Page 100 of Nothing to You
“Fuck!”
The exclamation rattled through the walls from the other room.
“That’s not good,” Rourke said.“When Knox Collier is unhappy, the rest of us should watch out.”
THIRTY-ONE
TAKING HER HAND, Rourke led her into the living room again as Zairn turned on the TV.
“…quite a surprising revelation.”A woman in a cocktail dress stood on set with a glitzy banner flashing on the screens behind her.Zairn and Roxie’s names faded up with a picture of them at the side, like people wouldn’t know who they were.
“Has it been confirmed?”the presenter said.“No, but we have several eyewitnesses…”
Damn.Did this mean Diva had leaked their conversation to the press?Wasn’t Knox supposed to be keeping a lid on it?
“And there is footage of a black town car pulling into the alley behind the clinic at the same time these witnesses claim to have seen the couple.We can only assume they’re expecting.A surprise given their breakup not so long ago when Roxanne, excuse me, Roxanna, claimed Zairn wanted her ‘barefoot and pregnant’ and that is a quote.Has the beauty changed her mind for love… or money?”
“Nice.Never miss a chance to bring up the gold digging,” Roxie said.“It’s not money, it’s the sex!Do you have any idea how much experience my Casanova has?”
“This reproductive clinic is one of the best in the country for all kinds of reproductive and fertility needs.I can’t imagine they’re having fertility issues.If Roxie was so against having children, it can only be an accidental pregnancy.”
“This is fun,” Roxie said.“It’s been a while since we’ve been in the news.”
Yeah, like a whole ten seconds.
Zairn muted the TV.“Do we care?”
“No,” Roxie said, opening a hand to him.
He came to take it and sat at her side.“I’m sorry about this.”His fingers went into her hair as they curled around the side of her head.“I’m sorry they’re invading our privacy again.”
“This is our life.I know this is our life.I’ve told you to stop apologizing.Who cares if they know we were there?Won’t that be the evidence you need if the kid asks about its mother?Now you have proof!”
“The kid asks?Are you dying?”Jane asked, full of panic.“Why are we sitting around here?What do you have?We should be at a hospital!”The innocence switched to Zairn.“Why don’t you have a team of doctors for her?Don’t you love her?Don’t you want her to live?”
“If I made the rules, she’d have a team for everything she could ever need.Including a designated charger.But she’s not dying.At least, she assures me she’s not.”
“I’m not deliberately dying,” Roxie said.“So the world knows we went to a clinic and thinks I’m pregnant.At least they’re saying it’s your baby.In six months, when Lilya’s pushing out her kid, and I don’t even have a bump, they’ll get a clue they were wrong.They move on from these things quickly.”
“It’s the documentary,” Kintyre said.“You’re hot right now.The paps are watching everywhere you go.”
“Oh, we know that.Believe me.It’s a damper on my sex life.Now we have to do it at home all the time, and I love having sex in the car.”She pushed out her lower lip in dramatic misery.“I can’t walk ten feet without someone flashing in my face, and not the good flashing.”
Roux smiled.“I don’t know if I would be so calm.”
“You’re never having kids,” Rourke interjected.“What are you talking about?”
“She might want kids,” Jane said.“People change their minds all the time.Some people think one thing until they’re in a situation and then they change their minds.”
“Jane wants everyone to have kids,” Roxie said, stroking her friend’s leg.
“I don’t want to have kids,” Jane said, drawing everyone’s attention.“I don’t.”
“Says the woman who picked out names before she hit puberty.”
“It’s about the situation.I don’t want kids now, but I want them later.”
Situation?Like who you’re with?“You don’t want kids now because you’re with Knox?”she asked.
