Chapter 81
REGGIE
I wait for Bella to be sound asleep. The taste of her still on my tongue. It’s a shame to leave her while I’m this comfortable with her in my arms, but I gotta check on Rowan.
I creep out of bed and toss on some sweatpants, heading straight to the connecting door.
“Rowan!” I call out as I enter.
“In here.”
As I turn the corner, I find him nursing a glass of whiskey, watching some boxing on the television.
“We gotta talk, bro,” I tell him, taking a seat on the other couch.
He huffs. Knocking back his whiskey.
“I’ll go first.” He turns to look at me with a glare.
“Why have you been hiding the fact Lyla is saying she’s pregnant with your baby, Reg. Since when did we ever have secrets?”
I choke on a cough.
“Sorry. Did you say my baby?”
My blood is boiling.
But then the light switch goes off.
“She’s a maniac,” I mutter.
“Uh. Yeah. I gathered it was bullshit. But seriously? You trying to deal with this without me has pissed me off.”
He finishes his drink and grabs the whiskey on the side table, refilling it and handing me the bottle.
I throw some back.
“Rowan. She told me that the baby was yours,” I say bluntly.
His mouth drops open.
“Ain’t no way,” he says, his nostrils flaring.
“No. I don’t believe for a second it’s true. But I don’t trust her intentions, so I’m looking into it without startling her.”
“Hmm. Yeah. Maybe a good idea. She fuckin’ cornered me outside Conan’s gym. Weird as hell. She wants me to marry her and pretend the baby is mine.”
I take another sip of whiskey.
“Yet, she’s saying it’s yours to me. What’s her game?”
He shrugs.
“I thought at first it was a ploy to get to you. She always had a soft spot for you. But then the whole desperate to marry me part threw me off.”
I lean back, thinking about what Rowan is saying.
It doesn’t really make much sense.
“Maybe she doesn’t care which twin she gets. Bella, perhaps, is a threat to her. She’s jealous and wants one of us back?” I suggest.
“Not a fucking clue. But I told her to come back with proof. What if she is?”
“I was always safe with her. Were you? You didn’t see her outside of Inferno?”
Rowan chews on his lip.
“Nah. Never. I know how much your legal agreements mean to you.”
I chuckle in response.
“And now do you see why?”
“Yeah. So, what? We just wait and see how crazy she gets? Or if a bump appears?”
“Drago and Finn are working on it. Let’s just see how it pans out and avoid Inferno.”
He nods, turning off the TV.
“Easy. We’ve got our hands full with our girl,” Rowan says.
“About that. She was asking how we’re going to handle both being with her long term. I—I was honest and said I don’t know.”
He taps his rings against his glass, looking at the ice.
“We do whatever she wants?”
“She wants us to be happy, too. I said maybe making this one big place where we all live?”
“Yeah. As long as we don’t kill each other?”
I laugh. Drinking some more.
“Yeah, I also said that.”
There’s a moment's silence. There is no jealousy anymore. But this is a new path for both of us to navigate.
“We gotta get through the whole marriage part first, Reg. Has she mentioned it? We’ve only got three more days to work it out.”
That makes my chest hurt.
“No. She hasn’t. I don’t wanna push her. It’s her choice.”
“Reg. It was always you she was meant to marry.”
“And yet, it was you she fell for first,” I snap back.
“We can’t make her choose, we just have to deal with the consequences after.”
“Hmm. I guess.”
Placing the bottle down on the table, I stand, clapping him on the shoulder.
“It’s all going to be fine, brother. It always is. Now, I gotta go back to big spoon duties.”
He chuckles.
“Jealous.”
“Well, you’re the one who walked out tonight.”
With that, we say our good nights and I slip back into bed with Bella, pressing a kiss on the top of her head.
My heart is full. And that is down to her.