Chapter 14
ASHLYNN
T he roiling of my stomach pulled me out of a deep sleep. One second, I was blissfully tangled in Mason’s arms, and the next, I bolted upright and sprinted for the bathroom.
I barely made it to the toilet before my guts felt like they were being turned inside out.
My hair fell forward in a wild curtain, and my knees smashed into the cold tile beneath them.
As I started to throw up, a warm hand gathered my hair, tugging it gently out of the way.
The other pressed between my shoulder blades, steadying me.
He didn’t say a word while I gagged, each heave wringing another groan out of me. Most people would’ve backed away, but not Mason. He just stayed there, the heat of his palm between my shoulders grounding me until the worst of it passed.
When I finally sagged forward, he eased me back onto my heels and crouched beside me. His palm skimmed over my temple, brushing damp strands away from my face. “You done?”
“For now,” I rasped, my throat sore.
He scooped me up like I weighed nothing and set me on the counter. Then he reached over to snag my toothbrush from the cup, squirted paste onto the bristles, and handed it to me. I brushed on autopilot, rinsed, and then leaned against his chest as his arms went around me.
“Guess Nitro tried to poison us with that steak last night,” I mumbled, tilting my head back to glare at him. “It’s not fair. You should be puking, too, but apparently, you have an iron stomach.”
His eyes narrowed, his gaze dropping to my stomach. “When was your last period?”
The question was so unexpected that I just blinked at him for a second. Then my brain started doing the math, and the nausea that hit me this time had nothing to do with food poisoning.
My brain short-circuited, and I just stared at him, my stomach dropping.
Dates tumbled through my head in a messy blur, and my stomach flipped for a whole new reason. I wasn’t on the pill. We’d never talked about birth control. And he’d never once reached for a condom.
I should’ve realized sooner, but apparently, mind-blowing orgasms were enough to knock common sense right out of me. Not only had I ignored the risks we were taking, I’d also somehow forgotten how to do basic math.
I’d been so caught up in everything that the possibility of getting pregnant hadn’t even occurred to me. Not once. Until now.
My cheeks heated with embarrassment, but it was tangled with a dangerous flicker of excitement I tried to smother before it took root. As scary as the thought was, a small, secret part of me was happy at the idea of carrying his baby. Of starting a family with him—something I’d never really had.
I just didn’t know if he’d feel the same, and now I was braced for the potential fallout.
Finally, his lips curved into a smug smile. “Bet I put my kid in you the night I popped your cherry.”
My mouth fell open. “You’re not mad?”
“Why the fuck would I be mad? Now no one”—he stepped closer, caging me in against the counter—“including you, will ever doubt who you belong to.”
Possession rolled off him in waves, the kind that made my pulse trip over itself. Warmth filled my chest, drowning out some of the panic. He didn’t see this as a mistake, and that meant I could breathe.
“I might not be pregnant, though,” I pointed out. “It could just be an upset stomach from eating too much last night. And my period might be late because of all the stress lately.”
“There’s an easy way to find out.” His hands closed around my waist, lifting me off the counter to set me on my feet. “We’ll go see Cage.”
Mason strode into the bedroom to grab his phone and fire off a quick text. The ding of a notification was almost instantaneous.
“Cage is in his office. Let’s go.”
He got dressed much more quickly than I did.
I barely had time to throw on a pair of his sweatpants and a hoodie before he was steering me out of the room, his hand warm and steady at the small of my back.
We took the stairs down, and the minute we hit the main floor, I felt eyes tracking us, a ripple of curiosity I didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with right now.
Mason didn’t so much as slow to acknowledge his brothers, his palm pressing a little firmer to keep me moving. We headed straight outside and to the medical clinic where he’d brought me after my crash.
Cage was in his office, behind his desk, scowling down at a laptop. He looked up at us through the window to the reception area as soon as we walked in the front door, a concerned gleam in his eyes. “Something wrong?”
Mason didn’t crack a smile. “Need a pregnancy test.”
“Not exactly what I expected to keep stocked around here.” Cage leaned back with a crooked smirk. “But if more brothers keep falling like dominoes—first the prez, now you—I might as well start buying ’em by the case.”
Heat rushed to my face. “Wow. Subtle.”
“Hey, I’m just saying.” He shrugged unrepentantly. “Savannah didn’t use one of the boxes I grabbed for her. It’s yours if you want it. Or I can run a blood test.”
“How long for the results if we go that route?” Mason asked.
“A few hours if I have a prospect run the sample over to the lab and ask them to put a rush on it,” Cage replied.
“I want to use the one you bought for Savannah, please.” I laced my fingers together to keep from fidgeting, my stomach tying itself in the same knots. “It’ll be faster, and we can do the blood test if the result is positive.”
Cage got up, and we followed him into one of the exam rooms where he rummaged in a drawer. “Good plan.”
Mason stayed planted beside me, one big hand resting lightly on my hip. He wasn’t crowding me exactly, but I was glad he stuck close since I was nervous.
“Here you go.” Cage handed me the little pink box. “Let me know when you want me to draw that blood.”
A shiver of unease slid down my spine at how certain he sounded that the test would come back positive, but Mason didn’t give me the chance to worry before he muttered, “Upstairs.”
The walk back to our room felt longer than ever before. The test was light in my hand, but my heavy pulse thudded in my ears. Every step closer to his room made my nerves jump.
But beneath the anxiety was something else. A quiet, dangerous thread of hope I couldn’t seem to untangle.
Mason must’ve sensed my uneasiness because his hand stayed on me the whole way, almost as though he already knew the answer and wanted me to know he wasn’t going anywhere.
Mason closed the bedroom door behind us and steered me straight into the bathroom. When he followed me inside, I held up the box with a glare. “You’re not coming in here while I pee.”
He gave me a look that could’ve stripped paint. “Don’t see the point in?—”
“Alone.” I shut the door in his face.
The grumble that came from the other side made me bite back a smile.
Once I was done, I set the test on the counter and flipped the cap over the end. Then I checked the directions just to be sure how long we had to wait—more than enough time for my nerves to tie themselves in knots.
I twisted the faucet to wash my hands, and the door opened.
Mason stepped inside without asking, closing the toilet lid and sitting down.
He rested his palm on my thigh, and his thumb brushed back and forth in slow, steady strokes, the weight of his hand grounding me while my thoughts tried to spiral. “How long do we wait?”
“Three minutes.”
He pulled his phone out and set a timer, then pulled me between his legs, his face pressed against my stomach. I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath until his cell buzzed.
Twisting in his hold, my gaze dropped to the tiny window on the white stick. There they were— two pink lines. Unmistakably positive.
A shaky laugh escaped me before I could stop it. My chest was full to bursting, but under the happiness was a thread of doubt I couldn’t quite ignore. What if, to him, this just made me his baby mama…when what I wanted was to be his old lady. His wife.
Before the fear could take root, he tugged me down and kissed me. A hungry and unshakable possession with his mouth. My fingers curled in his shirt, clinging to him—to the heat and certainty he radiated.
By the time he stood, pulling me up with him, the doubt was already drowned out by the sensual need he’d built in me. And the curve of his mouth promised I wouldn’t be thinking about anything but him in another minute.