Chapter 44

Gabe

I stood on the stairs of the mansion on Summit and clapped my hands. A sharp slap to warm the skin beneath my gloves. Ice covered the front as usual, and the lawn was hidden beneath the snow.

George Callahan, fuckwad that he was, had decorated the lawn in ice sculptures and the trees in twinkly lights to celebrate Christmas, apparently. Or the heaps of money he had lying around. Usually, gardeners would have brought that shit inside by New Year’s, but Faith had let it slip that she’d demanded the grounds crew leave it up until Valentine’s.

I pressed the pearly white button and gritted my teeth. The colored glass reflected the morning light.

Faith opened the front door, gripping the underside of her belly. “Hey, honey, I’ve been trying to get hold of you for hours. I heard about that fire on Second Street.” She grasped the doorjamb with her left hand, twiddling her engagement ring.

It was a massive rock, something my father had picked out, bought and given to me for Faith. I’d left it on the kitchen counter and come back to find her wearing it. The minute I’d confronted her, Donovan had walked in and congratulated us on our engagement and my hefty inheritance.

It was all staged. My entire fucking life had been staged like some Tennessee Williams play.

“What’s the matter?” Faith looked out at the lawn. “Do you like the sculptures? Daddy had them put up yesterday and I think they’re just to die for.” She placed a hand over her breasts and heaved them theatrically. “I wish I could spend more time outside, but Mom says I might slip and hurt myself. Wouldn’t want to hurt the baby.”

I looked at her bump, which had dropped lower and grown in the past three days. She wore a white fur coat to cover it, but it struggled to close around the front, a few of the buttons strained as if they’d pop off.

“It’s getting close,” I said.

“That’s right, almost time for you to be a daddy.”

“That depends,” I replied, tucking my hands into the pockets of my jeans and staring her down. She’d pushed so hard for this end result. Why? What did she really stand to gain out of being with me when she had a rich ice-sculpture buying daddy?

It couldn’t be love. She sure as fuck didn’t understand love and I hadn’t either until I’d met Allegra.

Faith tapped her fingers on the door, and the rock clunked against it too. A deeper sound that made me want to rip it off her finger and hurl it at the nearest sculpture that looked like a flaccid cock wedged between two hearts. Maybe give cupid a teabag.

“Would you care to explain that?” Faith tapped her heel in time with her fingers.

“Losing your patience, Faith?” I asked, then pressed my palms together behind my back to keep from reaching for the ring. “So am I. I’m not going to support you and the baby until I know the baby is mine.”

“I told you it’s yours,” she replied sullenly. “That should be enough for you.”

“It’s not.” In fact, I wasn’t sure she’d ever been enough for me. Too much at times, in her darker moments, during the drunken sprees. But emotionally? No, she’d never be enough for me.

“How can you say that? Don’t you know how upsetting it is? I mean, I’m heavily pregnant here. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for any harm to the baby, would you?”

I gritted my teeth. “Don’t emotionally blackmail me, Faith. I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“I’ll call my dad. He’s upstairs. Perhaps you should talk to him, explain why you can’t support his darling daughter. Tell him about your slimy little slut.” She cradled her belly in both arms, then leaned back as if to call up the stairs, then seemed to change her mind. “The one that’s such a redneck her school fight song was Dueling Banjos.”

“Do it,” I replied, “fuck it, I don’t care anymore. I’m not going to be held hostage to your bullshit. Call him down here.”

She snapped her gaze to my face, which was just now starting to regain feeling from the low exterior temperature. “You can’t be serious about this,” Faith said, “I thought we moved past this whole paternity test fiasco. We’re engaged.”

“Not by my choice. You can take the ring off, by the way. It’s not my ring.”

That got her eyebrows up. She gripped at her left hand instead of her stomach, holding the ring on like it would fall off just because I’d mentioned it.

“I won’t take it off.” Faith ground those words out.

“And I will never marry you.”

Her hand fluttered to her chest, over her heart, and she flicked her mane of red hair in denial.

“That’s right. I’m in love with Allegra and I’ll never marry you. Not even if that baby is mine. Do you get that?” I scuffed my feet on the icy front step to warm my toes, but it didn’t make much of a damn difference.

“I-uh, what? She’s twisted your mind,” Faith said, rambling now between glances over her shoulder and fish-mouthed pouts. “Yeah, that’s it. She’s corrupted you and you don’t realize how much you need me. She’s like a vacuum. She sucks, blows and then gets rolled in the closet where her fat ass belongs. Jesus, Gabe. You couldn’t even be seen in public with that trash.”

“I don’t need you.” Man, I felt like an ass for saying this shit to her while she was pregnant, but Faith didn’t get the point. She refused to acknowledge me in the simplest fucking ways and I wouldn’t stand for it any longer. I also wouldn’t stand for her constant digs at the woman I was in love with.

I got enough of that from my dad.

“You’ve always needed me. Christ, you were nothing before we got together. Just some little rich kid who didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. Whatever. Don’t need me...” Faith’s face turned as red as the shock of hair protruding from the white scarf she’d tied around her roots. “You think it will be easy? Giving up on us means giving up on your inheritance, asshole.”

“I’m fine with that,” I replied. Actually, the thought of freeing myself from my dad’s hold, financial and otherwise, made my brain do a breakdance of joy.

“You’re fine with being poor?” Her lips twisted in opposite directions, like two sausages trying to pull apart at the corners. Like being poor was the worst possible outcome her addled mind could conjure. God, how had I ever thought I loved this tart? Even as my friend?

She wasn’t beautiful inside or out. Though, that was probably because I could finally see her true colors.

“I’m fine with being happy. God, I’m actually over the fucking moon. I’m telling you this once, Faith, so read my lips. I never thought I’d feel this good in my life.” I grinned, baring my teeth. “And it’s all thanks to Allegra.”

“Douche,” Faith snapped.

“I want a paternity test, Faith, and I won’t take no for an answer. If you don’t give it to me, I’ll tell daddy dearest about your fun and free college years. Understand?”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

We both knew that George would disown her if he found out about her ‘romantic’ history. Her father was as much of an asshole as she was. He blamed me for the pregnancy and believed that I’d tricked her into the sack.

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” I replied. “I’ll tell him about your gang bangs, your threesomes with other women and even about that time you went down on the entire football team so you could win that bet at Michael Slatterley’s twenty-first birthday party. I think there might even be a cell phone video of that one. I’m done being Mr. Nice Guy.” I trudged down the front stairs and towards my car.

“Don’t do this to me, Gabe,” Faith called after me. “You’ll regret it.”

I looked at her one last time. The woman I’d thought I loved. Nothing but a posturing, climbing, over-reaching piece of shit.

“Take that ring off your finger.”