Page 18 of Infected By Virus

Adam was a natural-born ham, so Outlaw giving him the spotlight was perfect. After a few minutes, it was clear that Adam was beyond tired, and his ham got a little less hammy. After his third yawn in as many minutes, it was time to cut the visit short.

“I’m gonna give this little guy a bath and put him to bed,” Harmon said before taking him from her. Outlaw stood too.

“It was nice to meet you, Adam.”

Sleepyhead murmured a soft response, but she couldn’t make it out.

“And you too, Harmon.”

Rae didn’t miss the sexual tension between those two, nor the way his eyes tracked her all the way into the house. Much lower than where she held Adam.

“Are you checking out my friend’s ass?”

With zero shame or hesitation, he answered, “Yeah. She single?”

“Ugh.” Rae rolled her eyes. “Yes.”

Outlaw’s mouth split into a grin that transformed his whole face. It was almost disarming.

They sat in awkward silence. It was like he was waiting on her to talk first, and of course she did because she really didn’t need to sit there with her thoughts so loud they were driving her crazy.

“So, how has Darr … I mean Virus been?” She groaned internally. Why ask that? She could’ve just talked about the weather in Provo or traffic. Anything but Darrin.

“Good, but honestly, it’s always felt as if he’s been missing something. Now I see that I was right.”

Rae wanted to roll her eyes, but she really couldn’t. People had said almost the exact same thing about her.

A small smile tickled her lips. The first time Darrin had told her he loved her, he said he was missing a piece of his soul the exact shape of her. That’s why it’d hurt so much to see him with Celeste.

“Me too.” She hadn’t realized she spoke aloud until his voice cut through the memory she was immersed in.

“I know you were hurt, but why didn’t you tell him he had a child? He had a right to know, no matter what passed between the two of you.” Outlaw sounded like he felt Darrin’s pain of not knowing.

She rocked back as if he’d smacked her.

“Because I didn’t know. Adam was as big of a surprise to me as were her other secrets.”

“What?”

“Yeah. I left that day when I found Darrin and Celeste together and cut off all contact with them. Only two people knew where I was. It wasn’t until Celeste called me from an unknown number that I knew she was dying or about Adam.”

Harmon appeared silently, refilled Rae’s wine glass and left the bottle. She squeezed her shoulder before disappearing back into the house.

God bless that woman.

“Wow. You should tell Virus that, he thought, well, you know what he thought.”

Outlaw had the good sense to look apologetic. “He owes you an apology for one thing, but it’ll also go a long way in fixing things between you two.”

“He owes me one regardless of when I knew, but yeah. I should’ve led with the fact I didn’t know about Adam. Hindsight and all.” She gulped some wine. “I’ll talk to him; I just need to be ready to see him again. I owe him some apologies as well.”

“Do those apologies have to do with your sister’s other secrets, as you put it?” He sounded hopeful as he reached for the bottle and poured himself a glass of wine.

“Yes, and some realizations of my own, but those are things I should discuss with Darrin first. I owe him that. But also, just in general. I never gave him a chance to explain anything—I just left and pretended like he didn’t exist. No matter what, no one deserves that.”

Outlaw nodded understandably as he sipped the chardonnay.

“Not that catching your boyfriend, well, ex-boyfriend, face down in your sister’s snatch can be explained in any other way.”

Outlaw shot wine across the table, and Rae laughed. It was the first time since it’d happened that she actually felt any other way about it than overwhelming pain and anger. She’d actually laughed about it.

“Understandable.” He seemed to visibly compose himself. “Can I ask you something else?”

She nodded cautiously.

“What did you take out of the folder?”

And there it was, something she didn’t think she could share with anyone.

“A letter to me from Celeste that I had thought to share with him, but I changed my mind.”

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