Page 76 of Renegade

Elizabeth’s resolve was a bit stronger than mine, it turned out. She’d blamed her reaction on pregnancy hormones and not the fact that her estranged husband was an alpha male trying to reclaim what was his.

And then the conversation took a hard right turn into a mine field. She mentioned Landon and it just slipped out.“David thinks that he’s the one who broke into your house.”I’d slapped a hand over my mouth as if it would erase it. The moment the words left my mouth, I realized how it sounded.

I’d begun backpedaling almost immediately. “Elizabeth, I shouldn’t have said anything. Let’s talk about something else. I know—how about those Rangers? I mean, they beat the White Sox last night, but boy has this season been rough. And they’ve got the Astros in a couple of days, it doesn’t look good right now.”

Mike really liked baseball. He’d played in high school and was never one to miss a Rangers game. I knew enough, thanks to Josué’s love of the Boston Red Sox, so I’d gladly watched it with him. Plus, it gave me a reprieve from the History channel.

Elizabeth, it turned out, did not give a damn about baseball. She jumped up from her chair and began stalking toward me. “You’re talking to David behind my back aren’t you? What have you told him? Does he know I’m pregnant? Dammit, I trusted you, just like I trusted she-who-shall-not-be-named. This is how you repay me?”

I pleaded, “Wait! Elizabeth, wait. Just calm down!”

“Calm down? I need to calm down because yet another friend of mine has fallen under the spell that is David Greene?”

Oh, Jesus.

She thought I was like Jess? It made me sick to my stomach. I didn’t know if the pregnancy hormones were making things worse or if she was always that scary when mad, but I took several steps away from her nonetheless.

Seeing no other option, I finally threw my hands up. “Stop shouting! It’s not what you think. I swear I haven’t been talking to David—his text to me tonight was the first I’d heard from him since everything happened!”

She was completely rabid with anger. “Then how do you know what David suspects in the case of the break-in? The only logical explanation is that you’re talking to him.”

So much for secrets…

“I’m sleeping with Mike!” I yelled the words over hers and then we just stood in complete silence, each of us trying to regain our breath.

Her face fell, “What? Oh my God. Laur—I’m sorry! And, congratulations? How long has this been going on? And why didn’t you tell me?”

Because you and your husband had just split up?

“We’ve been sort of dating since the night we all went out together. And I was going to tell you, but I worried about what you’d think—worried we’d end up like this.”

She reached toward me and I flinched until I realized she was pulling me into a hug. “I’m awful—I’m sorry. I’m not even going to try and blame this on pregnancy. It’s just that I lost one friend already and I couldn’t bear it if I lost you too.”

Then I said something that had been on my mind for weeks. “I know it’s only been a couple of months, but I think I love him.”

It was crazy, right?

People didn’t fall in love just like that.

And certainly not after two months of dating. At first, I told myself it was the sex, but that was only part of it. It was him—the way he was with me.

She grinned, “That’s awesome news. He’s a good guy. What did you mean by ‘sort of dating’ though? It seems like you’re legitimately dating him if you ask me.”

I hadn’t been brave enough to ask him what we were for fear of backing him into a corner and losing him for good. I couldn’t tell her that though.

I sat down on the sofa and began messing with my necklace. “Well, we didn’t know how either of you would take it, so we’ve kept everything very low key. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Let me see the pictures of my future niece or nephew again.”

She got up and grabbed the sonogram pictures for me and then gave me a pained look.

“What,” I asked.

She bit her lip. “Laur—I know you don’t wanna talk about it anymore, but seeing as to how my soon to be ex-husband left me with a severe case of female blue balls—is Mike, um, big everywhere?”

My mouth fell open, “Elizabeth Greene, you did not just ask me if my boyfriend is ‘big.’ Dear lord, you really are letting these hormones take over aren’t you?”

She groaned, “Yes. If I’m not puking, I’m dreaming up ways to seduce David. So, in light of the fact that some of us are going through a bit of a dry spell, you owe me. I guess just tell me how the sex is.”

I laughed. “It’s a good thing I like so you much, you pervert. If you need to excuse yourself to take care of your ‘situation,’ I’ll just play Candy Crush on my phone while I wait. Oh, and to answer your question—phenomenal. It’s absolutely phenomenal.”

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