Page 54

GIA

Reed’s body locks up tight, and his hand almost chokes mine.

My eyes roam over the woman before us, with silver hair pinned back into a tight bun. Not a hair out of place.

She has pearls around her neck, and her chin is held as high as her heels, but she barely reaches Reed’s shoulder.

“Who is this?” Her gaze travels over me and latch onto our entwined hands, and I want to hide behind Reed, thanks to the vicious glare she’s throwing my way. Her stare lands on my stomach, then her eyes snap back up toward Reed’s face. “Is she? Is that yours? You’ve got to be joking!” She’s getting louder now. “I bet she’s a gold-digging whore!” I jerk at her words, so familiar and just as cruel. Is this where Reed got his assumptions from?

“Don’t speak to her like that,” Reed snaps back, and my mouth falls open.

His mother’s sharp eyes feel like lasers burning through me as her lip turns up, and she eyes me from top to toe.

“Yes, Mother. I have a baby on the way, and don’t look at my fiancée like that!” Fiancée? My gaze darts to his, but his steely eyes are narrowed in on this mother.

She gasps and throws her arm over her chest dramatically. It’s so theatrical I have to will myself not to giggle.

“You’re just like that bastard you call a brother,” she hisses, and Reed flinches. I squeeze his hand in support. “You’ll lose everything, just like him.”

Reed lowers himself to speak nearer her ear. “Don’t call him that.”

“You’re a letdown, just like him.” Then she flicks her gaze over to me. “He won’t stick around. He’ll want another whore soon enough. Just like his father, jumping from one to the next, leaving all the little bastards behind in boarding schools.”

Reed’s nostrils flare, and he holds his hand out toward his mother. “Here is a prime example of how not to parent. This is why I prefer to say I don’t have any. Now, if you’ll excuse me. We have somewhere better than here to get to.”

Her mouth falls open, and I think she’s going to chastise Reed for his scorn, but she doesn’t. “Better than here?” A scoff erupts from her, drawing attention to us. “This restaurant has a waiting list a mile long. You’d do well to get anywhere better than here.” I jolt at her words. I should have known the restaurant would have a huge waiting list, and guilt ravishes my veins.

Reed’s smile curls into a cunning smirk. “A million percent better than here.”

Then, without so much as a goodbye, he strides forward, leading me out of the restaurant door while my feet hurry to keep up with him.

When the evening breeze hits us, he finally comes to a stop and turns to face me. The way his hand trembles as he tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear has me wanting to comfort him. “I’m so sorry about her, baby.” His gaze flicks over my face as if searching for a sign of something.

“It’s fine.” And it really is. I’m used to people like his mother; my father is a million times worse.

“It’s not.” He lifts my hand to his lips and kisses it tenderly, making me sway under his emerald gaze.

“Come on, let’s get out of here before I fuck you in the street.”

He signals for his car to be brought around, and I finally release the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

Reed Johnson has stolen a vital part of me, and I never want him to give it back.