Page 13 of Claiming Becca

He shakes his head. His eyes swivel to Caroline, but she’s listening to Ansley and Liv and not paying us any attention.

“Care said they ran into him a while back when she, Ansley, and Liv went to lunch. Liv got upset when she saw him the first time, but they ran into him here a couple of months later, and they were fine,” Bass replies.

I think about that for a minute. “Why did she get upset?”

Bass sighs. “Apparently, he knows her stepdad, and Liv doesn’t have a good relationship with him. She didn’t want Victor to tell her stepdad he had seen her.” Bass shrugs. “That’s all I know. Care said she didn’t talk about it anymore after that.”

Does Victor have any friends that aren’t bad news? He’s friends with Donovan and Liv’s stepdad, who doesn’t seem to be good news either. Who’s her stepdad? Is he one of Donovan’s guys?

Caroline turns to us and smiles, but her smile fades when she notices the tension. “Is everything okay?”

Bass wraps his arms around her and pulls her back to his front as he runs his hands over her pregnant belly. “Yes. We were talking about baseball. You know how serious that can get,” he jokes.

I look away, searching for Becca. She’s talking to Bailey. Their arms are intertwined as they laugh together. I smile, happy she has a friend. She deserves to have friends after all the shit she’s been through.

Julian walks up beside me and claps my shoulder. “You alright?”

I glance at him before shaking my head. “He shouldn’t be thriving. He should be rotting in prison or six feet under.”

Julian runs his hand through his hair, inhaling deeply. “I’ve told you multiple times I’ve looked into him and found nothing on him. I don’t think he was involved in that stuff like Donovan was, or I would have found something,” he tells me for the 100th time.

I can tell he’s annoyed, but I can’t get past my distrust in Victor. “Bass says Liv knows him because he knows her stepdad. Do you know who her stepdad is?” I ask him like he can pull that information out of thin air.

He shakes his head as we’re led to our table. Julian used to be a detective. He’s done his fair share of investigating Donovan Castiel and Victor Valentine. A lot of shit came up on Donovan, but nothing ever came back on Victor. The two were best friends; it’s hard to believe they weren’t conspiring. However, Victor told me once they weren’t best friends.

Glancing over at Bass and Caroline, I shake my head. I know everything about Bass. I don’t always agree with him like him not telling Caroline the truth about Victor, but I can overlook that. If I ever found out he was a drug and human trafficker, I’d kill him myself. Becca sits, and I sit next to her. Pushing everything out of my head, I focus on her. She’s wearing jean shorts and a Strawberry Shortcake crop top. I thumb the bottom of her shirt, letting my finger trail across her stomach. She sucks in a breath and stares at me. I smirk, loving the reactions I can get out of her.

I wrap my arm around the back of her chair and lean into her. “I like your shirt, Shortcake.” Running my fingers through her hair, her cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink as her hand comes up to her neck.

“Thanks. I have so many of these,” she replies, biting her lip.

“And I love every single one,” I tell her.

She hits my bicep. “Shut up.” She rolls her eyes. I shake my head; she’ll figure it out one day.

“Want to hear a funny story?”

She smiles, nodding eagerly. “Of course.”

Leaning in close, my mind wanders briefly to how she would taste if I kissed her. “I got to the job site today, and everyone was outside. Jake was headed toward me before I could get out of my truck. I swear that man has a stick up his ass. The way he walks, talks. I have no idea why I hired him,” I complain.

Becca shakes her head. “Because he gets the job done. Even if he is annoying,” she reminds me.

I raise an eyebrow. “He doesn’t laugh at my jokes,” I whine. “That’s why you should come to work with me. You laugh at all my jokes.”

She laughs and shakes her head. “If I were to come to work with you, would that stop all the random texts I get throughout the day?”

I chuckle, shaking my head. “Definitely not.”

She sighs dramatically. “Then no.” One day I’ll talk her into coming and working with me. Being able to see her every day would make my job even better. I’m envious of Julian getting to see Bailey every day.

“Anyway, he barely lets me get out of the truck before he’s going on and on about how they got locked out. I notice the locksmith’s truck and point to it, telling him to get help. Well, apparently, the locksmith locked everyone out, and he couldn’t get them back in.” I chuckle.

Becca’s eyes widen. “How the hell did he do that?” She laughs.

“I have no idea. I left and went to pick up breakfast and coffee. They had it figured out by the time I got back.”

She starts cackling. “Let me guess; Jake got the job done.”

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