Catching Fire (Hometown Heat 2)

Or even passed on the street.

She’s so tiny and delicate she makes me feel like an Amazon in comparison, and so perfectly put together she looks like a doll. From the crisp navy ribbon in her hair, to her adorable white maternity sweater with the sailor collar and that navy pleated skirt, she’s almost too pretty to be real.

If it weren’t for that look on her face—the one that’s more resolute than reposed—she’d be the perfect picture of blissful expectant motherhood.

“What’s the problem?” I ask, dragging my gaze from the woman’s with effort. But she’s still staring, a fact that has the hair at the back of my neck standing on end. “Who is that?” I add beneath my breath.

Maddie’s lips part, but before she can speak Mick slams out of the apartment and thunders down the stairs.

“Hey, hot stuff, you ready to go?” His arms come around me from behind, hugging me close as he presses a kiss to the back of my head.

I’m about to warn him that Maddie has something important to discuss with him when the pretty pregnant girl stands, her eyes lighting up in her impossibly lovely face.

“Mick! There you are!” She smiles, showcasing perfect rows of tiny teeth. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

I feel Mick go rigid and turn in his arms to see a haunted expression on his face unlike any I’ve seen there before.

In that instant, I know exactly who this girl is and why she looks so familiar.

It’s Bridget, Mick’s ex, the girl I briefly glimpsed in Mick’s college yearbook a few weeks ago while I was killing time waiting for him to finish a quiz. In the picture, she and Mick were mugging for the camera at a Homecoming game, their school letters painted on their cheeks in bright blue and gold.

I’d thought she was pretty in the picture, but she’s even more stunning in real life.

Stunning, and very petite, and very girly, and very, very pregnant.

Holy. Shit.

My stomach hardens into a tight knot at the center of my body as Mick steps in front of me, putting himself between me and his ex.

“What are you doing here?” he asks in a soft, rough voice. “What the hell is going on?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going on, Mick.” Maddie puts a hand on his shoulder, casting an anxious glance at the crowd of customers who are doing their best not to look like they’re listening. But they are. They all totally are. Who could resist when such a juicy gossip nugget has practically fallen right in their laps? “But I think we should go discuss this upstairs,” Maddie adds beneath her breath.

“No.” Mick shrugs off Maddie’s hand. “I’m not going anywhere with her. I have no idea what kind of stunt you’re pulling, Bridget, but I don’t want any part of—”

“Stunt?” Bridget’s big eyes fill with tears that somehow make her look even lovelier. “This isn’t a stunt. This is our baby, and I can’t do this alone anymore. I need you.”

At the word “baby” my head goes light and…empty. It’s like someone opened my skull and scooped my brain out, leaving nothing but raw nerves behind. Instantly I’m dizzy, confused, almost outside myself as I watch Maddie take Bridget by the hand and lead her toward the stairs, motioning for Mick and me to follow.

I turn numbly, stumbling over my own feet as I head back up to the apartment.

“I’m so sorry,” Mick whispers as he plods up the stairs beside me, sounding as dazed as I feel. “I can’t believe this is happening. I seriously can’t believe this. It doesn’t make any sense.”

It doesn’t make sense to me, either. A few minutes ago, I was on cloud nine, looking forward to the rest of the night—and so many more nights to come—with the man I love.

Now, I’m meeting Mick’s crazy ex-girlfriend.

At first glance Bridget may look like she has it all together, but I have no reason to doubt Mick’s account of the way things ended between them. And a woman who threatens suicide in order to maintain control of her partner is not only dangerously manipulative, she’s unstable.

Whatever happens next is going to be bad.

Not a doubt in my mind.

The thought is enough to make me want to take Mick by the hand and run back down the stairs as fast as we can. To run and keep running until we find a place where we’ll both be safe.

But he might never be safe.

And he might never be free of Bridget. She’s pregnant with his baby. Mick’s going to be a father, and I’m still a dumb virgin who thought love could be easy.

Or at least not wildly, miserably complicated.

As we step back into his apartment, where only moments ago we were making out without a care in the world, I’m struck by the horrible, crushing certainty that my happily ever after has just become a trashy soap opera.