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“I want to apologize for what happened before,” he said. “That woman had just told me some pretty intimate details about Vee’s life and I—”
“She’s fucking stalking Vee?” he demanded, his hand gravitating to his hip like he was used to wearing a side arm there. Beau nodded, happy to see they were on the same page. “I need to tell Vee about this.”
“No!” Beau put his hands up in front of him. “Please. I’ll do it—I’m the reason she’s following Evangeline in the first place. She’s my ex and she didn’t take the breakup well.”
The guy nodded but didn’t relax.
“Thank you. I’m Beau, by the way. I guess I’ll be spending a lot more time here from now on.”
“Rich.” He held out his meaty palm for them to shake. “You’re the guy dating Vee?”
His chest puffed up a little at that statement. “I am.”
The other guy grinned, revealing an offset gold tooth in an otherwise pristine mouth. “You’d better do right by her, Beau, otherwise you’ll have to deal with me.”
His brows rose, and Rich shrugged; the guy was completely unapologetic.
“You sound like Max,” Beau mused.
“We both look out for our girl.”
“Well, now you won’t have to; I’ll always be around.”
“Good. Now get inside. You’re making me lose my focus.”
He gave him a nod and stepped inside the club.
The noise was an instant assault on his ears, his senses getting overwhelmed for just a minute. He glanced around, looking for Lisa. He scanned the room twice more before being satisfied that she was gone. Thank fuck for that.
* * *
Vee’s deskphone rang shrilly in the near silence of her office. Without looking up from her work, she picked it up and sandwiched the handset between her shoulder and ear.
“Yeah?”
“We could use a hand, boss,” Ava said. The background noise of the bar leaked through the phone, and she heard the voices, how frenetic the pace was without having to see it with her eyes.
“Be there in a moment.” She hung up, shut down the computer, and left the office. She was just passing the female bathroom when a woman stepped out into her path. Vee couldn’t stop in time, running straight into her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t... see you.” She stared at the woman, recognizing her as the woman she’d served earlier, the one who had watched her so carefully.
She smiled, her hand going to her stomach briefly before relaxing at her side. “It’s fine. I’m clumsy.”
“Well, I am sorry.”
Evangeline moved to walk past her but stopped when the woman said, “He’ll come back to me, you know.”
She almost didn’t acknowledge the statement... but there was something telling her she should. “Excuse me?”
The other woman smiled. “Oh, I was just saying that he’ll come back to me—Beau, that is.” She touched her stomach again. “He wouldn’t abandon his child.”
Evangeline felt as if she were suddenly being held underwater. Everything sounded muffled. Her eyes gravitated to where her fingers caressed a nonexistent bump. “You’re...”
“Oh, I’m so rude. Let me introduce myself. I’m Lisa—Beau’s ex. I assume he’s talked about me.”
“Pregnant?” The word she’d been trying to say finally passed her lips.
Lisa nodded, a serene smile on her face. “Yes.”
