Be My Hero (Forbidden Men 3)

Suddenly, I regretted wanting something a little more exciting to happen tonight because I didn't want to think of Lowe as a cheater. He'd talked sweet about his girlfriend, Reese, as if he were a faithful, dedicated guy. I had liked that about him. But he turned away from the woman, and marched out from behind the bar and then down the hall to the bathroom in a guilty kind of trance. He'd definitely had sex with her.

Abandoning my broom, I followed him, pushing open the bathroom door to see if he was okay, and hopefully to find out he hadn't fucked around on his woman. Maybe all this was a big misunderstanding and—

Shit. He was too busy vomiting to talk to me. I heard the heaving from inside the stall and turned right back around.

The virgin was opening the front door for Mason's baby mama to leave as I returned to the big room.

"Well, he's puking his guts out," I told Gamble, thinking the cheating bastard Lowe deserved it. "Impending fatherhood must not suit him."

Gamble's teacher girlfriend made a sound as if she wanted to disagree with me, but she ended up holding her tongue. Gam glanced her way. "What?"

She gave a small shake of her head and sent him a tight smile. "Nothing."

They stared at each other a couple seconds, and had some kind of silent conversation that only a couple in a committed relationship could have, which made me want to gag because today was not the day I wanted to invest in true love, and soul mates, and happily fucking ever after.

A cell phone by the cash register started to ring, jerking me from my bitter thoughts.

Ten tipped his chin toward it. "Is that Lowe's phone?"

Everyone left in the club glanced at each other. We all knew Mason's shit was hitting the fan right now. Nothing on the other end of the line could be good news.

Gamble, the leader of our merry little crew, stepped toward it. "It's Reese."

Fuck. "That's his girlfriend's name."

Hamilton glanced at me, then at Gamble. "Should we answer it for him?"

Snorting out a dry laugh, Gamble lifted his hands. "And say what? Sorry, but your man can't come to the phone right now; he just found out he's going to be a daddy . . . to another woman's kid."

So no one answered the phone. Its ring seemed to echo through my chest, telling me with each vibration that Mason's woman knew exactly what had just happened.

I wondered if she was raging mad, or hurt so bad her spirit felt crushed. Poor girl. I wanted to kick Lowe's ass for her.

When the ringing stopped, it continued to ricochet through my head, making me feel evening guiltier. Shit. She deserved to know what had happened.

When the phone started up again, I couldn't take it. "I have a feeling she's going to keep calling," I told Gamble. "She must know something's up." If he didn't answer it, I would.

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He sent me a scowl, and then looked at his woman for another one of their silent conversations.

I was about to hop behind the counter and grab the fucking phone myself when Gamble finally acted.

But as soon as he answered it, fucking Ten yelped, "Shit! Are you really going to tell her some old chick just came in, claiming Lowe knocked her up?"

Gamble sent Ten a death glare and promptly hung up the phone.

"You moron." I slapped Ten on the back of the head. "He'd already answered the phone; she probably heard everything you said."

"Oh . . . fuck." Ten glanced at Gamble. "My bad."

"You mean, Lowe's bad," Gamble muttered. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Damn it."

I ran my hands through my hair. This was going to end badly. And I could only picture one person getting hurt: Mason's girlfriend.

When Mason finally came out of the bathroom, I was ready to pin him to the wall by the throat and demand answers.

When we all turned to him, he jerked to a halt and rasped, "What?" Then his face went sheet white. "Jesus, she's not gone, is she?"