also blatant interest in what she had to say, and that melted the frost in her heart to a degree—that he wanted to hear about the watershed moment that corrected the course of her life.
“You were right. I was grieving. The months following the mugging were hard. I was an emotional mess. Not being able to protect my baby, losing you—I’m telling you this not to make you feel guilty but to let you know where my headspace was.”
“I get it. It was my own guilt that sent me away, too,” Declan’s voice was gruff.
“The long and short of it was I tried to fill the void. I felt so empty. So I married Nick. He was there for me—don’t interrupt—I think I know how you feel about him. That he was interested only for the Dead Future series.”
“Wasn’t he?”
“I wanted another baby. I was foolish enough to think that I could easily replace the one I lost. It took us a year for me to conceive. I was obsessed with getting pregnant—” she stopped when she saw the murderous look on Declan’s face. “Yes, we had plenty of sex, Dec, get over it.”
He jumped to his feet and began to pace. “Go on.” His tone was harsh.
“I miscarried after eleven weeks. I was devastated and I was done. I withdrew into my shell and filed for divorce. I was twice divorced by my twenty-second birthday.” She laughed briefly, bitterly. “I was on my way to becoming a Hollywood cliché, a has-been because Dead Futures had been cancelled too after the one season I wasn’t in it.” Her face hardened. “One day, I decided to overcome my fears, go back to the place where I was mugged. On my way home. I stopped by a supermarket there. It was late and I saw a pregnant woman being harassed by two men. It brought back memories of that night. And I just felt this uncontrollable rage. Since that attack, I’ve always kept a baseball bat behind my driver’s seat.” At Declan’s curse, she added. “Don’t worry, I made sure I knew how to use it.
“I went in swinging. The pregnant woman—I think I scared her too—later told me I let out the most horrific keening wail …” Gabby inhaled a raspy breath.
“Don’t keep me in suspense … what happened to them?”
“Cracked the skull of one and shattered the cheekbone of the other including other parts. They threatened me with a knife, so I was within my rights to defend myself. That’s when I met Captain Mitchell. He was a detective then, and it turned out he was also the same investigator who worked my mugging case all those years before. He remembered me. Who wouldn’t at that time? The star of Dead Futures taking an indefinite leave was the biggest news that year.”
“He offered you a job?”
“No,” Gabby smiled. “He gave me back my life.”
Declan appraised her with a face full of wonder and her skin prickled with a sensation low in her belly. Then his brows drew together as if jolted from a trance and Gabby wondered if he remembered he wasn’t supposed to like her.
He leaned forward and fished out his phone from his back pocket and frowned. It continued to vibrate in his hand.
“Not answering that?”
“Thinking …”
“That’s mother.” Theo walked in, barging into their conversation. “Figured she should know you’re here.”
Gabby clutched her throat instinctively as she realized exactly why the tension was thick between these two. Not that she doubted Theo’s powers of deduction. The boy was nothing but observant.
The phone stopped buzzing. Declan’s eyes were glued to it.
“Call her back.” Theo’s voice dripped with mockery.
The phone vibrated again and Gabby saw the shutters fall on her ex’s face as he got up and excused himself, turning his back on them as he answered the call.
“Cat’s out of the bag, huh,” Gabby said.
Theo, who was staring daggers into Declan’s retreating back, turned to her. “Yup.”
He took the spot on the couch that his father vacated. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s only a sperm donor.”
“Ouch.”
“Peter Woodward will always be my father,” he declared.
“Theo, you have to understand he was young then.”
“Doesn’t excuse him cheating on you.”
“Says the guy who juggles girlfriends.”
“I’m not married to them. They’re not even my girlfriends,” he defended.
He had a point. “So, you and Emma?”
“We hang out.”
“I like her,” Gabby said.
“You’ve only met her once.”
“Any girl who stands up to your rudeness has my automatic like.”
“She’s mad at me.” His shoulders sagged. “Girls.”
“Is