by Maya Banks
She knew she needed to get to a phone. Call Doc and tell him she wouldn’t be in, but she couldn’t bring herself to move. With a frown, she checked her watch, her bleary eyes registering that it was past seven.
Sighing, she stretched her cramped legs and struggled to get up. Whatever her difficulties, she owed it to Doc to at least give him a call. He’d worry if she didn’t show up.
She drove further down the peninsula and stopped at a gas station to use a payphone. She left word with Marnie, not bothering to expound on her reason for missing work. As she slid back into her Jeep, she gripped the steering wheel, gritting her teeth to keep the tears at bay. Her head felt like a cabbage, and her eyes were swollen and raw.
No idea where to go, but she wasn’t going home. Not yet. She didn’t want to be anywhere near Simon. The disgust in his eyes had nearly killed her. Never had she imagined him looking at her like that.
She finally turned her Jeep toward the ferry, arriving fifteen minutes later. She got right on and sat in her car while the ferry crossed the bay. It was cold. It was miserable. The weather was a perfect match for her mood.
Once in Galveston, she stopped at a fast food joint and grabbed breakfast, though her stomach rebelled at the idea of food. She then parked along the seawall and sat in her Jeep watching the waves roll in.
She didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out she’d screwed up royally.
Chapter Twenty-Three
A.J. replaced the phone on the base and looked over at Matt. “I don’t like it. She’s still not there.”
“She’s probably just not answering her phone,” Matt suggested.
“No, I drove by there this morning. Her Jeep wasn’t there and she’s not at work.”
“Well, she screwed up, man. I mean she’s my sister, and I love her, but she’s screwed the pooch this time. Maybe she decided to hide out for a few days.”
A.J. frowned. “Dude, she’s pregnant and probably upset as hell. You saw Simon. I doubt he just quietly walked away. Pull your head out of your ass. You and I have no reason to be angry with her.”
Matt’s eyes flashed. “She could have ruined our friendship. Hell, she probably already has. I doubt seriously Simon’s going to want to hang around much anymore if she’s here.”
“You are messed up,” A.J. said quietly. “She’s your sister, and she’s my friend. Simon isn’t blameless in all this. I’m worried about her even if you aren’t.”
“I don’t think there’s anything to worry about,” Matt said. “Give her time to cool off. She’s always been like that.”
A.J. shook his head but didn’t respond. He had a bad feeling about this, and he’d feel a hell of a lot better if he knew where Toni was.
By noon, Toni was either too tired to know better or she’d decided she stood to lose nothing by calling Simon. Maybe today he was calmer. Maybe they could talk things out. And maybe she was nuts.
On the way back from Galveston, she stopped by the same gas station as before and nervously picked up the phone to call the house. She stood in the booth holding the receiver, her fingers poised over the numbers. Coward. This is what got you into this mess to begin with.
Before she lost her nerve, she punched in the phone number and waited with growing dread for someone to pick up. She shook from the cold, her face like a block of ice from the wind blowing over her tear stained cheeks. To her extreme relief, Simon picked up on the second ring.
“Simon?” she asked tentatively.
“What do you want,” he cut in before she could say anything further.
“I—I thought we could talk. Can we meet somewhere?” Her voice shook, and her grip tightened on the receiver in an attempt to bolster her waning courage.
“We have nothing to talk about.”
He hung up before she could respond, leaving her standing with the phone still to her ear. Slowly she cradled it back and stepped from the booth. Something in side her broke. She could literally feel it snap. Her mind seemed to break apart from her body and float free above her. She ceased to feel the biting wind, even as it began to spit tiny ice crystals.
Numbly, she returned to her Jeep, unsure of exactly what to do next. The thought of driving an hour and fifteen minutes home was
unbearable. She wasn’t sure she was in any shape to drive anyway. She hadn’t slept in twenty-four hours.
Making a quick decision, she spun her Jeep around and drove to the only hotel on the peninsula, a run down cheap sleep a few miles from the ferry.
After securing her key, she let herself into the dark room, not bothering to turn on the lights or open the curtains. She crawled into the threadbare bed and cried herself to sleep.
“I still don’t like this,” A.J. said grimly as the guys stowed their gear in their lockers.
“What don’t you like?” Simon asked, though he pretended interest. All his thoughts centered on a petite, brown haired, brown-eyed temptress. His emotions had calmed from deep anger to extreme disappointment and sadness. He loved her. There was no doubt about that. But what she had done had stunned him. He wasn’t sure where to go from here. He hurt. She hurt him.
“Toni hasn’t been home since your little argument,” he said derisively. “If you’d quit feeling so sorry for yourself you might have noticed that fact.”
Simon glared at his friend. But a twinge of concern tightened his chest. He swore softly. He didn’t want to feel concern. She was a big girl. She could take care of herself.
He didn’t want to think about the phone call and how much courage it had taken for her to call him. He’d shoved it back in her face.
Matt looked up from his perch on the bench in front of the lockers. “She’s still not home?”
A.J. all but snarled, surprising Simon with his ferocity. “I can’t believe you, Matt. What’s Toni done to you? This has nothing to do with you. Don’t you give a crap that she’s been gone for two days?”
“I’m a little pissed at her,” Matt muttered.
“Well, get over it,” A.J. growled. “Right now I’d say it’s more important to find out where the hell she is. A freaking ice storm is supposed to hit, and we don’t know if she’s out on the road somewhere or what.”
Simon’s stomach clenched. Despite his anger, the thought of Toni out alone somewhere, hurt or scared, frightened the hell out of him. And their child. Christ. His child.
“You’ll excuse my interruption, but you guys are complete dumbasses,” Mike said as he rounded the corner. His eyes glittered angrily as he stared them down.
“Back off, Sanders,” Simon said menacingly. “You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I? Let’s see. You’re not sulking because Toni didn’t tell you she was pregnant with your child, and you’re not sulking because your little pride is hurt,” he said sarcastically.
“What do you know about the situation?” Matt demanded, standing to his full height.
“I know you people are pathetic,” he sneered. “Did I hear you right, A.J.? Is Toni missing?”
A.J. shrugged. “I wish I knew. She’s not answering her phone, and this is the second day she’s missed work.”
“How is it you know so much about Toni’s situation?” Simon asked, his voice deceptively soft. He was working to keep a tight rein on his anger, and Sander’s smug expression was wearing his patience thin.
“You’re an idiot, Simon. She is so in love with you it isn’t even funny. She’s agonized for months over how to tell you. Wondering if you’d hate her. Worried that if she told you, she’d never know if you really loved her or hooked up with her just for the baby.”
“That’s no excuse,” he began, though his argument sounded hollow even to his own ears.
“I see, and what was she supposed to tell you, Simon? That on the night you broke up with your girlfriend, you stumbled home to Toni and took comfort in her arms? That after you took her virginity you humiliated her by calling her Starla? Somehow I don’t see her lining
up to admit what happened.”
Simon felt the color drain from his face then close behind, a dull flush worked its way over his cheeks. “How do you know this? Did she tell you this?” Christ, had he really called her Starla?
“Uh, no, Simon. I was in the bedroom while you two made it.” His heavy sarcasm was enough.
