Tainted Gold (Providence Gold 3)

“What about the pill? Don’t they make them for guys now?” Levi countered, flicking a quick glance in my direction.

“Well, it’s too late now,” the woman replied, looking happy about that as she grinned at me and looked at my stomach.

Wasn’t she supposed to be calling me a liar? Calling up a chat show to get a DNA and lie detector test done?

“A pregcyclopedia,” the po-po with the big mouth repeated, not to be deterred from his running commentary. “Ya know, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Pregnancy for Men, The Day-by-Day Pregnancy Book and things like that but all in one.”

“Stop talking,” Beau snapped, getting all of our attention. “Jesus, man. You’ve obviously shared news that these people had no knowledge of, yet you’re still here sharing more.”

“Yeah,” Levi agreed, nodding his head. “How do we even know it’s his?”

And there it was… Maybe I shouldn’t have tempted fate?

A loud growl had all of us turning our heads to see Tate looking more pissed off than I would have ever thought he could be. He was a bit like a kitten or a puppy, even when he’d been rolling around the floor fighting. Yet, there he was, his fists clenched as he glared at his brother and walked toward him.

My mom was an amazing woman, and I loved her to death. She worked hard, but never let fame go to her head, preferring to live a ‘normal’ life, and not once forcing us to be a part of the media hype that surrounded her. I’d grown up with people quizzing me about what it was like to be the daughter of a famous actress, but to me she was just Mom. An amazing mom who was on TV.

But, I was about to realize that Tate had a mom as awesome as my own when the woman Levi had been talking to previously got up and started smacking her son with a woman’s magazine.

“Take that back, you little gooch grabber,” she snapped, hitting him in between words. “I don’t know what kind of women you do…” she broke off looking for the word.

I felt for her, no one wants to think of their kids or family members having sex.

“Stick your spangled wanger in?” the guy who I knew as Archer helpfully suggested with a shrug.

“Yeah, that. But, if your brother is certain it’s his, then I would think you should give him some credit and congratulate him, instead of insulting this poor girl. And you know Petey, you think his daughter wouldn’t be cut from the same cloth as him? Her mom’s Rachel James, the Rachel James. What does she need to lie about who the daddy of her baby is?”

Thinking about it, I had to sympathize with Levi. I was a trusting person, but in this instance, I don’t think I’d have been as trusting as the woman who I was still assuming was Tate’s mom.

“I’m just sayin’…” Levi tried, but was cut off with a hand being held up in his face.

“Well, don’t. You sit there and just say nothing.” Turning to look at me, she grinned again. “She looks like a lovely girl, and we’ve met her daddy quite a few times and really liked him. Lilith, right?” she asked me, giving me an encouraging nod.

Leaning back and moving slightly behind Beau, I nodded back. “Yeah, uh Lily. People call me Lily. Lilith is a bit old fashioned, so Lily sounds better. More modern, ya know. But you can call me Lilith if you want. Or Lily. Or Lil’.”

“Is there something in the air in here?” Beau asked us all, looking around. “First the po-po overshares. Then asswipe there shows his ass. Now you’re doing it too!”

I tried pinching her side, but she stood up suddenly, leaving me to either face plant where her ass had been, or catch myself with the arm that had been moving to pinch her. Seeing as how I didn’t want to put my face anywhere near where her ass had been, or who knows how many other asses, I chose to catch myself and missed her by centimeters.

“Okay then, Lily,” Mrs. Townsend smiled, not reacting to my current position or the rambling that I’d just done. “I…” she was interrupted by the man who’d been sitting beside her clearing his throat loudly. “We would love to get to know you. I know your daddy hasn’t been well either, so you must be run off your feet.”

Those were two statements that had no bearing on each other when you heard them said in the same sentence the first time you met the mother of the guy who knocked you up, minutes after they’d been released from a prison cell. So, I took them as that and smiled and nodded, thinking that was the end of it. We’d be like passing ships in the night, only catching up about the baby and things like that.