Blake was bound to inherit an obscene amount of money once William died. Topped with his own billions, one could imagine all the raving gold-diggers that had rubbed his shoulders would claim anything they could to get their hands on a chunk of that pie.
Moreover, knowing how Blake had been before, the gold-digger line probably was beyond vast.
~
After school, I immediately went straight to work. I wasn’t even seated before Stella cheerily appeared before me while I gave a suspicious look because I was thinking that this could be her way of trying to cheer me up because Callum—her hot husband—must’ve confirmed the lovechild. I mean, come on, these people were powerful. I was sure they had the capacity and means to confirm the rumor with a click of a button.
I did, too, if I wanted to. However, I couldn’t comprehend heading straight into a blazing fire without being prepared for it. I needed more time.
“I heard about William Knightly. Is he out of danger?” Stella asked me with a concerned look while I got reminded that Blake hadn’t yet called me, nor tried to send me any messages.
I shook my head, feeling the melancholy settle in my system. “Blake is a mess…” So was I, but for completely different reasons.
“Poor love. I’m sure he is. He’s lucky to have you to support him through this difficult time.”
If he would let me, I wanted to say, but I changed my mind at the last second. The last thing I needed to do was give any indication to anyone—even if it was Stella, whom I trusted quite a great deal—that Blake and I were having some mild issues with him deciding to be incommunicado.
“Well, I was hoping you were up for some coffee. We could go to the café a few blocks down the road.”
Yeah, maybe walking and some fresh air would clear up the insanity that ran havoc in my head. “I think that would be a lovely idea, actually. I could use some caffeine in my system.”
Plucking my purse out of the drawer, we both headed downstairs and out of the building. Strolling with comfortable silence, we were lost in our own thought and didn’t speak until we were finished ordering our chosen hot beverage.
Cradling our steamy cups, I was slowly sipping mine when she took the initiative in breaking the silence. “I know this might be an odd time to bring it up, but I’m beyond ecstatic and needed to share the news with people that I’m close with.”
She was such a lovely person. Not only was she beautiful, but her heart was pure gold. I was honored that she considered me a great friend. I didn’t have much in that department, and having such a friend as her was worth more than having ten people in my life that didn’t care much about me. There was friendship and there was the friendship. Stella was categorized in the latter.
“Remember that time I told you that Cal and I were trying?” she added, making me pause, frowning, as I tried to recall what she truly meant. She said a lot of things to me, subsequently this was such a tricky question.
“Yes, I think I do.” I thought a second and hoped we were on the same page since I was a little slow on the uptake today. “Why? Did he change his mind?” I teased, hoping this was about their baby-making pact.
She made a face, grinning. “Well, even if he did, he has little choice in the matter because I’m five weeks pregnant.” She rushed out the words in haste, almost making me choke on my coffee.
“What?” I jumped out of my seat, perplexed. “My God, congratulations! I’m so happy for you!” I went around and hugged the living crap of her, over the moon for her and her new baby bean. Of all the people I knew, Stella deserved all the happiness life had to offer. She was just so nice and so kind-hearted it would be heartbreaking to think someone meant to hurt her.
“Me, too. I just found out earlier today,” she said in between laughs as we situated ourselves back to our seats. “After all this frenzy at work, I seriously had forgotten about my cycle altogether.” Her eyes became glassy, and she had this awe and glowing look about her.
And for a tiny, miniscule second, there was a painful tug in my heart, thinking about that lovechild rumor earlier today.
“I bet Callum is over the moon,” I murmured as I focused on my coffee, wanting to banish the thoughts of weighing the possibility of Blake’s baby.
“Maybe,” she said mildly before she decided to reach out for my hand and give it a light squeeze. “The thing is, I don’t know how to tell him.” She paused before making a sour face. “We had a small tiff, and he’s been ignoring me until I say I’m sorry…”
They, too, shared quite a passionate yet over-the-top, crazy relationship. I supposed it was quite common when you paired an over-confident, dominating man and a woman who was not used to being bossed around, stubborn, and didn’t like to be second best. Both demanded everything from the other. Intense. Passionate. Raw and unhinged. Those were the best kinds of crazy that made me fall mad for Blake in the first place.
Back to Stella’s quandary, I raised my eyes, wondering out loud, “What did you do to get him mad?”
“I made a tease, and he took it to heart.” She sighed before folding her arms around her chest. “One would think that a man with his caliber wouldn’t be such a drama queen.”
This time, I did choke on my coffee. “You’re definitely hormonal,” I said the second my passages cleared out.
The naughty, sexy Callum Kensington a drama queen? Goodness. That was the funniest thing I had heard in such a long time. And I admit, belting out a laugh felt truly fantastic.
“I know.” She shook her head in dismay. “Anyhow, I was hoping I could invite you and Blake over for dinner to sort of lift his mood, then I’ll tell him later that night,” she suggested, eyeing me with those hopeful, pretty eyes.
“Of course, we’d love to be there,” I replied without needing to think. “When do you plan to have it?” As if I’d ever say no. This meant everything to her. I wouldn’t dare stand in between that.
“Tomorrow night. I hope that’s okay since it’s such a short notice, but I’m quite nervous. What if he tells me that he doesn’t want it anymore? We haven’t really spoken about babies for months now. We’ve just been so busy—”
“Stella, you’re making up all this nonsense for nothing. Callum loves you, and he’s going to be over the moon when he finds out that he’s going to be a father soon.”
She made a beaming smile. “I hope you’re right.”