Chapter 16

Unless you’re a pregnancy test, I don’t need you to be negative.

-Hennessy to Krisney

Hennessy

“Did you hear?”

I stared at Krisney in confusion.

“Hear what?”

“Hear that Ariya and Tate have a baby together.”

My entire being, everything that I was, froze in complete, abject horror.

“What?”

It was said so softly that it took me a few minutes to realize that my single word had frozen Krisney in her tracks.

“You didn’t hear?”

No, I hadn’t.

“They have a kid?” I asked, a little more loudly this time.

She nodded her head. “Yeah, apparently Ariya’s sister told him, and then he told everyone at the bar last night that would listen.”

I tried my best to ignore anything and everything that had to do with Ariya, so it came as no surprise that I wouldn’t know that she had a kid. Nor that she had a kid with the man I was currently sleeping with.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

“How far along is Ariya?” I murmured.

When had he had time to be with her? Was it that time that I saw them out at the taco shop while I was on my date with the vegan that wasn’t really vegan?

Could I forgive him for sleeping with an ex before he was sleeping with me? Then again, we didn’t have an agreement of any kind. What we had was borderline illegal.

Oh, my God.

I’d slept with a man that was sleeping with other women, and I could lose my job!

I had to transfer his care to another psychologist. Right this very minute.

“Hey!” Krisney cried out as I stood up in the middle of our breakfast. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to be right back,” I lied.

I wasn’t going to be right back. I was going to my office and I was going to call my mentor, and I was going to ask her just what in the hell I was supposed to do next.

“But we haven’t even finished our pancakes yet!” Krisney yelled at my back.

I waved her off and continued to walk, pulling my phone out as I did.

Krisney would pay. She’d also eat the rest of my pancakes, but I didn’t have time for that right now.

The moment I was outside, I came to a sudden, bone jarring halt as I looked in the parking lot next to my car.

But I knew in an instant that Tate, who was standing so close to my car that I could barely breathe, wasn’t there for me.

He was there for the woman that was standing so close to him that they could likely smell each other.

I dropped my head and allowed my hair to spread out over my face, concealing everything but the path in front of me.

I made it to my car and unlocked it with the fob, immediately dropping inside and locking the doors as I started it.

If I rolled my window down right now, I could literally reach out and touch Tate’s ass with my hand.

I growled at myself and clenched my hands into fists, so angry that I could cry.

How could he sleep with her, and then me, all within a two-month period? Seriously, the man had been out of prison for all of two months! He’d been seeing me for one of those months—though we hadn’t been actively fucking all of that time.

But still!

Angry and a whole lot hurt, I speed dialed my mentor’s number as I put the car into reverse.

Looking in my rearview mirror and not at the man that I knew had to have seen me by now, I backed out and dropped the gear shift down into drive.

Just when I was about to leave, I couldn’t help but look to the side, and what I saw made my stomach clench.

Tate was staring at me, as was Ariya.

Tate with pity, and Ariya with not a little bit of hostility.

I instantly felt bile rise in my stomach, and would’ve screamed at the both of them if my mentor hadn’t answered the phone.

“Hennessy, my dear. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

I bit my lip to keep the strangled sob from breaking free of my lips.

“I’m in so much trouble that I don’t even know where to start…”

Thirty minutes later, I was telling my mentor goodbye, no surer of what to do now than when I placed the phone call.

“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Joan murmured quietly. “But this needs to be taken care of swiftly. His care needs to be handed off to another psychologist, and I would be glad to take it if that’s what you decide. However, this is a line that you need to determine if you only crossed for him, or because you’re letting your emotions get the better of you when you shouldn’t be. I realize his situation isn’t ideal, and that he didn’t do the things he did because he was truly bad, but that doesn’t make him innocent. He needs the care that you can give him, and if you can’t give him that care, then you need to pass him off.”

I knew she was right.

I bit my lip, then blew out a breath while staring at my front door through the windshield of my car.

“I’ll have my assistant send his file over,” I said. “I’ll tell Isidra to also call him and tell him an appointment time. Send that info over to me via email, and I’ll get Isidra on it…if she actually comes in today. She’s been off for two weeks thanks to the flu.”

Joan started to laugh. “Must be going around, because mine has been out almost the same amount of time. I don’t even know how to function without her. I didn’t realize how much work she was doing until I had to do it myself.”

Wasn’t that the truth? Isidra had called a few days ago to say she was on the mend, but still couldn’t stand to be in an upright position for more than an hour. She expected to come back at the beginning of the week, which would mark almost a full three weeks she’d been gone.

Though, I guess I had to admit that I was glad she wasn’t there, because she’d definitely have been suspicious of my and Tate’s relationship. Isidra was a life resident of Hostel, Texas. She’d been there for thirty-seven of her thirty-eight years of life, and likely wouldn’t ever leave.

Though, her husband was also the head football coach for Hostel High School.

She was very intuitive, and she loved to gossip with the best of them, which was why I was wary of doing anything in front of her that would likely get straight back to my father thanks to the Hostel gossip mill.

“I’ll send over the time that works best over a text message. I haven’t tried to touch the emails, and I’d like to avoid doing that. Me and electronics don’t get along all that well.”

I chuckled, remembering a time during one of her lectures that she’d had Power Point with her lecture up on the screen, and all of a sudden, her computer just shut off, never to wake up again. She’d never thought to back up all of her lectures, so years of her education materials had disappeared in a puff of smoke.

That year had been a turning point for her, as well as a reminder not to do what she did.

I’d felt sorry for her ever since. I was sure, even a year later, that she was still trying to recoup materials that she’d lost.

“That’ll work,” I smiled sadly. “I’ll drop his file by your office myself since your assistant is out. I’ll be there likely tomorrow some time. I have about three hours in between patients.”

When Joan had lost all of her materials, she’d decided that she wouldn’t be teaching at UT any longer. I don’t know if that was just the last straw or what, because she moved while I was still attending the last of my classes for my final semester of school.

When I’d contacted her for a professional reference a few months ago, it was to find her not just close to me, but two towns over. Though, technically we weren’t in the same state.

The town of Hostel bordered the Texas/Louisiana border. Though we were only thirty miles away from each other at most, getting to each other required that we cross state lines.

“All right, Hennessy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With that we hung up, and I got out of the car.

I was glad that I’d taken the rest of the afternoon off, though I would’ve rather spend it with Krisney, shopping for the lingerie that I’d planned to seduce Tate with.

I winced.

I really needed to get my mood swings in regards to Tate in order. This was beginning to get ridiculous, and way out of hand.

Getting out of my car with new determination in my step, I walked inside, took a look around, and came to a fast realization.

I needed a new place.

I wasn’t going to get over Tate Casey when I had to see him across the street from me every day.

An idea came to mind, and I grinned.

The only problem, for this idea to come to fruition, I had to go visit Tate’s grandma.