“She’s lying,” Gabe says. “She has worked for me for three years. I was engaged to someone else just seven months ago.” He runs his hands through his hair. “I never, ever gave her any reason to think I wanted anything from her, ever.”
“We are going to charge her, and I would like for you to come down to the station and make an official statement,” he says, walking away.
“I’m beyond exhausted,” I say, getting into the truck, “but we need to get this over with.”
“You’re not coming with me.” He looks over at me. “There is no fucking way in hell I’m going to let her get anywhere near you.”
“I’m not letting you go there by yourself,” I tell him.
“Well, I’m dropping you off at home. Hailey is going to be there with you, and Walker is going to come with me.”
“I want to come with you.”
“And I want you safe,” he says, pulling up to my house. “I want you and the baby safe, and being safe means nowhere near her.”
“Fine,” I agree finally, “but I don’t want her near you either. She’s obviously deranged.” He leans into me to kiss me. “You come back here as soon as you leave the police station.”
“I will, doll face,” he says and pulls away as I watch him go.
Chapter Thirty
Gabe
Grabbing my phone out of my pocket, I call my father and tell him what happened and that I wouldn’t be back to work today. I make it to the police station and check in with the front desk. I sit down, thinking about my house being burned fucking down.
“Mr. Walker,” another detective calls for me, and I get up and walk to him. He takes me down a white hallway with rooms on both sides. He opens the door. “Please have a seat.”
I pull out the chair and sit down. “Anything that I can do to help,” I say, “but I have to say, I’m a little confused about all this.”
“Well, hopefully I can shed some light on the situation with what she told us,” he says, opening a file.
“So she said she started working for you three years ago. That it was platonic when your fiancée left. She said she thinks your fiancée left because she found out that you were in love with Ava.”
“I was left at the altar. I have five hundred witnesses who can confirm I would have gotten married that day.”
“She has text messages on her phone that she claims were sent from you.”
I open my mouth. “Impossible because I never sent them.”
“Well, I have the proof,” he says, taking out her phone and putting it in front of me. I pick it up and am shocked that it’s my fucking number and the texts are fucking making me blush. “Still sticking to your original statement, Mr. Walker?”
I snap my head up to look at him. “You’re damn fucking straight.” I take my phone out. “I have never ever texted any of my nurses, ever. Especially not of my dick.”
“Are you having a child with one of your nurses?” he asks, leaning back.
I place my hands on the table. “This interview is over. I’m not going to answer any other questions without a lawyer present.” I get up. “I’m telling you the truth. My tires have been slashed two times, two.” I put my hands in my pocket. “And now my house has been burned down, and the person responsible for that is in another room somewhere.” I look up at the ceiling. “Did she ever think that maybe someone was home when she decided to go all fatal attraction? Is anyone asking her what would have happened if anyone was home?”
“She wasn’t thinking clearly,” the detective says.
“Well, someone needs to make her start thinking clearly,” I breathe out. “This is crazy, beyond crazy. I have never, ever, ever said or did anything that would have made her think I wanted her that way.”
He doesn’t say anything while he gets up and goes to the door. I walk out of the room the exact moment Ava is walking out of another room. She has black tear streaks down her cheeks. She runs to me, throwing her arms around my neck. “Oh, Gabe, you came for me,” she cries. My hands take hold of her up arms and I push her away. She looks shocked by my actions. “I knew you would come.”
“I didn’t come for you. I would never come for you,” I tell her, and she takes two steps back, her hand going to her chest. “You burned my house down.” Anger now coming out of me. “What if Crystal was home and stuck inside? What if she or the baby were harmed?” The minute I mention the baby, she loses her mind.
“That bitch trapped you. How do you even know it’s your baby?” she says. She lunges at me, stopped by the detective who was beside me. “It was supposed to be me. You were supposed to fall in love with me the minute Bethany left.” She tries to worm her way out of the detective’s arms. “For three years, I was your go-to, and then that bitch comes into the office, and all of a sudden, you don’t care.”
“I never ever looked at you any other way except professionally,” I tell her.
“I know you love me. I see it every time you look over at me and smile. The way you always ask for me when there are all those other nurses.”
“I think this has gone on long enough,” the detective says. “Mr. Walker, I will let you know if I need anything else.”
I look at him and then at Ava, “Never. It was never going to happen.” Then I walk out of the station. My head pounding so hard.
When I get back to Crystal’s, I walk into the house and see her sleeping on the couch. Going to her, I squat down in front of her and kiss her lips. Her eyes open slowly, and she stretches out her arms. Pulling me close to her, she kisses my lips. “You’re back.”
“Yeah,” I say while I rub her cheek with my thumb. “I just got back. The door wasn’t locked.”
“Well, considering the person after you burned your house down, I thought it was safe.” She moves closer to my touch.
“For the time being, can we just lock it?” I stare at her. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired, hungry, happy, excited.” She smiles. “Happy.”
“I’m going to drive into town,” I tell her. “I have to go and buy some stuff to wear.”
“Oh, I want to come.” She sits up, and I stand, holding my hand out to her. “Can we grab a cheeseburger? I’m dying for meat.”
I raise my eyebrows at her. “Not that kind of meat.” She kisses my chin. “Besides, according to the doctor, that meat is off limits.”
“He never said anything about eating it?” I smack her ass while she walks in front of me. She grabs her purse and phone to text Hailey to tell her she is going into town.
“So tell me,” she says while she buckles in, “what happened at the police station?”
“Well,” I say, driving out of town. “According to the police, I was in love with her, and that is the reason Bethany left town.”
“Shut the fuck up,” she says, and I laugh.
“Nope.” I turn to look at her. “And she had texts that I apparently sent to her.”
“She took your phone,” she says to me, and I whip my head around to look at her. “Once, I saw her on your phone in the kitchen. She said you left it there by accident and she would return it.”
“Motherfucker,” I say. “I didn’t even think of that. I usually just leave it in my office.”
I see her shrugging her shoulders. “No clue, but she had it, and I remember because I noticed that ridiculous phone case.”
“The periodic table isn’t ridiculous,” I tell her.
“Whatever. I saw her on it,” she says. “So now what happens?”
“Tonight, I shop for new clothes, beg my girlfriend to sleep over at her house, and then tomorrow, I find two nurses.”
“You never know. The doctor could say I can go back to work.”
“We aren’t risking anything. And by that, I mean”—I glare sideways at her—“you do fucking nothing.”
“Wow,” she pffts out, “with that attitude, you’d better call your mom and tell her to make up a bed since you’re homeless.”
I laugh
at her. “Half of me is in you, which means where you are, I am.” I wink at her as she rolls her eyes. “Get used to it, doll face, because we have another five months. Then hopefully the rebuild will be ready just in time for the baby to be born and we can move in.”
“Wow, you have all this mapped out?” she asks.
“Gotta say, doll face, best news I ever got was you carrying my baby.” I pick up her hand, bringing it to my mouth. “So yeah, I have everything mapped out.”
She doesn’t answer me. Instead, she turns her head to look out the window, no doubt sending me to hell, but at least she’s doing it with a smile.
Chapter Thirty-One
Crystal
I’m fucking waddling. Side to side like a penguin and I’m enjoying each and every single fucking second. My Crocs squeak while I walk to Gabe’s office, my hand rubbing my stomach while our child kicks. I’m seven months pregnant today, seven months.
So much has changed in the past three months. Hailey moved out to go live with Walker, giving her share of the lease to Gabe, who weaseled his way in. The rebuild of the house that burned down is close to completion. Since the first visit with Dr. Sprung, it’s been smooth sailing, so smooth he said I could work one day a week if I only do light paperwork. So, Gabe was overruled with his ‘over my dead body’ rule, and I work every Wednesday. All in all, he still gets under my skin, but I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else.
I knock on the door before going in, seeing him sitting behind his desk. “Hey.” I smile at him as he looks up and smiles when he sees me. I walk in and close the door while he walks around his desk. His baby blue dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves with the two buttons at the top opened. His khakis fitting him so perfectly.
Another thing that has been a go is sex. Thank fucking god, too, because with all these hormones, I’m surprised his dick isn’t raw. I just can’t get enough of him, but now with my belly, we’ve had to get creative, to say the least.
I waddle to him as he leans against his desk, his hands coming out to touch my stomach right away. “Hello, doll faces,” he says, leaning in to kiss me and then leaning to kiss my belly. “Someone is active today,” he says when our child kicks his hand.
“Yes.” I nod. “That and I also just finished eating gummy bears.”
He shakes his head, and I step in the middle of his outstretched legs, my hand going around his neck. “It’s not my fault; it’s the baby’s.”
He tries to wrap his hands around my waist but stops at my hips.
“I think I’m going to need a bigger size in scrubs,” I say to him. The pants are fine since I tie them under my belly, but the shirt is almost like a tent and now is looking as if it’s a crop top.
“Or you can stay home.” He leans in, kissing my neck softly, then his tongue comes out, and I forget to tell him to fuck off. My hands on his chest start to open his buttons on his shirt when a knock on the door stops me. “Come in,” he says, his eyes twinkling.
I turn my head as soon as the door opens, and in steps a woman who looks like she just stepped off the runway. Perfectly tailored clothes, her makeup flawless, her hair perfectly curled. One look and I know who this is—Bethany.
She looks at us in an embrace, and her face drops, turning white. I turn in his arms and my back to his chest as he places his hands on my stomach. “I …” She stops talking as soon as she notices my stomach.
“What are you doing here?” Gabe now stands up, moving me to the side where he holds my hand. “Who the fuck let you in?”
She stands there, her hands crossed in front of her. “I’m here to see your father, but he wasn’t in his office, so …”
“So you decided it would be a good idea to come to mine?” he asks, his voice curt.
“I didn’t know.” She raises her hand to me. “I didn’t know that.”
“That I’m having a baby?” He smiles now, looking at me, his hands going around my shoulder, bringing me to him. “I am. Bethany, meet the love of my life. Well, the two loves of my life.”
She blinks, not sure what to say, so Gabe continues. “Doll face, meet Bethany. Bethany, this is Crystal and Baby S.” I got fed up with him calling the baby squirt, so he decided Baby S. it would be.
She nods at me, and I can see she’s in shock as she tries to swallow. “It’s nice to meet you.”
I nod my head at her. It’s not nice to meet me; it’s the opposite of nice to meet me. “Well, I won’t take any more of your time.” She starts and turns around to leave.
“Wait,” I say, and when she turns around, my hands now go around his waist. “Thank you.”
“For what?” she asks, but she knows. A woman fucking knows.
“For leaving him at the altar. For throwing him away.” I look up at him, into the eyes of the man I want to spend the rest of my life with, the man I want to wake up next to every morning. The man I want to hit with a broom sometimes, most times. “I have to believe we would have found each other anyway. In my heart, he was the missing piece, so thank you.”
She doesn’t say anything to me. She just nods her head and walks out. “Aww, with a speech like that, I’m going to think you like me.”
I roll my eyes at him. “I had to say something. She was all there, perfect and skinny. With her tits perky praising god, and here I am with my gut hanging out, my boobs are all big and alien-like.” I try to walk away from him, but he brings me closer to him.
“You love me,” he teases me. Although I haven’t come out and told him I love him yet. Well, at least not to his face. I tell him when he’s asleep, and I watch him in a non-creepy stalker kind of way.
“I’m having your baby,” I tell him. “I have to love you.” I smile at him.
“Let’s go. I have a surprise for you,” he says, grabbing my hand as we walk out of the office. He holds my hand and puts me into the truck and helps me buckle in since I can’t maneuver myself with a basketball in front of me.
“Where are we going?” I ask him.
“You’ll see,” he says, making his way to his house. Ava, is out on bail staying with her parents. Since it was her first offense it’s most likely she won’t get jail time, but we still have a restraining order against her. We haven’t been there for over a month because the fumes wouldn’t be good for me. I’m shocked when we pull up, and I see that it’s finished.
“Oh my god, it’s done,” I say, unbuckling myself and pushing myself out.
“It is.” He grabs my hand as we walk in. “There isn’t any furniture yet,” he says, walking upstairs to the bedrooms. “Well, one room is done,” he says, walking to the bedroom with double doors. He releases my hand to push open the two doors, and I gasp out in shock.
“What?” I walk in, taking in the prettiest nursery I have ever seen. It looks like a picture from a magazine. The walls are painted gray, one wall with white circles on them. A white crib sits against the wall with gray and white bedding. Frames of animals hang all around the room. “You said you wanted animals.” I turn to him as I take in the little sheep rocking chair for the baby in the corner. The white dresser and white changing table. The closet opened to show me baby pajamas hanging, waiting to be worn. I look around and then see a rocking chair with a side table. A picture of the two of us beside it. I walk into the middle of the room, taking it all in. The bunnies on the shelf, the diapers on the table, the blankets all washed and folded. “It was a gift from my parents.”
“What?” I turn to look at him. “This is too much.”
“You have no idea. If it was up to my parents, they would have had the animals brought in and living in the backyard to make you happy.” His parents have hands down accepted me with open arms.
It’s so perfect. I go to the crib, looking inside, and I turn and see him in the middle of the room on bended knee. “What?” I whisper, my hands flying to my mouth.
“I had this whole speech prepared on how to ask you to marry me in bullet form because I knew you would argue with me about it.” I
am crying out a sob and a laugh. “Last year, I thought there was no way I would survive being crushed. There was no way I would ever be able to go on. But then one day, I got up and knew it would be okay, and then I met you. That exact night you fell into my lap.” I walk to him, my hands going to his face. “My father told me that if I loved Bethany, I would have gone after her. I thought he was just feeding me bullshit, but …” He looks down and then up with a tear in his eye. “If you ever left me, I would turn over every fucking stone there was to find you because I know I can’t live without you.”
I lean down to kiss his lips. “Can I say yes now?”
“I’m not done,” he says, smiling as my thumbs rub his face. “I want to wake up every single day to you; I want to come home to you. I want to fight with you and then make up with you; I want to live the rest of my life with you by my side.”
“I love you,” I finally say out loud, and he smiles so big his eyes crinkle at the corner. “I tell you that when you’re sleeping every single night.”
“I know,” he whispers, “I hear it.”
“Now can I say yes?” I ask him with tears streaming down our cheeks.
“Will you marry me?” he asks me, but I’m already nodding my head.
“Yes, I’ll marry you and carry however many children God decides to give us. I’ll love you with every single thing that I have even when I want to throw something at you.”
He opens the ring case, showing me a beautiful rose gold square diamond with white diamonds in the band. He slips the ring on my finger as I laugh and cry, bending to kiss him.
I don’t say anything as he gets up and kisses me again, and this time, my mind wanders back to the dreams that have haunted me. My baby girl who looks like her father but had my eyes. Unexpected, this whole thing must be my unexpected love story.
Epilogue One
Crystal
“I think this might be it,” I say, getting up in the middle of the night two months after we moved in. I’m officially three days past my due date and impatient to meet my little one.
Unexpected Love Story (Love Series Book 2) Page 18
