Gavin crossed his arms and nodded, wondering when Trevor would get to the point.
Staring at Gavin, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, man. You’re right. I should’ve come to get you. I f.u.c.ked up a lot during all of this. That was just the last thing on a long list of things I should’ve done differently.” The cavernous, low timbre of his voice sounded scratchy, exhausted, and resigned. “I should’ve been by your side from the beginning, from the moment you told me you needed Emily right down to the second I watched the f.u.c.king a.s.shole take a swing at you. I don’t know what else to say except if you don’t talk to me again, I understand why.”
Watching his friend sweat through an attempted amends, Gavin thought about the conversation he and Emily had before going to sleep last night. She’d verbally thrown him into a corner, bringing up his words from California. She reminded him he said she needed to forgive her mother for her wrong doings, and in their case, Trevor should be treated the same. “Forgive fast and forget even faster” were her exact words. Though he felt Trevor had made an already s.h.i.+tty situation worse and Gavin was still struggling with a sense of betrayal, he knew harboring ill feelings toward him wouldn’t be good for anyone. His friend was waving a white flag, and Gavin needed to consider this. Emily’s threats of beating his a.s.s down gave him a little push as well. Trying to keep any lingering resentment from his eyes, Gavin stared at Trevor for a beat before reaching out his hand in a gesture of acceptance.
Trevor heaved in a deep, shaky breath and released it as he gripped Gavin’s hand in a firm shake. “Thanks, bro.” He gulped back a swallow. “I appreciate you not giving up on our friends.h.i.+p. It means a lot.”
Resting his arm on the back of a stool next to him, Gavin rolled his eyes, a crooked smile on his lips. “Enough with the sentimental s.h.i.+t. Any more, and I might have to buy you a girdle.”
Trevor shook his head and chuckled. After a moment, his grin faded, his features serious. “So, how are you doing with all of this? Seems like heavy s.h.i.+t for you both.”
“Yeah. It’s not something I expected, nor did Emily, but we’ll get through it.” Gavin eased out of his seat and swiped a bottle of scotch from the bar. He held it up, gesturing to Trevor, who nodded. After dropping some ice into gla.s.ses and pouring them both a shot, Gavin set Trevor’s in front of him. “I love her, and that’s all that matters.”
Trevor nodded. “What do your parents think?”
“Only my father knows,” Gavin answered, tossing back his drink. Swirling the empty gla.s.s, he stared at Trevor a second. Gavin zoned in on not only the sound of the ice clinking against the gla.s.s, but also his mother’s reaction when they would tell her this evening. “That’s the point of dinner.”
Trevor’s eyes barely widened, but Gavin could see the shock he was failing to hide. “What do you think she’s going to say?” Trevor asked.
Gavin shrugged. Not that he didn’t care what his mother thought, G.o.d knew he did, she meant the world to him. But his main focus was Emily and freeing her from any worry over the next several months. The situation was tough enough on her. The last thing he wanted was for her to suffer any physical effects of stress. He prayed his mother wouldn’t add to that by rejecting Emily. “I’m not sure what she’ll say. We’ll see, right?”
“Gavin, have you seen my black heels?” Emily’s voice echoed from the hall. Rounding the corner, her eyes were downcast as she secured a bracelet around her wrist.
Seeing his girlfriend had no f.u.c.king idea they had a visitor, Gavin cleared his throat. He made sure it was loud enough to catch her attention.
Emily snapped her head up and gasped, gripping the towel barely covering her just-showered body. “s.h.i.+t! I didn’t know he was here.” Both Gavin and Trevor chuckled. Doing an about-face, she darted down the hall, her bare feet slapping against the marble. “Hi, Trevor. Bye, Trevor!” she called out.
Trevor downed the last of his drink and smiled. “Hi, Emily. Bye, Emily.” After placing his gla.s.s in the sink, he walked over to Gavin. The two friends shook hands. “You’re a good man, bro. She’s always deserved someone like you. I hope this works out for you both. We’ll have a ton to celebrate, if so.”
Gavin nodded, swallowing back the evil instinct telling him the opposite would more likely be the scenario. After seeing Trevor out, he went to go check on the girl he hoped was carrying his child. He tapped on the bedroom door with his knuckles before tentatively sticking his head in. As he entered the room, he detected Emily’s jasmine perfume drifting through the air. It engulfed him, wrapping around his every male instinct.
But h.e.l.l if he wasn’t at odds with a battle he never saw coming. When they’d returned home last night from the club, he began ravis.h.i.+ng Emily, only to come to a screeching halt once he was inside her. Hovering above her, her panting driving him harder, it’d hit him like a ton of bricks that he could hurt her or the baby. The thought staggered him. In the middle of making love to the woman who owned his heart, he stopped. Cringing, he lied and said he didn’t feel well all of a sudden. He’d felt like a bigger j.e.r.k.-.o.f.f. when she tried to soothe him to sleep with a comforting ma.s.sage.
Sitting on the bed slipping on the missing black heels, Emily raised her eyes to his. She smiled, and as always, Gavin wanted to drown in it. Biting his bottom lip, he drank in what was his.
“Hi, you,” she purred. Standing, she moved toward him, her creamy, smooth flesh vibrant under her black, scoop-neck, silk blouse. He inhaled her hips swinging with feminine poise under a knee-length, gray twill skirt. With a seductive gleam flas.h.i.+ng in her eyes, she slithered her arms around his neck. “You look edible.”