Chapter 76

Piper

I wouldn’t say I was completely avoiding Austin. I’d responded to his text messages, but I had made it clear I wasn’t ready to talk to him. The text messages were my concession. It hurt that he had so little faith in me, and I needed time to get over it. His drunken apology definitely hadn’t cut it.

I’d just taken Mercy to a doctor’s appointment, and I was helping her up the steps to her condo. It would have been easier if she wasn’t so covered up. Her bulky trench coat was making it hard to maneuver.

“Do you need any help?” a guy called out from the bottom of the stairs.

“No,” Mercy snapped at him.

“We’ve got it,” I assured her nice, and very attractive, neighbor with the sexy British accent. “Thank you for offering.”

With a nod, he continued walking.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“My noisy new neighbor,” Mercy grumbled as we entered her condo. “Until I had a porn addict living in the condo behind mine, I had no clue how thin the walls are here.”

“Porn addict?” I asked with a laugh.

“Oh, yeah,” she muttered. “At least, three nights a week, I get to listen to fake screams.”

“How do you know they’re fake?” I asked.

“I can tell,” she assured me. “No woman sounds like the ones I hear through my bedroom wall.”

“I hardly think watching porn a few nights a week makes him an addict,” I argued.

“Fine,” she relented. “He’s probably not an addict, but he doesn’t need to play it that loud.”

“Have you asked him to keep it down?” I asked.

“Not exactly,” she replied as she sat on the sofa, looking totally exhausted. “I banged on my bedroom wall and used my best old lady voice to tell him that decent folk were trying to sleep.”

Her response made me giggle. “Did he turn it down?”

“A little,” she replied. “I cannot stand that man.”

“He is cute,” I told her.

“Who cares?” she asked. “He’s a horrible neighbor.”

“He offered to help you up the stairs,” I reminded her.

“Still a jerk,” she insisted.

I decided to let that go. He was cute, but I could see how having a noisy neighbor would irritate Mercy. I’d probably feel the same if I had to listen to someone else’s porn. There were good reasons for having Cerise and Andy’s room at the far end of my house, and noisy sex was at the top of that list.

“Can I grab you something to eat?” I asked.

“Nah,” she replied with a shake of her head. “That burger you made me eat before my appointment filled me up. So, are you ready to talk about what’s going on with Austin? Bennie mentioned you’re fighting.”

“We’re not exactly fighting.” I gave her a brief rundown of what had happened.

“I don’t think you should hold the stuff he said when he was drunk against him,” she remarked.

“It’s not what he said when he was drunk that bothers me,” I insisted. “I’m annoyed that he got drunk because he doesn’t think I trust him.”

“Try looking at it from his perspective,” she began. “Those pictures look damning. It’s only natural he’d worry about how you’d perceive them.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “I can definitely see why he’d worry. I can also understand how my phone being lost made him worry more. That all makes perfect sense.”

“But you’re still mad at him,” she finished for me. “I think you should forgive him.”

“I have forgiven him. It’s not a matter of whether or not I can forgive him. It’s about whether I can deal with this again. Austin travels, and we’re going to spend months apart. There will always be women throwing themselves at him. There will always be tabloid articles about him cheating on me.”

Mercy nodded her understanding. “Bentley wasn’t sure if she could deal with that when she started seeing Gage.”

“I can deal with it,” I assured her. “When I saw those photos and the article, there wasn’t a moment of doubt for me. I know Austin wouldn’t cheat on me. Austin doubting my faith in him this time could be a fluke. Now that he’s seen how much I trust him, maybe he won’t pull this crap again.”

“It could be a one-time thing,” she agreed.

“But what if it isn’t?” I asked. “No matter how much I love Austin, I’m not going to deal with this kind of thing all the time. I’m going to be a mother. This drama is the last thing I need.”

She nodded her understanding. “I can see why that would bother you. You have more to consider than yourself.”

Mercy hadn’t been in anything resembling a relationship for a long time, because she hated drama. While I hadn’t heard the details, I knew this stemmed from more than one bad relationship.

“Thank you for not blaming this on pregnancy hormones,” I told her.

My phone buzzed with a text from Austin, and I sighed.

“Is that Austin?” she asked.

I nodded. “He’s having a hard time with me not talking to him. I feel a little guilty about avoiding him.”

“Then you should talk to him.” When I was about to argue, she continued. “You love Austin, and you’re having his baby. I know giving him a chance is scary because he might let you down, but you should at least let him try to make this up to you.”

“I’m going to,” I assured her. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“What do you have in mind?” she asked. “As long as we don’t have to talk about how I feel about being shot, I’m fine with any topic.”

“Baking,” I replied. “Let’s talk about those donuts you made.”

Mercy grinned. “So, you like my donuts?”

“They’re amazing,” I praised.

“I think I may know what I’m going to do for my next business venture,” she remarked.

“Open a bakery?” I asked.

“No,” she replied emphatically. “I was thinking more along the lines of a cookbook.”

“That could be fun,” I agreed.

“And safe,” she added quietly.

Mercy tried hard to appear strong, but she wasn’t handling being shot very well. I slipped an arm around her shoulders.

“I never would have guessed that safety would become the one thing I craved most in a job,” I said softly.

“Me neither,” she admitted. “Is that why you quit your job at Euphoria.”

“No,” I replied with slight smile. “It’s not the best job now that I’m going to be a mom. I didn’t exactly quit. This is just a job change. The pay cut sucks, but I’ll get by.”

“You can also sue Austin for a boat load of child support,” she pointed out. “When do you plan to tell him?”

“After he gets back,” I replied.

“I guess that should work since you aren’t showing yet and may not be when he gets back.”

“If I’m showing when he gets back, it will be easier,” I teased. “Then I can walk around looking pregnant until he figures it out.”

Mercy giggled. “You wouldn’t!”

“No,” I assured her with a laugh. “Austin will hear about the little peanut as soon as he gets back, no matter how I feel about us.”