“I talked to your brother.”
“Is that right? Well, you had no business discussing my life with him.”
He sighed softly and looked at the ceiling. “He just cares, Charlotte. And I do, too. Both of us want to see you with the kind of man you deserve.”
“Cut to the chase,” I said, slapping a stack of files onto my desk. “What is it that you want?”
“I want another shot with you.” He put his hands in the pockets of his khakis, looking like a model in a casual pose. I couldn’t believe I’d once found that cute.
“No.”
“Charlotte,” he said, exasperated, “we were pretty good together. I’m very fond of you. Your baby needs a father. And I’m not a bad—”
“My baby has a father,” I cut in. “And he’s a very good man who would never stab me in the back or call me a whore.”
“You’ve figured this out in less than six months?”
“Yes. I’m a good judge of character. Present company excluded.”
He winced and gave me a dirty look. “You’re being stubborn and hotheaded as usual. Not a lot of men would walk in here with a ring for a woman who went out and got pregnant with another guy’s baby. I’m offering to take care of both of you. I’d think of your child as mine.”
“I don’t need to be taken care of,” I said, my face heating with anger.
There was a banging sound from the courthouse floor above us. An old, yellowed ceiling tile in my office broke in half and dropped to the floor, pieces of dust settling around it. This fucking office.
“Get. Out,” I said.
He did, closing the door behind him. I sat down in my office chair, put my elbows on my desk, and buried my face in my hands.
I was going to do bodily harm to the next person who told me I needed to get married just because I was having a baby. I’d always been strong and self-sufficient, and I was more determined than ever to stay that way.
Bennett and I could be whatever we wanted to each other. We didn’t have to get married for our child to grow up with two loving parents. Having a baby was a huge life change, and I was again grateful I was with a forward-thinking man who didn’t want to drag me into his cave just because we were having a kid together.
Apparently the people around me needed to be reminded just who Charlotte Holloway was and how much she valued her independence.
I huffed as I approached the passenger side door Bennett was holding open from me.
“Crummy day?” he asked.
“Riley.”
He cupped my cheek and kissed me, his longish stubble tickling my lips. “Did you tell him to fuck off?”
“I did.” I slid into the car and he closed the door.
“Good. You want to get some lunch after this?”
“Sure, that sounds good.”
He put a hand on my thigh. “Try to relax.”
“I am.”
“Find a happy place.” He grinned at me. “You’re wearing the ring.”
“Of course I am.” I looked at the pearl and diamond ring on my right hand. “This is just . . . for the baby, right?”
He lowered his brows, looking confused. “What do you mean?”
“Just . . . it’s a ring, and . . . it’s not like a promise ring or anything, right?”
“No. If I gave you a ring that held a promise of some sort, I’d definitely let you know.” His tone held a hint of defensiveness.
“Sorry. It’s just . . .” I sighed deeply. “My mom left last night, finally. She lectured me before she did about how I need to lock you down. And then Riley offered to marry me this morning.”
“Marry you?”
“Yeah. I’m so over this ticking-clock idea some people have. Like I need a husband before the baby is born.”
“I’m not one of those people, Char. Don’t get pissed at me over it.”
I nodded. “Okay. Today is about the baby.”
“You think it’s a boy or a girl?”
“I have no idea, but I’m dying to find out.”
“Me too.”
When we got to the doctor’s office, my excitement grew stronger. I hoped the sonogram technician could tell the baby’s sex today. Bennett and I hung up our coats and sat down. He took my hand, lifted it to his lips, and kissed my knuckles.
“I’ve missed you,” I said softly.
He was about to answer when someone walked up and stopped in front of the chairs we were sitting in. I looked up and my heart skipped about ten beats.
“Tell me this isn’t what I think it is,” Liam said. His hands were balled into fists at his sides and his gaze was locked on to Bennett.
“Liam.” I closed my eyes for a second. “What are you doing here?”
“Mom said she didn’t know if anyone would be here with you for the appointment. Looks like someone is, though.”
He reached for Bennett’s shirt and took two handfuls of it, putting his face right in front of Bennett’s.
“Did you knock my sister up?”
Bennett let go of my hand.
“Liam—” I said.
“Don’t,” he said without even looking at me. “This is between us. Answer me, Bennett.”
“Yeah.” His tone was calm as he returned Liam’s stare.
“It’s not like that,” I said, my heart hammering.
“Get up,” Liam said.
Bennett stood. The veins in Liam’s neck were popping out, and I realized just how angry he was right now. A woman across from us was watching intently, her magazine forgotten.
Liam drew back and punched Bennett squarely in the jaw, the sound of the impact making me cringe. Bennett dropped his head and rubbed his jaw for a second.
“I deserved that,” he said softly.
Liam’s brows shot up. “You deserved that? You deserve a body cast, you bastard. She’s way too good for you.”
“I know.” Bennett had barely gotten the words out when Liam’s other fist made contact with his eye. That was followed by a swift uppercut to the gut that made Bennett double over.
“Sir,” the receptionist said through the window. “You can’t do that in here.”
“Enough,” Bennett said, standing up.
“Never enough,” Liam said, his tone eerily calm. He shoved Bennett by the shoulders. Bennett regained his balance and shoved him back.
With a primal-sounding growl, Liam jumped onto Bennett. I stood up, looking on in horror as they tumbled to the floor together. They rolled one over the other across the carpet of the waiting room, both punching at any opening they could get.
A pregnant mother swept her young daughter away from the toys in the corner right before they crashed into them.
“Stop!” I cried, watching helplessly.
“You bastard,” Liam said, grunting as Bennett landed a blow to his stomach. “You didn’t even . . . have the balls . . . to tell me.” He was breathing heavily.
“Enough,” Bennett said angrily, getting off of him. “We’re not doing this here.”
The receptionist was in the waiting room now. She approached me with a frantic expression.
“What is this? Can you make them stop?”
“I’ll try.”
Liam’s eyes, the same blue as mine, darkened as he caught his breath. He pointed at Bennett’s chest.
“You treated her like one of your road whores. My sister. Now she’s knocked up and alone. I’ll fucking kill you.”
Bennett backed up, hands out in front of him as Liam charged. “Not here, man. There are pregnant women and kids here.”
“Then they better move,” Liam growled, flying at Bennett again. He tackled him, and Bennett’s back landed on a waiting room coffee table. There was a loud cracking sound before it collapsed to the floor.
Liam punched anywhere he could land a hit and Bennett did the same.
I went over to the splintered coffee table they’d just rolled off of. “You guys, stop!”
“Move,” Liam said with a scowl. He
was pulling a handful of Bennett’s hair, blood dripping from his eyebrow onto Bennett’s cheek.
Bennett grunted in pain and threw an elbow into Liam’s ribs. He tossed Liam to the side and got up, breathing hard. One of his eyes was purple and swollen nearly shut.
“Stop,” he said to Liam. He put out a hand to me, silently telling me to back up. I did, putting a protective hand over my stomach.
Liam caught his breath and jumped up, hurling himself at Bennett again. Bennett stepped back against the wall, dodging the punch Liam had aimed at his jaw. Liam’s fist sank through the waiting room drywall. He let out another primal growl and pulled it out.
“That’s it,” Bennett said, shaking his head as he looked at the gaping hole in the wall. “We’re done.”
He spun Liam around and kicked his shins from behind. When Liam lost his footing, Bennett shoved his face into the seat of a padded chair and restrained his arms behind his back.
Liam turned his face so his cheek was pressed to the chair. “Let me up if you want to live.”
Bennett just held him silently. The staff had evacuated the office and we were alone in the room now.
“What are you going to do?” I asked Bennett.
“Hold him ’til he comes to his senses.”
“I’ll never—” Liam started.
The waiting room door opened then and four uniformed police officers walked in. I knew two of them from work.
“Charlotte?” one of them asked, hand on his nightstick. “You okay?”
“Yes.” I wiped furiously at my cheek. “Liam, you will stop now. You’re both getting arrested. This is over.”
“We doing this peacefully?” an officer asked Bennett.
Bennett let go of Liam and raised his hands in the air. “Yeah.”
Liam raised his head, the chair cushion streaked with his blood. He just nodded, stood, and offered his hands up for the cuffs.
“I’m so sorry, Charlotte,” Bennett said, his voice thick with emotion.
I was too numb to even answer. The waiting room was a wreck. I watched Bennett’s and Liam’s backs as they were walked out, then sank down into the nearest chair.
I definitely wasn’t finding out the sex of the baby today. It looked like instead, I’d be going to the police station to bail out Bennett and Liam.
Bennett
I shifted my hands in my lap, trying to stop the handcuffs from digging into my wrists. It didn’t work. Fucking Liam. I glared at him across the police department conference room table.
“Don’t look at me.” He scowled at me.
“Just enjoying the view of your smashed face.”
“Yours isn’t looking so great, either.”
I shook my head. “Couldn’t have picked a worse time and place, man. You scared the shit out of those people in the waiting room.”
“Like hell. They were watching like it was an episode of Springer.”
“Yeah, it kinda felt like one,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “Real classy, douchebag.”
“Classy?” He leaned forward, eyes wide. “You knocked up my sister. I’ll never forgive you.”
“I don’t remember asking you to.”
The door to the conference room opened, and the officer watching us from a chair in the corner stood up. A polished black woman in a business suit walked in, followed by Orion.
Our coach’s expression hardened when he saw our messed-up faces. I looked down at my lap. This wasn’t unusual behavior for Liam, but it was for me. Especially when I was busting my ass on the ice to hopefully move up to a better pay grade.
“You want me to stay, Ms. Amandre?” the officer asked.
She looked at Orion, who shook his head.
“These boys won’t even scratch an itch in here without my permission,” he said.
“You can remove the cuffs,” she said to the officer. He nodded, pulled out a key, and unlocked both of us.
Liam’s expression was murderous.
“Don’t even think about it,” Orion said sharply. “You two destroyed an obstetrician’s waiting room full of pregnant women and children. I definitely wasn’t prepared for that call. Listen to Ms. Amandre and don’t move a muscle.”
“Gentleman, I’m Wren Amandre. Charlotte works for me. Normally, I’d probably refer this case to a special prosecutor to avoid the appearance of a conflict. If we can come to terms right now, I won’t have to.”
I rubbed my sweating palms on my thighs, still in shock over this whole thing. I’d kept my nose clean all these years, and now it was all crumbling around me. It was a hundred times worse with a baby on the way.
“The victim’s wishes are often honored in decisions about charges in assault and battery cases,” Wren said. “Do either of you wish to pursue charges against the other?”
“No, ma’am,” I said quickly.
Liam just shook his head, still staring at me.
“Okay. We also have Dr. Lansing’s wishes to consider. Charlotte appealed to him, and he has agreed not to pursue charges if you’ll make full restitution for the damage done to the office.”
I owed Charlotte big for that. I hated to think about how embarrassing it must’ve been for her to claim us as the father of her child and her brother to anyone who had seen that fight.
“We will,” I said. “Thank you for—”
“Oh, I’m not done.” Wren arched her brows at me. “I also told Dr. Lansing this agreement would be contingent on both of you performing community service.”
Liam exhaled deeply and I kicked his shin under the table.
“Of course,” I said. “We’ll do it.”
She slid a paper across the table at me. “Which of these organizations can I tell to expect your call next week?”
I scanned the list. “I’ll take the suicide prevention one.”
“Good. They always need help. How does forty hours sound? You can have three months to get it in.”
“Sure. I’ll get it done.” I passed the paper to Liam. He looked up at the ceiling rather than down at the paper.
“You’ve got ten seconds,” Orion said to him. “Or I’ll be looking for a new center this evening.”
Liam looked down at the paper. “I’ll do the injured veterans one.”
“Excellent,” Wren said. “Eighty hours.”
Liam furrowed his brow, confused.
“Eyewitnesses told the police you were the instigator and that Mr. Morse repeatedly asked you to stop. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have pressed charges against him, no matter what.”
I knew that look on Liam’s face. It was how he looked before he was about to fly off the handle.
“I’ll do eighty hours too,” I said. “I’m just as responsible for what happened. I had it coming.”
Wren picked up the folder she’d set down in front of her on the table and looked back and forth between Liam and me. “Charlotte deserves better than this.”
She might as well have kicked me in the gut. Her words cut deep down to the heart of all my worries about being good enough for Charlotte.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
Wren’s eyes softened as she looked at me. She got up and left the room then, leaving us alone with Orion.
“I don’t even know where to start,” he said the moment the door closed. “You two jackasses embarrassed yourselves, your team, and me today.”
“It was me,” Liam said. “I’m the one who started it.”
“Believe me, I know. You’re a PR nightmare already, and your solution to that is to bang the PR lady to stay in her good graces.”
“That’s not—”
“Did I say you could talk?” Orion yelled.
“No, Coach.”
Orion turned to me. “Bennett, you should’ve told him. That was a hell of a way for him to find out you got his sister pregnant.”
“You’re right, Coach,” I said.
“But you—” he pointed at Liam “—fucked up bad this time. You’d better blow me away on the ice an
d do that community service with a smile on your face every second you’re there.”
“I will.”
“If the press gets wind of this, you keep your mouths shut and send ’em to me.”
We both nodded. A knot of tension formed in my stomach at the thought of this hitting the news.
“Any injuries?” Orion asked.
“I think my wrist is sprained,” I said.
“Go home and ice it. You’re going to Chicago in the morning for some one-on-one with my former teammate Niko.”
“Vereshkova?”
“Yes. He’s got an off day and he wants to work with you.”
I nodded silently, but inside I was elated. This was a chance to get recognized by a player from the team I wanted to be on.
“And when Bennett gets back tomorrow night, figure out how to put this behind you.”
Liam scoffed and looked away. Orion stood and I followed him out of the room, knowing Liam and I would be at each other’s throats again soon if I stayed.
Charlotte was sitting on a bench in the lobby of the police station, her elbows resting on her knees. She looked up as I approached.
“Hey,” I said softly.
“Bennett.” She sighed, looking relieved, and stood up. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close.
“I’m sorry, Char.”
“It’s not your fault.”
I pressed my face against her neck, taking in her sweet, familiar scent. “I should’ve done better.”
She pulled back, hands on my shoulders, and looked up into my eyes.
“It’s not your fault, Bennett. You were only defending yourself.”
“I just hate this for you. You missed your appointment and the doctor’s office probably—”
She laughed. “I’ll be finding a new doctor.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re banned from Dr. Lansing’s office now.”
I shook my head. “Shit. I’m sorry, babe.”
“It’s all right. They’re squares.”
“You okay?” I asked, stroking a thumb over her cheekbone. “This had to be stressful for you.”
Shrugging, she said, “I didn’t have to clean out my savings to bail you guys out, so all in all, I’m good.”
“What about the baby?”
Rubbing a hand over her belly, she smiled. “The baby’s good. I felt some kicks while I was waiting for you.”
Bennett (On the Line Book 2) Page 13
