Page 40 of Run with Me

“Fuck,I wish I was sorry for walking in on you like that, but I’mnot.”

I gasped and jumped up at the deep voice. I had barely unpacked and tried on the first set of undergarments from one of the dozens of shopping bags Mary had brought this morning. The new fitted lace black bra and panties that didn’t leave much to the imagination, were nothing like what I had worn before, but maybe that was because both my hip bones and collar bones stuck out. The only nice feature on my body was that small bump I was beginning to notice. When I recalled my pregnancy with Mikey, I’d been showing much more at three months than I wasnow.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Xavier said, as I tried to cover myself. Except there was nothing nearby that I could use to doso.

“It’s all right. It’s your home. I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow.”

“Plans changed. I’m glad to hear you decided to stay. Jack has a way of making people do what he wants.”

“And doyou?”

“Usually.”

I had a feeling that he could make people dig their own graves with a smile.

“You look… breathtaking.” He stepped closer, and I moved to the left, reaching for the new silk robe Mary had brought and quickly slipped my arms into it, pulling together the tie at the front.

When I looked back at Xavier, my stomach twirled in a funny way. It had been some time since anyone had complimented me or looked at me the way Xavier was. I couldn’t figure out that strange feeling in my chest, but then again, I still had a difficult time believing that out of all the people I could have bumped into, I’d found Xavier.

“Thank you,” Isaid.

During the past two days, while I was staying in his penthouse apartment, Mary showered me with gifts, clothes, and tiny baby outfits, all in pale yellows and greens since I didn’t want to find out the baby’s gender before its birth. Yeah, in forty-eight hours, Mary had definitely gotten as much information out of me as she could.

“I would have cleaned the place up a little if I knew you were coming,” I added.

“It’s just a few shopping bags. Was Maryhere?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that explains it. How are you feeling?”

“Like an intruder.”

“You’re hardly an intruder. We already know each other. It only makes sense that I reciprocate the gesture of a goodhost.”

“All I did was take you to a mobster’s motel. That’s not exactly being a goodhost.”

“Come on. Pace was… interesting.” Xavier sat on a chair by the coffee table, a few feet to the right. I pulled out a chair by the dining table and took a seat aswell.

“I thought you were dead,” Isaid.

“Really?”

“Yes, really. The next day…” I paused, remembering how Ben had coerced John and me into playing his stupid chess game for information about Xavier, and John lost on purpose. So much happened that day: our engagement at the Fiesta, and then Ben breaking in afterward…

“What happened the next day, Anna?” Xavier brought my attention back to him just as I felt a tear slip out of my eye. Feeling my throat tingle near the very back, I quickly wiped it away and shook my head at the memory. “That child you’re carrying – please don’t tell me it’s Ben’s.”

“No, it’s John’s. We’re engagednow.”

Though I didn’t have my ring anymore, it didn’t matter. We were still together and always wouldbe.

Xavier let out a breath of relief. “Thank God. Ben doesn’t deserve to have children.”

I knew Xavier would get me. I was right to keep Mikey a secret, and thinking back to how John had questioned the choice hurtme.

“No, he doesn’t.” And now he had no chance of getting Mikey because my baby was dead. My heart ached. The wound of his death was still fresh. Bracing my elbows on the table I lowered my head to my hands.

“Anna, I’m sorry. I’m not sure what I said, but I’m sorry. I don’t like seeing yousad.”

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