Zach nodded at his friends. “Has Daniel said anything yet about how Sabrina is doing?”
Wade grinned. “He came out a half hour ago. White as a sheet.” He jabbed Michael in the side. “I think the contractions are hurting him more than his wife.”
Zach laughed for the first time in days.
Normally he wouldn’t have come to the hospital just to wait for a former member of the Eternal Bachelors Club to become a father, but he couldn’t spend another night staring at his walls. He’d done that three nights in a row already. Tonight he’d at least spend a few hours with his friends and celebrate the arrival of Daniel’s son or daughter. Maybe that would lift his mood and stop him from thinking of Rochelle.
“Do they have anything stronger than coffee here?” he asked.
Xavier shrugged and took a sip from his coffee. “Afraid not. But as soon as the baby is here, we’ll go out to celebrate. You’re coming with us, right?”
The hesitant glance his friend tossed him made him even more aware of the fact that he’d withdrawn over the last few days. “Sure, why not?”
“Just saying.” Xavier exchanged a look with Wade before adding, “Any news from Rochelle?”
Zach stiffened immediately. “I’m not expecting to hear from her.” When he heard footsteps and voices behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief at not having to continue this conversation. He pivoted and saw Paul arrive with his very pregnant wife, Holly. “Well, well, look who’s here!”
Holly laughed, glowing. “I can’t let my best friend go through childbirth without me.”
Paul had his arm around her waist as if trying to take the heavy burden of her pregnant belly off her. “Hey, guys.” He motioned to a chair. “Don’t you want to sit down, baby?”
Holly made a motion of refusal. “I’d rather see if they’ll let me in her room. Sabrina sent me a text saying she left my name with the nurse so they’d let me in.”
She kissed Paul and waddled to the nurse’s station, where a nurse was sorting through a stack of files. Zach noticed how lovingly Paul looked at Holly and how his other friends watched her, too. Her blond locks reached almost to her behind and even in the sixth or seventh month of pregnancy Holly still had an amazing figure, which her husband seemed to be unable to get enough of.
Damn, he had to turn away from this. He couldn’t stand seeing so much love and happiness in one evening. Maybe it had been a bad idea to come here. It would have been better to go somewhere and get drunk. Not his local bar though, since everything there reminded him of Rochelle.
Paul tapped him on the shoulder. “Congratulations on convincing the SEC that you’re innocent.”
Zach forced a smile on his lips. “I wouldn’t have managed it without everybody’s help.” He nodded at them in thanks. “I owe you guys.”
“You can pay for the drinks tonight,” Hunter agreed. “I’m rather thirsty.”
All his friends laughed, all except for Xavier. His taciturn friend only looked at him intensely. When Paul joined the others, Zach walked to the vending machine and got a—probably awful—black coffee. He didn’t have to look over his shoulder to know who’d joined him.
“About Rochelle…”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” He put some milk into the cup and stirred it, before turning to Xavier.
“She’s got feelings for you.”
“If that were really the case,” he grunted under his breath so none of the others could hear him, “then why hasn’t she contacted me?”
Xavier lifted one side of his mouth. “Because she’s probably just as stubborn as you.”
“I’m not stubborn.”
“Oh, well, I guess I must be wrong then. My mistake.”
Xavier’s casual tone riled him up.
“What the fuck do you know? This thing between me and Rochelle was complicated from the get-go. And now it’s over.”
“Is it?”
“What are you trying to say?”
With his head, Xavier motioned in the direction of his friends sitting in the uncomfortable chairs. “Wade just told me that you had him find Rochelle’s brother.”
“So?” He didn’t have to justify his actions.
“Apparently you also had some business with a loan shark, though Wade didn’t know what it was about.”
He pressed his jaw together tightly, annoyed now. “Wade talks too much. Can’t anybody here keep secrets anymore?”