Chapter 8

Chapter

Eight

DEVIN

It felt so right to have my woman back in my arms, even if it was short-lived.

“I love you, Vic. Never stopped. Never will. You are meant to be mine until the end of time.”

She rolled her eyes and sniffled all at the same time. I pushed my girl’s blonde hair back behind her ears because there was no way I’d be able to secure it in that bird’s nest of a bun she had it in before our kiss, and my roaming fingers, fucked it all to hell.

Victoria’s lips were swollen from our kiss when I pulled us away from the now cold and ruined shambles of breakfast and into the living room, so we could sit beside one another and hash things out in a healthy and productive way. We had both done enough of slinging accusations and trying to place blame on one another’s shoulders. It did nothing but push us further apart and I was done with that.

“What are we going to do about the…” Vic swallowed as if she were choking on the word she refused to say. I positioned us so that we were both turned inward, facing one another with our knees touching and our hands clasped together.

“I am almost one hundred percent sure that the baby is not mine.”

“How can you say that?”

“First of all, because unless she is bloating every time she eats, Justice is already showing.”

Vic scrunched her nose up at me. “That should be impossible this early.”

“Exactly. Besides, she’s the one who claims that we were together sexually, and I have no memory of that.” Vic cringed and tried to pull away, but I held strong to her hands. “No, don’t push us backward again. I know it isn’t easy, but we need to discuss this. I do not remember having sex with or even kissing Justice.” I let go of one of her hands long enough to tap the side of my head. “Up here is a blank. No memories, I swear it, Vic.” When I let go of her hand, it felt like a fucking victory that she placed it on top of our other two that were still wrapped around one another.

“The fact that she was there that night, and Brody was conveniently on a date night with the wife he routinely cheated on and couldn’t be bothered to go home to most nights, it all seemed too perfect. I don’t think Brody was on that date any more than I think Justice is pregnant with my baby.”

“You think she went there with the intent to set it up to look like you might have fathered her baby?”

“She fed me enough drinks after she arrived, that she couldn’t have been priming me for sex - not in a real way - because the chances of me passing out with that much liquor in my system were far greater than my ability to get hard with a woman who wasn’t you.”

“Come on, she’s a beautiful girl.”

“Yeah, objectively, she is. And you know what? She’s never made me hard because she’s not my type. She’s a brat who has no qualms about cheating on or with people. That isn’t the type of woman who revs my engine. If it wasn’t for our arrangement, I wouldn’t even be friends with her because she has no concept of loyalty.”

Victoria groaned. “Why did we do this to ourselves? I should have never suggested hiding our relationship, and you should have never agreed to go along with it.”

“We’re not looking back anymore, baby. We can’t change the past. Well, we can’t change the parts that count. We can make a plan to move forward and get out from under the bullshit with Justice. Let’s work on that, and then we’ll work on us, and where we want to be a year from now.”

“What if we discover we aren’t good for one another?”

“I don’t believe that any more than you do. Our problem was never ‘us’, it was your concern over what everyone else would think about us. I refuse to allow other people’s opinions to factor into my happiness because it isn’t working. If you decide that you can’t be with me because everything has become too messy, then I will have to deal with your decision. For the record, I want you. I don’t just want you, Vic, I need you in my life like the air I breathe.”

“What if…” She looked away and bit down on her lip, as if she refused to say the one thing that would make or break us. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Vic was worried Justice’s baby was mine and what that would mean for us.

“Let’s come up with a plan and leave that bit for later when we can get a definitive answer, okay?”

Victoria nodded her head and then quickly switched to shaking it. “I don’t think I could…” She hesitated again and I wanted to kick myself in the nuts for ever making her feel this way. Not to mention, the fear I lived with that for some crazy reason the baby turned out to be mine, it would mean that I would lose my woman. The only woman I’d ever loved. There would be no doubt about it. Vic wouldn’t be able to handle me having a child with someone else, but she also wouldn’t tolerate me abandoning my own kid to be with her. Not that I would ever do that, no matter how much I loved Vic.

“How are we supposed to do this, Dev?” She asked me and the only answer I had was to pull her closer. She snuggled into my body as I wrapped my arms all the way around her body and refused to let go.

“We take things one day at a time. Make time for one another. Be honest. Mostly, we plan for the future and work on getting past all the hurts we’ve caused one another.”

“We’ll still be a secret.”

“Only for a little while longer. I’m working on untangling the mess I made with Justice.” I kissed the top of Vic’s head and she squeezed me tighter. “As soon as we have a good handle on when that will resolve, we’re going to tell our families the truth about everything.”

“Well, maybe we can leave some of it out,” Vic mumbled into my chest.”

“I think it’s for the best if they know the full extent, so there are no surprises.” I explained.

“Then I hope you’re ready for my brothers and what they’re going to do to you since you cheated on their big sister.”

I sighed. “Believe me, baby, I’ve already come to terms with the fact that my nose will probably never look the same again.” Vic’s body shook against mine as she laughed.

“Promise me something?” She asked before her beautiful eyes opened up and her head tilted back, so she could look me in the eye.

“Anything.”

“No more guesswork.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, not understanding.

“It means neither one of us is going to assume things and let our jealousy cloud our judgement. We talk it out or we walk away. I can’t go through this again, Dev. It nearly killed me to lose you once. I can’t do it again.”

I nodded and kissed her before she could say another word. We were on the same page with the communication issues. If we had talked more, about the important stuff, we might not have ever been put in the position to lose one another. There certainly wouldn’t have been room for another person to come between us. Knowing that Vic was just as affected by our short split was a double edged sword. On one hand, it was good to know she cared so much. On the other hand, I hated that my actions were the catalyst to her pain. Our pain.

All that was left was to deal with Justice and fix the cracks in the foundation of our relationship that Vic and I had allowed to grow. Once everything was smoothed over, I believed we would finally end up happy together. The only worry I had was how my best friend would take the news, especially since I hadn’t been faithful to Vic the first time around. I scrunched my face as I thought the last bit because it rang false in my own mind. Lacking the memory didn’t mean I was completely innocent, but it made it impossible for me to agree that I cheated on my girl.