Page 122 of Until He Confesses

I did as she asked since I didn't want to remain alone, open to invitations from everyone else, and so I headed over.

She held me as soon as I arrived and turned me to meet the man she was talking to. He was incredibly attractive, was the first thing I noted, but perhaps he was way too attractive because I couldn't stop staring at him. I didn't like to generalize, but men like this who were too well-groomed were usually too straight, well except Lucas, but he had copious amounts of money and could get every aspect of himself taken care of on schedule and at the snap of his fingers. The rest of us didn't always find the time for intense self-maintenance.

"Nice to meet you," he reached out his hand for a handshake, and I forced a smile on my face.

"Nice to meet you," I said, and he looked between me and Anna.

"Oh… this is David," she said. "He's the one that once hooked up with- I mean, I'm sorry, he mistook Lucas for his twin brother."

"No, you're right," he said. "We just hooked up... twice. It was good the first time, but the sec-"

He stopped himself.

"Shouldn’t probably say that," he said and made a sign of the cross. Then he lifted his eyes briefly to heaven.

There was a lot to process, so I briefly took a page from Lucas's book as I watched him. Thankfully, Anna was there to keep the conversation going.

"You said you two only hooked up twice because he didn't stay in that town."

"Yeah," he said. "He said he was just there to see his mom but no mention of a brother. I didn't think they were really close, so imagine my surprise when I thought I saw him with you a few weeks ago. I was hyperventilating but alas it wasn't the case. How sad."

"Yeah," I said and nodded. "Extremely heartbreaking."

"How did you get the video though?" he asked. "I haven't had the guts to ask this yet and didn't even know there was something like that circulating till a few weeks ago when Mr. Marsh’s private investigator contacted me. Thankfully I’m not named since I was you know…” he continued.

"Yeah," Anna smiled. "You were on top," she said, and I slightly hit her with my arm, though the guy was amused.

"That's exactly what it was... Gary's face was what showed the most. I mean, we both took the video together thinking it'd be a moment to have, so I have no idea how it got out. It had to be from Gary. I didn't keep it."

I nodded then and sighed, guilt overwhelming me. Shaking my head, I kept talking to him, until he walked away.

I turned to Anna, and she gave me a look.

"Believe him yet?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"I'm turning off my brain until I have this baby. It hasn't helped me make good decisions so far, plus I can't process anything else, or I might just hurt myself."

Thankfully, she completely understood me and didn't say a word. Instead, she pulled me into her embrace and held me warmly and tightly.

59

LUCAS

Iwatched her hug Anna after speaking to David and wondered what that was about. He was sure to have clarified things, but I had nothing to do with that any longer, so I turned away and finished my drink. There were bigger things on my mind, and I’m sure they were on Callie’s as well. But the last thing I was going to do was step in.

A few people started to come up to me, two women, to be exact, and I checked the level of champagne left in my glass because it was time to leave. I excused myself, but just as I was starting to leave, someone caught my arm. I turned around at the somewhat hard grip, alarmed, but my guard instantly lowered when I realized it was Callie's mom.

"I haven't had any time with you tonight," she said, and I couldn't help my smile. I was instantly warmed at just seeing her, so I leaned forward and gave her a hug.

"I had my eyes on you as soon as you came in, but I got sidetracked."

"I know," she said, her gaze softening as she looked fondly at me.

"You look great as always."

I smiled, warmed again by the compliment.

"You were about to leave?" she asked, and I nodded, my gaze going across the room. My eyes met Callie's for a moment, and I stared at her, and then I returned my gaze to her mother. I wasn't planning on asking because I was more or less certain, but just in case, I decided to anyway.

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