“I hated keeping it from you, of all people. I just didn’t want anyone knowing in case I’d made yet another mistake. When you’re a single mom, people seem to have a lot of opinions about what you should and shouldn’t be doing, especially where men are concerned. I didn’t want everyone rolling their eyes and talking about me. Trust me, I’ve been there, and it’s not pretty.”

Gwen winced. “I guess I validated all of those fears with my little tirade, didn’t I?”

Shannon chuckled. “You kinda did that for a moment, Rambo. I’m just gonna let you blame it on your crazy pregnancy hormones and not hold it against you.”

Gwen instantly sobered at the mention of what she’d been trying to wrap her mind around all day. Her hand lifted to rest on her flat stomach, still in disbelief that any of this was really happening. Well, the part about the man leaving her was actually pretty easy to believe. She might not have been pregnant during her other relationships, but she was certainly familiar with seeing the guy’s back as he walked away. “I really didn’t know, Shannon. I took a test on Friday and thought I had my period, but it only lasted less than two days. Wendy told me I should test again after I admitted to not having a regular period. I swear I didn’t really have any reason to think that I might be pregnant. I had the tests leftover and you know Wendy, the drill sergeant. I knew I’d never hear the end of it until I double-checked. I almost passed out when I saw that second line. Then I guess you saw all the tests lying around my bathroom. I lost my mind there for a while and was just frantically taking the rest of them. Now Dominic seems to think I’ve been lying to him about it.”

“Well, he kind of deserves some crap after his comment to you. What was it again?” They both repeated, “Good deal, thanks for letting me know,” at the same time. “Come on, that was kind of an asshole reply, wasn’t it? Seems so out of character for him, though.”

“Boy, this is one of those times you’d like to get drunk with your girlfriend, isn’t it?” Shannon mused. Before Gwen could reply, the front door opened and she heard Maddy and Megan’s voices reverberate down the hallway. Raising a brow, Shannon said, “I can’t offer you booze, but if you need a distraction, I got two who will more than do the job for ya.”

Chapter Seventeen

Dominic peeled the label from his second beer as he stared at the large screen television in the bar without really seeing it. He wasn’t even sure what he was doing here. He’d been feeling a cross between anger and betrayal, helped along by a good ole fashion case of panic when he’d taken off earlier. The whole crazy relationship between Shannon and Gage had been surprising, but kind of entertaining, until the whole revelation of the pregnancy. Now that he had not seen coming. Hell, they really hadn’t even discussed it since Gwen had texted him while he was in Charleston. He had been sitting next to Gage, who immediately advised him not to make a big deal out of it. So, he sent that stupid, fucking text, using Gage’s words. Damn, he’d regretted doing that, but he didn’t want to bring it up to Gwen on the slim hope that she had not thought it strange.

The question on his mind tonight was why she had said she wasn’t pregnant if she was? Clearly she was if Shannon saw the positive tests. Gwen claimed she had just found out that morning, but that was days after she said the test was negative. What the hell?

“Damn bro, couldn’t you have picked a bar a little closer? The traffic was hell getting here.” Dominic jerked around in surprise to see Gage standing behind him. He was at Flannigan’s, which was miles off the beaten path. He hadn’t actually had a destination in mind; he just drove until he was ready to stop. “I tracked your phone,” Gage added at his questioning look. “You know we have that enabled on all of the company phones, just in case.”

“Shouldn’t you be with your new girlfriend?” Dominic asked sarcastically as the other man settled on the stool beside him. He waved a bartender over, signaling for a beer before speaking.

“Nah, she had her hands full with your very upset girl. Why’d you take off like that? I mean, that’s like something I’d do.”

“Why would she lie to me about that, Gage? I get that she might have been upset about it, but she plainly told me in that text that she wasn’t pregnant. Then just a few days later, I find out that she is, but she hasn’t said a word to me. She should have known I wasn’t going to lose my shit or anything. Hell, we both knew it was a possibility. Do you think she just wasn’t going to tell me at all?”

“Come on, man, you live next door to her and work in the same building. I don’t think she intended to keep it from you. That would be damn near impossible. I think you’re overreacting. Gwen’s not the type of woman to be trying to play you. That doesn’t even make sense. She said it was negative the first time.”

“Well, if it was a closed case, then why was she taking another test? She had to have suspected that something wasn’t right. Women don’t just randomly take pregnancy tests whenever they feel like it, do they?”

“Hell if I know, Dom. You should go on back home and talk to your little mama.” Gage started laughing. Fuck. He wasn’t ready to talk to Gwen yet, and if Gage was going to be tossing out baby jokes all night, he was going to need something stronger than beer.

*   *   *

“Holy shit,” Dominic groaned as his head threatened to explode. Hell, he could even see the white light coming for him. This must be what death felt like. He could think of no other explanation.

“Getting up today, princess?” an amused voice asked as he writhed in pain.

Rolling onto his back and blinking until he recognized Gage, Dominic had his answer. He was in hell and Gage was his executioner. The asshole had turned on every light in the room, along with opening the blinds. Come to think of it . . . where was he? He was obviously on a couch, but not his. “What the fuck, man?” he grumbled as he tried to sit up.

“You know, if Gwen could see you now, she’d be rethinking her feelings. Frankly, dude, you look like roadkill, and you smell even worse. I knew when you passed out in the bathroom at Flannigan’s last night that things weren’t gonna be pretty this morning, but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite this ugly. And FYI, you owe me a visit to the chiropractor because I almost threw my back out carrying you to the truck.”

“Where’s my bike?” Dominic asked, picturing it trashed or stolen.

“I had one of the guys pick it up last night. He dropped it off at your place. Told him to bring the keys by the office this morning.”

His head was hammering relentlessly as he tried to focus his sluggish thoughts. “How much did I have to drink last night?” he croaked out. His mouth felt like sawdust.

“I think it’d be easier to ask what you didn’t drink last night,” Gage smirked. “I tried to cut you off, but you listened to your other friends over me.”

Flopping back, Dominic asked in confusion, “What other friends?”

Gage took a loud slurp out of the cup he was holding, making Dominic’s hair stand on end before saying, “Oh, you know, most of the bar. After you buy a few rounds of drinks, you get a lot of new buddies. I’m gonna say, though, I don’t think you should invite them over for Sunday dinner anytime soon because when you were falling in the urinal, I was the only one with your back—and a wad of paper towels. When I call your ass for a favor in the future, you better not hesitate or question me. Trust me, you owe me big.”

“And Gwen?” Dominic asked. He’d probably drunk dialed her all night.

As if knowing what he was getting at, Gage pulled a phone from under the chair cushion in the corner. “Don’t worry; I took this from you early in the evening when you started trying to bring your contact list up. I knew no good was going to come of that. I hid it when we got home because I was afraid of what you’d do if you woke up. That’s one way in which you didn’t make an ass out of yourself last night.” Gage laughed as Dominic weakly flipped him the bird. “Oh, guess what. I saved the best part for last.”