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Beau steppedfrom Vee’s office, stopping when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Pulling it out, he looked at the screen to see it was yet another text message from Lisa asking him what he was doing tonight. He was getting fucking sick of her trying to insert herself into his life. He’d ignored her last five messages though, so he took a minute to send a reply.
Staying home.
Short and sweet and a complete lie, but if he told her where he really was, he had no doubt she’d be tearing him a new asshole for actually living his life while she languished away carrying a human life. He couldn’t wait to get the blood tests over and done with, to know whether he needed to be present for the soap opera Lisa’s life was becoming.
Sliding the phone back into his pocket, he continued up the hallway and out into the club. The place was still filling up, and he was in awe of Vee’s ability to run this club so successfully. He was weaving in and out of the crowd, keeping his eyes on the exit—his goal. His focus was drawn away, though, by the sound of laughter. The timbre of it tugged at his short-term memories and he spun around to see where she was.
“Lisa?” he said. Fuck. Why was she here? Shouldn’t she be taking it easy? He swore again when he realized he’d just lied to her about where he was, which also meant sheknewhe was here. Was she stalking him? Disgusted by the thought, he turned away before she could spot him. He’d almost made it to the door when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
“Staying home, are you?” Lisa asked, her arms folded over her chest.
He studied her to see if she’d been drinking but couldn’t detect the astringent sting of alcohol on her. “What are you doing here?” He found himself mirroring her body language, incredibly irritated by her.
“I could ask the same of you.”
“I’m not the pregnant one,” he shot back.
With a smirk, she said, “And I’m not the one keeping a secret from his girlfriend.”
His mouth popped open in shock. How could she possibly…?
“You haven’t told her, have you? Yourgirlfriend? She’s the owner of this bar, isn’t she?”
“How could you possibly know about her?”
“Oh, Beau, there’s so much I know about her. For example, I know she goes running at seven in the morning, she only drinks bottled water when she’s at work and on Sunday nights she goes to a place in the Hollywood Hills for dinner with friends.”
He found his hands had curled into fists at his side. Had Lisa been watching Vee,stalkingVee? He could feel his blood pressure shooting up, his protective instincts flaring to life. This woman was taking it too damn far.
“You have no right, Lisa.” He jammed his finger in her face. “No right.”
“Is everything okay here?” someone with a deep voice asked. From the corner of his eye, Beau could see a dark shadow moving closer, trying to insert themselves into the conversation. He turned his head slightly to confirm who he thought it was.
“Sir?” Vee’s bouncer asked, stepping closer.
He made sure to relax his stance, taking a step away. “Yeah, man,” he replied in a slow drawl. “Everything is just fine.”
The bouncer’s eyes darted between him and Lisa. “Ma’am?”
“Fine,” she ground out.
With one final inspection of Beau, the guy moved off.
“Stay away from her, Lisa,” he warned.
“Or what?” Her voice had an edge sharp enough to cut.
“Believe me, you don’t want to find out.”
Before his mouth could get him into any more trouble, he walked out of the club, stepping into the thick night air. He looked behind him, seeing Lisa staring at him still. Licking his lips, he walked in the direction of the same burger place he went to before but stopped halfway. He was too on edge. Lisa was in Vee’s club, and he didn’t quite know what she would do. The thought hit him in an instant, and no matter how much he tried to ignore it, the feeling wouldn’t go away. Panic flooded him, along with shame for not manning up earlier and telling Vee about Lisa’s pregnancy and the claims that it was his, as soon as he’d found out. He was stupid to keep it from her, but he was also petrified of losing her again.
He slowed to a walk a few hundred yards from the club, stopping by the door to speak with the bouncer.
“Hey, man,” he said, waiting for the guy to look at him. When his dark eyes finally did focus on his face, his top lip curled.
“What do you want?”
