Officially Over It - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,44

wanted to.

But now that the thought had entered my mind, it was definitely there for me to never forget.

My eyes went to Reggie. When my gaze found hers, I realized that she was staring so hard at me that I must’ve missed something important.

“What?” I asked.

“They asked you something.” She gestured to Luke and Bennett.

I turned to find both older men staring at me.

“I asked if your parents knew,” he repeated.

I paused. “My dad knows. I’m sure that my mother knows by now, too. Honestly, I’m surprised they haven’t tried to show up here and figure out more information. I haven’t exactly been forthcoming with it.”

“That would be because of me,” Reggie said. “I asked them to give you a couple of days to process the news. But they know. They’re also calling and texting me for hourly updates.”

I turned to her sharply. “They are?”

She nodded.

“I feel like I’m missing something,” one of the men said.

I didn’t know who because I’d never looked away from Reggie’s serious face.

She looked like she wanted to say something more but wouldn’t in the roomful of people.

“You are,” I agreed, finally turning my head to see who’d been the one to speak earlier. Bourne. “But you’re not going to find out what.”

Bourne rolled his eyes.

“Does Saint... I mean, Michael know?” Bennett continued.

This time his question was aimed at Reggie.

Michael, Reggie’s uncle, was the whole reason that I’d wanted to come here to Kilgore. He’d loved the SWAT team. Honestly, he would still be on it had the hours not started to catch up to him like it did to all the guys eventually.

“I’m sure it won’t be long in him finding out,” Reggie said to Bennett. “But, if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to be the one to talk to my parents. And Michael.”

Bennett grinned. “I say you have like three days, max. You just announced in a roomful of gossips,” he gestured toward the SWAT guys, “that you’re married and you have a kid. Trust me when I say they won’t be able to keep that secret for long.”

No, I doubted it.

Reggie rolled her eyes, and just as she was about to offer a rebuttal, the doorbell rang and she headed toward the door instead.

Even though we were at Luke’s place, she had no problem answering the door and smiling wide at the pizza delivery guy.

Five of the women broke off and started to pull in pizzas, walking them over to the table that we were surrounding. Reggie stayed at the door and pulled a twenty-dollar bill out of her wallet, handing it to the man.

I made a mental note to pay her back later, because she physically looked a little green at having to hand it over.

I was sure that the others would’ve offered had they not still been peppering me with questions.

An hour later, once the women were back in the kitchen drinking wine and chatting, conversation once again switched back to me.

“Rowen just texted me and said that she’s dug up quite a bit of research,” Dax said as he put his phone back into his pocket. “She’d like to have a meeting with you and your lawyer Monday to discuss a plan of attack.”

I felt a wave of relief hit me.

The more hands on deck I had for this, the better.

I had a feeling Eerie wasn’t going to be nice about this in the least. If she’d been planning on being nice, I wouldn’t have a kid at all.

A kid that was so fuckin’ small.

“Do you have a picture?”

I blinked at the man sitting beside me.

“What?”

“A picture. Of your kid,” he repeated.

I blinked.

“No.” I winced. “Today, I didn’t even think about it. Fuck.”

“I bet your girl does,” Malachi said.

Then, before I could reply, he was up and moving out of the den, making his way toward the other room. He was back moments later with a fresh beer and a scowl on his face.

Somehow, conversation turned to our tubing adventure last weekend and Sammy and Louis cursed.

“I still feel bad,” Louis muttered.

Sammy concurred.

“The one and only regret I have is her losing her ring that day at the river and not going back to look for it,” I said to the man at my side. “Fucking pisses me off that I’ll never be able to find it.”

There was a moment of silence as Malachi frowned into his beer.

“That was a rather calm part of the river,” he started. “The current was barely flowing.” There was a