Chapter 32
ARCHER
We made that.
I was right when I said scan day would be the best day of my life.
After we finished up, I took Darcy back to my apartment, undressed her, and made love to my girlfriend all night.
We got zero sleep, and I regret nothing.
To be honest, sleep has been in short supply for both of us since we got together.
Why rest when you can fuck in every room you own?
I like to look at it as preparation for the disturbed nights we’ll have when the baby finally arrives.
“Is there, like, a secret passageway in this bathroom I’m not aware of?”
Still staring at the scan photo I keep inside my wallet, I quickly fold it shut and pocket it in my sweats.
Jack lets the bathroom door close behind him.
I push off the far wall and randomly wash my hands. I don’t need to since I already rinsed them, but it’s a great way to busy myself and an excuse not to look at him.
He sidles up next to me, arms crossed over his chest and his training bag slung over one shoulder. We just had practice, and some of the guys want to head to the driving range to hit a few balls this afternoon—a new hobby they’ve taken up.
Ordinarily, I’d go, and as Jack stands next to me, his lips pressed together while I finish up drying my hands for a second time, I know he wants me to tag along.
“If it had a secret passageway, then I wouldn’t be standing here, would I?” I volley back, smirking as I do.
Anyone who knows Jack Morgan knows that he’s the excitable, fun-loving guy on the team.
I once told him in his first NHL season that he had all the ingredients to make a captain, and I still stand by that statement today.
Only, as he drops his head between his shoulders and slowly shakes it, I see none of the usual brightness he shares in common with his sister.
And that reality makes me feel a blend of guilt, as I wonder if he knows about Darcy, along with fear, for the exact same reason.
Clicking his tongue, he scuffs the floor with his sneaker. “I’m worried about you, bro.”
I look up from the faucet and into his eyes, realizing he doesn’t know anything about Darcy and me, but not feeling any easier. “Why are you worried?” I ask in a light tone.
Jack exhales deeply. “You aren’t the same person.” He lifts his head to look at me. “Back when we first met, you were different. You’d go out for one thing.”
“I do still go out,” I reply.
He lifts a brow, arms still set across his chest. “So, I’ll assume you’re coming to the driving range with us then?”
I push a hand through my hair, unease coating my insides.
Darcy’s back at my place, waiting for the clinician to arrive and take her blood.
She decided to go through with the prenatal blood test to determine the gender of our baby, and I need to leave in around five minutes to make sure I make it back in time.
She’s shitting herself over the process, and I need—no, I want—to be there with her.
It isn’t just my duty as the dad, but supporting my girlfriend brings me a sense of belonging I’ve never had before.
I find myself in another awkward-as-fuck situation, scrambling for excuses I can offer my friend without actually lying.
“I can’t make it. I’m sorry.” It’s all I can think to say.
Jack moves toward me until we’re only a few feet apart. “Is it Abbie?”
“Is Abbie what?”
Clearing his throat, he looks just as uncomfortable as I feel. “Is she, like, not letting you hang out with us? I mean, I know you’ve got a reputation, but she can’t think you’d play around with someone else behind her back?”
There are a thousand different lies I can give him, but my brain won’t allow me to spill any more. My mouth wars with my mind.
“We actually broke up,” I say after a few beats, too exhausted to continue the ruse. Like I said before, I’m not a good liar, and if I have to hear that make-believe girl’s name one more time, I swear I’ll lose my mind.
There’s only one girl’s name I like to hear.
He looks genuinely shocked, but I can’t say he’s gutted for me.
Reaching out, he clamps a hand on my shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it or …”
I shake my head; the last place I want to be right now is in this bathroom. “Nah. I ended it because the long-distance thing wasn’t going to work, and she wanted more from me, which I couldn’t give.”
He nods in understanding. “I get it. I struggle being away from Kendra for an away series, never mind months on end. Fuck that shit.”
His trademark cocky smile blooms, and I can’t say I’m mad about it. Just like with his sister, Jack looking down is not the kind of world I want to be a part of.
“So, I guess that means you’re single as a Pringle and ready to mingle?”
I roll my eyes at him, feeling my cell vibrate in the pocket of my pants. It’s probably Darcy freaking out again.
“Technically, yes,” I reply. “But the breakup is all kinds of fresh, you know? And that’s why I can’t make it to the range. I’m going to head home and get some rest. I’ve not been sleeping well.”
“Yeah.” His hand drops from my shoulder, and he circles around his eyes. “You do look kind of tired, to be honest.”
Yeah, fucking your sister every way to Sunday will do that to a guy.
Jack steps aside, allowing me to leave.
Right before I reach the bathroom door, I swivel on my heel as he pulls out his phone and starts typing.
“I respect you—you know that, right?” I wasn’t expecting to say the words, but I know why I said them.
At some point, I know he’ll doubt how much I value our friendship, and while I have the easygoing Jack standing in front of me, I want him to absorb my truth.
I think the world of this guy.
He looks confused but smiles anyway. “Yeah, I know, man. I’ve always got your back.”
My hand wraps around the door handle, and I pause again, closing my eyes slowly as I try to convince myself of a reality where he won’t want to take me out when he finally finds out about Darcy. “See you tomorrow at skate.”
The elevator doors open to my apartment just as the smart doorbell sounds.
I made it home just in time.
Dressed in black Lycra leggings and a cropped white T-shirt with a braid hanging over her left shoulder, Darcy appears in the entryway, separating the hallway to the kitchen and living space.
She looks pale as fuck, gray almost, and I can tell she’s trembling, even from the other side of the vast open-plan space.
I drop my training bag at my feet, not bothering to move it to the side, and head straight for her.
My lips find the top of her head as I wrap her in my arms, and she melts into my chest.
The doorbell sounds again, and she releases a sigh into my hoodie. “We need to get the door or else the phlebotomist will think we’re not here.”
Generally, a gender blood test is conducted with an at-home kit, and as it’s a finger prick test, it doesn’t require a professional. But given Darcy’s fear of needles, I paid for someone at the clinic to visit and carry it out. I figured she’d feel more confident that way.
I grip her shoulders and pull back so I can look at my girlfriend. “You don’t have to do this. We can wait until eighteen weeks, when they can confirm by ultrasound.”
She shakes her head. “No, I want us to know. This is a good opportunity for me to start getting used to the fact that I’m going to be poked and prodded for the next seven months. I want to prove to myself I can do it.”
I think I just defied gravity and fell a little bit harder for this girl.
I take her hand in mine, and we walk across to the door. I pull it open to find a smiling middle-aged woman with curly brown hair and warm, rosy cheeks.
She holds her ID card attached to a lanyard around her neck. “You must be Archer and Darcy. My name is Amanda, and I’m here to help with your early gender test.”
I swear to God I hear Darcy gulp from beside me, and I squeeze her hand in mine.
“Hey there,” Darcy replies, squeezing my hand back.
Her palm feels clammy, and I watch the way her chest rises and falls more quickly. Fuck, she doesn’t have to do this.
But if there’s one thing I’m learning about this girl, it’s that she’s got the strength to match her beauty.
This is more than about finding out the baby’s gender.
This is an internal war with herself and one she’s determined to win.
I wonder if something happened in her past that triggered her phobia of needles or if it’s simply inherent for her.
Truthfully, the reason doesn’t matter. I just want to protect and care for her in any way I can. For the rest of my life.
Amanda steps inside, shrugging off her jacket, and I break from Darcy, taking it from her and setting it on the coat stand.
Heading across to the couch, Darcy sits tentatively, and I retake her hand, stroking my thumb across the top.
“You must think I’m such a wimp.” She snorts, looking at Amanda as she pulls some paperwork from her bag and begins filling it out.
Amanda just smiles. “Actually, you’d be surprised how many people suffer with trypanophobia. I do more home visits than you can imagine, but I promise this is a noninvasive procedure, and you will only feel a tiny scratch.”
Darcy swallows hard and fast as she watches Amanda complete the paperwork. I can tell she’s a few seconds from puking as anxiety overwhelms her.
I lean into my girlfriend, speaking softly. “When I was ten, I wasn’t just into railfanning. I also liked to skateboard in places I shouldn’t, including down my mom and dad’s steep street.”
She looks up at me, wincing when I pull off my long-sleeved shirt and show her the faint scar that runs from under my armpit all the way to the crook of my elbow.
“I figured you’d gotten that from hockey.”
I shake my head. “Nope. Let’s just say, I only stopped when I hit some barbed wire. I needed a small blood transfusion. I’ve never been so scared as I was that day.”
Darcy eyes my scar, reaching up to run a finger down the faint line. “Your mum must’ve been terrified.”
“Yep.” I nod. Faintly remembering the look on her face. “My sister passed out at the sight of my injury, and my dad went fucking nuts. I didn’t get back on my skateboard for a long time.”
Her eyes flick across to Amanda as she finishes up the paperwork, and I catch her chin between my thumb and forefinger, demanding her attention.
“I know the level of anxiety you’re feeling right now is extreme, and I wish with my whole fucking heart that I could take that away from you. Every damn day, you amaze me with something new, and I sit in constant awe of you. Facing your fears like this is incredible. You are incredible.”
Now that I have her eyes on me alone, I remove my hand from Darcy’s chin to cup her cheek.
“Just like my mom promised me that day—that nothing bad was going to happen because she was there with me—I can promise you that too. You have nothing to fear today or any other day because I’m here, with you, fighting for you.
When you love someone as much as I do you, it isn’t possible for bad shit to happen—because I simply won’t let it.
I’ll annihilate anything or anyone that tries to hurt you. ”
Darcy’s breathing slows a fraction, and her pupils dilate. “I’m so fucking scared, Archer.”
My lips find the corner of her dry mouth. “Of course you are. But I believe in you, and I know you wouldn’t be here, sitting on this couch and pushing your comfort levels, if this wasn’t what you wanted.”
She looks down at her hands as she twists them in her lap, and I take one of them back between both of mine.
When I focus back on Amanda, her eyes flick between us, and I have to hand it to myself—I’m pretty sure I just made the phlebotomist swoon.
Add it to my list of talents.
“How is it you can have everyone wrapped around your finger so easily?” Darcy asks. Her voice is lighter, and I might even detect a little humor in there.
I take advantage of the moment and hold out our joined hands to Amanda. In a split second, she completes the test. Darcy jolts but quickly smiles against my mouth when I press it against hers.
It’s possible Amanda wasn’t expecting to get a show to go with her two o’clock appointment, but I couldn’t care less. I’ve got my girl right where I want her. Her ragged breathing has calmed and she’s fucking putty in my arms.
“I beg to differ, Doll. It’s impossible for everyone to be at my mercy when I’m too busy on my own knees for you.”
“You just have all the lines, don’t you?” she croons.
I tip my head toward the kitchen. “Okay, well, if that one didn’t work on you, then maybe this one will.”
She narrows her eyes at me suspiciously, and just like that, it’s almost as if the blood test never happened.
“Give it your best shot.”
Briefly, I look at Amanda, who’s busy bagging the sample.
I reach down and spread my palm across her stomach. It’s probably my imagination, though I swear it feels rounder. “What if I told you I have all the ingredients to make cheesy bean burritos, Archer Moore–style?”
Her face lights up. “If you can pull them off like Taco Bell, then I’ll wrap around anything you want.”
Darcy’s eyes flare, darting to look at Amanda, and the phlebotomist waves a hand in front of her, smirking.
Through my tears of laughter and wheezing, I’m pretty sure I hear my girlfriend curse under her breath, explaining it wasn’t supposed to come out like that.
My shoulders are still vibrating when I kiss her. “Mistake or not, I’m all in on this challenge. Taco Bell doesn’t stand a chance.”
She quirks a brow, cheeks still stained with embarrassment. “You can cook? How did I not know this?”
I set one last kiss across her mouth, nodding. “Let’s call this lesson number two in the class of Archer Moore.”