Wine and Whiskey (Surviving Absolution #1) (34 page)

His head rolls back to face the ceiling
as his body shakes with anger. “God! I can’t believe you would come in here and
do this. You’re just like him.”

Intended as an insult, she basks in his
words as a compliment. Nick would hate the comparison, but she’s proud he’s given
her the confidence to stand up for herself when she never could before. “I love
my mother more than anything in the world, but I realize she was controlling me
and so were you. All that’s behind me. Even if I’m not with Nick, I can take
care of myself now.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

“You would really ruin my career for
him?”

Nodding her head, she meets his glare.
She can be just as protective as Nick.

“Fine! Hand me my phone.”

She waits while he makes the call, his
angry voice vibrating through the small room. After he finishes, he tosses the
phone to the end of the bed. “You’ve turned into a real bitch, you know that?”

“I’m sorry it had to be this way.”

“I hope you really know what you’re
doing. You’re going to be alone and miserable, wishing you were with me.”

She lightly caresses her stomach. “I’m
going to be just fine.”

Carter stands when she opens the door.
“Well?”

She can’t help but smile as she puts on
her hat and sunglasses. “It’s done. Let’s go pick them up.”

He lets out a low whistle and shakes his
head as they walk out of the hospital. “Are you going to tell me how you did
it?”

“Nope.”

“Look at you, turning all hard-ass. Nick
will be proud.”

Surprised she could go through with her
plan, her guilt starts to grow. Maybe she’s pushed it too far. “I hope so. Or
he might be really mad.”

“I think you’re right. Will it be okay if
I just drop you off when we get there?” He rubs his fingers across the bridge
of his slightly swollen nose. “I don’t want him to go berserk on me again.”

She pretends a confidence she doesn’t
feel. “I’ll protect you.”

He laughs all the way to the car. After
they climb in, he calls Luther while she endures a text-lecture from Gail for
both her earlier drama, as well as her lack of response for the last twenty
minutes.

At police headquarters, she tosses her
phone in her bag and watches for the guys to come out. Deep in conversation,
Nick, Max, and Luther make it to the bottom of the steps before Max notices
them and nudges Nick.

He stares at her with an unreadable
expression. Butterflies swarm in her stomach as she waits for his reaction.
Seconds pass, and she can’t decipher the result of the internal argument
playing out on his face.

The corners of his lips turn up into a
smile, the only encouragement she needs. She runs to him, wanting nothing else
but him, and he scoops her up as she wraps her legs around his waist. His tight
embrace steals her breath as he whispers in her ear, “Thank you for not giving
up on me.”

“I love you too much to let you go.”

Carter clears his throat. “Um, can we go
now? Your foreplay is grossing us out.”

She lifts her head and laughs. “Sorry! I
didn’t mean to upset my cohort in crime.”

Nick strokes her cheek before turning her
face back to his. “Speaking of which, we need to talk about that when we get
home.”

Her lips brush his before he sets on her
feet. Nothing he can say or do will ruin her jubilance. She’s already home.

After snuggling against him during the
ride to the house, Shae lifts her head from Nick’s shoulder as Carter turns
into the driveway, a red convertible blocking the gate. A beautiful woman
clutches an adorable blond, curly-haired toddler on her hip as she argues with
the security guard.

All the color drains from Nick’s face
before he releases her hand. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Both Max and Nick climb out. The woman’s
rage turns to Nick as he walks up. Max puts his hand on her back and attempts
to guide her to her car, but she pushes him away.

“Who is she, Carter?”

The answer doesn’t really matter. She
already knows the relationship they fought so hard to resurrect is collapsing
around them again.

“Nick’s old girlfriend…” Carter clears
his throat, but his voice still croaks. “Jessica.”

She can’t quite make out the words
Jessica hurls at Nick except for “your daughter.” The baby lifts her head from
her mother’s shoulder as she yells, revealing Nick’s dark blue eyes.

It hurts so much, she laughs at the
absurdity of it. Far worse than Evan said. She thought she was someone special,
and now, she and her baby are just two more people in line for Nick’s heart.

Carter’s eyes widen at her laughter. “Are
you okay?”

“No.” She opens the car door and steps
out.

Jessica stops shouting mid-sentence, her
eyes growing wide as she looks Shae up and down. A smirk crosses her lips
before she laughs. “So, you’re ‘her’?”

Jessica’s mocking tone conveys a
familiarity she doesn’t understand or like. “What are you talking about?”

“No, Jessica.” Nick’s voice rumbles with
fury. “Don’t do it.”

Jessica ignores him, the smirk turning
into a huge smile. “You’re the reason why he ended up back in my bed.”

* * * *

“Damn it, Jessica!
What are you trying to pull?” Nick poses his question to his ex-girlfriend, but
his attention transfixes on Shae. The glow of happiness radiating from her
beautiful face slowly fades at Jessica’s declaration of his infidelity. He has
to prove to her both of Jessica’s claims are lies.

“It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,
Nicky. But you climbed out of bed so fast this morning, you didn’t give me the
chance. So, I came over to introduce you to your daughter. This is
Emme
.”

Their breakup was ugly, her screaming and
slapping him before he walked out the door. But never once did Jessica say or
do anything to make him think she was pregnant. “Stop saying that. She’s not my
daughter.”

“Are you calling me a fucking liar? I
know who the father of my baby is.”

Shae’s soft voice interrupts their
argument. Even in her pain, she attempts to diffuse the situation, to calm the
anger broiling between them. “You have a beautiful daughter.”

Jessica’s smirk returns, enjoying the
torture she inflicts on Shae. And on him. “Of course I do. She looks like her daddy.”

He shakes his head. “If it was true, why
would you wait all this time to tell me? Why are you showing up now?”

“Because the man I thought was her
father, isn’t. So, that leaves you. It’s time for you to own up to your
responsibilities.”

Max’s research about her living situation
provides the real answer to the question. Her relationship with her latest
victim ended, and she needs someone to take care of her. “I knew it. You’re
looking for a reason for me to support you.”

“Well, that’s all you’re good for anyway,
isn’t it? Your dick and your money.”

He bites back his response as the baby
begins to cry. Jessica rubs
Emme’s
back, and the
toddler tucks her head into her mother’s neck. He takes a deep breath, trying
to keep his voice calm. “I don’t want to argue. We can solve this with a
paternity test. Take her home, and we’ll make arrangements for one on Monday.”

“Fuck you! I don’t need some test to know
the truth. You’re her father, and you fucking know it. Don’t stand here and act
like she isn’t in front of your little pop star princess girlfriend.” She waves
her hand at Shae before jabbing her finger into his chest. “
Emme
needs you, and I’m not going to let you turn your back on her.”

Shae smiles at Jessica and shakes her
head. “He won’t. Nick will be a wonderful father, and you don’t have to worry
about me getting in the way. He can focus on her completely.” She steps back
and pulls the car door open. “Carter, can you please take me back to my house?”

Panic churns in his stomach. He refuses
to let her leave thinking he’s been unfaithful. “Shae, wait.” He wraps his
fingers around her hand as she grasps the handle. “Give me a chance to fix
this. She’s lying, and you have to know the truth.”

“Please just let me go. Everyone’s
watching. Do you know how humiliating it is they all know what a fool I’ve
been?”

“I don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks.
All I care about is you. That you believe me. I didn’t sleep with her.”

“You were in her bed.”

Her defeated tone churns his gut. A few
minutes of weakness he’d kill to take back. Seeking relief from his
self-torment, Jessica’s harshness made him long for Shae even more. “Nothing
happened. I couldn’t go through with it.”

“It doesn’t change the fact you wanted
to.”

What he wanted was to erase the image of
Evan making love to the woman he was too stubborn and stupid to hang onto. The
thought of her smiling up at him, welcoming his touch, crying out his name,
drove him over the edge. “I was upset you were with Evan.”

Her body stiffens, and she whips around
to face him. “Well, I guess we’re even then.”

“No, it isn’t like that. It wasn’t about
revenge.”

“Then what was it about?”

That she was over him already. Her
feelings for him were gone, and she had moved on with someone else. “I couldn’t
believe you wanted to be with him.”

“I didn’t!” Frustration pulses in her
voice. “I wanted you, but you rejected me. I was only with him because I’m…”

“You’re what?”

Her eyes grow wide, and she drops her
head before wrapping her arms around herself. “Nothing. Forget it.”

She hiding something from him. Another
one of that idiot’s schemes he talked her into. “No. I want to know why you
were going to marry Evan.”

“I was never going to. He just thought
that, but I couldn’t marry him because I’m in love with you.”

Her declarations of love have only come
during times of distress. He would give anything to hear her tell him while
wrapped in his arms. Only the two of them, the rest of the world ceasing to
exist. “Just like me. I can’t be with anyone else but you.”

"You hurt me. I hurt you back. You
hurt me again. That’s not how love is supposed to be. Maybe we aren’t meant to
be together.”

Her voice as raw as her words, she has no
idea the devastation she causes with her suggestion. He has to make her
understand they’re worth fighting for. “No. You just came back into my life.”
He gently touches her arm, crossed over her body, as if protecting her heart.
“I won’t lose you again.”

She tilts her head and gives him a small
smile, contrasting with the tears glistening in her eyes. “You don’t need me.
You have your girlfriend and your daughter.”

Max steps closer to Nick. “We need to
take this inside. It’s not safe for them to be out here like this.”

Nick nods, but doesn’t turn away from
her. “Will you please come in the house? We need to talk about this.”

“Hurry up, Nicky,” Jessica whines behind
him. “
Emme’s
getting hungry. I need to feed her and
put her down for a nap.”

Nick glances back at her, using every
ounce of willpower to keep his voice steady. “Go inside. I’ll be there in a
minute.”

When he turns around, Shae stares at the
ground. “It’s been a long day. I’m tired and want to go home. You go ahead and
take care of your daughter. That’s what’s important right now.”

“I’ll never see you again, will I? Do you
know how much it kills me to have you run away from me after everything we’ve
been through?”

“After what we’ve been through? Do you
have any idea what you’ve done to me?” She rubs her hands over her face before
pressing them against the sides of her head. “For three weeks, all I did was
pray and hope you would come back to me. But I never heard from you. Not a text
or a phone call. You never showed up at my door. I was devastated. It was so
bad Carrie had to take care of me because I was so upset I couldn’t take care
of myself.”

Redness creeps up her cheeks as her eyes
widen and voice grows louder. The first time she’s ever yelled at him. “The
only thing keeping me going was thinking there was a chance we could get back
together. That I could somehow convince you that you wouldn’t hurt me. But now,
I realize the truth. I didn’t hear from you because you were just fine. You
weren’t upset. Or sad. You just didn’t care. You moved on with someone else and
never gave me a second thought.”

Each accusation hits him like a bullet to
the chest. “That’s not true. None of what you just said is true.”

Tears run down her cheeks as she ignores
him. “Please, Carter, can we go now?”

“Shae?”

She shakes her head and climbs into the
car, never looking at him as Carter backs out of the driveway and drives down
the street.

“Nicky? Are you coming?”