Page 19

Chapter 18

Annette

M y phone rang, and I carefully fished it out of my pocket while trying to control Walter, which was no easy feat. The puppy was as big as many full-grown dogs and so damn prone to pulling after every squirrel, dog, and person it came across.

“Hello?”

Then I realized I never looked at the caller ID. What if it was Luke?

I still couldn’t shake the idea that he would come after me again.

“When are you done with your last walk tonight?”

My shoulders eased at Natalie’s voice, even though she sounded so stern.

“In a half hour,” I answered.

“Good. I’ve already spoken to Scuba. He’s going to watch Eric all night. But you’re coming with us to deal with a crisis.”

I was still finding my groove after my life with Luke. It was nice to be taken under Natalie’s wing. She has been like a big sister, and she brought me into the WAG fold. It was nice to have someone who knew how to be the perfect hockey girlfriend or wife.

But anytime I started to think of myself as a WAG, I had to remind myself that I was not Scuba’s girlfriend. I was only his kid’s mom.

Walter must have caught sight of a squirrel due to the tug to the right. I nearly lost my phone from between my shoulder and ear as I used both hands to gain control of the leash. This was when I wished I had some good headphones that I could use on walks.

“Look, I got to go. I’ll see you after I’m done walking Walter.”

“I still can’t believe you are walking that big boy. I’ll meet you at Scuba’s place.” She said that every time she heard me walking him, but at the same time, she was the one who set up the gig in the first place.

I ended the call and pocketed the phone in my fanny pack that I left open for treats. Of course, Walter sat down and gave me that big, soft smile he always flashed when begging for treats. He didn’t use puppy dog eyes. No, he lifted his chin with a big smile.

I gave the big puppy a couple of treats. I also held one more in my hand just in case I needed it to redirect him back to Scuba’s house. We turned around, but thankfully, Walter didn’t fight me at all with the turn.

Coming up to Scuba’s house, I saw Natalie’s car in the driveway.

She wasn’t wasting any time, so there must have been a crisis. Sadly, I hoped she was exaggerating when she said there was an emergency needing my help.

I pushed open the door, and Walter padded into the house. He trotted over to Scuba and Eric even before I could get the harness off him. I instantly regretted it and got into a defensive position. “Sorry. Walter, get back here.”

When nothing happened, I peeked into the room to see that Walter had hopped up onto the sofa and was giving Scuba and Eric kisses. As Walter licked Eric’s face, making him squirm, Scuba unclipped the harness. “It’s fine. Besides, Nat’s here for you.”

Fuck, I was blind. There she was, sitting right next to the boys. She wasn’t even hidden away. Nope, she was right in front of me.

Natalie waved at me, but she was already standing up. “Come on. Let’s go. I’ll explain in the car.”

“Be good, Eric, and listen to your dad,” I called out.

With that, we headed out the door from which I had just come.

We got into her SUV, and I stayed silent. I didn’t want to pester her for details. This was a learned behavior from life with Luke. But I knew I didn’t have to silence myself or wait for something bad to happen all the time.

However, before I could muster up the courage to say what was on my mind, Natalie said, “Okay, so Siobhan has a stalker. I know you walk Hallsy’s dog right next door, so I wanted to make sure this wasn’t your ex’s doing. Besides, I think you both need some girl time.”

Oh dear.

I didn’t even know he was out of jail. I just took it for granted he was locked up.

I hoped for all our sakes that it wasn’t Luke’s doing. But given the fact that he once tracked me down at the domestic shelter and then tracked Natalie down at a hockey rink, I could understand her concern.

“What happened?” I asked.

“There was a message left in spray paint on her house, along with a very unpleasant gift.”

Hearing that there was a message painted on her house, I was ninety percent sure it wasn’t Luke. He used to gripe about how graffiti artists should be locked up. Hell, he flipped his shit when I bought spray paint once for a craft project.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think it was Luke, but once we get there, I’d be able to tell if it could be him.”

The drive was pretty quiet, minus Taylor Swift playing in the background. Eventually, Natalie said, “So, we haven’t talked lately. How’s life with the living sex machine?”

I giggled. That was such a weird way to describe Terry since I didn’t think he had been having much sex. Well, he did stay out some nights, but it seemed like he came back as a flirty drunk. It was the only time I thought he might have liked me, too.

I had to defend Terry. “He’s not like that.”

Natalie scoffed, “Bullshit. Don’t forget, I’m his personal assistant, and he has asked me to help him with his favorite extracurricular activity.”

“Well, I don’t see it…” Then I thought about the organizer on the top shelf of our pantry and added, “Much.”

She quickly picked up on the word much . “Okay, what aren’t you saying?”

It was so embarrassing to admit it out loud. Well, Natalie didn’t have to know I wanted to go out with him. Instead, I just kept with the statement and said, “It’s nothing.”

As we pulled into the familiar gated community, I tensed up and looked out for Siobhan’s house to see what was written.

Finally, I saw it. In neon pink on the blue siding, it said, “A whore lives here,” and it seemed even worse on the white garage. Then, in slightly smaller writing, “Death to all whores.”

While the verbiage was in line with shit that came from Luke when he had roid rage, everything else was off. There was something about the writing that almost seemed feminine to my eyes.

“That’s not Luke. Not unless he got a girlfriend to do it.”

Natalie relaxed as she pulled into the driveway, but that was when the garage door opened. Natalie didn’t push one of those magic buttons to get the door to lift, so Siobhan either opened it for us on the inside or Natalie had a fob that activated the garage from a distance.

While I was getting used to being around those with some serious money, I was still blown away by the wealth around me and the fact that I was hanging out with one of my favorite soap opera stars like it was normal.

Once we parked, Natalie turned off the car but waited until the garage door was fully shut before opening the car door. Not wanting to stick out socially, I waited, too.

Natalie walked in like she knew the place. “Siobhan. We’re here.”

Siobhan was a beautiful actress, but she looked far too thin and so damn pale. No living person should be so colorless. Normally, she was full of color, and it was not just makeup that got her that way. So whatever the gift was in addition to the spray paint must have really gotten to her.

“Who was right?” Siobhan asked.

I was so lost by that comment, but Natalie pointed to herself and said, “I was. So we need to get you out of here. Have you decided whose place you’re moving to?”

I was just an accessory to this conversation, and it made me realize how little I truly knew both of them.

But after so many years of pushing friends away for my own safety as well as to make things easier, it was so hard to undo that conditioning. At least Natalie was one of those few people who included me.

“Your brother’s place,” Siobhan answered and then held up her hand before we could say anything. “I know it will be trickier since some paps will be all over me. But the idea of staying at your place with no Carter is too much. Besides, I feel safer with him than on my own. Thanks for helping me get away.”

Wait, what?

That didn’t make any sense. How was I helping?

Natalie stepped forward with that trademark look I’ve seen silencing both her boyfriend and my wannabe boyfriend. The only person I hadn’t seen her use it on was her brother, Carter, and that was because I didn’t hang out with him all that often.

“So here’s the plan. We’re going to hang out here and have a girls’ night. Then, at the end of it, we are going to sneak Siobhan away in the trunk.”

That didn’t seem so bad.

From there, we settled in the living room and started to drink some wine on the stark white furniture. Why did so many rich people love white rooms? Was it because they could afford maids to keep them clean?

I was still worried Walter and Eric would stain everything as it was, and thankfully, Terry favored darker colors and blue. My anxiety would be out of control if he had a stark white room.

After a couple of bottles of wine, I was sloshed. I should have stopped drinking a while ago, but it was so hard to stop when Natalie kept pouring wine into our glasses.

“Alright, time for a game of never have I ever,” Natalie announced with a smile. “For every time you did it, take a drink.”

Now I was going to be a party pooper since my life was so damn sheltered. I went from a conservative Christian family to living with a distant relative and then to being with Luke. No college. No parties. No real anything.

“Never have I ever been in a threesome.”

Ironically, none of us took a drink. I would have thought one of them would have had a threesome.

Since I was sitting next to Siobhan, I took my turn by saying, “Never have I ever used food as foreplay.”

Everyone looked at me in astonishment as they took a drink.

Then, Natalie focused on me and said, “Girl, don’t tell me you’re the reason he put in a deluxe order for fluff and more syrups than I can count. How could you hold out on me and not say you were actually doing your roommate?”

On days like this, I hated that Natalie was his personal assistant and did all the ordering for him. While I knew Terry said there would be more fluff, getting more syrups seemed to be ridiculous.

I felt my cheeks burning as I tried to put out the fire. “I’m not banging Terry.”

Siobhan pointed her glass at me. “But you want to. Ooh, this could be fun.”

She pouted the moment she realized, “Fuck, I’m going to be stuck on the set or at Cartsy's house, and I won’t get to see this whole thing blossom.”

There was a part of me wanting to know more about how Siobhan started dating Natalie’s brother, but everyone was way too focused on my dating life.

Why did she seem to think Terry and I were destined to hook up again? Sure, he was hot, but he didn’t think of me like that, and we were not dating.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you updated. Besides, I still owe you for hooking me and Spence up,” Natalie said to Siobhan before focusing her gaze on me. “You never did explain what happened to break you and him up the first time. Not that I get many details from any of his exes since the only ones I talk to are the ones who quit their jobs afterward. I’m just glad that Scuba stopped sleeping with the help after you moved in.”

Oh god, this was the last thing I wanted to discuss, but I couldn’t be silent forever. Besides, if I couldn’t open up to friends, who would I open up to?

So, it was time to be brave.

“We didn’t really. I ghosted him after telling him that I miscarried Eric since he was on the verge of making it into the NHL, and the last thing he needed to be was a dad.”

That’s when Siobhan got upwalked into the kitchen. She pulled out a bag of caramel popcorn. “Oh, I didn’t realize your backstory was this juicy.”

She was crazy.

It wasn’t juicy. It was unfortunate.

Probably stupid.

“Rumor has it there was a girl in Vancouver who held a special place in Scuba’s heart. I’m betting it was you, even with you ghosting him.”

I couldn’t let myself believe that. Not after Natalie called him the living sex machine. There had to be some other girl in Vancouver that he liked.