Page 56 of Rival Hearts

“No, no questions. I still might get pregnant, I guess. But at least I’ll have tried. It’s weird Grady doesn’t want kids. He seemed to like them before. He’s great with my other three.”

My throat closed. He was great with Amir too. So much so I’d thought my ovaries might have been overproducing at the sight of him with my nephew. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. “Is there anything else I can help you with?” I rang up the charge and took Sabrina’s money.

“No.” She looked over my head and then around the store. “It’s so great he’s back. Isn’t it? Feels like old times. Me and him, together. You know, we never could stay away from each other.” She met my gaze. “If he hadn’t gone onCenter Stage, I bet we’d be married by now.”

Each claim she spoke was like sharp knives in my side, forcing me to see what I’d let myself forget last night. “Do you think?” I floated around the counter, putting away products that didn’t need to be put away.

“Oh yeah. He told me he’d never really gotten over me. Isn’t that sweet?” Her tone was tinged with syrupy sweetness.

Something in her voice didn’t feel truthful. My heart beat erratically at the thought of him saying those words to her. Despite the roller coaster of emotions inside, I’d learned a long time ago that letting people like Sabrina walk all over me wasn’t good for my emotional well-being.

Meeting her gaze, I said, “That’s wonderful Grady said that to you. I hope those words weren’t in exchange for stealing my campaign signs.” I tried to imitate Sabrina’s overly sweet smile. “I didn’t press charges, but I’m still considering my options. Video evidence and some eyewitnesses have been so helpful. It’s amazing how many people have cameras at their houses now, isn’t it?” I waited for a beat to let my words sink in. “Taking those signs was a felony. And since you took so many, the crime would be considered a state felony and you’d spend some time in jail.” Sabrina’s face went bright red and then deathly pale. “I want you to think about that next time you decide to sashay in here to talk to me about Grady.”

Sabrina gaped. “You wouldn’t put a mother in prison.”

“Sometimes,” I said in a conspiratorial whisper. “I think your kids might be better off with their dads. Don’t you?”

With a gasp, Sabrina rocked back on her heel and stomped toward the door.

“Good luck with your Plan B. Next time, remember not to be silly and get him to wrap his willy.”

Sabrina glared over her shoulder before pushing open the pharmacy door with torrential force. Good thing no one was walking on the sidewalk in either direction.

As soon as the door clicked closed, I went behind the tall desk and sank into a chair.Grady and Sabrina. Sabrina and Grady.Their names spun around my head in a haze. He’d been my first, and I’d admitted that to him last night. Regret ate atme. He hadn’t known, had no clue. Back then, I’d been another conquest. He’d probably laughed about me with his buddies. Some lovesick high school girl.

At the time, the extreme emotional distance he put between us from that night onward, had hurt. I’d been convinced that how I felt about him, the way he made me feel, how important it had been that he was my first, outweighed his indifference. The choice had been mine, and I refused to regret it.

Maybe I would have been okay if he’d stuck with indifference, but his attitude toward me had morphed into hate. A hate so specific, so all-consuming, I’d inspired multiple songs on his first album. I’d recognized parts of me, dissected, even if no one else had.

Now, I’d been a fool for him again. Back with Sabrina? The proof had stood right in front of me, and I’d heard it with my own ears.Come back to bed. It’s too early.The words had been seared into my brain that morning.

So, what had last night been about? My brain was muddled.

The last few times we’d been around each other, he’d been kind and open. The burst of hate and the surge of lust had been replaced with other, more complicated feelings. I genuinely liked him. How did I reconcile the Grady I’d come to know with the one who’d have unprotected sex with Sabrina and then suggest she take Plan B? I ran my hands down my face in frustration. Both versions of him couldn’t exist, could they?

Maybe he’d decided if he couldn’t win the mayoral race, he’d make a fool of me instead. Emily’s words of caution played in my head. Any affair would make him look like a sex god and me like some weak, simpering woman who couldn’t resist him. Especially true if people believed he was also involved with Sabrina.

I wasn’t going to let him make a fool out of me. Walls would go back up between us, and

I wouldn’t let him tear them down this time.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Grady

Maggie had been avoiding me. At first, I’d figured she was embarrassed, and she’d get over it. Maybe she was busy between the pharmacy and her mayor duties? Watching her talk to some of the setup crew from across the stage, I realized I’d been fooling myself. She hadn’t looked at me once since I’d arrived. I’d crossed her line of sight several times since I’d started helping Trent organize the back of the stage, and you’d think I was invisible.

“Quit fucking slacking,” Trent muttered as he moved another prop into a box labeled with someone’s name back behind the stage. “And stop looking at her like that.”

“Looking at who? Like what?” I grabbed a stool and moved it to a far corner. Almost every man who’d agreed to strip wanted a prop of some sort or a costume, sometimes both. Locating and organizing each item into labeled boxes had been left to me and Trent. Costumes we couldn’t find were being pieced together by Tyler from his secondhand shop and his creative brain. With only one week to go, we needed to figure out what we still needed to track down.

“Maggie. Like she kicked your puppy.” Trent flipped a drumstick around his hand repeatedly and then dropped it into another box.

The analogy was pretty apt. I would probably feel bewildered and angry if she did that too. “She’s avoiding me.”

“I swear to God,” Trent said, anger tinging his voice. He threw a fake microphone into a box, and it bounced back out. “If you try anything—”

“Did you have feelings for her?” I asked in a burst of annoyance. “At least answer me that. This ex-boyfriend overly protective vibe doesn’t seem too legit from what she’s told me.” I crossed my arms and glared at Trent.

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