Chapter 21

Ally

I stared at Faith’s hand like it had sprouted fangs and was about to strike at any second.

“I take it you’re not going to shake my hand?” she asked as she flicked that glorious red mane back behind her rigid shoulders. “Typical. You’re just the latest in a long line of Gabe’s sluts. Rudeness goes with the territory when it comes to your kind because he’s never been good at keeping it in his pants. This isn’t my first confrontation.”

“What?”

Faith withdrew her tapered hand and placed it on her heavily pregnant abdomen, drawing attention to it. I stared at the shape of her belly button beneath the too-tight blouse. Her breasts spilled out of the cups of her bra, poking past the silk of her shirt to create an ample mound of cleavage. But her display was lost on me because my mind held only thoughts of Gabe’s unborn baby inside my bakery. Inside her.

“Are you addled or were you raised by a pack of wolves? Don’t you have questions? Tears? A tantrum to throw?” Faith swayed over to one of the chairs and lowered herself into it, clearly annoyed that she hadn’t created more drama. She grimaced and shifted her weight. “It’s too bad you couldn’t afford comfier cushions. There’s potential here, but right now this place is really classless.”

Insulting my bakery and pregnant with my boyfriend’s child? Wait, Gabe wasn’t technically my boyfriend. He was …

I shook my head to clear it. “You’re pregnant with Gabe’s child,” I whispered what had been rattling around in my head. Then my heart shattered into a million pieces.

“You’re a slow learner,” Faith observed. “Gabe and I have known each other since we were children and loved each other just as long. You’re a cheap piece of ass to him. Flat on her back with another woman’s man who just happens to be pregnant with his son.”

Gabe’s son.

“You’re together?” I gripped at my head, trying to hold my brain inside my skull because it felt like it might explode. How did I let something like this happen to me again? There had to have been signs that I missed. I should have stuck to the plan, focused on the failing bakery. If I had, then maybe I wouldn’t be staring at the apparent love of Gabe’s life.

I choked out a laugh then swallowed it. Hard. The lump in my throat was full with my unshed tears. “What do you want, Faith?”

“That should be glaringly obvious. I’m starting to think you’re not very bright. Did you even go to college?”

As she spoke, she stroked her belly again, then skewered me with a scorching hot glare that could have melted the skin from my face had it contained laser energy. My mind reeled, darting around the truth. Evading the inevitable. Gabe had impregnated this woman and neglected to tell me about it.

A woman who could actually get pregnant.

Was this what he wanted? Was this why he’d kept himself so closed off? He’d never really spoken about his past and I’d been an assuming idiot. Now, I realized I knew nothing about Gabe’s family. Outside of our flaming chemistry, I didn’t really know Gabe at all.

“I have no idea what you want. I have no idea about anything right now,” I murmured. Standing. Staring.

Immobile.

This morning, everything had been perfect. I’d made love to the man of my dreams. A fireman. Then, I drove home with a mind overflowing with creative ideas on how I could save my bakery. A new hopeful outlook on my entire life.

Faith was silent, sitting there in the cold with her fox-lined jacket across her shoulders and those massive breasts heaving. She had a small frame, so they had to be fake. She reeked of money and class and privilege. I wondered what else was artificial besides her chest and her smile.

I tore my gaze away from her and stared out the window at the snow-lined sidewalk. Not much foot traffic at this time of day and it was cold too. “What do you want?” I asked again in a much firmer tone.

“I want you to stay the hell away from Gabe. Actually, I want the ground to open up and swallow you whole,” she purred, twirling her fingers as if she held a magic wand that would encompass the entire bakery and make me disappear in a poof of evil smoke. “But … I’ll settle for you ceasing all contact.”

I wanted to agree instantly. Not because she deserved it with her jealous, possessive attitude and callous demeanor. She couldn’t possibly think that I knew about her baby’s existence and had slept with Gabe anyway?

“I can’t believe this is happening.”

Had I said that out loud? They were the only words I could choke out.

“Why? Did you really think you were special enough to get more than a couple nights from him?” She placed a hand over her mouth and stifled a giggle. “Get real, sweetheart, look at you. You’re a cheap piece of white trash who samples too many of your own cupcakes.”

My heart pounded in my ears so hard, I could feel my own eardrums. Nausea bubbled up.

“You need to leave,” I stammered.

“Not before I get that promise from you.”

“No!” I snapped. The shock floated away for a blissful second, but then I found only nasty jealousy seething beneath it. He’d made love to this woman and given her his child. Something I’d never be able to do. He’d known her for years and he loved her.

Her. Not me.

Pregnant. It was so fucking final.

“Then I’m afraid I can’t leave yet,” she replied, squishing back against the chair. Wiggling her perfectly small ass. “Go fetch me a pillow, will you? My back’s having a spasm.” Faith flashed me a grin that was whiter than cream cheese frosting.

“I suggest —” The words died on my tongue.

Gabe blew through the front door like the fires of hell nipped at his boot clad heels. The bell tinkled overhead, destroying my chance at a perfect retort. His smile flickered and then he frowned as he looked from me to Faith.

She gave a merry wave. “Hey, handsome. Just thought I’d pay your harlot a visit. Glad you could join us.”

“What are you doing here?” Gabe growled at her. He stared as if he couldn’t believe Faith actually sat in the chair of my bakery spewing her venom.

“Can’t you see? I’m going to have a cupcake and chat about our son.” She stroked her belly with both hands now. That seemed to be her favorite pastime. Apart from blowing the remaining shards of my normal life sky high.

“Allegra —” he started, but I held up a hand to stop him.

“So that’s the whore’s name?” Faith interjected, the words like honey on her foul lips. “It suits her. Allegra. Are you sure you’re not a stripper?”

“Faith,” Gabe snapped. “Shut up.”

“Aren’t we touchy,” she murmured, then winked at me like we were best friends. I’d never been in the ring with a woman who could insult and manipulate like Mike Tyson boxed.

“I can’t believe you’ve done this,” Gabe spat at Faith, then turned his panic filled eyes in my direction. Pleading. “You have to hear me out, Allegra. You don’t understand.”

“I think I understand just fine,” I countered, then looked at Faith. Her smug expression bordered on wicked. She licked her lush lips and jumped back into the conversation.

“No, sweetie, she understands perfectly. I explained everything to her and I didn’t spare any details. I’m the mother of your unborn son and heir. Oh, and don’t let me forget the most important part. Allegra’s a home wrecker.” She beamed at him.

“What?” Gabe took a step forward. “A home wrecker. We’re —”

“Stop it,” I whispered, then raised my voice. “Please, just stop it. I didn’t sign up for this. I don’t want to be involved. I’d never destroy a family.”

“You heard her,” Faith said, jerking her thumb in my direction.

I sank into a nearby chair because my rubbery legs simply could not support me anymore. Red. The color of my face and neck. I wouldn’t be surprised if I broke out in hives from the shock and stress. I felt every hope and dream I’d had about Gabe going up in smoke, just like that night my oven had caught fire.

I wanted answers from him. No. I didn’t want anything from either of them. I just wanted to be alone to lick my wounds and see if any of the razor sharp pieces of my shattered existence could be glued back together.

I held my cold palms to my heated cheeks and glanced outside again. My eyes were more comfortable anywhere else than on either of them — the pair of archers who had driven their hate-filled arrows straight to the center of my heart. The bakery was empty of its usual smells and sounds. Sunlight glanced off the snow outside, a gap in the grey clouds that had deposited the drift on the street. Cars and people crunched by, making dirty tracks in the white.

“Get out,” I stammered and nodded toward the door. “Both of you. You need to leave.”

“I have to get up without my cupcake? I was so looking forward to trying the Dark Chocolate Decadence. How inconvenient,” Faith groaned, then braced her palms on the table and made a big show of shifting her bulk out of the chair.

Oh my God.

The night we’d made cupcakes and then made the most incredible love of my young life came crashing back in painful waves. Dark Chocolate Decadence. Gabe licking the rich frosting from my naked body. I’m never going to bake that flavor again.

And a son. He was about to be a father.

I looked up at Gabe. “You too,” I rasped. I wouldn’t let either of them see me cry. Especially her.

Codsworth ambled out of the kitchen with a pert meow. He rubbed against my leg and curled around my ankles, blinking up at me with yellow eyes.

“Come on, darling, let’s go,” Faith said, patting him on the arm as she ambled past. “I’m allergic.”

“Allegra, please, hear me out.” Gabe clenched his fists, released and then clenched them again until his knuckles were white.

“No.”