Making His Baby(86)

“She’s not yours, Eric.” Geoff pulls himself up a bit, like he’s a real man instead of the slouch who regularly gets run over in court and in the bar. And the gym. “I’ve just been nice to her. People like it when you are nice to them, Eric.”

Paxton and I are both astounded for a full minute. We gape like fish in a dirty bowl, trying to process how the guy nobody fucking likes scooped up a hot bar waitress. Geoff looks smug as hell and, frankly, I can’t blame him.

“I knew something was up when we were boxing. I knew it. You lipped off to Paxton and that shit would never happen. Should have known it was because someone was stroking your balls.” I throw a light fist into his shoulder. “Geoff has become a man!”

“I never said I slept with her.” Geoff burns a little red and has that whole annoyed schoolboy look going for him. “I just said I was nice to her.”

“Just admit you fucked her.” Paxton says. “Admit it. It’s okay to sleep with people, Geoff. You’re allowed to get your dick wet.”

“You guys really are assholes, you know that?” Geoff rolls his eyes. “I’ll go get another round.”

“Say hi to your girlfriend for us! Tell her we miss her!” Paxton calls after him. “Well, I’ll be damned. Geoff took your girl.”

“Becky isn’t my girl.” I say dismissively and attend to the vibrating phone in my pocket. A series of texts from David flood in, livid about his recent billing. I shoot back a quick reminder that if he kept his goddamn dick in his pants and listened to me, we wouldn’t have this problem. “I fucking hate this guy, Pax. Hate.”

“We all take on dipshits we don’t like, because those dipshits have money. You don’t have to like him—”

“I just have to like his wallet. Yeah, yeah.” I rub my face, frustrated. “I don’t understand what Kate ever saw in this guy. He’s an ugly fuck who can’t keep it in his pants. He’s whiny and compulsive. I knew he piggybacked off Kate’s contacts in LA to make it into the scene, but I swear to fuck this man has no talent.”

“I liked his last movie.” Paxton shrugs. “So he’s a typical piece of Hollywood trash. You know they crawl out of the woodwork here. How is he different from your other clients?”

“He thinks he owns the planet.”

“So do all those other fuckers.”

“All those other fuckers don’t marry good humans.” I down my beer and turn my phone upside down so I can’t see the bullshit David’s still texting. “Kate’s record is impeccable, man. She’s always been the loyal, loving wife. Stands by his side, gets him into places that would rather give him the boot. Half of what he’s done has her name on it.”

“We’ll touch on that other shit in a minute. I thought you said this case was a slam dunk?” Paxton leans across the table. “If her name is on everything…”

“I know.” I throw myself back against the chair and stare at the nasty bar ceiling like it’s a fortune teller. Maybe if I stare long enough, it’ll tell me the secrets to the universe. “That’s because everyone has a past, man. Everyone. This town fuels itself on lies and deceit. But Kate is a genuinely good person. There’s no affairs, no sketchy shit. Thought I had her nailed on some topless photos from a few years ago with a dude, but it turned out to be a very gay friend, some make-up artist. They were on a shoot together and hit the local spots. Which means I have nothing.”

“No wonder you’re sleeping for shit.” Paxton lets out a low whistle. “So the plan has been bully the fuck out of them in mediation.”

“Exactly. Vivian isn’t standing for that, either, but if I can get Kate to buckle, maybe. Also, we’re calling into the legitimacy of her involvement in everything. I mean, we’ll be okay. I always win. It’s just stressful as fuck.”

“I guess you sleeping with his wife isn’t providing its usual healing powers, eh?”

“It’s just sex.” I wave him off and ignore the strange feelings in my gut. “I was hoping to break her a little with my dick.”

“And?”

“She’s proving to be formidable.”

“Right. So back to all that bullshit you were spewing.” Paxton snaps his fingers at me. He knows I hate it. “Kate is not the purest human on the planet. Kate is a normal person who’d inherited an exceptional amount of money. Exceptional amounts of money mean secrets you can exploit.”

“I know.”

“Then fucking do it, man.” Paxton spreads his arms wide and shoot me a look that’s usually reserved for Geoff. “Quit prancing around and knock her out. You know, legally. But if you really like her—”