Chapter 23
Emerson
Faced with unexpected time off from work, I’d called Bonnie to see if she wanted to go to the boardwalk with me. Her live-in boyfriend was an airline steward and gone a lot, so I’d taken the chance that she was alone, and I’d been right. She'd eagerly accepted my invitation, and by eleven o'clock we were at our favorite pizza place and having an early lunch.
"Mmmm, this is so freaking good!" she said around a mouthful of mushroom pizza.
I couldn't disagree with her. "Even better with beer," I said, taking a long drink that quenched my thirst. "How come you're not having one?"
She shrugged, but couldn't disguise the tiny, secretive smile on her mouth. It wasn't the first time that I’d had the feeling that she was keeping something from me.
I wiped my mouth and gave her a long look. "Okay, what's going on?"
She tilted her head, amusement swimming in her eyes. "I'll tell you if you tell me."
I frowned with confusion. "I don't understand. Tell you what?"
Bonnie laughed before taking a sip of her cola. "Like who gave you that huge hickey on your neck." She took a small bite of pizza. "Did you think that side braid hid it from me?"
"I thought it had," I giggled, feeling myself grow warm beneath her laughing eyes, And even warmer when I recalled how I'd gotten the hickey.
"Did you and Doyle change your minds on what kind of relationship you wanted?"
"No!" I rushed out in a shocked tone.
"So, who then?" she insisted. "Who gave you that love bite, girl?"
Thinking about Ace's mouth on me caused my core to clench, and I found myself clenching my thighs. Thank God we were sitting in a booth.
"You're blushing!" Bonnie nearly shouted out, her eyes growing round.
It grew quiet between us. The more she stared at me, the more uncomfortable I became. I knew Bonnie. She was reading me, and I refused to make it easy for her. I continued eating my slice of pizza, trying not to grin at the serious contemplation on her pretty face. When her eyes lit up with dawning I knew that she'd guessed the truth.
"O-M-G," she spelled out. "It was Ace, wasn't it?" Her hand flew up to cover her mouth as she could barely contain her excitement.
I held a neutral expression on my face for as long as I could, but I was half-worried that she was holding her breath. Just when I thought that she might burst, I released a resigned sigh and nodded.
"Wh-When, wh-where, how-how did this happen?" she stuttered in disbelief. "Are you okay? I mean, you look okay. In fact, you're kind of glowing."
I laughed. "A few hours ago, and yes, I'm more than okay. Ace came to me, Bonnie." Her face fell. "And not for that, either." I knew what she was thinking, and I couldn't blame her for it. "So what's your secret?"
She shook her head. "Not so fast, sister. I need more. I mean, that's big, but my secret is bigger. I need details."
She wasn't kidding. I rolled my eyes. "We had sex."
"How many times?"
"Seriously?"
She nodded without hesitation.
I did a mental count. "Four. No, five." Her eyes grew big. "Best sex I've ever had." I meant it, too. Ace had left no erogenous zone untouched, and I'd come alive beneath his hands and mouth in ways that had stunned me. Just thinking about it sent a pleasant tingle throughout my entire body.
"So, are the rumors true?" Her eyebrows danced up and down.
I rolled my eyes again. I'd heard the same rumors about Ace from the girls at the bar who'd been at the receiving end of his cock. I didn't like thinking about them, but it was a fact that he'd fucked most of them and they'd bragged about it afterwards. Bonnie was asking if the rumors were true about his fondness for anal sex. I wasn't about to respond to that, yet felt the heat of another blush sweep over my cheeks.
She laughed softly, but when she opened her mouth to say more, I held up my hand to stop her. "That's all you get from me. I know what your next questions are going to be, but all of my answers will be the same--I don't know." She sat back with a disappointed huff. "Now, your turn."
A huge smile spread across her face, her brown eyes sparkling like jewels with a combination of awe and happiness. Bonnie was a beautiful woman. I sometimes wondered if she knew how beautiful. Tall and slender, she had a grace about her that I'd often thought was wasted working at a biker bar. With her gentle, polished personality she would have made a great hostess at some swanky club or upscale hotel. Vegas would suit her. But she didn't seem to have any ambitions and appeared content with her simple life.
"I'm waiting," I said, raising a brow.
"I'm pregnant."
My jaw dropped as I let the shock consume me. Instant concern over how she felt about it evaporated immediately as it became clear from her expression that she was thrilled about it. "Oh, my God!" I reached across the table and grabbed her hands. "I wasn't expecting that. I'm so happy for you." I gave her a brief squeeze and then let her hands go. "How far along? When did you find out? How does David feel about it?" They'd been together for about a year.
Giggling, she responded, "I just entered my second trimester. I've known for a couple of weeks. And David is over the moon."
It all made sense now--the quick trips to the bathroom at work, the times she’d called in, which was very unlike Bonnie. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because they say you should get through your first trimester before you start saying anything. I didn't want to jinx it."
"I can't believe it, a baby! Have you told your parents yet?"
She shook her head. "No, David wants to wait until we can tell them together. He has a long weekend coming up and we're going to do it then. You'll probably hear my mom's scream all the way from Ft. Lauderdale." We laughed together. "She's been after me to settle down for a long time, which, translated, means married and with children. I think giving her her first grandchild will shut her up."
Bonnie was an only child. I nodded with understanding. "I think most mothers are like that. Especially when we start getting older." The pizza gone, we both sat back with contentment. "When are you going to tell Tanner?"
She shrugged. "Kind of doesn't matter now, does it? With the bar closed."
"Yeah, but you know that Tanner thinks about us as more than just employees." She nodded in agreement. "The bar won't be closed permanently. Whatever trouble the Sentinels are handling right now, they'll deal with it and then things will go back to normal."
"Ace didn't say anything?"
I'd been in the process of finishing my beer and almost spit it out at her question. I grabbed a napkin and wiped my mouth, smiling. "We didn't do much talking," I confessed.
Bonnie finished her cola just as the waitress came over.
"Can I get you guys anything else?" she asked, picking up the pizza pan and stacking our plates onto it.
"I think we're good, thanks."
"I know I'm stuffed!" Bonnie added rubbing her tummy.
"I'll take the check." I made eye contact with her. "Please add Bonnie's on mine." I didn't give Bonnie a chance to protest. "My way of congratulating you on the good news." I winked.
The waitress giggled. "No charge. Your bill has already been taken care of."
"What?" Bonnie and I said in unison, surprise registering on our faces.
The girl nodded. "Yeah, some man paid for it already."
"What man?" I began to look around to see if anyone was looking our way, but didn't notice anyone.
The waitress glanced back toward the register. "He must have left already. He said he knew you and wanted to pay for your lunch. Said it was your birthday."
It wasn't my birthday. I looked across the table at Bonnie, feeling sure that she would have said something if it were hers. "He must have me confused with someone else, because it's not my birthday. What did he look like?"
She thought for a moment. "Gee, I'm sorry, but I didn't really pay much attention to his looks, except to notice that he was an older man."
"Huh! You must have a secret admirer," Bonnie joked. "Unless it was Ace? He could be considered an older man." She gave me a wink before glancing back up at the waitress. "Was he a biker?"
The girl shook her head and smiled. "No, I would have remembered that."
Of course, I thought with an internal smirk. "Well, I guess it doesn't really matter, since he's gone now. It would have been nice to thank him, though." I began to scoot out of the booth with a mild feeling of unease.
She'd said that the man who’d paid for our meal was older.
I knew a lot of men from the bar, but I didn't think that it was any of them.
The feeling of trepidation in my belly began to grow.
My heart began to pound. Could it have been my father?
Fear clogged my throat. No, I refused to think that it had been him.
Besides, he couldn't possibly know where I was.
By the time we left the restaurant, a sick feeling had taken root in my belly, along with a premonition of doom that only grew as the day moved on.