Page 37 of Hell On Heels
Vicious saw the look and heard the words. Shocked by the girl’s response, he knew he needed to tread lightly. “I was joking with Razor, Lottie.” He waited for her to respond, but instead of another lashing from the pretty goth girl, he saw tears shimmering in her bright green eyes. He saw Razor’s response to Lottie’s reaction to his words and shrugged at the brother.
“Lottie?” Razor asked.
Scooting her chair back,, Lottie rose as graceful as she could, refusing to make eye contact with anyone at the table. “Please, excuse me. I need some air.”
Moving through the tables, Lottie’s focus was on the door. She wasn’t going to sit there and let Sway ignore her. Nor would she let her husband make offhanded comments at her expense.
When Vicious moved his chair back with the intention of going after her, Razor stood up. “Where do you think you’re going, Vicious?”
“To speak with Lottie.”
“I think the shitty looks you’ve been giving her since you’ve sat down have said enough.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Stop. Both of you. I think the problem is me,” Sway stated as she stood and kissed Vicious quickly. “I’ll go talk to her.”
Before she walked off, Sway looked from her husband to Razor. “It’s my fault. Vicious had been running interference for me. Not with just Lottie, but everyone.” She leaned up and kissed Vicious on the cheek. “Play nice.”
Vicious and Razor stood glaring at one another as Sway walked away. The argument was far from over.
Pushing open the door, Sway walked out of the restaurant to find Lottie standing on the sidewalk.
“Please, leave me alone, Razor.”
Sway heard the plea in her shaky voice and refused to give Lottie what she wanted. “It’s not Razor.”
Lottie looked over at Sway, “Sorry. I thought if anyone would have followed me, it would’ve been him.”
“Lottie, I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you for months. I was distracted for a while after the attack. So was Vicious. But I thought everything would work out.” Sway stared at Lottie’s back.
“You barely contact me. It’s been that way since the wedding,” Lottie said without turning around. “I know it’s because it’s my fault for what happened to you. If I hadn’t been dating Dawson Franks, you wouldn’t have been kidnapped and tortured.”
“What happened to me was in no way your fault, Lottie. You have to let yourself off the hook.” There had been so much more going on. Things that she should have reached out to her best friend about.
Sway could tell Lottie had lost weight, which told her Lottie was probably drinking more and eating less. It was obvious that the separation was taking a toll on both of them.
“Lottie, I don’t blame you. I don’t blame Vicious. As hard as I try not to blame my brother, the truth is Tesh…god rest his soul…put me on Dawson’s radar by refusing to pay the protection money. When he confronted Dawson and Jerome, he got himself killed. Nothing that happened to me was anyone else’s fault.”
“Well, I feel like it is.”
Sway reached out taking Lottie’s hand, and led her to a bench where they could sit down. It was hard for Sway to talk about certain things. Hell, Sway didn’t want to talk about it now, but she needed Lottie in her life. And she knew it would do her good in the way of healing emotionally. “About two months after the attack I found out I was pregnant.” She saw the shocked look on Lottie’s face. That look was why Sway hadn’t forced the issue with Lottie.
“After we dealt with the news, we both chose to keep the baby and not do a paternity test.” She didn’t look at Lottie and continued to talk, “I wanted to wait to tell everyone, hoping people wouldn’t ask too many questions. At four months, Imiscarried.” Sway shook her head, hating hearing her own words. “Then I found out I was pregnant again. And again I lost the baby.” Sway swallowed, trying to keep her feelings shoved down.
“Vicious begged me to call you.” She’d been depressed and angry that she’d been through so much, then she lost both babies.” Reaching up, Sway swiped a hand across her face, wiping away tears that had started to build.
“I still struggle with losing the babies. I’ve been hiding from you, knowing you would recognize something was wrong.” Sway didn’t know if she could be honest with Lottie, that was one of the reasons she’d stayed away.
Lottie faced Sway with tears streaming down her face. Words escaped her, grabbing Sway she engulfed her in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry, Sway.” Leaning back, she looked at Sway. “No more hiding from one another. We’ve been friends too long to stop relying on one another for support.”
Sway nodded in agreement, trying to keep the tears from streaming down her face. “I’ve missed you so much, Lottie. I’m also sorry about Vicious. He’s been holding me together and running interference trying to help me. He’s barely been holding on.”
“I get it,” Lottie said, her voice soft. “I don’t like it, but I get it.”
Sway smiled, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. “Now, tell me what’s going on between you and Razor?”
Lottie huffed out a breath; she had no idea what was going on between them. “This is our first date.” She saw the shocked lookon Sway’s face. “I know what you’re thinking…why is everyone else here if this is a date. And the answer is…I don’t really know.”
