Chapter 62: Two Pink Lines

▪ J A D E▪

"I've brought yummy food!" I announced as I entered James' condo.

While arranging the croissant sandwiches on a tray, I discreetly handed Blaire a small pharmacy bag and whispered for her to go into the bathroom.

I had grown impatient at my best friend's blatant procrastination of getting a pregnancy test and decided to take matters into my own hands.

The anxiety over not knowing was getting to me. Secretly, I hoped that Blaire was pregnant, knowing that it was something she truly desired. I allowed herself to momentarily think about what it would be like to be pregnant with Dominic's child and I felt a slight tugging in my chest.

Even though I knew it was not possible, I was glad that at least if we ever decided to have children in the future, we still had options.

After a few minutes, the bathroom door opened and the raven-haired young woman nodded with a small smile. Knowing what the simple gesture meant, I internally shrieked and ran up to Blaire. We excitedly embraced each other and squealed, ignoring the curious looks of the bodyguards around us as we hugged in the living room.

"I'm so happy for you!" I said softly with a big smile on my face. Blaire dragged me into the master bedroom and closed the door behind us so that we could talk with some more privacy.

"I can't believe that I'm going to be a mother!" she exclaimed in a hushed tone, "You have to help me plan a way to tell James."

"Of course!" I said eagerly as we stayed in the bedroom for a few minutes to continue to talk.

We both agreed not to speak about the pregnancy with anyone else. It would remain a secret between the two of us for now. We hugged one final time before going back out into the living room to enjoy the croissants.

It was around mid-afternoon and we had been lazing around for the last few hours, watching Netflix and idly chatting. The condo had Irish bodyguards as well as Jee-min and some other Calvetti men doing periodic rounds throughout the building and performing perimeter sweeps.

"I swear James is overdoing the security now!" Blaire complained to me about the increased number of body guards.

Scoffing I said, "I know right! I practically had to beg Dominic to let me leave the house. He kept saying that O'Doherty's place wasn't as safe as his residence. But I reminded him that he doesn't allow guests and I needed to come comfort you. I actually think he was contemplating letting you come over, that's how much he didn't want me to leave," I ended with a soft chuckle.

"Wow! I guess this entire situation has all of them rattled huh?" she asked. "Very much so! I think they all feel unnerved for being caught off-guard," I commented. Blaire rolled her eyes, "Their egos! I mean I love Raeni but they need to realise that they aren't superheroes, they aren't invincible and can't be 100%

effective all the time. They're human after all. It would be almost unbelievable if they always came out of every situation unscathed, this isn't a scripted movie; this is real life. Shit happens!"

Laughing softly, I replied, "Yea, tell that to them, they don't want to hear it."

"Speaking of the mafia, I'm so happy that Dominic finally relented and is allowing you to join," Blaire clapped her hands happily, "I mean, after seeing you in action like that he'd be stupid not to! And let's not forget that kiss! Holy shit! I was so surprised when he did that, basically telling the world that you guys are together."

"Yea, that kiss was wow. I can still see the shocked expressions of everyone," I smiled and tucked some of my purple hair behind my ear as a blush tinted my cheeks. Blaire grinned and wiggled her eyebrows, "Not to mention the hot bathroom sex only moments before, Gods just remembering what you told me has me all flustered."

Shaking my head, "Perv! Anyway... Don't get too excited about me joining the mafia. I'm basically going to have to start from the ground up, I doubt he's going to let do anything while this whole biker situation with the Cartels is going on."

With a nod of her head, Blaire pursed her lips as she thought about the situation. Her fingers fiddled with the hem of her top.

"Enough about that for now though, how are you feeling? Are you okay?" my eyes looked at her with concern.

Blaire's knees were scraped as well as parts of her hands, but it was nothing too serious. She looked over her injuries and scrunched up her nose, clearly not liking the fact that her perfect skin was temporarily scarred.

"I'm fine, a bit rattled if I'm being honest but I suppose that it's normal right?" her fingers continued to fidget on her lap and she could not help but jump and scream as Jee-min and Nigel entered, accidentally banging open the door against the wall.

Nigel was over 6 and a half feet tall, a strong and stocky man with strawberry blond hair and blue eyes. He towered over Jee-min, who looked like an adorable teen next to him, rather than the killing machine everyone knew that he was.

"Sorry," the Korean bodyguard said, taking in Blaire's surprised appearance, "we're just checking in to see if you girls are alright? Do you need anything else? The pizza will be here soon."

"We're fine, J-man," Blaire said with a flirty smile, trying to hide the fact that she was shaken.

"You sure, angel?" Nigel asked, his Irish accent thick.

Nodding her head in an exaggerated manner, she said, "I promise, I'm fine,

I'm surrounded by a swarm of body guards and I have my own little killing machine right here," Blaire leaned into me.

"Nice work again, Jade," Nigel commented looking like a giant in the room.

"You can thank that man right there," I smiled as I shot Jee-min a wink, "he taught me everything I know."

The Irishman slapped the Korean a bit heavily over the back as he gave out a hearty laugh.

"For a small man you're deadly! Come, let's get a drink while we wait on the pizza," Nigel said as he walked over to the small corner bar and grabbed two cans of Guinness from the mini fridge.

Shaking his head in refusal, Jee-min tried to decline, "We shouldn't."

"Nonsense!" Nigel refuted as he shoved the can into the shorter man's hand as he draped his beefy arm over Jee-min's slender shoulders and all but dragged him back out the living room.

"Well they seem to be getting on splendidly," I giggled.

"If anyone can get Jee-min to loosen up a bit, it would be Nigel. He's such a gentle giant with a big heart, he's always making people laugh," Blaire commented with a smile.

"Speaking of making people laugh, I really do miss Cristiano. I'm beginning to worry about him. It's not like him to be silent for this long," I suddenly said as he crossed my mind.

Moving even closer to me, Blaire whispered, "Do you want to sneak off and go visit him next week? He's supposed to be visiting his cousin who lives near the boardwalk, the one we visited a few times who used to throw those insane parties."

I nodded, remembering the house with plastic pink flamingos outside of it.

Continuing, she went on to say, "Since I have a short mid-semester break, we can easily pop in on Cristiano if he hasn't reached out to us by then."

I thought over what she said, but something seemed off. With a slight frown, I hesitantly asked, "Wait, how do you know he's visiting his cousin if you haven't spoken to him?"

"Oh! Erm he had posted about it on Facebook. Didn't you see his status update?" Blaire asked, her tone almost accusatory.

Shaking my head, I replied, "You know I don't really use Facebook anymore. But anyway... Are you sure we should be focusing on visiting him right now? I mean, we have other important things we should be thinking

about," my eyes discreetly looked at my best friend's stomach.

"Nonsense!" Blaire waved me off as she added, "Besides, we're used to multitasking, we'll just do a simple drive by and worst case just leave a message with his cousin or something. It's still a few days away, we have time to work out how we can do it."

"Sounds good, and indeed, we do have some extra time to sort out the logistics. We'll need to properly plan out how we're going to manoeuvre and break free from under Jee-min and Nigel's watch. It wouldn't be long before they found us either, as I can only temporarily disable the tracker on my car.

I don't know how to permanently undo it," I replied, before biting my lips as I began thinking about a plan.

Giggling softly, Blaire stated with a hushed tone, "If anyone can out-scheme our bodyguards, it would be you."

The thought of being unprotected made me momentarily reconsider our decision, which made me ask, "What about if we just let the guys come with us?"

"That's also an option. But where's the fun in that? I thought you wanted some freedom?" Blaire questioned.

"I do, but what if we're being watched and someone kidnaps us to get back at James and Dominic?" I asked then lowered my voice even more, "I'd never forgive myself if you or the baby got hurt."

Scoffing, Blaire shook her head, "That won't happen, Jee-min and the others would find us way before anything like that could occur. I mean, you said the tracker would only be briefly deactivated. By the time it's back on they will be back with us in no time. We're just going to visit Cristiano; his cousin's house is only 30mins away from here if I remember correctly. It's not like we're driving across the country. Plus, I have you by my side, my very own personal bodyguard. We'll be fine, so stop being paranoid!"

"I guess you're right, what could go wrong yea?" I said, trying to convince myself as I ignored the twisting sensation in my gut.