Roxanne's Redemption (21 page)

He didn't
have
to wait long,
because
Kira walked out into the backyard
a few minutes
later with
a
large covered dish
. The person that made up the phrase ‘
never judge a book by its cover
’
could have been
referring to Kira.
The media saw the
spoil
ed
pop star
sh
e pretend
ed
to be
,
but
her friends saw the real
Kira
. Who would
ha
ve thought that
she wasn’t as self-absorbed as
the media saw her
?

Another thing was Adrian. He
nearly
ran from the kitchen earlier, but before that at t
he club he wouldn’t talk to
Kira
,
he
just
stare
d
at her now and again like he was trying to solve
a
difficult
problem.
Sebastian wondered why that was, before shaking his head
.
H
is brother was grown and wasn’t his problem anymore.

* * * *

Adrian followed Joshua and Nick to the living room. To say he was shocked finding out Michael
had
a son he d
id
n't know about
was
an unders
tatement. Who would
ha
ve thought
Michael would do that to
the
woman who love
d
him? Adrian wondered briefly if Sebastian
had
told Lexi or Roxanne
Michael was
m
o
v
ing back to California. Probably not
,
he decided, because
if Sebastian had
,
Adrian could easily picture Lexi wanting to move as far away as possible.
Then again, maybe she wouldn’t.

Most
women
in Lexi’s position would
ha
ve
given
up the baby for adoption or terminate
d
the pregnancy
, but she didn't
. Then again she wasn’t the only one surprising him either. Kira Wellington. She was making him afraid of being in the same room with
her
for long. She
was
the only
woman that ha
d
him thinking of forever whenever he saw her or hear
d
her voice.
And
h
e
didn't like it. Nope. Not one bit.

C
hapter
Twenty

“You’re kidding me!”

Roxanne glared at Ava. “Don't shout.”

Ava had arrived a few minutes before Kira took the seasoned steaks to Sebastian. While Kira had
rung
the door
bell before letting herself in,
Ava
on the other hand
had
just let herself in like she owned the
place. Not that Roxanne minded
,
that
was
why she’d
give
n
each of them a
key.

About ten minutes
later,
Miles—
Kira’s
bodyguard—drove up. Roxanne had invited him to stay
and
join their little get together. He was hesitant at first, but then he gave in with a little coaxing from Roxanne and another apology from Kira for ditching him.

It wa
s sincere this time, even if she’
d giggled after he was
out of earshot
.

“I'm not
kidd
i
ng
. I found out yesterday morning when Lexi dropped Zach off.”

“Sebastian and his brothers
are related to
Zach. How did his brothers
take
the news?”

“I don't know.
He
told them in the guest room
.”

“So, how—” she was about to say
something
w
hen
Zach c
ame
around the corner squealing
,
“Auntie Ava, Auntie Ava! What did you get me?”

“Ah hon, I didn't know you wanted something. How about
on
Sunday we spe
nd the day out, just you and me
?
W
e could go shopping
for
toys
after we eat ice-cream
.
”
Zach looked like he was considering it
and
after a moment he nodded.

“Ava.”

She stiffened
before turning
to face the owner of the voice. “Joshua.”

He nodded
.
Ava took Zach and left
,
saying she was going to dress Zach in his trunks.
Kira left
Roxanne
,
Joshua and Adrian alone
as
she
took
the potatoes out back to Sebastian.

“I’ll bring out the salad,” Adrian said
as he left
. Joshua was still staring off in the direction Ava
had gone
. When he finally looked away, Roxanne saw
the
hurt
he was no doubt trying to hide
flash
in his eyes
for a second before it was gone
.

“She doesn't
,
you know.”

“What?”

“Ava. She doesn't hate you.”

“Sure she doesn't,” he
mumbled
dryly.

“Joshua, that’s her way of dealing with things that she doesn't know how to handle or
things that
scare the shit out of her. In this case I would say it’s the latter.”

“What
am
I suppose
d
to do?”

“If you feel the way I think you feel about her, then there is only one thing you can do…fight for her.”

“How do I do that?”

“Sorry
Joshua,
you’ll
have to figure that out on your own.
Just
remember that in the end it will be worth it.”

He nodded
,
taking
the
Igloo cooler
with the sodas and beers
in it
out
side
. After he left
,
Ava returned with Zach
.
He was
wearing blue swim trunks.

“Hey hon, can you tell Kira
to come here
?”

Zach
nodded
before he
r
a
n off.

“
Did you
bring
a
bathing suit?” Roxanne asked Ava and raised a brow in question at Kira
as
she entered. They nodded.

“
You can go change while I wait for Lexi
.”

Ava grimaced
as she
walked away.
Kira,
on the other hand
,
looked excited and Roxanne wondered why that
was. A few minutes later Roxanne heard the front door close.
Lexi was here.

* * * *

“Bye
,
Auntie Roxanne,” Zach said
after she kissed him on his forehead
.

Roxanne waved at them as Lexi drove away. As soon as Lexi’s car was out of sight Roxanne step
ped inside and locked the door she headed up
stairs to her bedroom. Once inside she stripped out of her clothes,
dropped
them in t
he hamper,
turned on the shower to a reasonable temperature and stepped
under the spray. She closed her eyes
and
sighed in bliss as the hot water ran over her skin
, as
she
let her mind drift back to earlier today.

After Lexi
arriv
ed
,
they’d
gone
to change into their swimwear.
A few minutes later
,
they returned to the kitchen to carry the remaining items outside. For the rest of the day
,
Roxanne felt
like
doing a happy dance
,
whenever she caught
Sebastian staring at her with enough heat
that suddenly made her want to drag him upstairs and leave their guest
s
to themselves for a little while
.

There were times she
almost
laugh
ed
when she caught Adrian trying very hard not to look at
Kira and
failing
. Nick didn't even try to hide whenever he was ogling Kira. Adrian had caught him doing it
a few times
and glared,
and then
,
as if
realizing
what he was doing
,
he scowled. Kira was either oblivious or ignoring them.
Roxanne
guessed it was
the latter.

Joshua and Ava stare
d
at each other with longing and heat in their eyes. Ava would look away first
,
panic
clear in her expression
, while Joshua would shake his head ever so slightly before looking away
.

And
Lexi was talking to Miles
.
They were having
what look
ed
like a very enjoy
able
conversation
.
Roxanne didn't interrupt
the others because
she
enjoyed
watching
them
squirm
when they
caught
her
watching them
.

They all had a good time eating
,
drinking
,
playing Marco Polo, racing and
playing
pool ball with Za
ch. The harder part came later
in the evening,
after
everyone had pitched in
to
he
lp clean up.
After they’d
return
ed
to the living room
,
Lexi had
told Zach that Sebastian and his brothers were
his uncles
because
Zach’s
father
was
their
brother
.

Roxanne had held her breath waiting for the questions, but
they
never came. Instead Zach had nodded and smiled at them. Roxanne had wondered if
on some level
Zach had
known
that his father
had
hurt
his mother
.
She
shook her head
. She
knew Lexi never told Zach what her relationship with his father was like
and never would
. So
Roxanne
wondered if
he was waiting until they went home
before
he began
asking questions
.

Roxanne was brought back to the present by the ringing of the
doorbell
.
Sebastian’s back,
she thought to herself. He’
d left after the others,
because he’
d
wanted
to change his car and get a suit for tomorrow. She turned off the shower, dried off and put on her robe then headed downstairs.