Page 31 of Smitty

SMITTY

“Who was that?”

“Brooke.”

I glanced over to find Skid standing beside me, watching as Brooke disappeared into the crowd with the tall, lanky asshole and the little girl. His brows furrowed. “You two have history or something?”

“You could say that.” I huffed out a humorless laugh. “We were together a few years back. I wasn’t sure what happened until now.”

“Damn.”

I stood there frozen, staring at the damn carousel, hoping I might get one more glimpse of her. I’d felt the same way that night we met at the shelter. I’d scared off the two creeps who were fucking with her, and it was just us, standing there alone in the dark alley with snow falling down around us.

She seemed to be close to my age with dark hair and eyes that made her fair skin stand out even more. She was almost angelic, especially with the snow coming down, and when she smiled at me, it nearly knocked me off my feet. The same held true tonight.

She was older now, her hair was longer, but she still looked exactly the same. Hell, she even dressed the same. Simple and modest in her khaki shorts and white top that covered more than it showed. She wore a little jewelry, a gold necklace and a matching bracelet, but nothing flashy. Nothing that drew attention.

Brooke never needed that.

People noticed her anyway.

She was too beautiful not to. But it wasn’t her looks or what she wore that caught my attention tonight. Instead, it was the little girl she had propped on her hip. The one with bright blue eyes that looked an awful lot like mine.

We’d all started walking toward the parking lot when I turned to Laken and asked, “Hey… How old do you think the little girl was?”

“I don’t know.” Laken frowned. “It’s hard to say. I wouldn’t think she was two yet, so maybe eighteen months. Give or take.”

I was working hard to piece things together when I finally asked, “And pregnancy’s what? Nine months?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Damn. Eighteen months.

Eighteen months plus nine months of her pregnancy.

That would put her conception right around twenty-seven months ago. We were still together two years ago, which could only mean one thing. My blood ran cold. Skid must’ve noticed, because he nudged me and asked, “Whoa, what are you getting at, brother?”

“Just trying to figure things out.”

“What?” Skid scoffed. “You thinking the kid might be yours or something?”

I didn’t answer.

I didn’t have to.

My expression told him all he needed to know. The smile slowly faded from his face as he muttered, “Oh, fuck.”

Truth was, I didn’t know if the kid was mine, but there was a strong possibility. Laken gave me a puzzled look. “When did you last see her?”

“If you’re asking when we last hooked up, it was about two and a half years ago. Maybe less.”

“And you’ve never seen the kid before today?”

“Nope. Never even knew she had a kid.”

The look she gave Skid was anything but subtle. She was thinking exactly what I was thinking. And judging by their expressions, Grim and Jenna had come to the same conclusion. They’d both been silently listening, but when we finally reached the parking lot, Grim couldn’t hold back any longer. “You want me to call Shep?”

“What for?”