Chapter 16
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Blair glanced at the clock on her wall and was a little surprised to see that it was 5:45 pm. She hadn’t even realized. She had been busy catching up on all the meeting notes for Roman’s files and sending off any actioning emails from the meetings. Blair sat back in her chair and stretched out her back with! her arms raised in the air. Before relaxing again. She needed to call her sisters and with the door connecting her and Roman’s office closed, now seemed the best time.
Picking up her phone, she dialed Sutton’s number.
“Hi hon,” Came Sutton’s soft voice in her ear.
“Hey, how is my niece or nephew doing today?” Was the first question out of her mouth. Sutton’s pregnancy hadn’t been easy. She had had morning sickness nonstop for the first four months. Whoever had called it morning sickness had lied. Sutton had thrown up at anytime and often. She and Keira both believed part of it had been the stress of her ex leaving her pregnant and alone. God, she hoped so, because there was a chance she was pregnant as well. Not something she was ready to even truly think about.
“Moving like crazy.” Sutton said. “It was so hard to sit still at reception today.”
Sutton had been able to get a job as a receptionist in a company managing cyber security, about a five minutes‘ drive from Kingston’s. It was only temp work, but they had been unable to find someone to fill the role because of an employment freeze. Cyber10 had just been bought out, was the rumor. But until that was made public, it was all speculation. Cyber10 was the company Kingston used.
It was good for Sutton because she could stay in one job for longer. Temp work was all over the place and only for short periods, normally. The employment freeze had helped Sutton, at least.
Because Sutton was pregnant, no one wanted to hire a pregnant woman on a full–time basis, when they would likely take some time off after the baby was born. Sutton hadn’t let her ask Roman for a job. Blair couldn’t, not now that she was sleeping with him. It just felt wrong asking her boss she was now shagging to help her pregnant sister for a job. The silly thing was Sutton was very good with computers and working in reception just seemed a waste of her talents.
“How was the last checkup?” Blair asked. She had been unable to make Sutton’s last appointment. Keira had gone with their sister.
“Everything it fine. I’m to be careful of my blood sugar levels and stress over the next few months. But other than that, everything is fine. You know Keira. She would have called you straight away if there were any concerns.”
Sutton was right about that, so she decided to change the subject.
“Damn Straight.” Blair heard Keira pipe in from the background.
Blair was relieved she would only have to tell her news once to her sisters because they were together. “Can you put me on speaker?”
“Sure, give me a sec…” there was a pause, then Sutton said. “Ok, Keira can hear now.”
“Are you guys going home this weekend?” She asked first. She had said home, but none of the sisters felt like it was. Their home had been sold to pay off debts after their parents‘ deaths. Who would have guessed their father had bankrupted the company? Leaving them broke and at the mercy of their aunt and uncle.
Blair crossed her fingers that they would go for moral support. Aunt Viv wasn’t easy to deal with alone and having uncle Peter there would only make it
worse.
“Unfortunately, why?” Sutton said.
“I broke it off with Dan.” Blair got straight to the point.
There was a silence on the other end of the phone before Sutton asked. “What happened?”
“I found him in bed with…. someone else, Blair didn’t say Laura because that would come out soon enough and knowing Sutton, she would ring Laura, giving her a piece of her mind. They would know the truth soon enough without her gossiping about it with her sisters. Sutton didn’t need the stress. Blair just hoped Sutton had a front–row seat after everything she had put up with from their aunt and uncle.
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Chapter 16
“That… that cheating piece of shit. I’ll kill him.” Sutton said angrily. Blair could also hear Keira’s angry words overlapping their older sisters: it was a little hard to follow.
Blair cut them off before they name more ways they would curse and maim Dan. “Sutton, Keira, it’s ok honestly, I think… I’m upset, but I think it’s better I found out now before we married.” Blair took a deep breath, trying to steady her racing thoughts. She knew she couldn’t reveal the truth about Roman just yet; it was all too fresh, too uncertain. She glanced at the rain–soaked sky outside. She didn’t even know if it was more than him just helping her out or an easy booty call.
“Did you have any problems kicking him out?” Sutton asked after she had calmed down enough to think clearly.
“I left.” She confessed. Now this was where it was going to get hard to keep Laura out of the explanation of why she was the one to leave, not Dan.
“What? Why?” she asked, her concern evident in her voice.
It was then Blair thought of the perfect reason why she would leave. “I found them in our bed,” she revealed, her voice tinged with disgust. “Every time I would walk into our bedroom, I would have seen them.”
“Where did you stay last night? Why didn’t you come here? Why didn’t you call us?” came questions from both her sisters.
“I’m ok, I have somewhere to stay…”
Sutton cut her off this time. “Where? With whom?”
Blair rolled her eyes, feeling like a teenager again with all the questions, but she knew it was out of love. “With a friend.” She couldn’t say her boss, who she had slept with last night, had offered her a bed with him in it. Just the memory of what they had done together yesterday, and this morning, sent white hot fire through her blood. “I’m safe, I promise.”
“You could have come here.” Keira said.
“You don’t have the room with the baby coming.” Blair said, feeling the need to remind them, because there wouldn’t be room soon.
“Blair, we would find room no matter what. The baby could sleep in my room for the first few months. Then we could look for a bigger place for us all. Family comes first.” Sutton offered. They had planned on fixing up the tiny study for the baby.
Blair knew she wouldn’t take Sutton up on the offer. She was right where she wanted to be right now. Roman was showing her a side of herself she hadn’t known had existed. She intended to experience every second of it until he grew bored and asked her to leave. One thing she needed to keep safe was her heart because Roman hadn’t involved his own, not since his divorce.
“I’m ok for now. Will let you know if anything changes.” Glad Sutton hadn’t pushed for more details on which friend she was staying with, because Blair wouldn’t have lied to her sisters.
“So, have you told Auntie Viv about the broken engagement?” Sutton now knew why she needed them there on Sunday.
“Yes, and she thinks it’s just a lover’s tiff and we need to sort it out.” Blair confirmed.
“I think Aunt Viv needs to divorce uncle Peter and marriage into Dan’s family herself if she wants it so bad or ask Laura.” Keira said.
Blair almost choked because the second option might very likely happen with a baby on the way. Blair knew Dan’s mother Paula was going to be pissed with Laura as her daughter–in–law. She really liked Dan’s mother, but she wouldn’t marry Dan just for that reason. She would still be friendly with her. That wouldn’t change. It wasn’t Paula’s fault that Dan couldn’t keep his pants zipped. Blair could see her being quite embarrassed by all this mess.
“I just need you both there. I have a feeling it’s going to be a firing squad on Sunday.” Where auntie Viv and uncle Peter will try to force her into marrying Dan again. But that would never happen. She would do her best to keep silent about Laura, but if she had no other choice, she would rat her cousin out. Why should she suffer to protect Laura when she hadn’t cared about her feelings?