“I know,” Bristol agreed. “I’m as freaked out as you are, trust me.” Her blue eyes slid to Evie standing beside her. “But what do you want me to tell you? I skirted the post-championship baby boom after the first one, but the second one got me. Too much partying led to too much puking, and it messed with my pills.”
It was well known that any city that brought home a championship saw a wave of new arrivals nine months later as a result of the fans’ private celebrations. With the Speed winning two of them less than a calendar year apart, it was safe to say the population of Indy was on the rise. And it would seem Coach and his wife would be contributing to that number.
Bristol looked at Maddox, a soft smile creeping onto her face as she dropped a hand to her still-flat stomach. “This might not be how we planned it, but it’s by no means unwanted.”
Dakota let out a shaky breath, her lower lip trembling. “I just . . . I just thought we were always going to do it together.”
Braxton was quick to step in and wrap his arms around his wife. “We can make that happen if you want. What’s a few months’ difference?”
Their conversations faded away as reality sank in that, before long, I would go from being the only unmarried friend of our group to the only one without kids.
When was it going to be my turn?
Chapter 2
Gemma
I was firmly convincedthat the DMV resided in the ninth circle of Hell.
Where else did you go to be tortured like this, waiting for hours on end while the numbers on an electronic screen moved at a snail’s pace until they finally landed on the one associated with your paper ticket? Would the world stop if—gasp—they ever decided to take appointment times like a regular business?
Even though I’d gotten here not long after they opened, it didn’t feel like I was any closer to being called to a counter. At this rate, I was going to be late for my shift, opening the bar for the lunch crowd. The last thing I needed was to have my hours cut because I wasn’t the dependable employee my manager had come to expect.
But I didn’t have a choice. Today was the last day before my Illinois driver’s license expired, and I needed a new one from the great state of Indiana.
I’d moved to Indy from Chicago with a considerable nest egg, intent on breaking free of my family. Getting a little breathing room and being able to start all over again in a place where no one knew me was refreshing.
I bought a cute little townhouse in a quiet suburb where the neighbors weren’t afraid of knocking on my door to welcome me to the community. I got a job on my own merit. Sure, it was tending bar, but for the first time in my life, I was no longer dependent on my brother, my male cousins, or my uncle for anything. Hell, I even had an herb garden.
It was all so fucking normal, and I loved it.
There weren’t armed guards tracking my every move or chauffeuring me around. There weren’t rival families looking for ways to exploit weaknesses or trying to get even for perceived slights against them. There weren’t skeevy old men hoping my daddy would grant them the honor of my hand in marriage so they could form an alliance with the Bellinis.
But then I met Joey. And everything went to shit after that.
I hadn’t dated much. My father had been intent on selling my virginity to the highest bidder and kept me locked up tight throughout my youth. An untouched bride was worth more and would bring in the best offers. Which was why the second I got a chance, I didn’t hesitate to hop into the backseat of a shitty little sedan and grit my teeth through the pain as some guy whose name I didn’t even remember shoved his dick inside me.
If I closed my eyes, I could still see my father’s face turning purple in rage when I’d hiked up my skirt enough to show the streak of crimson lining my thigh. But that was nothing compared to the memory of the backhand I’d received as a result of purposely defying him.
It had been worth it, though. The steady stream of offers dwindled when word got out that Dario Bellini’s daughter was no longer as pure as the driven snow.
I had spent a lifetime trying to find ways of protecting myself from the life I’d been born into. As the only girl in a family that valued male heirs, my existence became a bargaining chip in their quest for power.
A shudder rolled down my spine, thinking of how well that had ended for my cousins’ wives. But their misfortune was what I’d used to convince my brother to pitch my case for freedom. I refused to become another casualty of war.
Not long after I’d gotten myself settled in Indianapolis, a good-looking guy with a charming grin parked himself at the bar where I’d been mixing drinks for customers. Dressed down in jeans and a T-shirt, he’d chatted me up all night, telling jokes and stories aimed at making me laugh, going so far as to say he loved hearing the sound of it. Truth be told, there hadn’t been much to laugh about until I had broken free of my life in Chicago, and it felt good to let loose.
Joey was such a departure from the men I’d known growing up. He didn’t talk down to me like I was a second-class citizen simply because I’d had the bad luck to be born with a vagina rather than a dick. But the nail in my coffin had been when his heated gaze roved over my not-so-tiny body and his Adam’s apple bobbed on a swallow before he told me I had the most luscious curves he’d ever seen.
Putting on weight had been a defense mechanism, the same as losing my virginity. Fat mafia princesses were in even less demand, family name be damned.
So to have a man openly express his appreciation—the lust in his eyes belying the truth of his words—was intoxicating.
Three months later, he was as charming as ever, practically living at my place. But I was starting to pick up on subtle cues that something was off. There was an uneasiness when I asked about his work; he’d avoid the question, directing the conversation back to me. And after hearing so much about hisincredibly close extended family, he’d never once invited me to meet them.
Dark thoughts began to creep in that maybe he was embarrassed to be with me. Or worse yet, I wasn’t the only girl he was seeing.
But I’d brushed it off, convincing myself that I was being paranoid. He’d given me no reason to distrust him, and I chalked it up to my past leaking into my present. I was starting fresh and decided that Joey deserved the benefit of the doubt.
