Page 3 of Resolving Rumors

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? She means everything to me!” I argued.

Justice made a noise of disapproval. “Really? Then why in the hell did we get drunk together and end up having sex?”

“I wish I knew.”

My unwanted wife rolled her eyes at me. “Oh, you knew exactly what you were doing that night. You might have been thinking about your precious little Victoria, but those thoughts revolved around fucking me to forget she was out with another man that night. It’s really convenient how she forgot she was on a date with another man.”

"Did you set this up on purpose so that Vic would be here to hear us discussing the baby and marriage?” There was a little niggle at the back of my mind that told me something wasn’t right. Justice pushed too hard to get me to accept the end of my relationship with Victoria. I had to change the subject though because just thinking about how Vic went out on a date with some other man still made me feel downright homicidal. I hoped like hell no one ever told me who she was out with.

I was so lost in thought I almost missed the sarcastic sounding giggle that came from Justice. "How was I supposed to know she would show up here today? Besides, maybe you should have been honest with her since the first day we woke up together. At the very least, you should have clued her in the minute I told you I was pregnant, or any time before you married me. Don't try to put this on my shoulders, D. I didn't do anything that you're trying to make me guilty of. You need to accept responsibility just like Victoria does."

"She didn't do anything wrong."

"She has kept you locked in a hidden relationship for two years because she's embarrassed to tell her family that you’re together. What part of that isn't wrong? At least in my case, I'm not ashamed of you or anything else. I'm protecting my lover from the fallout of us having a relationship at the wrong time. She's just protecting herself."

Justice wasn't wrong about any of that. I had gone about everything all wrong, starting with Vic's demands to keep our relationship secret. I should have forced the issue long ago. Ithad been two years since we officially started dating. The minute she said yes to that first date, I should have told her brother. The only reason I hadn't was because she knew it would cause a strain between her and the rest of her family. I had to respect that, but I think we took it all too far and made everything worse. My fake relationship to throw everyone off our trail, and to help Justice out with her situation, made it impossible for her family to take me seriously as her boyfriend if and when we did finally come clean.

Now, with a pregnancy and a marriage in the mix, everything was infinitely messier. Hindsight was a bitch because we should have seen this coming. We should have already factored in how Vic’s family would perceive things after we fooled them for so long with my fake relationship to Justice. Our story was never going to have the happy ending I always envisioned, and that was on me for not standing up for our relationship from the very beginning.

Chapter

Three

VICTORIA

"What's going on with you?"

I looked up to see that my little sister Katy was standing in the doorway of my bedroom. I'd come home, to my parent's house because I didn’t want Devin to go looking for me at my place. If my heart wasn't so broken, I'd laugh that thought off. He hadn't even bothered to chase after me for the length of his driveway. He'd run straight into the arms of his new wife instead. The chances of him going out of his way to search for me anywhere were nil.

"The man I've loved for two years is playing happy families with his new wife and the baby they have on the way," I admitted sulkily before I remembered to hold my tongue.

"Devin is a dipshit."

I spun around so quickly that I damn near gave myself whiplash. "What do you mean, 'Devin'?"

Katy rolled her eyes at me. "Everyone else in this house might have their heads buried in the sand about anything not in their general orbit, but as the youngest Mercer, no one ever really notices me on the fringes watching everyone else.

Houston is a miserable sap who needs to fire that horrible woman who tried to trap him with a baby that wasn't his," Katystated about our oldest brother. "Austin is an idiot for stringing Jordan along. He thinks when they hook up that it is free of strings and isn't interfering with their friendship at all. She thinks she'll eventually make him love her in a romantic way. They're both wrong."

If I ever doubted that Katy knew more than any member of our family, I was quickly being schooled in how wrong I'd been. My sweet little sister started in on our youngest brother, Dallas then. "He is hiding the biggest secret of all, but I won't give that one away because I can't wait to see everyone's faces when they find out." She gave me a censuring look. "You really shouldn't underestimate him. He pretends to be a fuck up while he's probably the best adjusted of all of us."

"Yeah? What's your secret then, little sister?"

"My secret is that I'm the boring ghost of the family. No one really pays attention to me. So, I keep everyone else's secrets."

"Not very well," I scoffed in response. "You just divulged everyone's secrets to me."

My sister laughed then. "No, those were blatant things anyone who pays attention would notice." Katy winked at me. "That doesn't get you off the hook. Why were you hiding your relationship with Devin for so long, anyway? And why would you put that black widow of a woman in the mix and think that something awful wouldn't happen?"

"She is dating someone."

Katy rolled her eyes. "She's dating a married man." There was no emotion in the words she threw at me. At least, there had been none until my sister rolled her eyes even harder and huffed out the most indignant sigh I'd ever heard aimed at me. "You seriously thought a home wrecker could be trusted with your boyfriend for nearly two years?" She shook her head at me. "I might be the youngest, but with the exception of Dallas, I'm beginning to think I'm the smartest."

"I loved him," I admitted. "It didn't matter whatshewas. I trusted Devin."

"Well, I guess I can understand. Honestly, the wholelovething seems a bit too messy for me. I use all my older siblings as my case study."

"What about Mom and Dad?"