Chapter 5

On their way to her apartment, both of their phones began to ring at the same time. He looked over at her, shrugged, and answered his.

“Hello?” He paused to listen for a moment. “Holy shit!” he yelled as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket. “JL’s in labor!” He downshifted and wove through traffic.

“She’s early!”

“I know,” he said, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “You think she’ll be okay? She’s my sister, she’s gotta be okay, right?”

“Of course. She’s going to be fine,” Penny said, closing her eyes and saying a silent prayer for JL. Then, worried, she checked her own voicemail. There was a message from Enzo saying he was taking Belle with them to the hospital and not to worry, both Belle and JL were fine.

“I have to go to the hospital,” he said frantically. “You want me to drop you off first?”

“I’ll go with you.” They were friends; it would make sense that she go too. But this would be the perfect time to tell him about her daughter. There was really no more time left. In a few minutes he’d know, and they’d be over. The man couldn’t have made his dislike of children any clearer. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and turned to tell him. But he had his hands gripped tight around the wheel and his jaw clenched.

“Why anyone would do this to themselves is beyond me. It’s not even my kid, and my heart is beating out of my chest.”

And there it was again—another reminder that this would be their one and only date. She wished things could be different, but the man had made it abundantly clear that he didn’t want children. She couldn’t even be mad at him about it. He had his reasons, and he had been honest. She, on the other hand, should have told him about Belle long ago.

Travis pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, hopped off, and ran around to open her door.

“Wait,” she said. “I want to talk to you.”

“I know, darlin’. I’m sorry about this. I’ll make it up to you. Maybe tomorrow night? I really like spending time with you.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Me too, and I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier but—”

“Travis! Texas!” There was an onslaught of clicking and flashes.

“Slade!”

“Oh my God, is that Scarface?”

Slade and Tony had arrived with their women, accompanied by Iggy, and they were all being swarmed by the media.

“Travis! Travis! Over here!” a cameraman shouted. “Who’s the girl?”

There were more flashes. “Travis!”

“One photo. Come on!”

“I’m in a hurry. Move.” He swept the nearest reporter’s hand away and pulled Penny along with him.

“Travis!” the reporter yelled. “Come on. We’ll stop if you just give us something. Who’s the girl? One shot and we’ll stop. Come on. Promise to leave you alone.”

Travis stopped, huffed, and then pulled Penny around and dipped her. She had to hold on to his neck or she’d fall down as he kissed her silly, her body arching back. “Happy?” he said over his shoulder to the reporter. “Now leave.”

She was so shocked at the entire turn of events she was actually speechless. She tried to shield her face as he righted her.

“I can’t believe you did that!” she shrieked, shoving his shoulder hard, as they walked toward the hospital entrance.

“Who cares, Penny? I don’t care who knows.”

“I do!” She looked around at the scrum of media behind them. “It was the one single thing I asked you not to do, and that was only two hours ago!”

Before Penny had a chance to say anything more, the reporters and photographers caught up to them. “Who’s the girl, Texas? Is it serious?”

“I have to go!” he growled, but they were relentless.

She tried to push through the crowd, covering her face with her hands.

“Dammit, Penny. Stay close!” he said, oblivious to the fact that she was having a panic attack.

“You said my name!” she cried out as he took her hand and pulled her through the hospital’s big entrance doors. Once they were inside, she pulled her hand away from him. “Stop!”

“What?” he said, seemingly irritated.

She was aware that there were a few photographers observing them through the glass doors, but she couldn’t put this off. “You don’t know what you’ve done, Travis.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I can’t be on camera,” she huffed. “My stepfather is going have a heart attack when he sees that you and I were kissing.”

“What, I’m not good enough for your family or something?” he said, glowering. “How would your stepdad even know?”

“As a matter of fact, no, he would not think you’re good enough.”

That hit him like a slap in the face. “Well, fuck him very much, and you too, Penny. You didn’t seem like such a stuck-up bitch when you were riding my cock less than an hour ago,” he snarled.

Furious, she pushed him out of the way, hard this time, and strode ahead. Behind her she could hear Francesca say, “Jesus, Travis. That was fucking harsh.”

She stopped abruptly, turned around, and strode back over to him, making an effort to keep the tears out of her eyes. She’d been through too much to let another man break her. She whispered in his ear, so that his friends wouldn’t overhear, “I was going to say that he wouldn’t think you’re good enough because he doesn’t think anyone, including me, is good enough. And I was also going to say that not only did I think you were good enough, I thought you were everything. But that was before, and clearly I was wrong. Thank you for reminding me why I’m here in this town. Thank you for reminding me that the only person I can count on is myself and that men are only interested in sex.” She turned around and walked away.

Travis knew pain.

Every bone in his body had at one time been broken. He’d had stitches on most surfaces of his skin. He’d also known what it was to inflict pain. He’d left men bloodied and bruised.

But the words that Penny had whispered into his ear were a new kind of pain. They cut deep, through his flesh and right into his soul. The fact that she hadn’t yelled or cursed was the twist that felt like a spike directly into his heart.

“There you are!” Enzo said, looking haggard.

Still frazzled from what had happened in the last few minutes, Travis asked, “Who the fuck’s that?” He pointed to the little bundle of blond curls snuggled against Enzo’s chest. “That’s too big to have come out of my sister,” Travis added.

Enzo looked at Penny apologetically.

“It’s okay,” she said with a faint smile to Enzo, and extended her arms to take the baby. “Go be with your wife. I’m sorry you had to deal with her on top of the stress of the labor.”

“You know she’s perfect. We don’t mind. Poor thing, didn’t even notice all the mayhem going on around her. Gotta run. I’ll let you know. JL doesn’t seem to be that far along, but her water broke,” he called out, jogging away.

Travis stood there confused. “Who is that?” he asked again.

“Sarabelle.”

“Who is that?” he repeated.

“My daughter.”

“Pardon?”

“You heard me.”

“You have…how can…what?”

“Shh. Keep your voice down.” Penny spoke softly as she rocked Belle soothingly.

“You have a kid, and you kept the fact from me?” He took his hat off and ran his fingers through his hair. “That’s why you wouldn’t stay the night?”

“I don’t owe you any explanations.”

“I’m sorry about what I said a minute ago.”

“Go be with your sister, Travis.”

“Penny…” He didn’t know what else to say. He was beyond sorry for the shit he’d said. It had just come out of his mouth. He’d been busting his ass his whole life to prove that he was something. That he was good enough. That his mother had been wrong. And when Penny had said that he wasn’t—he’d just snapped. And a kid? There were just too many things happening at the same time.

“You don’t like kids,” she said, as if it explained everything.

“No reason to lie to me about it.”

“I didn’t lie.”

“That’s complete bullsh—” His words halted abruptly as he tried to curb his language despite his rage. “How could you keep something this fu— I mean, this big from me?” He paced around the room. “For a year we talked about everything.”

“We didn’t talk about everything. We talked about nonsense. You talked about the weather and your training, and I talked about the customers at the Pier, mostly. You never told me anything real about you. Even tonight, what do I really know about you, Travis? You wouldn’t even tell me about your tattoo. You obviously have some secret you don’t want me to know, and that was okay. That was the agreement, right? So you don’t really get to be mad now.”

He slammed his hat on a nearby chair and ran his hands through his hair.

“And how could you kiss me in front of the camera?” Penny went on. “Expose me like that? I told you I didn’t want to be on camera.”

“Who the hell cares about that right now?”

“I do!” she hissed back.

“How could you not tell me you had a kid? You used me for sex.”

She snorted out. “I used you for sex? That’s ridiculous. When exactly would’ve been the right time to tell you—after we slept together or before? When you’ve made it clear you didn’t care to have kids anytime soon? When you said you wanted to have fun and travel the world?”

“You had a goddamn year, Penny.”

“Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain that way.” She glared at him.

“Seriously? That’s what you’re preaching at me?” He paced up and down. The door to the small waiting room opened, and their group of friends walked in.

“No way that’s JL’s kid,” Francesca murmured, nodding at Belle.

“What is wrong with you people? Don’t you know the difference between a thirteen-month-old and a newborn?” Penny exclaimed.

“Whose child is that, Penny?” Violet asked gently.

“Her name is Sarabelle, and she’s mine.”

“Whoa!” Tony said, glancing at Travis.

“Has anyone checked on JL?” Cain inquired.

“Enzo said he’d come by and let us know. Her water broke, but she’s not dilated much yet,” Penny disclosed.

After they had all sat down, Violet gently reached her arms out toward Belle and asked gently, “Why didn’t you tell anyone you had a baby, Penny?”

With a sigh, Penny handed the sleeping baby to Violet, who cooed over her.

“Look, Cain. Isn’t she precious?” she asked, looking up at her fiancé.

“She is,” the quiet man agreed.

“So…?” Jessica, Slade’s girlfriend asked, looking first at Belle and then at Penny.

“It’s a long story. I promise I’ll tell you—I’ll tell everyone,” she said with a glance at Travis, who was sitting on the far side of the room and seemed…betrayed? Mad? She wasn’t sure. “But after I talk to Travis.”

“Let him cool down first, then go talk to him. He’s just reacting,” Violet advised. “Travis has always been that way. He’s impulsive—says and does the first thing that pops into his mind. He’s a great person, but sometimes he does stupid things. I’m not saying to forget the crappy thing he said. It was bad—you should punch him in the nose or something. But after everyone’s calmed down, you two should talk.”

Travis had to get out of the small waiting area, so he stormed out and paced the hall outside. He was overwhelmed with emotions. He was scared shitless for his sister, he felt utterly horrified by the things he’d said to Penny, and he was absolutely seething with anger at the fact that she hadn’t told him about the baby. Even the long hall felt too small for his temper.

Just then he saw Iggy walking down the hall.

“Hey, man, I heard about JL,” Iggy called. Then he got closer and saw the expression on Travis’s face. “What the hell’s eating you?”

In the last month or so, Travis had begun hanging out with Iggy when Iggy was in town, and they’d gotten fairly close. Part of it was that ever since Travis’s best friend had knocked up his sister, they’d been holed up honeymooning, and Travis and Iggy were the only two single guys left in their group.

“Don’t want to talk about it,” Travis growled.

“So it’s pussy,” Iggy decided. “She’s either not giving you enough or giving it to someone else. Which is it?”

“Shut the fuck up, man.”

“I’m messing with you.” Iggy peered into the waiting room through the window in the door. “Whose kid is Penny holding?”

“Hers.”

“I didn’t know she had a kid, man.”

Travis snorted. “Yeah, well, that makes two of us.”

“Seriously?”

Travis nodded. “I mean, I’ve known her for a goddamn year. I thought we were friends. And I just find out now, today? Bet if we weren’t thrown into this situation at the hospital she wouldn’t have told me.” He cocked his arm back and punched the vending machine. “Motherfucker,” he cursed, shaking his painful hand.

“Nice. Screw up your hand. It’s not like you’ll need it to fight, right?” He took Travis’s hand and examined it. “Open and close it.” Travis did, a few times. “You should ice it.”

Travis pulled his arm back. “Can you fucking believe it? I mean, a kid. A kid! This changes everything. We were having a good time.”

“A good time?”

He didn’t want to give yet another person an intimate account of his time with Penny. “I fucked up, man. Said some real nasty shit to her.”

“But you don’t care, right? She lied about the kid and you’re pissed, so who cares.”

“Point fucking made, Iggy. Doesn’t change a thing. I can’t have a kid. I mean, I already fucked things up with all the shit I said, and I feel like a complete dick. Imagine how much I’d screw up a kid. I don’t need that kind of shit in my life. I need fun. I need things to be easy.”

“Really? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like that’s exactly the kind of shit you want. Since that chick came into town, not once have you hooked up, at least not that I’ve known about. We go out, you leave alone. You’re at the Pier every single fucking night. You went crazy when you found out she was going to work at Ruby’s. None of that shit screams easy or fun. It says fucking complicated and messy.”

“I want her, Iggy, but I don’t want the kid that comes with her,” Travis admitted. Saying it out loud made him feel like the biggest kind of asshole.

“Let me tell you a little story,” Iggy said.

“Not the time.”

“Shut up and listen. Gonna drop some knowledge on you, brother.”

Travis rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Once upon a time, there was a kid who grew up in foster care. Let’s call the kid Marco. Hard life.”

Travis knew all about hard lives—he didn’t want to hear about someone else’s. He knew better than anyone what it meant to have a shitty family and no money.

“The kid was hungry, angry, and desperate to get himself a home,” Iggy went on. “So one day he hustles himself some money and gets some fake papers and at the ripe ol’ age of seventeen enlists in the Army. Made some good friends, learned what it is to have family. Learned that sometimes family is not blood. In fact, the family you pick for yourself can be better than blood. And the kid ends up meeting his brother, Dante, in the hot-as-fuck sands of Iraq. All Dante does for three years is talk about his girl and his son at home. Dante couldn’t wait to see her. That was his only dream. Dante talked about it so much that Marco began to believe that maybe being alone sucked ass. Maybe he needed to get the fuck out of the Army and go find himself a family. A girl. A son. Three years in the trenches with Dante, planning barbeques with an imaginary family and Dante’s real family. Then one day—boom! A fucking IED out of no-fucking-where! Dante dies and leaves an orphan and a widow. Marco leaves his fucking leg in the fuckin’ desert and along with it the possibility of ever having children.”

Travis had a lump in his throat. The truth was that Iggy was the most positive person he knew. The thought of all that darkness in Iggy’s life was astounding. “Damn, man. I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, I don’t tell a lot of people. But it’s cool,” Iggy said in a blasé tone. “What I’m trying to tell you, brother, is that you are a lucky son of a bitch. You don’t have to marry the girl, and there’s no need to have a family today. But don’t discard something that may lead to something big because you think you don’t want kids. I bet my leg—the real one—that you’ve never even thought about it. Really thought about it.”

“But you have.”

“Every fucking day,” Iggy said. He squeezed Travis’s shoulder before heading back into the waiting room.

The door to the waiting room opened and Iggy walked in. He said hello to everyone and then sat next to Penny. “Who’s this?”

“Sarabelle, my daughter.”

He wrapped one of the child’s curls around his finger. “Cute.”

“Hey, Iggy, do you happen to have a phone I can borrow?” Penny asked.

Iggy laughed. “Do I have a phone?” He rolled his eyes in amusement. “Got two.” He reached into his pocket and pulled one out.

“Does it have Internet access? I need to check my email. Is that okay?”

“You don’t have a phone?”

“I do.” She pulled her flip phone out of her pocket. “One of those prepaid ones, and I can’t check my email on it.”

Iggy took the phone out of her hands and looked at it as if it was some sort of ancient artifact. “Seriously?” He shook his head and scoffed. “Here you go.” He handed her his sleek phone.

She went into the Web browser—it wasn’t difficult to use his phone, since it was similar to the one she’d had before leaving Oklahoma—and searched her email. She had a ton of messages, mostly from her old friends. Ignoring them all, she scrolled until she found what she was looking for. It was something she did almost every day from the public library. She scrolled through her Google Alerts; for the last year, all the alerts had been mostly about her missing, and there was nothing new. Relieved, she exited her emails and then did a search on Travis. Her heart pumped fast against her chest when she saw all the photos of herself with Travis, which were mostly from local papers and sites. The articles said mostly that Travis, the star of Fight Night, was smitten with a local bartender at Ruby’s; sources said her name was Penny.

With trembling hands she read it again. “You okay?” Iggy asked. She exited the screen and handed him the phone without a word. How long before her stepfather found her?

“Hey, are you okay?”

She looked down at Sarabelle in her arms and squeezed her harder.

“Penny?”

“Um…yeah, fine.” She stood, her eyes unfocused and her thoughts jumbled. She didn’t want to go back to her apartment. What if her stepfather was there? She knew she was overreacting. It was too soon; the stories had just appeared in the last hour. And really, what could her stepfather do? He couldn’t physically make her do anything. She sighed. She knew what he’d do—he’d use his money to back her into a corner and force her hand.

“Okay, I think it’s time you tell us what’s going on. You’re kind of scaring us with that look,” Violet said, taking Belle from Penny’s arms.

She looked around and saw Travis standing close by, his arms crossed over his chest. “I should talk to him alone first.”

“Go. We’ll watch her,” Violet offered.

Penny led Travis to the other side of the room. This was it. Time to come clean.