Page 100 of Act Like You Don't Care
The crowd around us gasped and a few more cell phones came out. Silently, I cursed my father and his impeccable fucking timing.
“You okay, Tam?” Miles asked as he yanked Solomon to his feet. His gaze, steel-hard and cold like I’d never seen it, moved over to meet my father’s. “Do I need to do the same thing to you?”
“This is my son. I’ll speak to him as I please. I’ll have no truck with degenerates,” my father shouted, waving a finger in Miles’s face. The Wellspring took a step back, watching us all with cold, calculating eyes.
From the look on Miles’s face they were both lucky that Miles was occupied with Solomon at the moment.
My brother took a swing at Miles, kind of backward and over his shoulder. It was awkward and didn’t go anywhere, but Solomon was always strong and the two of them swayed together as Miles fought to keep him under control. My brother tried to donkey kick him, going for Miles’s knee, I thought, but they were too close for it to be much of a blow.
“Now, stop that,” Miles scolded and did something that made my brother cry out. “Think you can behave if I let you go?”
“Don’t let him go!” I warned Miles and moved to stand by him in case my sperm donor tried something. He was just stupid and entitled enough to do it. “My brother’s always been just like my father.” I let my own gaze go cold, despite the rage burning hot in my belly. “Go home, old man. I’m never going back to that life and, as far as I’m concerned, I have no father.” The air burned in my lungs like I’d run too hard for too long.
A police car pulled up. Finally. I put a hand on Miles’s arm and whispered, “Let him go now but be ready.”
He gave a sharp nod and let my brother go with a little shove that sent him stumbling into my father’s arms. I let him push me behind him, well aware of what my brother would do now and wishing I’d taken more time to fill Miles in on the old family history. I just hated revisiting it so much.
Solomon swung away from my father and launched himself at Miles, knocking us both down onto the stone of the patio. I heard the police officer shout as I curled one arm around my belly and scrambled like a three-legged crab to get away from the flailing arms beside me.
The cop had to pull my father off the two of them and by then a second cop had shown up to untangle Solomon from the uncomfortable-looking hold that Miles had him in. More cops came and soon we each had our own personal police officer to tell our stories to.
I saw Miles whisper something to one of the cops, who then walked over and righted a chair for me. “Mr. Astra says you’re pregnant. Have a seat.”
My heart was still racing hard enough I didn’t want to sit down. I could barely stand still. “I’m fine.”
“Did any of them hit you?” he asked. He rested one hand casually on his radio but hadn’t yet pressed the button to make a call.
I shook my head. “Just knocked me down when he went for Miles. Look, I just want them to leave me alone. They’ve been pretty good about ignoring me up until now.” Suddenly, a light bulb went off. “I think my father wants to intimidate me into marrying the guy that was stalking me a few months back. That would pretty much cancel out the charges, wouldn’t it?”
The cop shook his head. “Not exactly, but they’d be a lot harder to prove.” He walked me through everything that happened and I answered him as well as I could with half my attention on Miles, who was talking intently with one of the other cops, and most of the rest of it on the Vinists. I wanted to know what everyone was saying, but they were too far away for me to listen in.
Finally, it was over. They escorted the Wellspring and my family out of the restaurant with a warning not to bother me again. Miles and the cop he’d been speaking to watched them go, then came over to me. “You okay?” Miles asked gently. He carefully lifted my arm to peer at a scrape I hadn’t noticed on the elbow. “Anything else hurt?”
“That doesn’t even hurt,” I told him. “I’m okay.” I thought about it for a second, then admitted, “A little shaken.”
He nodded and let go of my arm to wrap his hand around the back of my neck and pull me against him in a convulsive grip. “We should have left when they showed up.”
I tightened my arms around him and let him offer me this comfort. Truthfully, I thought we both needed it and I was just greedy enough and upset enough to not care about the pictures I knew would show up tomorrow in the press and on social media. He smelled good. Still wearing that same cologne, though fainter today since he hadn’t had any to put on this morning. His body felt right against mine, his hand covering the baby’s bump sheer perfection against my skin.
And I was still too scared to reach for the prize.
The first cop interrupted our moment. “We’ll file a report you can pick up if you want to start building a case for a restraining order. You should be able to pick up a copy tomorrow.”
I let go of Miles and shoved my hair back out of my face. “Thank you,” I said politely. “I’ll have my lawyer look into it.” We finished up business while I avoided Miles’s eyes and then the cops left.
Miles beckoned the server over. “Can we get our meals to go?”
She nodded and hurried back into the restaurant, casting uncertain glances in my direction.
“Let’s get out of here,” Miles said quietly and started escorting me off the patio. “We can eat at your place, or mine.”
“I want to go for a run,” I blurted out. “Just a short one.”
He nodded. “Let’s get the food home first.”
Food. Yeah. My hand twitched toward the baby, but I forced it back down to my side, fingers curled into a fist with the effort. I nodded and followed him out to pick up our meals, already boxed and waiting near the door. Miles paid for everything and I let him, because the whirlwind of emotions in my brain was enough to deal with.
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