Page 6 of Expecting an Argument
Suddenly, a cool September breeze blew against my legs and I turned to my left. Beau was straddling the frame of an open window that led out into the alley. Dust stained the knees of his pants and the collar of his shirt was soaked with sweat. His hair was a tousled mess and his mouth was stained pink from my lip gloss.
He raked his hair out of his eyes and shot me a look. “Thanks for the ride, Adams.”
My eyes dropped to his jacket in my hands. “Don’t you want this?”
He shrugged. “Keep it. It’s going to get chilly tonight.”
With a wink, he ducked out the window and disappeared down the fire escape.
I held my breath as the attic door swung open and two pairs of footsteps stumbled in.
“Damnit, John, there ain’t shit up here!” said a voice.
“I didn’t make up what I heard,” came the reply. “There was moaning, dude!”
“Maybe the ghost was here, trying to warn us that a Fontaine was in our midst and up to some sketchy shit.”
I pressed the jacket closer to my body as one of the mensighed. “Aw, hell. Let’s not waste the one good party this town has seen in a decade.”
I only released my breath once the footsteps had disappeared down the stairwell. My knees shook as my inner thighs grew sticky.
Ugh. The sooner I could get to a shower, the sooner I could erase every trace of that little tryst.
I didn’t know where my underwear went, nor did I know how I was going to inconspicuously sneak back down to my car.
But at least I knew I would never have to see Beau Fontaine again.
It couldn’t be. It was impossible.
And yet…
I stared at the white plastic strip perched on the edge of my bathroom counter, hoping that if I stared hard enough, the result would change.
“Fuck,Liv!” Ashley groaned through the phone. “Are you sure? I thought you had an IUD?”
I walked over to the bathroom counter and peered down. I stifled a groan as the word “PREGNANT” burned into my eyes.
The test might as well have read, “PREGNANT…you dumb bitch.”
I rested the back of my head against the wall as I held my phone up. “I do, but…I got so focused on the Herringbone case last year that I forgot to track the expiration date.”
“How do you just forget that your IUD expired?” Ashley exclaimed. “I thought you had your shit together!”
“Ididhave my shit together!” I pushed myself off the wall. “How else do you think I earned that $98 million verdict?”
She sighed. “The verdict was badass, Liv, but you can’t forget to take care of yourself. You are more important than your job.”
“I’m only importantbecause ofmy job.” My slippered feet paced across the black hexagonal tile of my bathroom. “Fine, I neglected my self-care to take on the largest oil company on the planet. Hell, I even neglected my other cases to make sure I secured that verdict when it went up on appeal! I was busy playing catch-up all month but then I got sick and made everything worse.”
Just before Halloween, I started the most violent spells of vomiting I had ever experienced. I couldn’t keep anything down, not even water. I could barely walk. I couldn’t think. When I wasn’t at the office, I alternated between hiding in bed and clinging to the toilet.
When I collapsed while crawling toward my front door to go to work, I finally forced myself to call in sick for a week and a half. I had thought the illness was just the worst stomach flu known to man, but then Ashley told me to take a damn pregnancy test.
“And…you’re sure the baby is his?” Ashley quietly asked.
I sighed. “Couldn’t be anybody else. I didn’t hook up with anyone while the Herringbone case went up on appeal and that started months ago. And after the reunion…” I shrugged, letting the neck of my sweatshirt slide down my shoulder. “…I don’t know, I just haven’t wanted anybody since.”
Though I usually told Ashley all the sordid details of my hookups, I was too embarrassed to admit that I was still pining after my old high school rival. I hadn’t even opened my dating apps because I was too busy thinking about that night in the attic. Why go on another mediocre date when I had a vibrating arsenal in my nightstand drawer and a good memory?
