Chapter 14 #2
I sound alarmed, and for good reason. It’s one thing to join forces and defend against a monster.
At best, Marcus will realize that I’m not helpless, and that coming after me might cost him more than what I’m worth to him.
But attacking him outright… I’m not sure that would end well fo r any of us, regardless of how strong and resourceful my men are.
“Well, we can’t let Marcus Bennett call the shots anymore, especially if you suspect he’s responsible for the deaths of innocent people,” Dax says. “It just isn’t right.”
“And don’t worry about Jocelyn either,” Beck adds. “She overreached, and now she’s having to reanalyze her options. We know things about her that could cost her a promising career.”
I wholeheartedly want to believe that Dax, Leo, and Beck have what it takes to face Marcus when he comes after me, because he will. Sooner or later, he will find me here in Ember Ridge. Maybe not today or tomorrow, if Carlos keeps to our side, but I cannot outrun him forever.
At the same time, seeing how determined and devoted these men are makes my heart beat faster for them. It makes me think we might actually have a shot at a beautiful life together.
We spend the rest of the day in bed, making frantic love and reassuring each other that we belong together, that we were destined to be this tightly intertwined.
“Carlos will make that arrest report disappear,” Beck says, checking his text messages before placing his phone back on the nightstand.
“It could cost him his job,” I reply.
Outside, the sun sets over Ember Ridge in violent shades of incandescent red and purple, casting a soft shimmer across my naked body. The sweetness of the afterglow lingers on my lips while Dax traces invisible circles over my bare shoulder.
“You mentioned something about Jocelyn earlier,” I say, remembering fragments of our conversation.
I was so busy with my own past unraveling and worrying that they might think less of me that some details slipped my mind.
That is, until now, as I rest beside them, my focus clearer than ever.
“And you never really told me much about your past with her either.”
Dax takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
I watch his chiseled chest drop, my fingertips tingling as I’m tempted to trace the fine contours of his muscles, to play with the silver and black curls of hair that dust across it.
“As you know, Jocelyn was our last and probably only attempt at a real relationship,” he says. “We thought it might actually work.”
“But it didn’t because she wasn’t faithful, right?”
“I’d thought that the three of us were more than enough, but Jocelyn had an appetite.
Being with us only served to enhance her need for sexual exploration.
She wasn’t really in it for the feelings, for the actual joy and challenges of building something together.
She and Carlos got hot and heavy a couple of times. ”
I gasp. “Oh, boy…”
“He felt awful,” Leo chuckles. “He’s such a straight shooter, the poor guy. Jocelyn lied to him. Said we’d split up. Worked him over until they wound up in bed. But then she wanted to bring another guy in, a colleague of hers from the prosecutor’s office. ”
“That’s when Carlos picked up on the tomfoolery,” Beck adds. “He told us about him and Jocelyn. We ended it with her right then and there.”
I roll over to look at him. “How did it feel?”
“Awful,” he says and offers a faint smile. “Like a punch in the gut. For a long time, I didn’t think we’d ever find someone who would be able to thrive with us. Then you showed up in the middle of the night, alarm blaring, and everything changed.”
Deep laughter makes my ribcage shudder. “Yes, that was quite the meeting between us. So how did Jocelyn take you ending things?”
“Not well. She tried to lie about it. Went on a smear campaign against Carlos, but that only served to strengthen our friendship with him,” Dax says. “In the end, we laid out the terms of our separation clearly. Jocelyn would keep quiet. We would all keep quiet, and move on. But then?—”
“I came along,” I exhale sharply, “and she didn’t like that.”
“She didn’t think we’d actually move on. Jocelyn insisted that the kind of relationship we wanted couldn’t happen, that it would work as a sexual pastime at best, but not to build a life together. Not with real feelings,” Dax replies.
“I don’t know about that. The feelings I’m experiencing are pretty real,” I whisper.
That has Dax turning over to take me in his arms. Beck and Leo move closer, too, the three of them smiling like hungry devils.
“Oh, you feel things, do you?” Dax nibbles on my ear lobe, making me giggle .
“All the feels.”
“Do you feel this?” he asks, his hand slipping between my legs.
Instantly, I’m turned on, my folds slick as his fingers shamelessly explore them.
“Oh, I most certainly do.”
Nausea.
This can’t be right .
I’ve been telling myself that for the past week or so. At first, I blamed it on the stress due to the whole arrest warrant situation, the avalanche of changes that I’ve had to deal with.
But things have been good lately, quiet.
The fact that I keep puking my guts out every morning, however, is not a good sign. It’s not until I realize that my period is late that I stop by the drugstore to pick up a pregnancy test.
I stare at the plus sign with my stomach reduced to the size of a very heavy cue ball.
“Shit,” I whisper, sitting on the sofa.
It’s nice and sunny outside, and it’s going to be a hot day. I’m hungry and queasy at the same time. We’ve planned a full day together—we’re taking Luke to the water park. I even bought myself a one-piece bathing suit for the occasion.
“Shit, shit, shit.”
Saying it multiple times doesn’t change the reality staring me in the face.
I’m pregnant.
On top of this new revelation, my legal fate still hangs in the balance. Carlos may not have given me up to Marcus, and Jocelyn may have kept her mouth shut about my being here, but I am still on the radar. Sooner or later, Marcus will catch up to me.
A sudden knock on my front door startles me.
It’s Leo and Luke.
I greet them both with a wide smile. “Good morning, Sunshine and Sunshine Jr.” The pregnancy test is in the bin, but my heart is still racing as I grab my bag. “Ready for some fun?”
I don’t know where this upbeat vibe just sprang from. I am scared out of my mind, and I have had maybe a minute to process the idea that I’m pregnant. But looking at Leo and that luminous reassuring smile of his, perks me right up.
“Dad said I still need my inflatable swimmies,” Luke grumbles as if it’s the end of the world.
“Well, that’s not a tragedy,” I reply.
He shakes his head in dramatic discontent. “But I’m twelve, Olivia. I’m too big for that stuff.”
“Fair enough, but you’re not tall enough for that water slide pool just yet either,” I say. “It’s cool, though. Do you know how to swim?”
“No. ”
“That’s why he needs the inflatables,” Leo chuckles, one hand resting on his son’s shoulder. “But I’m the bad guy.”
“Well, Luke, today’s your lucky day because I’m going to teach you how to swim, if your dad will let me.”
“Will you, Dad?”
“Of course. I trust Olivia,” Leo says, giving me a playful wink.
Assuming I won’t get queasy at the pool, I dare say we might have a great day ahead of us.
I catch a glimpse of Dax and Beck loading up the SUV with a few beach-related items that we’ll need at the park, and it is such an endearing image: The four of us and the little guy about to spend some time together, like real families do.
And it hits me, right there in that moment: They are my family, the family I’ve always wanted, albeit in a slightly modified formula, but still my family, nonetheless.
“Are you okay? You seem a little out of sorts,” Leo asks me.
I offer a smile. “I’m good. Promise.”
That’s a white lie, at best. I want to be good. I want to be perfectly happy and be able to work up the courage to tell them that I’m pregnant. But given the circumstances, given the uncertainty of my future, and given how stubborn one’s nasty past can be, I’m not so sure.
I can’t tell them.
Not yet.