Chapter Nineteen

Ruby walked into the O’Brien PR offices for the first time in two weeks. As far as anybody knew, she’d had a terrible stomach virus that had knocked her out, kept her bedridden, but now she was back and ready to return with a vengeance.

Along the way to her office, everyone congratulated her on the Sports Armour contract. Way to go, Ruby. Congrats for corralling Alec, Ruby. How did you do it, Ruby? Everyone wanted to know. What special magic powers did she possess to make Alec LeBrun, NFL Bad Boy Extraordinaire, fall in line and behave like an exemplary model citizen?

She’d done it. By just being herself, giving him the evil eye when he needed it, and cracking her whip whenever he fell off the wagon. He’d done it, too. Love was an amazing motivator, and he’d wanted to prove to Ruby that he could be the man she needed.

He’d succeeded far more than he could have planned. Just by being Alec. The talented football player. Good friend. Generous hearted man who did house chores for his mother and played “tackle” football with kids with cancer and designed a nursery for his unborn child. With each hour that passed, he was starting to break down Ruby’s fears that he only wanted to marry her because of the baby. Because truthfully, hadn’t he shown her how much he cared for her before he even knew she was pregnant? Maybe it was she who needed to have more faith in Alec. She’d always had that faith in him as a football player. Could she have it in him as the man she loved?

Could she believe that her situation with Alec and the baby was nothing like what he’d had with Colleen and everything about what fate had in store for them so they could have the happily ever after they deserved?

She was thinking yes, and that made her heart feel lighter than she had in weeks.

So, then, why did she get a bad feeling, suddenly, when her father stuck his head out of his office upon hearing her return and demanded she enter his room immediately?

“My office. Now.”

A chill ran through her.

Was it the contract? Did it fall through? Did Alec do something stupid last night that just came out in the news? Her body fluttered with anxiety, which, mixed with pregnancy symptoms, was proving to be a recipe for disaster. “Yes, sir,” she replied automatically.

She couldn’t help but compare his tone to all of the times he’d yelled at her as a child for doing something wrong or not living up to her potential. A B+! Ruby Marie, you can do better than that. I don’t care how hard that test was. You’re going to make up this grade until it’s an A+.

She shook off the memories. She wasn’t a little girl or even a teenager: she was a “grown-ass woman,” as Alec liked to put it. To keep her mind steady, she thought of him, of his love for her and their baby. Both gave her the strength to walk into her father’s office and face his rage for whatever had happened.

She shut the door, but before she’d even sat down, Phil barked, “Is it true?” He whipped around and slammed a hand onto the desk, which made Ruby jump. “Are you pregnant with Alec LeBrun’s child?”

The blood rushed from her head, and she staggered to sit down. How had he found out? Swallowing, her throat dry, she croaked, “Yes, it’s true. But let me explain, please.”

Phil’s face looked like a volcano about to erupt, mottled with various shades of red and pink. “Ruby Marie, dating him was one thing. It was supposed to make him appear favorable in the public’s eyes. No one told you to go get pregnant!” he yelled.

This was definitely not how she wanted to tell her father that he would soon be a granddad. Tears rose into her eyes, but she pressed them back. “It wasn’t part of the plan, Dad. Things haven’t happened the way you thought.”

“And here I was, thinking you were sick at home. I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt and made excuses for you to everyone. Meanwhile, you were lying to me. I don’t know what makes me angrier—that you’re pregnant or that you’ve lied to me and your mother.”

“Dad…I’ve been waiting for the right moment to tell you.” Ruby wrung her hands and tried to figure out how he could possibly know. The only person who knew was Alec, and there was no way Alec would have thrown her under the bus.

Unless…

“I’m not a fool,” her father continued. “I saw your face in that interview outside the restaurant. Your relationship didn’t just start with that ‘celebratory kiss,’ did it?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Of course not. You have to be at least five or six weeks along.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you would do something so stupid and completely outside the bounds of decency.”

“Decency? Dad, Alec and I are in love. He’s asked me to marry him, and I’m beginning to have faith it’s not because he feels it’s duty, but because he truly wants me and the baby in his life forever. I know it’s not the way we wanted everything to go down, but it’s all going to be okay. I know it is.”

“You slept with a client, Ruby. That’s the first rule of professional boundaries. Never sleep with the client. And two, you lied about it. Three, you kept it from your own father.”

A hot flush of humiliation crawled up Ruby’s cheeks, but she refused to show her father how upset his words made her. “I’m sorry I lied to you as a boss. I am. But I’m not sorry I hadn’t told you yet as a father. You can be very hard on me, Dad. So much that I’ve hated myself for two weeks now, all because I got pregnant. I’m not the A+ child you’ve wanted me to be all my life. Sometimes I’m B+. So I got pregnant first, then got thinking about getting married after. So what. Life’s not perfect, and neither am I. But if you love me, you’ll be happy for me.”

Phil stared at her with hurt in his eyes.

“I wanted to tell you when I was ready, not when you found out,” she said. “You’ll have a grandchild at the end of this.”

“Ruby, right now, I’m talking to you as your boss.” Sitting down heavily, Phil put his head in his hands for a moment, his shoulders slumped. Finally, he looked her in the eye. “Although I’m happy for you, I’m going to have to let you go.”

No.

“You knew from the beginning that this kind of behavior would result in instant termination. I hate to do this. I really do, but if I don’t let you go, it will set a bad precedent for the team.”

Tears filled Ruby’s eyes, but she held her chin high, refusing to let them fall. Everything seemed to come crashing down around her. How had she thought her father would react any differently? A thousand times, she’d warned herself that this would happen—falling in love with Alec would terminate her position as his publicist.

She cleared her throat. She needed to know who’d ruined her life. “How did you find out about this?”

Phil made an annoyed sound. “Your boyfriend did. Said he wanted to fess up because you wouldn’t. Even asked for my blessing to ask you to marry him. Noble of him, wasn’t it? Wish you would’ve told me yourself, Ruby.”

Her mind stopped completely. There was no way. This couldn’t be true. Alec had told him? When he’d promised he wouldn’t?

All of the hope she’d been feeling about their future fractured into a dozen pieces.

She should have known better. He’d been too perfect. There had to be something wrong with him, and here it was—confused loyalty. Why would he have gone behind her back and done this?

“He called you?” Her voice trembled. She didn’t know why she even asked. It would only twist the knife in deeper.

“He emailed me, of all things. Rather a surprising thing to get in my inbox last night.” He looked at her now with some concern. “Are you going to be all right? I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear, but you have to understand that you’ve put me between a rock and a hard place. You know image and reputation are everything.”

She nodded. At this point, she didn’t care about getting fired anymore. She could only think about Alec and why he would tell her father about them like this. A sudden thought occurred to her…had he done it to push her toward marriage?

Unfettered rage began boiling up inside of her. First, for trusting and believing in Alec, and second, for what he’d done. After she packed up her things and left the building, feeling like a scarlet letter was affixed to her forehead, she walked to her car with heavy steps.

The idea that he’d done it to force her hand at marriage blossomed in her mind.

If she lost her job, she would have no choice but to marry him, wouldn’t she? It was what Alec wanted badly, the figurative nail in the coffin. She’d have nowhere to go. And with a baby on the way, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a new job before she gave birth and had to go on maternity leave anyway.

She couldn’t deal with him right now.

She had to think of how to solve this on her own, the way she’d always been before she fell for manipulating Alec.

Through a foggy mind, Ruby struggled to open her car door. She barely noticed that her box of things tumbled all over her backseat, or that she was sitting in a parking garage, gasping for breath. She felt like the walls were closing in on her, and it took everything in her not to give in to panic completely.

Alec had trapped her to get what he wanted. To do his duty.

With no concern for Ruby’s concerns whatsoever.

Ruby drove straight to Alec’s. She needed to know the truth, hear it from his own mouth. Forcing away the fear and devastation long enough to drive herself safely to his house, she arrived within record time. When she didn’t see his car in his driveway, though, she worried he wasn’t home.

I wouldn’t be home either if I’d pissed a pregnant woman off, she thought miserably.

She was about to drive away and figure out what she was going to do next when she saw Alec walk out his front door to meet her.

“Ruby! What are you doing here, babe? I mean, I’m happy to see you. Don’t get me wrong.” He leaned through the car window for a kiss, but she pulled away.

Lying, manipulative Alec.

“How...?”

“How, what? Are you okay? What’s wrong?” He took in her wet cheeks, her mussed hair, and her red eyes. “Is it the baby?”

She could only shake her head, and the trembling started all over again. Alec opened the door and helped her inside the house. She didn’t want him to touch her, yet at the same time, she longed for his embrace. She wanted to burrow into his strong arms and let him take away all of the uncertainty and pain.

Pain he’d caused.

He held her hand all the way to his bedroom, but she didn’t have the energy to protest. He set her down on the bed with a gentleness that almost made her cry again, but she had to be strong.

“I can’t believe you, Alec.”

“Ruby, tell me what happened.” Alec tried to embrace her, but she pulled away. He gave her a hurt look.

“I just got fired,” she whispered.

He blanched, then his face creased with anger. “Your father? What for? You’re the best employee he has. What bug crawled up his ass and died?”

She looked at his face, nearly ready to strike. Why would he even need to ask? It was his fault to begin with. “You don’t have to act like you don’t know,” she replied, her voice tired. “My dad told me you sent him an email telling him I was pregnant with your baby.”

Alec stared at her. Words were lost on his tongue. He couldn’t speak. Then, he exploded. “What the fuck?” When she flinched, he kneeled in front of her and took her hands. “Not you, baby. I’m sorry. But what the fuck is your dad on? I would never do that. Why would I do that when I promised you I wouldn’t say a word?”

“That’s what I want to know!” she cried. She wanted to believe him so badly that it hurt. Her heart clenched in her chest. “But why would he lie to me? He has proof that you sent him that email. Why would he make this up?”

Alec rose, shaking his head in disgust. “How the hell would I know? I didn’t send him any email. I haven’t told anyone. Well, I told Heath and Kyle—I admit—but, Ruby, you have to believe me, babe…they wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“They’re not the ones who emailed my dad. You did.”

“I swear, I didn’t.” He scoffed and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re an adult, Ruby, not a child. You can sleep with and have a baby with whoever you want. You can’t lose your job all because you fell for somebody.”

“Not just anybody, Alec—a client. I got pregnant by a client,” she added just to drive her point home.

He huffed. “A client who’s also a grown-ass man and doesn’t need anyone telling him who he can and can’t fall for. I knew what I was doing, you knew what you were doing, and unless you’re going to tell me I forced you to be with me—”

“No! Alec, never think that. I wanted you, and I want this baby.” Her eyes filled with tears, and she tried to brush them away. But it was no use. They kept coming no matter how hard she tried to suppress them. “But I also know you wanted to marry me, and when I didn’t say yes right away…”

“What are you saying?” His voice was low, uncertain.

God, should she accuse him? What would this mean for their future?

But if it walked like a duck and talked like a duck…

She rose from the bed. Having Alec stand over her only made her feel worse. “I’m saying you told my dad our secret to trap me into marrying you. Once I lost my job, I would have nowhere else to go, especially with a baby on the way.”

His jaw dropped and he cocked his head. “I can’t believe you’re saying this. Why would I do something like that to you? I love you.” He moved to touch her once again, but Ruby wouldn’t let him.

“I don’t think you did it to be malicious,” she allowed, her heart heavy, “but you’re the type of guy who gets his way. You did what you had to do. But even though I can’t marry you now, you’ll still be in our child’s life. I promise you that.” She braced to leave. She’d said her peace, and that was it.

“You’re going to marry me, Ruby, because you love me and I love you, and we’re going to be a family.” He wrapped his arms around her and tried to kiss her, but she pulled away and pointed at him.

“Don’t do that. You think I’m weak and only need a kiss from you to make everything okay? It doesn’t work like that in the real world, Alec. I’m not a fairytale princess and you’re not my prince who can fix it all with some charm.”

For a moment, she almost didn’t care he’d lied to her. She loved him so much that part of her would forget this ever happened. But she also knew how to stand her ground. Because she was Ruby O’Brien—no-nonsense, practical, strong woman who made things work her way, and no amount of manipulation could change her, no matter how sexy and good-smelling Alec may be.

In a word—he fucked things up.

With a willpower she didn’t know she possessed, Ruby pushed him away. A sharp sob escaped her throat, and when Alec murmured her name, she turned and ran from his house, her heart breaking into a million pieces.