Punt: A British Bad Boy Football Romance (16 page)

“
I
love the arrangement
,” Marie Allen said, walking through the spacious art gallery to see her art hung in the arrangement Audrey’d set up. “I’d like to see you swap Thin Blue Line and Carnivale.”

“Ah,” Audrey said, shooting a wink at her boss Elspeth. “The first exhibition will be at night, and Carnivale is going to be lit from above, just so…”

Audrey pointed at the spotlights, explaining her decisions. Slowly, Marie began to grin.

“You’ve really put a lot of heart into this,” Marie said.

“Well, you’re one of my favorite artists. I’m just so glad to be working with you,” Audrey said, beaming.

“She really hasn’t stopped talking about you in two weeks,” Elspeth said, brushing invisible lint off her dark slacks and cream silk top.

Elspeth was always immaculately dressed, her silvering hair pulled back into a tight bun. They’d only worked together for two months, but Elspeth was already Audrey’s new style icon.

“Well, thank you both again. See you Wednesday night for the premiere?” Marie asked.

“Absolutely,” Audrey said.

The second Marie was out the door, Audrey unbuckled the thin white waist belt that clung to her curve-hugging gray sheath dress. She sucked in a deep breath and leaned against the wall.

“Are you all right?” Elspeth asked.

“Just… a little dizzy. I’ve been faint all morning,” Audrey admitted.

“Well, why didn’t you say something?” Elspeth asked, looking mildly offended. “Let me get you a chair.”

“No, no,” Audrey said, waving her off and standing upright. “I think my belt was just too tight. I can’t believe that I’m gaining weight, coming from Atlanta to San Francisco. I swear I’m eating so much better…”

Elspeth crossed her arms, looking Audrey up and down with a narrowed gaze.

“What?” Audrey said after a moment, fanning herself with a hand.

“Could you be pregnant?” Elspeth asked.

Audrey laughed out loud, a brash sound that echoed against the gallery’s polished wood floors.

“Uh, no.”

“Audrey…”

“No! No way.”

“You’ve been nauseated. You don’t like bananas anymore, apparently,” Elspeth said.

“That one was just… sour or something,” Audrey protested.

“You’re gaining weight. You feel light headed…”

“I’m sure that’s not it,” Audrey said.

“Do the math,” Elspeth said. “When was your last cycle?”

Audrey thought for a second, then shook her head. “It’s been irregular. I’m under a lot of stress.”

“I will bet you a hundred dollars, right here and now,” Elspeth said, her lips twitching.

Elspeth loved to gamble. Yesterday, she bet Audrey that the Porsche Cayenne parked illegally across the street would get towed in less than twenty minutes.

Improbably, Elspeth had actually won that bet.

“What? No, I’m not betting on that!” Audrey said.

“If you don’t think you’re with child, go next door to the drug store right now and get a test. If you’re right, you get a hundred dollars. If you’re wrong… Well, you have bigger problems.”

Audrey scoffed, but Elspeth was so
sure
.

“A hundred dollars,” Audrey said, arching a brow.

“Yep. I’m telling you, I have a sense for these things. I guessed both of my sister’s pregnancies before she even knew about them herself,” Elspeth said, looking proud.

“I’m telling you, there no way,” Audrey said.

After three morning after pills, there was no way in hell that she could be. Right?

“Is it a bet?” Elspeth said, sticking out her hand.

“It’s a bet,” Audrey said, shaking it firmly.

T
wenty minutes later
, Audrey emerged from the bathroom with shaky knees. Elspeth was hovering, apparently certain of her victory.

If only she wasn’t
absolutely fucking right
.

“You are! I knew it!” her boss crowed. “I swear, I can smell pheromones or something.”

“You don’t understand. I can’t be pregnant!” Audrey said, her exclamation turning into a sob at the end.

“Oh, hell,” Elspeth said, deflating. “Come here, come here…”

Elspeth led Audrey into their shared office, a bright room filled with beautiful antique furnishings.

“I… I c-can’t be,” Audrey hiccupped. “I just took this job, I just moved across the country…”

“There, there,” Elspeth said. “Sit down, sit down.”

Audrey sat.

Elspeth moved to her own desk and picked up a tin of chocolates that she kept
for emotional emergencies
, as she put it. Opening it, she offered Audrey a piece.

Audrey took one, but she just held it and stared at it sadly, wiping mascara-stained tears from her face with her free hand.

“Listen,” Elspeth said. “You’ve created a home here. You have a job here, and you’re very good at it. No matter what you choose to do next, you’ll always have a job with me.”

Audrey sniffled. “That’s nice of you to say.”

“Well, it’s true. You know I don’t lie, not about anything. And you know I won’t judge, no matter what you decide.”

Elspeth was very politically active, heavily involved in LGBT and pro-choice affairs.

“Oh, Elspeth…” Audrey sighed. “There’s nothing to be done. I could never not have this baby, or give it away.”

“You can do anything you want, dear,” Elspeth said, taking a chocolate for herself and putting the tin back on her desk.

“I can, but… well, the father…” Audrey put the chocolate in her mouth and chewed, giving herself reprieve from finishing her own thought.

“What, did he die?” Elspeth asked.

Audrey wiped at her face again and shook her head.

“No, he moved to London. I loved him, though. Very much. I guess… I wouldn’t choose to do this alone, but… I’m not sad about it.”

“You seem sad.”

“Sad that Liam’s gone, maybe. The idea of having a baby, though… having his baby. I don’t hate it, not at all. I’m just… worried.”

“Well, you’re very good at worrying. I think, if this is your choice, you’ll make every bit as good an overprotective mom as you are a meticulously organized gallery manager.”

“I’m not a manager,” Audrey said, frowning.

“Well, you are now. You do a great job, and… well, when you see the cost of pre-schools here in San Francisco, you’ll thank me.”

Audrey blinked. “I can’t think about that right now. I’m three seconds away from a full-blown panic attack.”

“Plenty of time,” Elspeth said, flapping a hand. “Well… actually, that kind of depends… but you can’t be
very
pregnant, you’re not even showing.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re terrible at comforting people?” Audrey asked, though she was mostly teasing.

“I like to leave the nurturing to motherly types,” Elspeth said. “Like you! You’re a natural caretaker.”

“Let’s hope so,” Audrey said, laying her head on her desk.

“Don’t mope.”

“Seriously?” Audrey asked.

“Well… twenty minutes, at most. Also, go to an actual doctor and get a blood test done,
today
. If you’re gonna freak out, at least be certain.”

“Right,” Audrey sighed.

“Just one more question, for the sake of getting to the juicy gossip,” Elspeth said, wiggling her brows.

“I’m not going to tell you who the father is,” Audrey said.

“Yes, but are you going to tell him? The man who broke your heart and moved overseas… I’m writing the telenovela in my head as we speak,” Elspeth said with a wink.

“I… I don’t know,” Audrey said. “Am I allowed not to tell him?”

“Legally? Probably not. But it’s just us chickens here in the coop, who’s going to tell the fox?”

“He’s my brother’s best friend,” Audrey said. At that, she had to laugh. “Wow, my life really is like a soap opera, isn’t it?”

“Mmm. More and more every day. That’s the real reason I keep you around.”

Audrey rolled her eyes.

“Time to call the doctor, I guess…” she said.

In her heart though, she knew.

She was having a baby, all on her own. Not just that…

She was having
Liam’s
baby.

God help her.

“
M
r. Packham
?”

Liam cracked open his eyes and groaned as the bright morning sunlight hit his face. His hotel room’s biggest flaw was that the windows were too big, and they made post-pub mornings unpleasant.

To be fair, nearly all of his mornings were post-pub mornings these days.

“What?” he growled. “Didn’t I ask you to close the fucking blinds in here when I stay out late?”

His nervous brunette assistant peered at him, looking vaguely frightened.

“Not that I recall, sir.”

“Well, don’t you think you should learn to anticipate these things, Clara?” he said, pulling a pillow over his face in an attempt to ease the roaring ache in his head.

“My apologies, sir. It’s just… you go out every night. And… well, you’ve shouted me down for closing them, because that made you oversleep?”

“For chrissakes, why are you still here?” he snapped.

“You have eleven missed calls.”

“So?”

“Well, they’re all from one person.”

Liam sat up, scratching his head. “And?”

“Well, you said to always put your friend Jack through. He’s the one that’s been calling. For three days, sir.”

“For fuck’s sake, Clara!”

“It’s Cara.”

“Get me the bloody phone, or get a new job,” he hissed.

His assistant stiffened, then frowned.

“Fine. I quit!” she said, turning and stomping out of the room.

Liam didn’t miss the curses she mumbled on the way out, either. The fifth assistant he’d fired or lost in the five long months since he’d been back in London.

His lawyers were furious about it, as he now apparently had the kind of money that actually needed protecting from lawsuits.

“Fucking A,” he said, lurching to his feet.

He could smell the whiskey on his own breath, which did nothing to help his hangover. Truly, there was a strong possibility that he was still drunk.

He spent a couple of minutes looking around for his phone, then gave up and flopped onto the couch. Before he could even flip on the TV, someone pounded on the door of his hotel room.

“Yeah, yeah!” he shouted, shoving to his feet and stumbling over to open the door. Expecting it to be his assistant, he asked, “Forget something?”

Instead, it was Jack. Jack, from whom Liam hadn’t heard a single peep in months.

Tanned, fit, and looking unusually stylish, Jack took off his sunglasses… and he didn’t exactly look happy to see Liam.

“Jesus,” he said, looking Liam up and down. “You are a fucking mess.”

Liam glanced down at himself. Jack wasn’t wrong. Liam wore nothing but a pair of ratty boxers, and he could certainly use a shower.

“What are you doing here?” Liam asked.

“I came to see you, if you can imagine it,” Jack said. “Are you going let me in?”

“Yeah, course,” Liam said, stepping back.

Jack walked in and eyed the suite’s living room. Liam’s assistant had tidied a little, but there were still empty liquor bottles everywhere, and clothes on the floor.

“So, this is what you came to London to do?” Jack asked as Liam cleared him a spot in a chair opposite the couch.

“You’re awfully hostile, aren’t you?” Liam asked, slumping back onto the couch.

“Well, I’m not real happy with you. I wasn’t happy when I got on the plane to see you, and now you’ve blown me off for two days, so…”

“Oh… that’s why you were calling,” Liam said. “Right. I just found out about that.”

“Where’s your new assistant? Did you fuck her and dump her, too?”

Liam’s gaze snapped up to Jack’s.

“What are you talking about?” Liam asked slowly.

“I’m talking about you sleeping with my god damned sister, and then leaving her so you could come… live like this, apparently.”

Liam closed his eyes for a moment, willing himself not to lose his temper.

“I am far too hung over to listen to you spout nonsense,” he said after a moment. “Your sister and I were involved, yeah, but I didn’t break off with her.”

“No? That’s funny, because she seems to think you did. Moved across the country to get away from you, still so torn up about it that she won’t even say your fucking name.”

Liam opened his eyes, rubbing his hands over his face. “Well, she left me, actually. And she’s not the only one who’s torn up. Look around you, mate.”

“You’re blaming this mess on Audrey?” Jack asked, his voice dropping near to threatening.

“No. But… clearly, I’m not all right. I haven’t been all right since I walked into my empty fucking house in Atlanta. She left, not a word. Just a fucking thank-you note, one line,” Liam said, growing angry all over again. “I fucking fall in love with her, she leaves me with a note, one bloody sentence.”

Jack watched him for a long moment.

“You’ve got to get your shit together,” Jack. “I know it’s hard, I’ve spent the last few months crawling out of the same kind of hole. But…”

“Why should I?” Liam said, shaking his head. “What’s the point in it?”

“Audrey’s going to have a baby,” Jack said.

Liam’s heart stuttered, skipping a couple of beats.

“Come again?” he asked, his brows drawing together.

“She’s having your baby. She didn’t want me to tell you, but… I can’t let her do it alone. The baby needs a father, even if he’s a fucking asshole like you.”

Liam’s mouth opened and closed as he floundered like a fish out of water.

“I… are you sure?” Liam asked.

“She’s definitely pregnant, though she wanted long e-fucking-nough to tell me,” Jack said. “And if she says it’s yours, it’s fucking yours.”

Liam held up a hand. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m just… staggered, at the moment.”

Jack stood up and paced for a few seconds, looking tense. Liam’s thoughts were in tumult, spinning wildly out of control.

A baby. His baby.

And Audrey…

He could barely put the pieces together.

Liam scrubbed a hand over his face, then looked at Jack somberly.

“I love her,” he said. “If I had any idea…”

“I hope you’re a more tenacious father than you are a boyfriend,” Jack said, shaking his head. “Have you even tried to reach out to her?”

“I thought… I thought she made her feelings pretty clear.”

“Well, she thought the same. You two are a pair of fools,” Jack sighed. “She’s been moping since the day we left Atlanta, you know.”

“I didn’t. If I had any idea, I would have…” Liam paused, then held up a finger. “Hold on.”

He got up and went into the bedroom, opening the safe. He returned, tossing the ring box to Jack.

Jack opened it, his eyes going wide.

“Shit. How long have you had this?” Jack asked.

“Since I got the offer from London United. Before that, actually. I saw it, and I thought it reminded me of her. I couldn’t help myself.”

Jack sighed, closing the box over in his hand. Jack stared at him for a long beat, clearly trying to make some kind of decision.

“I want you to come to San Francisco,” Jack said after a minute’s silence. “But only if you’re going to get your fucking act together. Don’t show up and make things harder for her.”

“I would never,” Liam said.

“Bring this with you, too,” Jack said, tossing Liam the box. “You’d better make a real go of it. If you break her heart again, I’m gonna break your damned face.”

“I won’t, I swear it.”

Jack gave another quick shake of his head, like he couldn’t quite believe this was happening.

“You got a game this week?” he asked.

“No, we’re on Christmas holiday, just like the States.”

“How long you got?” Jack asked.

Liam scrunched up his face, trying to come up with a guess. “Couple weeks?”

“I leave at eight tonight,” Jack said.

“Right,” Liam said, taking a deep breath and releasing it. “Right.”

He stood and went into the bedroom, hunting for his suitcase.

“Liam, what the fuck are you doing?” Jack asked.

“Packing,” Liam said.

“I didn’t mean you had to fly out right now,” Jack said, crossing his arms.

Liam dropped his suitcase on his bed, then walked back into the living room.

“I’ve been a wreck since she left me, Jack. Look at me. I’m barely living. And now that she’s having my baby… there’s nothing in the fucking world that’s going to keep me from seeing her, in person. Your sister and I have a lot to talk through, mate.”

Jack seemed to consider that, then nodded his head. “Fine, then. I’m flying out at eight tonight. Is that enough time for you?”

“More than enough.”

Picking up a pen and paper from the table beside the couch, Jack consulted his phone and scrawled down the flight info.

“Jack, thank you,” Liam said, accepting the paper. “For coming here, for telling me all of this in person. You’re the best mate a man could ask for.”

“Don’t thank me. I’m not done being mad about you knocking up my damned sister,” Jack said, frowning. “I’m only doing this for her, and for the baby.”

The baby.
The words echoed through Liam’s head, making him feel a thousand different emotions at once.

“I’ll be on the plane,” he said.

“Good. This is your last chance, so don’t screw it up. And learn to answer your own damned phone.”

With that, Jack stalked out of Liam’s hotel room. Liam sat for a few minutes, desperately trying to grasp the idea of fatherhood, to figure out how the hell he was going to face Audrey again.

He’d better come up with something good, because there was no way on earth that he could walk away from her twice.

No matter what happened next, Audrey was going to be his. His love, his wife.

Mother to his child.

Gripping the box in his hand, he stood.

Time to get yourself together, be the man that Audrey fell in love with,
he thought.

No time like the present.