Rock Candy Kisses(33)

Bryson cups the side of my face with a pressing hurt in his eyes that I  hope never goes away. "We knew you wouldn't believe us, Annie. That's  why we brought Olivia here, so you can speak with her yourself."

I stagger back. Do I even know these people anymore? Just how far are my  brothers willing to take this charade? What did they do-hire some  actress to play the part of Blake's ex-girlfriend? I bet she's wearing  one of those maternity cushions over her stomach. I bet she's some size  two actress that's strapped one on just for the role. My heart thumps  unnaturally because, on some level, this is starting to feel real. My  brothers have wrapped their words around my neck and are choking me with  their lies.                       
       
           



       

"She's in the back room." Holt nods behind the bar. "We'll go with you."

A train could hit me. I wouldn't feel a thing.

No. I glance around at the sea of concerned faces. I'll take Roxy. She's  the least connected to the situation, and, in truth, I don't want  anything to do with my brothers or their significant others at the  moment.

We head back with me leading the way. I'm feeling brave-perhaps  foolishly so. God, what if they're right? How could this be? It couldn't  be because it's all bullshit.

The small staffroom reeks of whiskey because Holt and Izzy broke a  bottle last week while they were getting frisky. Or at least that's the  story he fed us. God knows if either of my brothers know what it means  to tell the truth anymore.

A girl sits in the dark corner, and it's not until I come upon her do I  notice her huge belly. It looks real. She looks real. She's pretty in a  throwback kind of way with her crimson washed hair dipped in a large  curl in front, the rest pulled back in a low bun. There's a pillbox hat  planted square over her head with black netting that shades one side of  her face. Her eyes are wildly overdrawn, and her bloated lips scream a  bright fire engine red. She stands and holds out a cigarette to the side  like she's some actress in a 1950's movie. A bad one, considering she's  smoking and looks as if she's about to drop a newborn right out her  ridiculous looking poodle skirt.

It looks like it was slim pickings at the costume department.

How much did my brothers pay you? I hold out my phone so close I nearly slap her in the face with it. Believe me, I want to.

"Hold it there, Sleeping Beauty." She takes it from me. "Oh wait," she  sneers a sarcastic smile. "Sleeping Beauty wasn't deaf, she was dead."  This is one person whose lips I wish I couldn't read. She brings the  unlit cigarette to her lips and takes a slow imaginary drag before  typing into it. They didn't pay me shit, much like that boyfriend of  yours. BTW, he owes me some serious cash.

She starts to head out, and I pull her back. "Tell me this is fake. That  the baby you're having isn't Blake's." I try to steady the words, to  annunciate, but I probably ended up shouting in twelve different  octaves.

Roxy claps her hand to her mouth as tears pool in her eyes for me.

The girl looks from Roxy to me. "I'm sorry, sweet cakes, but this baby  is more his than it is mine." She's speaking slowly, probably shouting  right back at me. "Look, I don't know your crazy ass brothers from Adam,  but they tracked me down and said he was breaking your heart. I'm not  sure what that means, but they insisted a little time with me could set  you straight."

Tears blur my vision. I don't want to see her lips anymore. I don't want  to see her anymore. My thoughts detonate in a pool of chaos like a  fireworks display gone wrong.

That's not Blake's baby. Why are you doing this to me? I thrust the phone in her face.

Her shoulders sag as she takes the phone back. I'm not that good an  actress, hon. Blake is my baby daddy. Deal with it. She scowls to Roxy.  "Can I leave now?"

My fingers punch into my phone as fast as they can.

Do you love him?

"Hell, yes, I love that boy." She bears into me with those wild,  unreasonably cruel eyes before snatching away my phone. Do yourself a  favor and forget about Blake. He's mine, and he always will be.  Personally, I'm shocked as hell that he's been two-timing me with a waif  like you. No offense, but you don't look like his type.

Roxy leans in. "You're still together?"

It never occurred to me to ask.

"Hell, yes, we're still together." Her hand curves over her enormous  belly. "Blake and Livey till the end." She spears me with black hatred  before pulling out her own phone. You'd better back off, little girl.  Blake has other things, other people who are going to be occupying his  time in a very real way. Why do you think he quit school? He's saving up  for diaper duty. This is me doing you a favor. Find yourself a nice  little boy to play with. Someone your speed. Perhaps a blind man. You'd  make quite a pair.

My hand flies across her face without giving it a second thought.

"Oh my, God," I whisper. What's happening? I just hit a pregnant woman. I stagger to the door, and Roxy pulls me back.

"I'm proud of you." She over annunciates and gives a thumbs up.

Olivia shoots out of the Black Bear before I have a chance to apologize.

"Let's go." I feel my voice box vibrate, and I don't care at this point.                       
       
           



       

"You don't want to go after that bitch. Let her be, Annie."

I shake my head, still numb from the exchange. "I want to see Blake."



* * *



Roxy speeds us over to the shop like a woman on a mission to sacrifice  balls. Not that I mind the gyrating NASCAR worthy spin to downtown  Jepson. I'm so hopped up on rage that I could have flown here all by my  lonesome. But rage isn't the only thing I'm feeling. A part of me still  doesn't want to believe it's true. They must be lies. I close my eyes a  moment because what I want the truth to be and what reality is might be  two different pregnant animals.

We park dead in front of Joe's Automotive. The corrugated aluminum doors  are rolled wide open, and the shop is filled with busted up cars and  motorcycles just waiting for Blake's beautiful hands to fix them. I wish  Blake could fix this. I wish there wasn't anything to fix.

Roxy opens her door. I pull her back.

"I think I should do this alone." My throat actually feels sore from the workout it's getting.

Her chest expands as she weighs the idea. "Give him hell, girl."

"I plan to," I whisper as my chest bucks unexpectedly.

"I'll wait." She points to her seat.

The cool air hits me like an icy slap to the face as I barrel toward the  garage. I spot Blake in the back with his jumpsuit half off. He has a  T-shirt on and a thermal underneath that. I love it when he's dressed  that way. Something about him reminds me of the first night we met. I  remember that sweet smile I thought made the sun rise, and now here we  are with this horrible truth smelling up the distance between us like  horseshit.

"Annie." He steps over with a heartfelt sorrow in his eyes, just enough to make my stomach melt and ache all at the same time.

I throw myself at him-wrap my arms around him so tight I can feel his  heart racing against mine. We need to leave. Blake and I need to go to  the carriage house where I can show him how much I love him-how sorry I  am to ever be related to either of my terrible brothers. I pull back and  wipe the tears from my eyes.

It was horrible. I show him my phone before continuing. My brothers  ambushed me. They said you're cheating on me, and there was this mean  person pretending to be your girlfriend. She says she's having your baby  and that I should stay out of your life. That I should find a blind man  to date! What kind of a monster says that?

Blake stares at the phone an inordinate amount of time trying to digest the gibberish I've just flung in his face.

My hand flies into his shoulder, and I push him a little too hard. "It's  ridiculous right?" I whisper so hard my throat burns from the effort.

Blake takes a breath and closes his eyes, and then I know.

"Oh, God." I stumble backwards. "It's true?" I hardly mouth the words.

Blake keeps his head down while looking at me. He gives a simple nod and nothing more.

"No." I shake my head. "You would never do that to me," I whisper as the tears shoot out like a fountain. "You couldn't."

"I didn't." He must have roared the words because I can feel them  reverberating over my skin. "They took the truth and they molded it into  something ugly. I'm sorry, Annie. I should have told you about Olivia  right from the beginning, but I was fresh off Ben's death and-"

"This is real?" I whisper through the razors lodged in my throat. "Stop  using your brother as an excuse! You have a girlfriend that you  conveniently forgot to tell me about?" My voice box engages on and off,  but he winced when I said girlfriend, so I think he got the gist.