TROUBLE, A New Adult Romance Novel (The Rebel Series) (48 page)

“Give it up, Quin.
 
Not gonna happen.”
 
I put on the earrings that Colin gave me - a gift for becoming a new mom.
 
He doesn’t need much to find an excuse to give me something.
 
Everything I’m wearing today came from him, for being a mother, a girlfriend, a roommate, an employee, the cutest brunette on the block.
 
He’s very creative.

“Fine.
 
Want me to take the baby down?”

“Nope.
 
I’ve got her.”
 
I look over at my bundle of joy.
 
She’s wearing a white frilly dress her grandparents bought her.

“Okee dokee.
 
Don’t keep her fans waiting too much longer. The house is getting packed and they’re already drinking.”

“Seriously?”

She smiles.
 
“No.
 
That was a lie.”

I shake my head.
 
“Take the diaper bag down there.
 
I’ll be right with you guys.”

She takes the bag without another word and disappears.

I take one more look in the mirror and smile.
 
Perfection.
 
Hair smoothed and gently over my ears.
 
Makeup simple but tasteful.
 
Lipstick a perfect shade for my skin.
 
Dark blue eyes, a perfect match to my daughter’s.
 
And to top it off, I have a huge smile because for the first time in a really long time, I’m truly happy with my life.
 
Now I’m living it for myself and my baby, not parents, not people who don’t care about me or even think about me.
 
I’m in love with a man who stands guard at my door and doesn’t fall asleep until he’s sure I’m set for the night.

I gather the baby up from the bed with her soft blanket around her and go downstairs, resting my nose on her head for a few seconds when I get to the bottom.
 
She smells like heaven to me.

The first person to see me is Linda, Charlie’s mother.

“There she is!
 
The beautiful girl!”
 
She puts her hands on either side of my face and kisses me on the cheek.
 
“Gorgeous, gorgeous!”
 
She shifts her attention to the baby.
 
“Aaaand, here’s the baaabyyyy!”

I happily hand her over.
 
Hal joins his wife and they both look down at their granddaughter with shining, adoring expressions.
 
I cannot believe how lucky I am that they turned out to be so normal.
 
I’m really not sure how Charlie came out of their nest.
 
I’ve decided he must have fallen out of it and landed on his stupid head.

I’m both happy and sad that he’s in jail.
 
He deserves to be there, but now that I’m a mother, I can appreciate how devastating that must be for his parents.
 
It makes me a lot more tolerant of their desire to spend time with their granddaughter.

Charity is in the corner of the room with Rat.
 
With Rat now working at Rebel Wheels on weekends, I’m seeing more and more of them.
 
High school romance is so adorable.
 
I’m so happy for them and for Barbara and Michael.
 
Charity’s baby has been nothing but a blessing to them.
 
Now I understand why they were so desperate to be parents.
 
It’s the best, most amazing thing I’ve ever done.

“Hello, Alissa,” says a female voice off to my right.
 
She hands me a glass of orange juice.

“Natalie!
 
Hi!
 
Thanks for coming.” I give my lawyer and friend a hug.
 
“You look pretty fabulous.”

She does a quick modeling move for me.
 
“Bought it yesterday.
 
Paid full price.”

I laugh.
 
“Clothes like that never go on sale.”

She winks.
 
“So … we happy?”
 
She surveys the room with me.

“Yes.
 
Very.”

“I think all things considered, the case went very well.”

I nod.
 
“Well, him admitting what he did, and the D.A. having all the videotape evidence didn’t hurt, did it?”

“What I didn’t see coming was the friend,” says Natalie, frowning.

“Who, Randy?”

“Yes.
 
Usually, those guys stick together. All the crim law guys in the firm were surprised too.
 
Lucky break, I guess.”

“Teagan says Randy was a jealous b-word and finally had enough of Charlie’s nonsense.
 
Hell hath no fury like a scorned best friend or something like that.”

“Nonsense meaning he was tired of Charlie messing with girls or something else?”

I shrug.

“What are you guys talking about?” Quin asks, coming up behind us.

“Randy, the jealous twerp who came up with all those videos of Charlie for the D.A.”

“Know what I heard?”
 
Quin drops her voice.
 
“Lindey said that
apparently
one night when there was way too much alcohol involved, there was something that happened between Charlie and Randy … so I guess Randy felt his emotions were justified … he was punishing Charlie for blowing him off for all those girls.”

I look at her, shocked to be hearing this.
 
Charlie was a homophobe from the word go. Imagining him with Randy makes my head hurt with confusion.
 
“Are you serious?”

Quin waves her hand around carelessly.
 
“Well, it was Lindey saying it, so you never know.
 
She had those posters on her wall.
 
Shawn Cassidy?
 
Please.”

I frown, confused about what posters have to do with anything.
 
Is that code for something?

Quin smiles and walks away never filling me in.
 
But I don’t care.
 
Randy is part of my past.
 
Charlie … he’s part of my past too.
 
Yes, to some degree he’ll always be a part of my life, but from now on, it will be on my terms, not his. I can live with that.

“Every day I work in this field I have one universal truth that keeps coming up and reminding me of its existence,” Natalie says.

“Oh, yeah?
 
What’s that?”

“Truth is stranger than fiction.”
 
She winks at me.
 
“I’m going to go mingle with the Curtises.
 
They’re good referral sources for me.
 
Talk to you soon.”

Teagan comes over and puts her arm around me as Natalie drifts off.
 
“All’s well that ends well, right?” she says.

“Yes.
 
Are you good?”

“Hell to the fuck yes, I’m happy.
 
My lawyers took that bitch downtown.
 
She thinks she’s going to keep my one million bucks?
 
Pffft
.
 
Riiight.”
 
Teagan grins at me.
 
“Did I tell you they froze all her assets?
 
Every last penny.
 
Boom!
 
Now I just need to wait for the D.A. to nail her ass to the wall and I can get the last of her ill-gotten gains.
 
Otherwise, I got everything, right?
 
Stocks, my dad’s house, the cars, the artwork, most of the insurance money, blah, blah, blah…”

“What are you going to do with all of it, though?
 
Are you going to run the company?
 
Move away?”
 
The idea of her no longer harassing me or dropping F-bombs all over my life is positively depressing.

She bumps me with her hip.
 
“Why?
 
You gonna miss me?”

“Heck yes, I’ll miss you.” I bump her back.
 
“So will your goddaughter.”

“Good.
 
Because I’m not leaving.
 
I already got an offer to buy the company from some egghead in Seattle.”

“But what about the IPO?”

“Nah.
 
I don’t have the chops for that.
 
I’ll take my fifty million cash and skeedaddle.
 
Let them handle all that jizz.”

I choke on my orange juice.
 
“Fifty … fuck … what?”

She points at me and bends over, laughing her butt off.
 
“You just said fuck!”
 
She stumbles away to share my faux pas with Quin.
 
Soon they’re both laughing.

I can’t believe I’m looking at a mulit-millionaire right now.
 
Her favorite present ever is a karaoke machine that Rebel bought her last week and she just downloaded a fart app onto her phone which she’s been using judiciously at the most inopportune times.
 
She’s been torturing us with both items for hours every day.
 
What’s she going to do with all that money?
 
I laugh imagining the answer to my question.

“It’s time, everyone!” Mick yells from the back door.
 
“Everyone in the backyard, pronto.
 
Father Tim ain’t got all day.”

Linda comes over with the baby.
 
“Here you are, dear.
 
We’ll see you out there.”
 
She winks and leaves for the backyard with Hal right behind her. Quin’s parents and siblings are next.
 
I’m the last one leaving the living room when the doorbell rings.

“I’ll get it!” I say, watching as Colin waves from the back door.
 
He’s watching me, making sure I’m okay.

I’m still smiling over his protectiveness when I open the door to greet the late arrivals.
 
I can’t imagine who it will be.
 
Everyone I care about is already here.

The door swings open and I see who it is.

My face falls.

My heart stops beating.

I can feel the blood draining from my face.

“Hello, Alissa.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

MY MOUTH WANTS TO RESPOND but it can’t.
 
It’s not working anymore.

It’s only when I hear Colin’s quick footsteps behind me that I can breathe again.

“Hello,” Colin says, putting his arm around my shoulders.
 
“I assume you’re Alissa’s parents?”

My father nods.
 
“Yes.
 
We are.
 
I’m Jim and this is Mary.”

My mother just stares at me.
 
She looks worse than I do, I’m pretty sure.
 
She’s lost a lot of weight and has dark circles under her eyes.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.
 
I’m a little girl again, looking at the people who brought me into this world. I feel vulnerable and scared.
 
This was a sneak attack of the worst kind.

“Your friends invited us,” my father says.

I grit my teeth together.
 
“What are you doing here, Mom?” I’m mad at her.
 
Furious.
 
She looks sad, like she’s sorry, but she’s just standing there saying nothing, letting my father speak for her as usual.

“I came to see you.
 
To see the baby,” she finally says.

I’m trying so hard not to cry.
 
I’m not really succeeding, though.
 
But I’ll be darned if I’m going to let those traitor tears fall.
 
I blink over and over, willing them to go away.

“Colin told us over the phone that you were having a baptism and a naming ceremony and we wanted to take part,” my father explains.
 
“To bear witness.”

“As long as it was okay with you,” my mom adds.
 
“We’d really like to be a part of it.”

I lift my chin.
 
“You haven’t been a part of anything I’ve done for the last eight months.
 
Why the sudden interest now?”

My father drops his gaze to his feet.
 
This is the first sign he’s given me that he feels any remorse.
 
“We made a mistake.”

“A very grave, very serious mistake,” my mom says, her eyes pleading with me.
 
She’s wringing her hands, a sure sign she’s worried. “We shut you out when we should have drawn you in.
 
We ignored you when you needed us.
 
We pushed you away when you needed arms wrapped around you in love and understanding.”
 
She’s crying pretty badly, barely able to get the words out.
 
“Can you ever forgive us?
 
Do you still have room in your heart for your parents, as flawed as they might be?”

I can’t answer.
 
I’m happy now without them.
 
And they caused me so much pain.
 
It’s not something a girl just gets over.

Colin clears his throat.
 
“I lost my mom a while back.”

We all look at him.

“Every day I wish I could have her for just another hour or even a minute, so I can tell her how much she meant to me.
 
I hope you guys can fix this so that you don’t have to live with regret like I do.”

He walks away, to the back of the house.

I turn fully around, shocked that I’m alone in front of these people who abandoned me.
 
“You’re leaving me?”
 
I sound so pitiful, but I can’t help it.
 
He’s my guardian angel.
 
Why is he going away?

He shakes his head.
 
“Hell no, I’m not leaving you.
 
I’m just giving you the space you need to stand on your own, babe.
 
I’ll be waiting outside. Shout if you need me.”