Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
“Old fling?”
I laugh. “No. He’s five years younger than me. We both went to Faust Boarding School for Young Boys.” I stare at the photo of his deep blue eyes and confident gait as he walks hand in hand with a girl who’s likely glaring at the paparazzi. “He’s someone you don’t really forget.”
Oliver reaches for the magazine.
I hand it to him. “He’s incredibly smart. Broke most of the academic records at our school. He was very good at getting people to do what he wanted. He understood social capital so well, I figured he’d be a billionaire by thirty if he wasn’t already an heir to a Fortune 500.”
“Meh, I could take him.” Oliver skims the photo. “Could’ve been our next mark, too bad he’s famous now.” He tosses the magazine. “I’m not risking my face being caught in a tabloid. Some grifters love the attention, but that’s not a thrill we seek.” He threads his hands behind his head, about to kick his feet on the desk, but they stay grounded when the door opens. His fingers unlace, and he’s pushing up to a stand.
Hailey has arrived like a speeding train slamming into a brick wall. She suddenly halts two feet into the room. The door bangs shut behind her.
“Hailey?” I take one step, but she holds up her hands.
Oliver and I stay back. Chunky black headphones cover her ears and flatten her platinum hair, and she begins pacing, wringing her mesh sleeves in her hands. Chains jingle on her cargo pants in the silence.
I skim her for any signs of harm. My brother. What did Trent do now?
It ravages my brain, until I notice the elastic Calvin Klein waistband sticking out of her pants. I side-eye Oliver. “Is she wearing your underwear?”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.” He assesses her more than me. “Jealous, Koning?”
I smile to myself. Just happy for the distraction. Even one so brief and fleeting.
Then she stops, takes a breath, and yanks her headphones to her neck.
She must’ve been blasting the song. It floods the office, and the lyrics and the melody pummel me because this isn’t her normal metal headbangers. The first time we ever exchanged music, I sent her this poetic song about love, death…and fear.
She intakes another readying breath as “Death” by White Lies plays on high volume, and she says, “The job must go on. This doesn’t change the job. You need to know that before I tell you something.”
Oliver keeps his hands in his pockets. His casual demeanor isn’t unspooling the tension in my muscles. If anything, it’s making me more on guard.
“Did something happen with Trent?” I ask.
She shakes her head. Her hands grip the headphones around her neck as the chorus blares, and her eyes reach mine as she says, “I’m pregnant.” She looks at Oliver. “I’ve done the calculations a thousand times, and the baby could be either of yours. It must’ve been around March…I was sleeping with you both then.”
I can barely think.
Oliver’s eyes skim her. “That’d make you around fifteen weeks?”
“Sixteen,” she corrects.
“Sixteen weeks pregnant.” I shut my eyes tightly. Four months. “Hailey—”
“Wait.”
I open my gaze on her steady eye contact. Like she’s played this moment in her mind over and over a million and one times and seen all our possible reactions. None could surprise her.
Now she’s here, and she’s confidently saying, “I will have this baby. I will love this baby. I will be known as a town whore more than I already am. There will be speculation over who the father might be once I start showing, and I don’t care. This is me. I’ve never been in a relationship. I’ve never done anything the normal way. I don’t know what normal is outside of pretending to act it, and maybe that’s okay.” She takes the tiniest breath. “And I know you two don’t want kids—or at least aren’t ready for them. I know anything serious freaks us all out. So I’m releasing you from this situation.” She nods several times. “You don’t have to be a part of this. I have it under control. Me.”
Oliver and I open our mouths at the same time, but she cuts in again.
“One more thing.” She raises a finger. “Just one.”
“Okay,” I say tentatively.
“No matter what happens with us or the job, my child will always know the truth of who they are. Who their real mom is. Who their real dad is. I’m not deceiving them. Not for anything or for anyone.”
I keep falling more and more in love with Hailey. She stays resolute on my gaze, drinking in my respect for her, my affection for her, my concern for her. Only tearing away when Oliver bridges the distance between her and him.
He swoops his arms around her thin build. Lifts her off the ground. Spins her in a circle round and round while whispering in her ear. As her arms weave around his neck and her ear turns toward his lips to hear more, I can almost picture them as teenagers.