”
Cade ran into my back, shoving me forward a step, but his hand cupping my elbow righted me. His gaze flicked over my face and then to the woman in front of us. “Mom?” He straightened and let me go, stepping to the side. “What are you doing here?”
“Picking you up.” She shrugged, her long lashes fluttering against her cheeks as she blinked. “I thought I’d also come and say hi to the girl who ruined my marriage.” She said it so lightly that anyone would think we were talking about the weather.
We were next to the counter, and anyone ordering food from there would be able to hear what we were saying. I didn’t want or need anyone knowing my business, because they’d take what she said at face value. The details wouldn’t matter. All they’d hear is that I was the person Brody had cheated on his wife with, and yet, I couldn’t bring myself to be sorry.
“Jesus, Mom. We talked about this.”
Moira glanced at Cade, the sweet look she had on her face disappearing in the blink of an eye. “And I told you that this has nothing to do with you. You’re a kid, just like she is. This is grown-up stuff. Go to the car.”
“Hey,” I said, not liking the way she was talking to him. He was her son, but she’d just schooled him when there was no need. “There’s no need to talk to him like that.”
She whipped her attention my way, and my body craved to take a step back. “You think you can tell me how I can talk to my son?” Her voice was getting louder and louder. “You think because my husband put his cock in you that you can take my place?”
“No, I...you…” My face was burning so much you could have fried an egg on my cheeks. People’s attention was on us, and they were all witnessing what was happening.
“Moira,” Sal’s deep voice came from behind us. “I think it’d be best if you left.”
Moira pushed her shoulders back and flipped her hair behind her. “Did you know all along, Sal? Huh? Did you know my husband was sleeping with this whore?”
Sal moved past us, slipping between me and Cade and Moira, effectively erecting a wall she couldn’t get past. “What I know is that this girl has been through enough.” He lowered his voice. “What I know is that she had no idea Brody was married.” I frowned. I hadn’t told him that. In fact, I hadn’t told him anything about Brody. “What I know is that you’re going to walk out of my diner and not come back in if you can’t be nice. These are my staff, and you don’t fuck with what’s mine.”
“How dare—”
“Just go, Mom,” Cade huffed, his breath hitting the side of my neck. “Dad’s picking me up anyway. I told you I was going to help him move into his new place.”
Moira’s nostrils flared as her chest moved on a deep inhale, and then she zoned her attention in on me over Sal’s shoulder. “You’ll pay for this. What goes around comes around, and karma is a bitch.”
I wanted to tell her I’d paid for many things over and over again in my nearly twenty years of life, but I didn’t. I kept my mouth shut and didn’t look away as she spun around and walked out of the diner.
My body swayed to the side, and my stomach churned. It wasn’t the confrontation that had me feeling like I was about to throw up all over the place, but the baby inside my stomach that only Jan knew about.
I turned and ran for the bathroom, hoping like hell it didn’t come out until I was safely over a toilet. And I just about made it, my knees hitting the cold tile as I brought up the lunch I’d eaten only an hour ago.
Tears burned a path down my cheeks, and I held on to the sides of the toilet like I’d float away if I didn’t. I’d been close enough to toilet bowls in the last few weeks to last me a lifetime, and I had a feeling it wouldn't be letting up anytime soon.
When nothing else was coming up, and all that was left was dry heaves, I flushed the toilet and leaned back against the stall door.
Everything was a mess, but there was one shining beacon within it all. Brody had been telling the truth. He really had left his wife. And as I replayed the conversation in my head, I realized he was moving into a new place too. He was doing the actions I’d said I needed to see.
“Lola?” Jan’s small voice called. “You okay, hon?”
I lifted up off the floor and flicked the lock. Her sad face came into view. “Yeah. Just throwing my guts up again.” I tried to laugh, but the sound fell flat.
“I meant about what happened out there,” Jan said, hooking her thumb behind her.
I moved toward the sink and cupped my hand under the running water. “How much did you hear?” I stared at her reflection in the mirror.
“All of it.” She winced but didn’t say anything else.
I blew out a breath and splashed my face with some water. “I didn’t know he was married.” I swallowed and spun around to face her. “I fell in love with him and then found out he was married. If I’d have known, I never would have—”
“I know.” Jan waved her hand in the air and stepped forward. “I take it the baby is his?”
My hand moved to my stomach automatically. “Yeah. But…he doesn’t know yet.”
Jan nodded. “And you’re going to tell him, right?”
“Yeah.” I blinked several times. “I just don’t know how.”
“It’s easy,” Jan said. “I’m pregnant. There. Done.”
I laughed, and this time it was real, not a fake sound in sight. “I just don’t want him to think he has to be with me because of the baby. Like…” I worried my bottom lip and looked down at the floor. “He came to me and said he left his wife, but I didn’t believe him, and now…”
“Now it’s confirmed.” Jan placed her hand on my arm, and I looked up at her. “We all make mistakes, hon. It’s how we rectify and learn from them that matters.” She flashed me a small smile. “Tell him what you just told me. You won’t know what’s going to happen until you do.”
I stared at her, listening to every word she said, and I knew she was right. I couldn’t keep this a secret anymore. I was only a few days off from the twelve-week mark, and I’d be out of the “danger” zone. I couldn’t preach to Brody about being honest while I was holding on to a huge secret myself. It was time to come clean to him. He was showing me that his words meant something, now it was time for me to meet him halfway.
BRODY
I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, trying in vain not to look through the windows of the diner. If I saw her face, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stay away and not go in to her. I was trying to do what she’d said: give us time and space.
The problem wi
th that was the more space I gave her, the more I wanted to drive over to her place and wrap my arms around her. I’d never questioned how I felt about her. I’d told her that day in her apartment I loved her, and I meant it. It was always about doing what I thought was right. But what was right and wrong in the grand scheme of things?
Was it wrong to love someone so much you felt the ache in your chest when you weren’t around them?
Was it right to stay with a woman you didn’t love like you used to because, by law, you were meant to stick by her?
Was it wrong to need someone else’s touch so much that you thought you’d die without it?
Movement from toward the back of the diner gained my attention, and I spotted Sal heading right for my car. I pushed my door open, frowning at the grim expression on his face. “Sal? Everything okay?”
“Cade’s in my trailer. He’ll be out in a minute.” I planted my hands on my hips as he halted a few feet away from me. “I wanted to talk to you first.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Okay.”
“Moira showed up here.”
“Shit.” I let my head drop back and groaned. I had a feeling that day in the living room wasn’t the end of it. “Did she say anything to—”
“Lola?” Sal interrupted, and I looked back at him. “She did. Exact words were ‘You think because my husband put his cock in you that you can take my place?’”
“Fuck!” I slammed my door closed and took a step toward the diner. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, not after all the lies I’d told and secrets I’d kept, but that didn’t mean Moira could do that. She’d practically admitted she’d cheated on me too—not that it was an excuse—so why did she care so much?
“No.” Sal’s large hand gripped my shoulder, squeezing to halt me. “Leave her alone.”
“You trying to tell me to back off, Sal?” I growled. He’d become a close friend over the years, and even though things hadn’t been the best between us since I’d been back, he had no right to warn me off Lola.
“No.” He let my shoulder go and shook his head. “I’m telling you she’s going through enough shit at the moment. It’s wearing her down. Let her figure her shit out, and when she’s ready, she’ll come to you.”
“I just…” I pushed my fingers into my hair and gripped it, relishing in the burn on my scalp. “I need to make sure she’s okay.”
“It doesn’t matter whether she is or not, Brody.” He paused and looked through the window of the diner. I followed his gaze and saw her behind the counter, a smile on her face as she talked to a customer. “If you mean what you say you do and don’t intend to go back to Moira, then you make sure you’re there, ready for her when she comes to you. Because she will.” He looked back at me. “She’ll come back to you, Brody. You just gotta let her do it in her own time.”
“You’re right.” I stepped back and leaned against the side of my car. His words rang true. It didn’t mean I had to like what he was saying, but he was right. I couldn’t push her into anything, I had to give her the time and space she wanted, and make sure everything was in place for when she came back to me. “I’m moving in to my new place today,” I told him, not sure why I was saying that. “And I spoke to a lawyer yesterday to file divorce papers.”
Sal nodded. “Just promise me something.” He drew in a breath and let it back out again slowly. “Don’t do anything because you feel like you have to. Do it because you want to. Make sure this is what you really want because that girl has had enough heartbreak to last her a lifetime and she’s not even twenty yet.”
“It’s what I want,” I told him, no doubt in my mind whatsoever. A gray cloud had been lifted off me from the moment I walked out on the family dinner to go to Lola, and all that was left was sunshine and a clear day that showed me the path I should take.
“Good.” Sal nodded, his lips lifting into a grin. “Not sure why she’s interested in an old man like you though.”
“Hey!” I chuckled. “This old man still has skills.”
“Mmmm.” His eyes crinkled at the corners. “I’m glad you’re home.”
“Me too,” I told him. “Me too.”
The thought of going away on another case right now didn’t fill me with the excitement it used to, in fact, all I wanted was to stay home. I wanted to be here for Cade and Lola. I didn’t want to be thousands of miles away, deep undercover, unable to contact them. The life I’d built for myself needed to change, I was seeing that now.
“Hey, Dad,” Cade called as he walked toward us. “I’m ready.”
I lifted my hand between Sal and me, and he shook it. “Thanks,” I told him, not really sure what exactly I was thanking him for. Maybe it was for looking after Lola? Or watching out for Cade, or calling me out on what I was doing. Either way, he’d helped me sort through my thoughts a little more.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Cade said to Sal.
Sal grunted and spun around, walking back into the diner, and I took one last look at Lola. I hadn’t expected her to be looking our way, and the jolt to my body had me stumbling back a step. She’d always managed to have that effect on me, right from the first moment I looked at her.
I smiled, and her answering smile told me she was getting there. She’d come back to me, and it didn’t matter if it was in a day, a week, or a year. She’d be in my arms again at some stage, and I promised myself once I had that, I’d never let her go again.
“Why?” I heard Cade ask, and I tore my eyes away from Lola and to him. He was staring at her, too, and I realized what he was asking.
“I…” I couldn’t explain why. There was something about her that drew me in and wouldn’t let go. “She’s… It’s different with her.”
“Different how?” Cade asked, turning to look at me from the opposite side of the car. “You couldn’t have done it with anyone else? It had to be her?”
“You can’t choose who you love, son.” I pulled in a breath. “You’ll realize that one day, and when you do, you’ll understand I had no choice in it.”
He frowned, skepticism rolling off him. But what I said was the truth. He wouldn’t understand it right now, but he would at some stage. “If it’s any consolation”—he pulled open the passenger door—“I think she feels the same.”
I flicked my gaze back to the diner and spotted her taking someone’s order at a table, and I knew he was right. We both felt things we shouldn’t have, but that wouldn’t stop us from being together.
I hoped.
BRODY
The last thing I wanted to do was be in the same space as Moira, but I didn’t have a choice, not when it came to wanting a healthy relationship with Cade. I could have easily dropped him off outside the house and watched him walk inside, but there was something that needed to be said to Moira.
Sal had told me what she’d said to Lola when she went into the diner, and although I’d said I wouldn’t ask Lola about it, that didn’t mean I’d not tell Moira to stay the hell away. I got it, I really did. I’d done the one thing you weren’t meant to do after marriage promises were made, but there was nothing I could have done to stop it. When fate stepped it, nothing could halt it.
“I need to talk to your mom,” I told Cade when I’d turned the engine off. I’d parked at the side of the road, not wanting to pull into the driveway. This may have been my home before, but it wasn’t any longer.
Cade huffed out a breath and pushed out of the car. “I had a feeling you would.”
He’d been there when his mom had turned up too, and even though part of me wanted to interrogate him and ask him to tell me every word that was said, it wasn’t right. He didn’t deserve to be put in the middle of this. He hadn’t chosen this, I had.
Cade walked up the driveway, me a couple of steps behind him, and moved right into the house. I hesitated by the door, and when he looked back, he shook his head.
“Mom?” His voice echoed throughout the house. “Dad wants to talk to you.”
The clicking
of heels rang out, and then she appeared at the start of the hallway. Her gaze trailed over me, her lips quirking at the corners. “Come on in, Brody.” Her voice was soft and inviting, but I knew her better than anyone: it was all an act.
I didn’t want to go into the house that had once been mine, but she needed to be told what would happen if she didn’t leave Lola alone. I stepped inside, shutting the door behind me, and when I turned back around, Cade was gone, leaving just me and Moira standing on opposite ends of the hallway.
“Come into the kitchen,” she said, waving her hand in the air.
I cringed, feeling like I was approaching a complete stranger in a land I knew nothing about. I pushed my hands into the pockets of my jeans and took a deep breath. This wouldn’t take more than a few minutes, and when it was over, I wouldn’t have to see her again. Not like this anyway.
She was standing at the breakfast counter, mixing herself a cocktail, and it was only then I noticed the long silk nightie she was wearing. It dipped low at the front, showing her cleavage, and the fabric didn’t hide her erect nipples in the slightest. There was a time I would have found that sexy as hell, but now I hated it.
I looked over her head, ground my teeth together, and finally said, “I want to talk about what you did at the diner—”
“Would you like a drink?” she interrupted, and my nostrils flared.
“No.” I glanced at her, our gazes clashing, but hers held none of the animosity they had the last time I’d seen her. “I want you to leave Lola the hell alone.”
She picked up her drink and took a step toward me, slowly lifting it to her lips. “What’s in it for me?”
I raised a brow and itched to take a step back, to further the distance between us, but I had to stand my ground. “In it for you?”
“Yeah.” She took another sip of her drink and ran her tongue over her lips. “I miss you.” She stepped even closer, her body only centimeters from mine. “I know you miss my pussy.” Her palm connected with my chest, her nails scraping down the front of my T-shirt. “You’ll get bored of her. Nothing can compare to what we had.”
Fallen Duet: Brody & Lola: Free Fall & Down Fall (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 1) Page 32
