Her derisive words, her scorn, left a tense silence along with the sound of her heels fading as her angry strides grew further from the dining room.
She actually fucking left. Of course, she did. Kat thought she was impervious to consequences, but I would show her just how wrong she was about that.
Chapter Twelve
Mo
The last goddamn thing I needed after the news I just got was to strap on a tight t-shirt with the Midnight Mass logo splashed across my tits—sensitive-as-fuck tits, thank you very much—and work a double shift.
Not that I had anything better to do or would have anything better for the next forty weeks or so because according to the doctor, I was knocked the fuck up.
Pregnant.
With child.
Up the duff.
Yeah. I sighed as I stuffed my purse and jacket into an employee locker and tied on my apron, mind racing with the news. Exactly twenty-one days ago I had sex. No, what I’d had was a good, hard, and incredibly hot fuck with Jasper Ashby, and now his baby was growing in my belly. It was unreal. Fuck that, it was unbelievable, and I felt like I was in a daze, walking around in one of those surreal dream states common after a shock or a trauma.
I should be happy. After all, Jasper was the man of my dreams. He was hot and rich and ruthless as fuck. He valued his family; he protected them fiercely, looked after them first and foremost. Any girl and any child would be lucky to be loved so fiercely. But the truth was, Jasper didn’t love me, and he’d never be mine. He looked at me and saw an easy lay, a paid fuck. He didn’t see a baby mama, never mind a girlfriend, fiancée, or wife.
“Glad to see you value your job after all,” Jasper growled at me from the door that led into the employee locker room. He was in a mood today, grumpy as hell. I couldn’t bring myself to give a shit, though, which was odd because where this man was concerned, I couldn’t seem to not give a shit.
“I’m feeling better today, so I’m here. But I’ll tell you what, Boss, the next time I’m puking all over the place, I’ll come in. The customers will love it, and I’m sure it’ll do great things for my tips. And your rating.”
The truth was I would probably be feeling sick as fuck a lot for the next few months, and I would come in and do my job. Babies were expensive, and I didn’t plan to give up my cushy lifestyle. Not that I’d have to once Jasper found out about the baby.
“How about you just don’t get sick in the first place?”
I threw my head back and laughed at that ridiculous statement. Jasper was so used to being King in his world, to running shit to his exacting standards that he—only he—would think a person could control when and if they got sick.
“Sure. Not even you are that powerful, Jasper.”
His jaw clenched, and his nostrils flared at my words, and dammit, I felt heat snake its way down my whole body and settle between my thighs.
“Don’t test me, Mo.”
I laughed again and shook my head as I changed out of my pink Louis Vuitton sneakers and into a pair of black stilettos that did wonderful things for my ass and legs.
“You may look like a God and reign over your empire like a King, but not even you can control when you get sick.”
“I never get sick.”
“Oh, please. You were sick a few months back, but stubborn man that you are, pretended you weren’t and came into work anyway. Had to work double shifts for a week because two waitresses stayed home with the same flu you pretended not to have.”
“Bullshit,” he growled. “Don’t you have a job to do around here?”
I smiled at his angry tone because Jasper was so used to his power, to getting his own way, that very few people challenged him and even fewer got away with it.
He was smart as hell and quick-witted, so I took his anger as a sign that I’d won that interaction.
“I do,” I told him with a wide smile as I shimmied through the tight spot that sandwiched me between his big, hard body and the doorframe.
“These customers ain’t gonna feed themselves.”
I strode down the hall that led to the dining room, a swing in my hips as Jasper just had to get in the last word.
“If they do, you’ll be out of a job.”
I waved off Jasper’s words because we both knew there was no way he would ever fire me. Until or if he finds out about the baby I’m carrying, that is. I was a damn good waitress, and I knew how to upsell with the best of them.