Page 38 of Secret Baby Daddies
“You sure as hell weren’t in your bed. Or any other room in this house. We’ve been looking for you all fucking night, Harley!” Jace’s eyes moved over me nonstop. “Where were you? Were you outside somewhere? We looked all over but clearly we missed you. What were you thinking?”
My mouth fell open in shock.
“You looked for me all night?”
Maddox stepped forward, his blue eyes darker than I’d ever seen them.
“Why’d you run, Harley? I thought we’d come to an understanding last night.”
“I didn’t run!”
“No? Then where the hell were you?” Luc closed the distance between us and pinched my chin between his fingers, using it to tip my face up to his. “What’s all over your face?”
I wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. I was mortified. I tried to wipe my face but Luc knocked my hands away and leaned closer. I had to be a brighter shade of red than anyone had ever turned.
“Is that chocolate?” Luc embarrassed me further by bending forward and sniffing my face. “Itischocolate. Where the hell were you and what the hell were you doing all night? Did one of the workers in the bunkhouse let you hide in their room?”
Jace growled.
“I’ll fucking kill them.”
Seeing that things were definitely out of control I took a deep breath and told the truth as fast as I could.
“Iwasinthepantry.”
“What?” Luc’s eyes were black as he watched me. “What did you say?”
I groaned and tried to look anywhere but at him.
“I was in the pantry! I got hungry and I must’ve fallen asleep in there!”
They were all quiet and I could feel all three of them staring at me in confusion. Finally, Maddox spoke up.
“You were in the pantry?”
“You didn’t try to run away?” Luc’s eyes were intense as he searched my face and I got the feeling he was a human lie detector when he needed to be.
“No! Running away twice in two nights? Give me more credit than that.” I huffed. “I was just hungry. I used to hide in the pantry and eat at night all the time when I was growing up. I didn’t want to be caught eating like a pig in the middle of the night by one of you so I hid in the pantry. I ate a lot and then I was watching this man named Leroy grow hybrid roses and I fell asleep. It was an accident and now I’m thoroughly embarrassed.”
I flinched when Luc threw his head back and let out a surprising bark of laughter. A few seconds later Jace and Maddox joined him, laughing wildly until tears filled their eyes.
I crossed my arms and tried to scowl at them.
“It’s not that funny.”
CHAPTER 30
Harley
Dressed in the last outfit Luc had grabbed from my apartment, a sundress which danced a little too high on my thighs, I stood at the counter, wondering why Jace hadn’t stayed with me that morning when he brought me to work. I knew he was exhausted, they all were, but I could’ve sworn he wanted to stay.
Susie had spent the morning interrogating me about everything that had happened in the last few days before she had to head out for a financial meeting. I was all alone and suddenly I didn’t want to be.
The worry I’d seen on their faces that morning had made me think they really cared about me. It felt too fast, too intense, too…good to be true but before they’d seen me their faces were filled with something close to grief. Could they really care about me?
The door opened and I jerked my gaze up, hoping it’d be one of them. Instead, it was a man I’d grown to despise. Charles, the man who came in and bought flowers for his wife while flirting with me and joking about how they were apology flowers, even if his wife didn’t know what he was apologizing for. He was a creep through and through.
“Well, look at you, baby girl. You are a sight for sore eyes.” He rubbed his hands together while closing the distance between us. “It’s that time again. I had a little too much fun at the club last night. What do you recommend to apologize for fucking two broads?”
