Dalton, Tymber - Stoneface (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (22 page)

Why couldn’t he get her words out of his head?
I never should have let myself fall in love with the two of you.

* * * *

She held it together until she heard the door shut and his car pull out. She locked herself in the master bathroom, turned the sink on for noise, and slid down the wall to the floor where she cried for half an hour.

Moron!
she screamed at herself.
Fucking moron! You should have known better than to fall in love with someone you’d just met.

Someones.

She washed her face, blew her nose, and turned off the water. Then she went and packed her stuff. Not that she had much to pack, fortunately. She washed her face again then decided she looked reasonably normal enough so she could face Liam.

He still sat on the back deck, working on his laptop. He looked up when she stepped out the sliders. He immediately slid his sunglasses on top of his head as he frowned. He yanked one of his earbuds out. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

She’d rehearsed this in her head. “Jack found Amy.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. He talked to her. Do you want me to pack your stuff for you, or can you manage?”

He sat back in his chair and studied her. “Gee, what’s going on? What happened?”

She shook her head and held up a hand as she struggled to maintain her composure, finally winning that battle. “He and I just had a talk,” she softly said. “Apparently he was convinced I wasn’t serious about him and Tim.”

“Did you tell him you loved them?”

“It doesn’t matter, Li. He spoke his piece. He made it perfectly clear to me that it’s best if I leave.”

“What about Tim?”

“He said he doesn’t want Tim to get his heart broken.”

“Well what the fuck about your heart getting bro—”

“Please,” she softly begged, holding on to her composure by a rapidly fraying thread. “
Please
, let’s just
go
. I told him we’d be gone when he gets home.” She handed him the piece of paper. “This is where she is.”

Liam looked at it before returning his gaze to her. He frowned briefly then a look she recognized well took him over. Protective big brother, upset for her.

She sank to her knees in front of his chair and cried as he enveloped her in his strong, comforting embrace.

* * * *

In an hour, they were on their way to the hotel. Gwen didn’t know what she was going to say to her sister when they got there. All she knew was that she didn’t want to lose her temper.

Unfortunately, under the circumstances, she knew that it probably would happen anyway. Hopefully Liam would be able to keep her in line.

But she was dying to give Amy a piece of her mind.
Amy better have a damn good excuse as to why she left.

“Don’t lose your temper, Gee,” Liam said.

“I make no promises, bro,” she replied.

“I know you’ve had a shitty day, but just try for me. Please?”

She didn’t reply, just nodded.

Liam didn’t need her help getting out of the car at the hotel. Gwen took a deep breath before they stepped up to the room door. She reached out and knocked.

At first, they received no response. Gwen was about to knock again when they heard the chain rattling. Amy opened the door looking ragged and drawn, like she’d spent the morning crying.

Her sister never looked like this. Gwen felt some of her anger dissolve. “Can we come in?” Liam gently asked.

Amy nodded and stepped aside letting them walk in. She closed the door behind them and stood there, not looking at them.

Gwen had run through several scenarios in her head over the past few days. The one that usually floated to the top of the barrel was her screaming her head off at Amy—if she was alive and well and voluntarily missing—until she lost her voice.

Amy looked like Gwen felt.

“What’s going on,” Liam asked as he settled himself on the bed closest to the door.

It looked like Amy was going to answer when they heard a cell phone go off with a ring tone Gwen had never heard before. Amy snatched a cell phone off the dresser and silenced it. That’s when Gwen realized it wasn’t Amy’s regular cell phone, which was also sitting on the dresser.

Amy sat at the table, refusing to meet their gazes. “I’m sorry I ran off like this. I didn’t mean for you to come out here looking for me.” She stroked her fingers over the phone, like she wanted to dial a number.

“Who is he?” Gwen asked, not even sure if she was right.

But Amy’s head snapped up, shock and fear in her eyes. “Who?”

“The guy you were out here with. I’m guessing that’s what’s going on, right?” Amy stared at them. Gwen hated the cliché of someone having a deer-in-the-headlights look, but if any description applied to their sister at that exact moment, it would be that.

When Amy didn’t answer, Gwen prodded more. “Did you suddenly forget to speak? Don’t piss on our legs and try to tell us it’s raining. Who is he?”

Amy shook her head. She stared at the phone in her hand. “I…I just needed some time—”

“Bullshit! Amy, who the hell is he? What’s the guy’s name?”

If Amy didn’t start coughing up some answers soon, Gwen was going to lose what little hold she had on her temper. Amy wasn’t the only one with personal problems.

Amy’s face went red, a sure sign she was lying. “What guy are—”

“Amy, knock it off!” Liam barked. Gwen and Amy both jumped. Gwen couldn’t remember ever hearing her brother sound so angry. “We were born at night but it wasn’t last night. Quit bullshitting us. Just tell us what the fuck is going on. You owe us answers, dammit!”

Amy burst into tears. Before she realized what she was doing, Gwen stepped over to her and hugged her.

Amy threw her arms around Gwen, squeezing tightly, holding on with a desperation Gwen could never remember her sister expressing.

That frightened her. Amy was always the picture of the utmost composure. Whatever this was, it was bad.

Amy cried for several minutes while Gwen held her. Finally, without lifting her face from where she had it pressed against Gwen’s shoulder, she mumbled, “I’m pregnant.”

Gwen froze and stared at Liam, who looked shocked.

“What did you say?” Liam asked.

Amy lifted her head and, with tears still streaming down her face, wailed, “I’m pregnant!”

Gwen closed her eyes. Part of her wanted to burst out laughing. Her Goody Two-shoes sister had gotten herself knocked up?

Part of her wanted to cry. Her sister would never hear the end of this from their parents.

“Who is he, Amy?” Gwen asked.

She shook her head. “No, I can’t tell anyone right now. I don’t want anyone to know.”

Liam flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “He’s married, isn’t he?”

Amy nodded. “Yes,” she softly admitted. “He’s going to divorce his wife. He was already planning on it before I found out about this.”

Gwen bit her tongue.

Liam asked, “How long have you known you were pregnant?”

“I found out after I got here.” She finally pulled away from Gwen and wiped at her face with her hands. “I’m sorry I put you two through this. I got scared. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Why didn’t you just come home to us?” Liam asked. “Don’t you know we would have helped you?”

She shook her head. “I can’t face Mom and Dad right now. He…he’s going to make some arrangements and find us a place to live and break the news to his wife that he’s leaving her. I wanted some time alone before I had to go back. And I wanted to give him time to do what he needed to do.”

“So you scare the crap out of us by going radio silent?” Gwen heard her voice getting more shrill.”

“Gee, calm down,” Liam softly said. “It’s okay. Come here.”

Gwen went to sit next to Liam. He slung an arm around her, pulling her close and comforting her. “Amy, I wish you could have trusted us enough to come to us,” Liam said.

“I figured it was better if you didn’t know. That way Mom and Dad couldn’t throw any of the blame on you two.”

“You mean on me,” Gwen bitterly said. “Dad will blame me regardless.”

“Enough, Gee,” Liam chided. “Look at the three of us. It’s not like we’re kids anymore. We’re all adults, and they have us crapping our pants.” He started laughing, and Gwen couldn’t resist his infectious tone. She started laughing too, and eventually Amy joined them, a sad smile on her face despite her laughter.

“Okay,” Liam eventually said. “We need a plan. We need to have our stories straight for when we get home.” He looked at Gwen and brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. “We’ve all had a rough few days. If we stick together, we can make it through this a lot easier than letting Mom and Dad divide and conquer.”

Amy sniffled again. Gwen felt a little less sorry for herself. At least she wasn’t in Amy’s shoes. She stifled her righteous indignation that Amy was involved with a married man. After her divorce, Amy had heard Gwen rail against cheating men for countless hours.

No wonder she didn’t want to confide in me.

“Just tell them I had a mental breakdown,” Amy said. “It’s close to the truth anyway.” She rested her hand on her stomach and it hit Gwen that in a few months she would be an aunt.

It also struck a painful twang in her soul of what she’d just lost.

No. I won’t think of that right now!

“You need to get your stuff packed and come with us,” Gwen said.

Amy shook her head. “No. I can’t go back yet. I’m not ready.”

“If you think any time is a good time to go back, think again.” Gwen took a deep breath in what she knew was a futile attempt to rein in her anger. “You need to come home with us.”

“I can’t face them yet,” Amy whispered, sounding like a frightened teenager instead of a woman almost forty.

“So you’re going to leave us holding the bag with Mom and Dad?” She felt her temper ratcheting up again.

“Gee,” Liam warned.

“No, Liam, I’m sick of this.” She turned to back Amy. “You want to stay here? Fine. I’m sorry your life sucks right now. But let me tell you something, we’re not going to lie to them for you anymore. You’re on your own.” She stormed over to the door. “Come on, Liam. Let’s go.”

He sighed and got to his feet. “Amy, you’re an adult. But I have to agree with Gwen that there never will be a good time to face Mom and Dad about this. Sooner will be better than later.”

They returned to the rental car. Liam let the silence lay between them all the way to the airport. Before they drove in to the rental car return lot, Liam pulled out his phone.

“What are you doing?” Gwen asked.

“I’m biting the bullet.” He dialed. After a moment, someone answered. “Hi, Mom. Yeah, listen, we talked to Amy.” Gwen heard a burst of excitement from her mom, but couldn’t make out her words. “Just listen, okay? She’s fine, she’s healthy, and she’s not coming back yet. Gwen and I are coming back late tonight…We talked to Amy and she’s fine. She’s just taking some downtime, like I thought.”