Chapter 88
Lark
My mind is reeling as I step into the locker room. I strip on autopilot, putting my clothes in a bag and then take out my hair. Thank God Anthony’s in here because he seems to be able to sense that I’m off kilter right now.
Mainly because of Darren’s earlier request about Kelly and his parting words.
I’m sure I’ll process everything I did later tonight, but I don’t regret it.
Any of it.
I understand Levi so much more now. And what she told me when she found out I took part in the previous interrogations? I feel her words down to my bones.
I will do whatever I need to to protect my new family.
Turning on the shower, I check the layers of tape that I know are covering multiple layers of plastic around my wounds on my foot, but it’s thankfully still fully secure.
Doc knew I’d have to shower after handling things, so he made sure my wound was wrapped securely.
Okay, maybe he might have overdone it some, but I welcomed the care and precaution.
I step under the warm water, close my eyes, and sigh as it beats down on my muscles.
Feeling hands in my hair, I hum softly as Anthony starts washing my hair.
I’m surprised he’s doing it since he can barely fit in the stall with me.
As his fingers work, he doesn’t talk, and right now, I’m grateful.
Oh, I’m sure he’ll ask how I am later, but right now, I need to sort my jumbled thoughts.
Darren apologized to me.
He thanked me for saying we were going to try to find and save Genivieve.
The man who had planned to do terrible things to me, thanked me, and then apologized. I’m actually kind of grateful Anthony took his death on his shoulders, cause at that moment, I’m not sure if I would have been able to do it.
When he finishes washing my hair, he moves on to washing my body, and my thoughts suddenly shift to sorting out my thoughts to the report Doc gave me earlier.
Nerves war inside of me, worried about how he’s going to take the news.
I mean, I know he’ll be okay with part of it, but… all of it? I don’t know.
His hands gently pull me out from under the spray, and I blink out of my thoughts as he wraps a towel around my body.
“I’ll be just a few minutes,” he says and then disappears in the same stall I was just in.
It’s then that I realize the stalls are wider than they used to be.
It looks like they turned the three stalls into two.
I dry off and then wrap the towel around my hair, hoping it will suck off more of the moisture out of the strands.
Grabbing my lotion, I lather it on. Then, I slip on clean clothes from my cubby down here before putting on my cut and ring.
Grabbing my comb, I work out the tangles and then throw it up in a messy bun.
Sitting down on the bench, I pull off all the tape and plastic off my foot before checking the glue.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I find it still secure.
I don’t rewrap it since Doc said I should let it breathe as much as possible.
As I wait for Anthony to finish his shower, my thoughts drift back to what I just did and what we learned.
We didn’t learn much new information, since I had learned a lot at the warehouse, but there were a few new things.
However, I really wasn’t able to hear much about what the guys learned from Richard’s minions.
My eyes burn as I think about Grace. Fuck.
How are we going to stage their deaths? Will Grace grow up to be a better person now that Kelly won’t be in her life?
I hope so. Before tonight, I could see her turning just as vile as Kelly as she grew older, but I honestly believe that if that had happened, it would have been a case of changing who she was to get Kelly’s attention. Maybe even affection.
Anthony’s calloused hands grip mine and I blink out of my thoughts. He’s crouched in front of me, his blue-gray eyes look at me in question. I give him a small smile.
“I’m good, just thinking about what we learned.”
He returns my small smile. “Let’s get you upstairs and you can rest. You’ve been on that foot for a few hours now.”
I blink at that. Were we really in there that long?
His chest rumbles as he picks me up and my nerves come back to me as I lean into his chest. Not even the warmth soaking into me helps like it normally does.
A few minutes later, he shifts me as he reaches into his pocket, unlocks the door, kicks it closed behind him and flips the lock. Crossing the room, he sets me down on the bed and then his eyebrows furrow when he sees me nervously gnawing on my lip.
“Hey, Darlin’, what is it?”
I swallow thickly as I reach into my cut. “Doc… Doc got some of my test results back.”
His brows furrow even more. “When did you get them?”
“When he gave me Kelly’s results.”
Licking my lips, I hand him the paper. I rub my palms together nervously. “So far, a lot of my results are reading eerily similar to Mae’s,” I whisper and his muscles tense “But that’s not all.”
He looks at me in question. I point to a little section at the bottom, and his eyes widen in surprise. His mouth opens and closes a few times before he looks up at me.
“We’re going to have a baby?” he asks, his voice filled with awe and love.
“Yeah, Anthony, we are. Turns out your swimmers are pretty strong. I was pregnant before we ditched the condoms. I’m a little over a month pregnant.”
He tosses the paper on the ground and lifts me up into his arms again. “We’re going to have a baby,” he whispers before taking my lips in a sensual kiss.
Groaning, I roll my hips, loving his responding groan.
A moment later, we’re moving and he lays me down on the bed, following me down.
He breaks the kiss and then he’s kissing down my jaw to my neck and I moan when he sucks on the juncture of my neck.
He pulls back and I sit up, taking off my cut.
I start to pull up my shirt when he gently takes it from my hands and does it for me.
A second later, he expertly discards my bra.
Leaning back down, I’m surprised, though I shouldn’t be, not really, when he places a gently kiss to my stomach.
“Hey, little jellybean. I know you’re tiny right now and can’t hear me, but this is your daddy and I can’t wait until I can finally meet you in person.”
Tears prick my eyes as he places another kiss to my stomach before pulling back and stripping. I quickly dispose of my stretch pants and panties. He kneels on the bed and groans when I plant my feet on the bed and open up for him.
“Fuck, Darlin’, I need your pussy.”
I cry out as he licks me, apparently needing him just as much. “Fuck,” I curse as his talented tongue has an orgasm quickly building. I try to move my hips but he clamps an arm over my hips, preventing me from moving.
His teeth graze my clit as he sticks a thick finger inside of me, and when he sucks, I explode. I’m panting as I come down from my orgasm to find him leaning over me, his chin shiny with my juices.
“This one is going to be quick, but I need you too much, Lark. I almost lost you today.”
Tears prick my eyes again and I pull him down on me, kissing him. He notches himself at my entrance and I moan as he fills and stretches me.
He doesn’t go hard and fast, but slow and sensual as he thrusts in and out of me. We don’t break our kiss as he makes love to me, and more than once, tears spill out of my eyes at the emotions rolling through me and how much I can feel he loves me. Loves us.
My orgasm hits me out of nowhere, but he keeps loving me through it at that same maddening pace. The second orgasm quickly leads into a third and my release triggers Anthony’s.
We lay there panting for a few moments before he pulls out of me and heads to the bathroom.
He comes back with a washcloth, cleans me up, and tosses it toward the hamper.
It misses, but I don’t say anything. He lies down next to me and I turn toward him, resting my head on his bicep as he wraps his arms around me.
After a few minutes, his hand makes its way to my tummy and he kisses my forehead. “Do you think we’ll end up with more than one jellybean in there?”
“I don’t think so. Not right now, anyway.
I only had two doses whereas Mae had several.
And that’s also if X didn’t change the formula.
My guess is that my risk of having multiples will be slightly higher in the future.
Then again, I don’t know how long the effects are supposed to last. We’ll just have to wait and see. ”
We found out that the drug Darren had my kidnappers give me was my first dose of the fertility drug.
Zac was pissed that Darren had tried to kidnap me and do the same thing he’d planned to, but when he learned that I was given just the fertility drug and not the fertility drug and Aphrodite’s Curse together, he said he was actually grateful to Darren.
Grateful because that meant his likelihood of success was greatly improved.
My stomach churns as I remember his words after giving me my fertility injection, but I shake those thoughts off. I don’t want to dwell on them right now.
As Anthony holds me, I start to drift off and I hum in thanks when I feel him pulling the blanket over us.
My phone ringing wakes me up and I groan as I untangle myself from Anthony. I squint over at the clock. Who the hell is calling me at three in the morning?
Rolling over, I grab my phone and my nerves start to grow again when I see Miracle’s name on my screen.
“M, you okay?” I ask as I sit up in bed. Anthony mirrors my position, concern showing in his eyes.
“Put her on speaker,” he whispers, and I do right as a sob comes over the line.
“M? M, what’s wrong?”
“Grant… Grant was waiting for me to come back to my apartment. He’d somehow gotten in.” She pauses as she sobs. Fuck. “I need help. Please, can you come get me?”
The End.