“Was it just me, or did that woman creep anyone else out?” Quinn asked, appearing on the other side of Aspen at the bar. Shivering, he rubbed his arms and glanced back toward the front door as if to make sure all the evil was gone.
“I thought she was kind of hot,” Ten said and wiggled his brows. “Don’t blame Lowe for bumping uglies with a cougar like that. I’d certainly bang her.”
At the word cougar, I explicitly remembered Lowe saying he didn’t like cougars. At all. Eyebrows furrowing, I frowned, utterly confused about what had just happened.
“Well, he’s puking his guts out,” Pick announced, strolling out of the back hall. I guess he’d gone back to check on Lowe. “Impending fatherhood must not suit him.”
Aspen let out a breath and opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but then she closed her lips and remained silent. I sliced her a glance. “What?”
With a small shake of her head, she sent me a tight smile. “Nothing.”
I knew it wasn’t nothing and studied her a second longer, but a ringing by the cash register interrupted the quiet room.
“Is that Lowe’s phone?” Ten asked.
The five of us in the bar shared a glance. I think we all knew the ringing of his cell phone couldn’t be good news. Since no one else was budging, I stepped forward and glanced at the lit screen as it continued to chime. The picture of a girl with long, silky brown hair and a nose ring peered up at me with a cute, carefree smile. The name under her picture read Reese.
“It’s Reese,” I said, wondering if—
“That’s his girlfriend’s name,” Pick answered, confirming my suspicions.
Shit.
“Should we answer it for him?” Quinn was the first to ask.
I spread my arms. “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.”
Ham winced and shut his mouth. I glanced at Aspen. She lifted her brows as if telling me she’d support any decision I made. But I didn’t answer the phone, and it finally fell silent. The room exhaled a collective breath of relief.
Until the phone started ringing again.
“I have a feeling she’s going to keep calling,” Pick said. “She must know something’s up.”
Damn it. I glanced toward Aspen again. Her steady green gaze gave me the boost I needed to pick up the phone. I pushed Accept, still wondering what to say to Lowe’s woman, when Ten shouted, “Shit! Are you really going to tell her some old chick just came in, claiming Lowe knocked her up?”
“Say what?” a girl’s voice screeched from the other end of the line.
Double shit. Panicking, I punched the End Call button and glared at my roommate.
“You moron,” Pick exploded, slapping Ten on the back of the head. “He’d already answered the phone; she probably heard everything you said.”
“Oh...fuck.” Ten hunkered his shoulders and sent me an apologetic cringe. “My bad.”
“You mean, Lowe’s bad,” I muttered. “Damn it.” I shouldn’t have tried to answer the phone.
When it rang again, I jumped, set it back where I’d found it, then lifted my hands and backed away slowly. Lowe was going to kill me for this.
Mason didn’t return to the bar until after the phone had stopped again. No one had seemingly moved, so when he exited the back hall, rubbing his face, we all turned to stare. He was busy wiping the back of his hand across his mouth and didn’t immediately notice all the attention until he glanced up. When he caught us gawking, however, he jerked to a stop and dropped his arm.
His face was still pale and his skin looked damp as if he’d sweated out a bucket of anxiety. “What?” he croaked, his eyes darting fearfully to each of us. “Jesus, she’s not gone, is she?”
“Um,” I started and tossed him an apologetic grimace. “No, she’s gone, but...uh, we might’ve just...accidentally told your girlfriend what happened.” When he merely blinked, I cleared my throat. “Your phone rang...and then it rang again. I was only going to let her know you were away for a minute, but...yeah...sorry, man.”
Lowe dashed around the counter to swipe up his phone. After fumbling in his haste to dial, he pressed it to his ear. “Reese?”
“Let me guess,” a muffled female voice spoke from the entrance of the club. “Mrs. Garrison just showed up to announce you’d put a baby in her.”
I lifted my face to see the picture of the girl off Lowe’s phone step inside Forbidden, followed by a blonde, who was also very pregnant.
Damn, how many women had Lowe put a baby in?
Dropping his phone to his side, Lowe let out a lengthy sigh. “Yeah. Pretty much.”