break and I’m bored.”
I roll my eyes behind my closed lids.
“I’ll talk to you later, Allison.”
I pull the phone away to disconnect the call when she says my name. With a sigh, I put it back to my ear.
“Do me a favor, please?” Before I can answer, she continues, “Go see your doctor and get rechecked. Just to ease both of our minds. You know Alaina, Enzo. You’ve got to know she wouldn’t pawn another man’s baby off on you.”
I blow out a breath to try and fan the fire building inside me. Alaina is the last person I would think to do something like this, especially after hearing about what Karen did.
“I’m letting you go now and heading home where there’s a fifth of liquor waiting on me.” She starts to talk but I speak over her. “I’ll be fine. Just leave me be for a few days. Okay?”
“I hate that this happened to you. You were so happy.” I bite my tongue at the quiver in her voice.
“Maybe being happy isn’t in the cards for me. Or rather, maybe being happy with someone isn’t. Not everyone finds the person they’re supposed to spend the rest of their life with.”
“I don’t believe that,” she protests vehemently.
“Goodbye, Allison. I’ll call you in a few days.”
I can tell she wants to say more, but she knows from my tone that I’m done.
“Love you, big brother. I’m here if you need me.”
“Love you too,” I mutter. “Later.”
I hang up and squeeze the phone in my hand. When I hear it creak, I toss it in the passenger seat. I don’t know how long I stay at the stop sign. Luckily, no assholes come up behind me and blare their horn.
Pressing the accelerator, with my heart feeling sluggish and white-hot anger still coursing through me, I head home, planning to spend the night just as I told Allison.
Drowning in a bottle of liquor.
Chapter Nineteen
ALAINA
“So, Hudson and I are kinda an item now.”
Both mine and Juliet’s jaws drop open at the bomb Nikki just threw at us.
“Say what?” I ask at the same time Juliet demands, “When did this happen?”
Nikki giggles from behind her latte at our stunned faces. “Yep. It happened yesterday.”
“We need answers. No more stalling or hiding. Give us the goods on what happened between you two.”
I nod my agreement. We deserve to know the truth after suffering the last year watching the two of them poke and prod at each other.
Not to mention it’ll be a damn good way to focus on someone else’s issues besides my own.
“Spill it,” I say, leaning my elbows on the table.
“Hudson and I knew each other when we were kids. You know the beach house where my family spends their summer vacations?” We nod. “His family owns the house next to ours. I had a major crush on him from the first moment I saw him. I was eleven. He was thirteen. You know how us girls are at that age. We can’t hide our feelings for shit. I was no different.”
“Let me guess,” I say. “He shunned you.”
“Not exactly.” Lifting her latte to her lips, she takes a sip before lowering it to the table. “He was my brother’s age, so he came over a lot. He was always so nice to me, which made my crush stronger. I never came right out and told him, but there’s no way he couldn’t have known. I was pretty pathetic.”
“You were eleven, Nikki,” Juliet states. “All girls are pathetic at that age when it comes to boys.”
“Yeah.” She smiles. “Anyway, each summer, my fascination grew. In my mind, I already thought of him as mine. I had our wedding planned out, where we would live, how many kids we would have, and even their names.” Her smile slips some. “The day I turned fourteen I had planned to tell him how I felt. It was stupid—I was only fourteen and he was sixteen—but I was naïve enough to think he’d tell me he felt the same way. He’d ask me to be his girlfriend, we’d start out slow, keep in contact during the school year, then be together during summers. Boy was I wrong.”
She pauses and her face drops as memories resurface. I reach across and grab her hand, offering her support.
“What happened?” Juliet asks gently.
Nikki clears her throat before continuing, “My family planned a barbecue to celebrate my birthday. Hudson was invited, but he was late. When I asked my brother, David, where he