Page 71 of Joey

“She’s not my girlfriend, I swear to you.”

She reaches the bottom stair and makes her way to stand beside her brothers. All three Moretti siblings glare at me like I’m the enemy. But something about her standing by their side looks exactly right. Until now, I never noticed how much she has in common with her brothers. She’s equally smart, strong, and capable—and although she tries to hide her true feelings behind a veneer of sarcasm and snark, when she’s hurt…well, my girl brings the full Moretti arsenal. “She’s just some poor girl you knocked up then?” she snaps, her eyes brimming with fury.

I close my eyes as a fiery poker stabs my gut, but it’s nothing compared to the searing agony of Joey’s contempt.

“Not my kid either,” I groan, my hand pressed against my stomach. It feels like my guts are spilling out onto the floor.

“Fuck, he’s bleeding,” Lorenzo says and crosses the hallway, putting his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s get you back to Kat.”

I shrug him off. “I’m not going anywhere until I speak to my fucking girl,” I shout, even as my head spins and I sway on my feet.

Joey steps forward, baring her teeth. “I’m not your girl, you lying, cheating asshole.”

“Yes, you fucking are.”

She stalks toward me, and her scent scrambles my senses. I don’t know whether to drop to my knees at her feet, kiss her, or give into the dizziness and black out. “Tell that to that girl carrying your baby, Maximo. The one who’s been sobbing by your bedside for the past six hours.”

“It’s not my fucking baby,” I protest.

“You need to get back to Kat so she can take a look at you,” Lorenzo insists, wrapping an arm around my waist.

“Ineedto speak to my fucking girl.” I try to shrug him off again, but I don’t have the strength this time.

She rolls her eyes. “There is nothing you can say—”

“Kristin is my little sister, Joey. That kid she’s having is my nephew,notmy son.”

“What?” Joey frowns and shakes her head. “You don’t even have a sister.”

“I fucking knew it,” Dante says.

Joey slaps her brother on the arm. “If you knew that, why the hell didn’t you tell me? Asshole.”

Dante sighs. “I mean…I didn’t know…” He shakes his head. “It’s a long fucking story.”

“Can we do this later? Max is fucking bleeding all over the marble here,” Lorenzo snaps impatiently.

I look down at the blood-soaked bandage wrapped around my abdomen and close my eyes to fight back the nausea. “I thought your wife was good at stitches, buddy?”

Dante’s chuckle is cut off by his wife stomping toward us.

“She is, but I didn’t stitch you up, and you’re not supposed to be out of bed yet, dumbass!” Kat yells. “Get him back in the bed.”

“You heard the doc,” Lorenzo says as he spins me around and practically carries me down the hallway.

I glance over my shoulder, struggling to remain conscious. “Jo—”

“I’m right here, Max,” she says, but I can’t read her tone. Does she believe me? Does it even matter to her now? Whatever, I’ll make sure it fucking matters to her. She’s still mine.

Back in the makeshift hospital room, Kat gingerly peels the wet bandage from my stomach. “Should it be bleeding like that?” Joey asks from beside me.

“He busted his stitches, is all. They weren’t all that secure from what I can see.” Kat looks up and scowls at Dante. “I think prohibition was in place the last time that surgeon you found operated.” I try not to flinch at the glare she turns my way. “Besides, these things can happen if you go running down hallways right after major abdominal surgery.”

“Major abdominal surgery,” Lorenzo snorts. “It was barely a scratch.”

Kat gets to work cleaning my wound with efficiency. I bite back a curse and chuckle. “Yeah, barely.”

“I can give you something more for the pain?” Kat offers.