Always Dangerous

by Dee J. Adams

  After a fifteen-minute drive, Wilson found himself at his aunt’s house. His house. She’d given him a key when she’d gotten sick, so he let himself inside and looked around the place. Boring white walls and stupid knick-knacks on every surface. It smelled like her…a combination of flowers and must. She still had ancient furniture on her shiny hardwood floors.

  “What’s the point of having money if you never spend any of it?”

  Anger filled him fast and hard. “You will not get away with this, auntie. I guarantee you will not.” He paced the living room. There had to be something in this house worth a few bucks.

  Jewelry!

  Wilson strode to Carolyn’s bedroom and went straight to the jewelry box on her bureau, a smile creeping on his lips. Her late husband must have had money. He’d gifted her with some amazing rings and necklaces. He’d seen her wear them on special occasions. Taking a deep breath, Wilson opened the top. His grin faded at the empty box. He quickly opened the small drawers, pulling the thing apart as each space came up just as empty as the one before. Carolyn had cleaned the thing out. He’d lay odds it all sat in the damn safe deposit box she’d left to Kim.

  Fucking bitch.

  A burst of anger erupted in his chest and Wilson threw the empty box across the room. It shattered the free-standing mirror in the corner and glass splintered everywhere. He started pulling open drawers and tossing them, looking for any hidden stashes Carolyn might have forgotten about.

  Nothing.

  Didn’t old people hide their cash under mattresses or in their underwear drawer?

  Fucking bitch. He couldn’t even rely on her to be a regular old bat.

  Breathing hard, Wilson collapsed on the floor, his heart hammering. Now what?

  He needed to find a way to get his hands on that money, that’s what. Not only did he have child support payments, but he owed a bunch of people a hell of a lot of money.

  Cousin Kim used to be his best pal. They’d practically grown up together. Seemed like it was time to renew that relationship. And maybe take it a step farther. There was a time in high school when he thought their relationship might shift, a time when they shared their secrets. They weren’t blood relatives after all. Then one of the football players had asked her out and she’d drifted away from him. Those days were long gone, but he was pretty sure his cousin wasn’t dating anyone now. If he played his cards right, he might get his hands on that money yet.

  Chapter Three

  Kim walked through her office doors a few days later. A new small desk had been added near the entrance. There had to be a reason for that… They rented the building and made the most of the space. By sharing a large office, they could use the other room as a conference area.

  Baby paraphernalia dotted the cream Berber carpet and espresso wood of the office furniture. All that was per usual. Still, she felt an elemental shift in the air. With this inheritance, her life was her own. She didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to do anymore. Like work for people she didn’t want to work for or spend long hours calculating how to make the most of their finances. But the last thing she wanted to do was ditch Chelsea. They’d been in business together from the very beginning. They’d been best friends since college.

  Chelsea looked up from settling a blanket over the baby sleeping in a portable bassinet in the corner of their shared office and smiled. Sophie’s dark hair peeked out from a knit pink cap and her full bowed lips and puffy cheeks were Gerber-baby cute.

  “Hey, stranger!” Dressed in a floral skirt, a solid matching green top and flats, Chelsea greeted her with a hug. Kim had thought about telling her the news over the phone, but she wanted to see Chelsea’s face, so she’d kept her mouth shut about the inheritance.

  “Shh,” Kim hushed. “You’ll wake the baby.”

  “No way. I’m teaching her to sleep through the sounds of life. I refuse to tiptoe and get her used to waking at the drop of hat.” Concern filled her eyes. “How are you? I’m so sorry about your aunt. I thought you were going to take some time off. Life’s been crazy lately. You should take a break.”

  “I thought L.A. was my break.”

  “Hardly,” Chelsea scoffed. “Losing all your belongings in a house fire is not a break. Besides, L.A. seems like a lifetime ago.” She stood back and studied Kim carefully. “You feeling okay? I hate to say it, but I think the last few weeks in Arizona took a toll.”

  “It did.” Kim set her bag in the big drawer of her desk, avoiding Chelsea’s eagle-eyed stare. The bags under her eyes hadn’t disappeared beneath makeup because that would’ve been too easy. “I’ve been fighting something for weeks too. A cold or flu. I’m getting ready for it to hit full force any day now.”

  “Really.” She said it as a statement, not a question and her brows scrunched together. “Hmm.”

  “Hmm?” Kim repeated. Her phone rang and she pulled it from her bag, glanced to see Wilson’s name pop up on the screen and set it on her desk. “What’s hmm?”

  “Don’t you want to get that?” Chelsea asked, tipping her chin toward the sound.

  “Not really. It’s my cousin again. He’s been calling nonstop since I left Arizona. Now tell me what that hmm meant.”

  “I just wondered how long you’ve been feeling this way?” Chelsea asked, resting her ass against her desk and crossing her arms.

  Kim thought back. “I don’t know… I was home for a few weeks before Aunt Carolyn called me. Then I was in Arizona for a few weeks. I guess the middle part of my trip I started feeling weird. I chalked it up to being around Carolyn and knowing she was dying. That’s not going to make anyone feel good. Seeing her so queasy and sick kind of rubbed off on me.”

  Chelsea nodded then lifted a dark eyebrow. “You’re probably right. I mean, you’re not…um…late, are you?”

  “Late?” Kim checked her watch. “I always get here this time in the morn—” She jerked her gaze to Chelsea as her friend’s tone registered in her brain. She couldn’t be thinking… “You’re not talking about what time I arrived this morning?”

  Chelsea shook her head no.

  A full body flush crept up from Kim’s center all the way to her forehead. Did Chelsea mean late for her period? She’d downplayed her encounter with Leo Frost after she came back from L.A. for a few reasons… Most of them having to do with guilt and embarrassment for a monumental slide into Stupidsville. “You can’t possibly be thinking what I think you’re thinking?”

  Chelsea’s lips compressed as she nodded. “When was the last time you had your period?”

  Kim sat down on the chair nearest her desk before her knees buckled. She couldn’t be pregnant. When was the last time she had her period? She covered her eyes with her palm, similar to an ostrich with its head in the sand. She definitely didn’t have it last month. She’d been in between her Los Angeles and Arizona trips. Holy shit. The whole trip to L.A. had been mind-bending in so many different ways. Stephanie, her old college roommate, had been kidnapped and her house destroyed in a fire on the same night. Then Leo’s embezzling accountant had turned up dead. It had been one giant bomb after another.

  Then this last month in Arizona had been pretty miserable as well. She hadn’t even thought about missing her period. She’d been too busy taking care of Carolyn, the house and her cousin. Although Wilson tried to do his best, he never seemed able to finish anything he started. Kim had been picking up the slack in a dozen different places.

  She snagged her phone and flipped to the calendar and the last time she had her cycle. All the blood drained from her face. She was missing her second cycle now. “Oh my, God,” she whispered. The loud beat of her heart pounded between her ears. How could she have not realized she was missing two periods until now?

  Chelsea crouched in front of her. “You okay? You look even paler than you did two minutes ago.”

  Kim swallowed as she nodded and shook her head, then nodded again. Watching Chelsea’s concerned face made her chest heavy. “What do I do?” she ask
ed softly. She’d been so confident the last few years on her own. She’d lost the bad girl behavior and cleaned up her act and now after one—albeit major—slip…this.

  Chelsea patted her thigh. “Want to tell me what really happened in Los Angeles?” Her knowing eyes saw right through Kim.

  “Honestly, you know most of it.” Kim stood and paced in front of the desk as Chelsea waited. “After Stephanie left the club, Leo drove me back to her place later that night. We discovered the house was on fire and I needed someplace to stay after that. I didn’t want to stay with The Asshole…” She’d started calling Stephanie’s husband Carl, The Asshole, soon into her trip. “So when Leo offered a room until I left town, I took it.”

  “You told me he offered a room. Not a bed,” Chelsea commented drolly. “How could you fail to leave out that tidbit?”

  “Because,” Kim wailed. “I was afraid you’d look down on me.” She’d not only left her one-night stand days long behind her, but she’d cleaned up her act in a big way. Yes, she still liked to go out, but alcohol wasn’t usually on the table and in turn she’d made wiser choices. She’d quit looking for Mr. Moneybags and just wanted to meet Mr. Right. She snorted at that idea. Two encounters with Leo Frost. That’s all she’d had. Two encounters with a gorgeous Hollywood movie star who didn’t know the meaning of the words settle down or parenthood.

  “Ever since that night four years ago at the hotel.” The night that Chelsea’s husband, Matt, had saved her from a drunk creep. “I swore I’d never mess up like that again. And here I am. Messing up worse.”

  Chelsea walked back toward her desk, the hurt in her eyes as clear as the bright day outside. “You’re an adult, Kim. You’re allowed to drink. The fact that you think I judge you really hurts. I thought we were best friends,” she scolded softly.

  “We are. I didn’t want to disappoint my best friend by telling her that I slept with an egotistical, mega-famous, Hollywood A-lister.” She shook her head. “God, I can’t even believe it myself. It seems like a dream. Like the whole thing never really happened.” Her phone buzzed and indicated a voicemail. Wilson had left another message.

  “Wow,” Chelsea said, after taking a minute to absorb the news. She perched at the end of her desk and looked sheepish as she asked her next question. “Was he…you know…really good?”

  Kim canted her head. She was probably pregnant and that’s the information Chelsea wanted to know. “You did not just ask that question.”

  “Uh, yeah, I’m pretty sure I did.” Chelsea matched her gesture.

  Sighing, Kim rolled her eyes. She’d never hear the end of it if she didn’t come clean. “Let’s put it this way. I wouldn’t have gone back for seconds if the firsts weren’t really delicious.” She went behind her desk to distract herself with all that had piled up. Fat chance of that happening.

  Chelsea fanned herself. “I think I just swooned.”

  “Look who’s talking? The girl with the gorgeous husband…”

  “I know, but I can still appreciate a handsome man. Do you like the guy? Maybe he won’t freak out. Too much,” she added, since this was obviously going to be a huge freak out for any guy much less a hugely famous one.

  Did she like him? What a question. Kim sat down in her comfortable leather chair. “I didn’t think I liked him in the beginning, but he changed my mind. He’s not what the press makes him out to be. I mean we parted friends, so I guess that’s a step up from my norm back in the day.”

  “Is there a chance that you guys might…?” Chelsea tipped her head from side to side indicating they might make a go of it.

  Kim laughed. “No. Not a chance in hell. He made it very clear that the last thing he ever wants to do is be a parent. Ever.” That made her sad. The guy had no idea what he was missing out on. “If I do this, I do it on my own.”

  “If,” Chelsea said. Her forehead winkled in concern. “You know you don’t have to.”

  “I know.” An abortion? Maybe she would’ve considered it ten years ago, but now…? She couldn’t do it.

  A baby… Someone to love and cherish for the rest of her life.

  She looked over at Sophie, sleeping peacefully in her bassinette, and emotion knotted her throat. To think that she’d get to hold her own child, nurture a baby of her own and give all the love in her heart… It was something she had been beginning to think might not happen.

  “I never thought I’d be a single mother, but what if this is my only chance to be a mom. What if I don’t meet the guy until all my eggs are dried up and useless? How can I blow what might be my only shot at motherhood?” Kim looked away from the empathy in Chelsea’s eyes. “I want a taste of it,” she murmured.

  Chelsea’s small grin spoke volumes. “Seems like you’ve kind of made your decision.”

  “Maybe I have.” She was going to have a baby. A full body sweat made her light-headed, and she didn’t have time for it. “I need to tell Leo and I can’t do it over the phone. I have to see his face.”

  The baby gurgled and Chelsea eased in her direction. “When are you going?”

  Running a hand through her hair, Kim squeezed her eyes shut. It was all happening too fast. It was as if her Los Angeles trip had started a never-ending roller coaster of one life change after another. “As soon as I see my doctor and get the best guess on how far along I am. Leo will probably want to know the dates.”

  Chelsea adjusted the blanket over Sophie and came toward Kim with a hand on her hip. “You don’t think he’ll believe you?” The instant anger and indignation in her voice made Kim smile. “Maybe I should go with you and—”

  “And what?” Kim asked. “Beat him up?”

  “If I have to!”

  Kim hugged her friend. “You’re the best. But I think I can handle it.” She pulled away and went behind her desk. “Look, it would be different if I thought he cared about me or if I had some delusion that we might be a couple. But that isn’t the case. I just need to tell him and make sure he understands that I don’t want anything from him.”

  Chelsea crossed her arms. “It’s not like he has anything anymore anyway, is it? I thought he was in debt up to his eyeballs.”

  “I think he’s in better shape than I originally anticipated. He sold all his property. Sold his memorabilia and anything and everything that would help his situation. Honestly, I was really proud of him. I didn’t think he’d do it.”

  “Where’s he living if he sold his house,” Chelsea asked. “I didn’t think there was too much left standing after the last earthquake.”

  Kim had never been happier than to have missed that epic event, but she had worried about Leo. It had taken her hours to get in touch with him the day of that 7.1 quake. “He’s renting a smaller place in the hills. I haven’t seen it, but he told me a little about it.”

  “How many times have you talked to him since you were there?”

  “I don’t know. A few times a week. Sometimes less. We email more than we talk.”

  Chelsea took a step toward her. “If you need me, I’ll go with you.”

  Kim waved her off. “You’re sweet, but you’re lying. You’ve got a new baby. You can’t come with me. It’s okay. I can do this. Leo won’t have to do anything. I’m not asking him for any money.” Money! She had money now!

  “What?” Chelsea said, watching her face. “What just happened? Why do you look like that?”

  “I didn’t tell you about the inheritance.” Kim paced across the room. She could actually do this. If she was pregnant, she could totally afford to have this baby. She sat down again. A baby.

  “Right! You wouldn’t leave a message, so spill it.” Chelsea lifted an eyebrow.

  “You know how Aunt Carolyn lived in a modest three bedroom house in Arizona?”

  Chelsea nodded. “I do. I never would’ve met you if you hadn’t moved from the desert and gone to school in Chicago.”

  “Correct. It turns out that Aunt Carolyn had money. A lot of money.”

  “Like…how mu
ch money?”

  “Ten million dollars’ worth…and she left it all to me.”

  This time Chelsea’s eyes widened to half dollar proportions. “You said what now?”

  “Crazy, right? You mentioned the word late and my mind totally went somewhere else and I forgot to tell you. I think I’m a millionaire.” Kim would’ve pushed Chelsea’s mouth closed if she’d been close enough.

  “And you thought you’d save that information to tell me face to face?” Chelsea said, with her arms spread wide.

  “You have to admit. It’s some serious news.” So was her pregnancy if that was in fact the case. “I should get that pregnancy test.” Kim grabbed her purse and stood up again.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not so fast. Ten million dollars? This is amazing.” Her smile slowly disappeared. “You realize that two trips in the span of as many months have completely changed your life.”

  “I guess that’s an understatement.” Kim watched the sparkle dim from Chelsea’s eyes. “Uh oh,” she said. “I know that look. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong, really. I mean, I was just thinking about this.” Spreading her arms, Chelsea encompassed the office. “I know you’re not happy here, Kimmy. You have the chance to go someplace that makes you happy. Back to Chicago or L.A. or even New York. I know moving here wasn’t on your list of places to live. But you did it for me. So I’m thinking that your life is changing in all sorts of ways and maybe you’ve outgrown our little operation.”

  “Don’t say that, Chels.” But she couldn’t deny her friend had a point. She had a chance to make her life what she wanted. To move and experience what a bigger city had to offer. “I need to take things one step at a time. Right now the first step is to take a pregnancy test.”

  “Right. And see your doctor,” Chelsea added. “They’ll want to test you too.” She waved toward the door.

  “Right. I guess I’m doing this now.”

  Chelsea nodded. “No time to waste. Sounds like you might be a little behind already. Need to get those results and get you on a program.”