at her. “You’re delusional. He’s a single man. He can do whatever he wants.”
Nadine frowned. “Noah wants to come home.” She looked back at Nadine, slyly. “He doesn’t know what he wants.
That, plus the fact that he’s single, makes it fair.”
“What are you, his girlfriend?”
The more upset Nadine got, the cooler this woman seemed. “Well
… I’m a girl … and I am his friend. You’d have to ask him about the extent of his feelings.” She looked Nadine in the eye. “Look, I’m a realist, Nadine. I might have started out as a side piece, but you’re a little peculiar. I think I may be about to get bumped up.” Nadine smiled. “Noah’s not bumping up a side piece. You’re just a hoe to him. Just something he was doing.”
“You really want that to be true, don’t you?”
“It is true, and while you’re so busy telling me things I need to ask him, why don’t you ask him about his baby?” She dismissed Nadine with a wave of her hand. “Please. I know that girl is pregnant.”
“I’m sure you do, but I doubt he had enough time to tell you about our baby.” Nadine patted her belly in triumph. Top that, bitch! Nadine finally ruffled her feathers. She looked down at Noah sharply and Nadine knew she’d drawn first blood. She took a moment to come back at her. Nadine watched with satisfaction as she gripped the rail of the bed, stared down at Noah and pursed her lips — obviously having an internal debate. Nadine didn’t like who won.
“You know something?” she asked, turning her head to face Nadine. “I don’t give a rat’s ass if you are. That’s one of the oldest tricks in the book. Don’t you think he knows that? You lack confidence, Nadine.
The move you made is an ultimate show of desperation.” Nadine stared at her with her mouth open. She couldn’t believe her audacity! Talking to her like she was stupid, and like she had Noah’s affections sewn up and in the bag. Where had this heifer come from?
Nadine clenched her teeth and fisted her hands. “I think you need to leave.”
She smiled at Nadine. “Guess I struck a nerve. Okay. I’ll go, but not for you. Noah doesn’t need to wake up to this.” She walked to the door, opened it, and turned back to Nadine. “Oh, since you wanted to know so bad, my name is Leah Wheeler. Now that you know my name, I should tell you something else about me. I am very tenacious … so you might want to keep your dukes up.”
Nadine watched the door close and walked over to Noah. She reached into her pocket and took out a new tube of Cherry ChapStick and broke the seal. Nadine put it on Noah’s lips, careful not to disturb the tube going down his throat. She returned it to her pocket and pulled his covers up. Nadine touched his hand. If it was a fight that bitch wanted, then it was a fight she’d get.
“I love you, Noah. Always have, always will.” The door opened and Noah’s parents re-entered the room. John pulled up a chair and sat close to his son as Anita reached for Nadine.
“You look tired, honey. Why don’t you check on the children and get some rest. If there’s any change, we’ll call you.” Nadine resigned herself to lifting her leg all the way up to mark her territory. She rubbed her still flat belly. “You’re right. I am tired. This baby is taking a lot out of me.”
John put his face in his hands and shook his head. Anita didn’t seem thrilled. “Does Noah know?”
Nadine nodded. “Yes, he does.”
Anita’s mouth turned down at the corners. “I see.” Nadine sighed. “The baby’s Noah’s, Anita. It’s his baby.” Anita looked shocked, and John stretched his legs out and laced his hands over his stomach, still shaking his head. “If that boy wasn’t already unconscious, I’d knock his dumb ass out.”
“John … ” Anita started.
“I told him. Boy never did listen.” He looked at Nadine hard, his brown eyes glowering. “‘Night, Nadine.”
Nadine slipped out quietly after wishing them both a good night.
John and Anita didn’t bother her. Their disapproval of the way she intended to keep her man was a small thing. They’d come around in time.
In the meantime, her plate was more than full. Now she had to find a way to keep not one, but two, bitches’s claws out of Noah.
Chapter Three
Pleading the Fifth
L eah had never in her life wanted to slap the taste out of someone’s mouth as badly as she wanted to slap Nadine. She wasn’t privy to the inner workings of their failed marriage, but if what Nadine had shown her was any indication of her true personality, she couldn’t blame Noah if he’d chosen to stray. She sighed and got out of her car. If Nadine said anything greasy to her today, she was going to let her ass have it; she didn’t care if Noah had just started to come around, whose parents were there, or how pregnant her ass was. She was gettin’ it. Little condescending, stuck-up, crazy bitch.
Leah walked into the Starbucks across the street from the hospital and picked up some snacks. She had a feeling Lucas hadn’t thought ahead to feeding himself. He was too busy dividing his time between Nick, Noah, and Tony. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been asleep with his head on Nick’s bed, using his hurt arms for a pillow. Nick had been asleep, too, with her fingers in his hair. Leah smiled to herself. It had been an especially sweet and touching moment in the midst of so much sadness.
Leah paid for her stuff and was starting to shift her mood out of the funk Nadine had put her in, when someone touched her arm.
“You need some help with that?”
Startled, Leah turned and found herself looking into the pudgy, fatherly face of Butch Harper. Leah was surprised to see him, but she gave him the bag of goodies and pushed the door open. “Sure, thanks Butch. Should I say it’s nice to see you, or should I not be sure yet?” Butch was I.A. Not everybody in Internal Affairs was an asshole or a robot with a busted attitude. Some people had compassion and weren’t willing to get your ass with no grease — guilty or not. Butch was pretty much one of those people. Still, to see him at all was enough cause to make you queasy. He was a nice man, but he rarely made social calls. Someone was about to get reamed out.
Butch laughed jovially as he crossed the street with her. “I’m not that bad, am I?”
Leah smiled at him. “No, you’re a sweet guy, Butch. You make things a little easier.”
He laughed and his eyes twinkled as he held the door for her.
“Well, you know what they say, ‘a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.’”
“Yeah, so they say.”
Butch followed her down the hall to the bank of elevators, making small talk. When Leah reached out to push the button, Butch stepped in front of her. “You know, Leah, I really gotta tell you how sorry I am that so many of the people you’re close to got hurt. I truly am. Thank God everybody’s got the chance to recover.” He paused and offered her a regretful smile. “Unfortunately, something has come
