Chapter 6 Michael
MICHAEL
Zipping my pants, I shot a smile at Blake, who was fixing her hair, trying to look respectable.
I’d make her look fucking unrespectable anytime she wanted.
“Stop looking at me like that!” she chastised with a smile.
“Like what?”
“Like you want to come over here and do it again.”
“But I do,” I grinned, not at all willing to back down.
“Well, stop it. You’re not getting it again. The nurse has been gone a while. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she had walked in on us and then turned around and fled for her life.”
Chuckling, I strode over to her and placed a fist on either side of her body, caging her against the bed. “It was kind of like that time at the facility.”
Rolling her eyes, she laughed. “Yeah, up against a bathroom stall. How romantic.”
“Hey, that was when I was just desperate to fuck you.”
“And now?”
Pressing my lips to hers, I smiled. “I’m still desperate to fuck you, but now I know you’re coming home with me at the end of the day.”
“You’re so sappy,” she teased, giving me another kiss before I stepped back just as the door creaked.
“Well,” Caroline grinned as she shoved the door open and walked into the room. “The test results are back, and you are, in fact, pregnant!”
Pure happiness shot through me in a way I had expected, but not to this degree. I was going to be a daddy. Letting out a whoop, I swung Blake up in my arms, swinging her around the room.
“We’re gonna have a baby!”
Blake’s arms squeezed me tight around my neck and her lips pressed tight to my skin. But as I was busy dancing and shouting to the hospital that I was going to be a dad, I felt a tear roll down my neck.
Setting her down, I pulled back enough to see the tears on her face. “Baby, what’s wrong? Aren’t you happy?”
She nodded quickly, pressing her hand to her mouth. “Yes, but…”
“But what?”
I thought we were on the same page. I thought she wanted this, too.
“My brothers are gonna kill you!”
I froze at her words. We’d already discussed this, and I was fully confident at the time that everything would be fine.
That was before it was confirmed that I knocked her up.
Now that I knew for sure she was pregnant, I could see the look on her dad’s face. I could feel her brothers crowding around me in anger, yelling at me for not marrying her first.
And that’s when my heart started to beat really fast. They were gonna fucking kill me.
“No one’s going to kill anyone,” Caroline smiled. “This is good news, and from what the town is saying, there’s already a big celebration in the works.”
I snorted in amusement at that. The whole town was always rooting for couples to get married or have babies. Hell, when I was in high school, there was a bonfire celebration the night one of the locals had a baby. You would have thought that kid was destined to become king.
“But not an actual celebration, right?” Blake asked, worrying her bottom lip. “I mean, they’re not really going to throw a party, are they?”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure they already have the baby shower planned. Get ready for an explosion of baby items.”
Blake looked like she was on the verge of losing it. She wasn’t used to all the small-town gossip, but was even less on board with them throwing us a huge baby shower. We hadn’t even moved into our own place yet.
“Thanks, Caroline. Do we need to do anything else?”
“Nope. You’re all ready to go. I’ve printed out some information on scheduling your first visit with the OB-GYN and what kind of vitamins you need. Other than that, we’ll see you next time.”
After she left, I took both of Blake’s hands and squeezed them slightly, pulling her out of her thoughts.
“What’s on your mind?”
She huffed out a laugh. “Um…how quickly our lives have changed. How much of a head start we need before we call my brothers and then flee. Oh, and my personal favorite, where we’re going to live since your father clearly hates me.”
“He doesn’t hate you,” I reassured her.
“He does. I’m the woman who kept you away from home! I’m evil.”
“He does not hate you,” I repeated. “He just needs time to adjust. We don’t exactly have the best relationship, so this was always going to be a little bit hard.”
Sighing, she rested her head against my chest. “Why does everything always have to be so difficult?”
“The best things in life shouldn’t be easily won. Look at us. Look at what we’ve gone through.”
“Yeah, and I wouldn’t call that a good time.”
“I don’t know. It was a good adventure,” I grinned, remembering when I accidentally shot her. “Now we get to go on a new one.”
“Just promise me no more bullets. At least until after the baby’s born.”
“I think I can handle that.” Tilting her head up, she finally looked at me and smiled. “You’re gonna be a momma.”
“Yeah. I really hope I don’t suck at it.”
“You’ll be great. Like I said back in Pennsylvania, you can teach the kids to kick ass.”
“Well, I was never gonna be Susie Homemaker,” she sighed.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
Sliding off the bed, she took my hand, seeming a little more upbeat than before. Of course, that might have something to do with the way I made her come just a half hour ago, but I wasn’t gonna brag about that right this minute.
“Michael!” Mav shouted down the hall from our room. “Hold up.”
Stopping, I pulled Blake into my side. “What’s up?”
“Just wanted to give you an update on the kid.”
“Is he doing okay?” Blake asked.
“He’ll be fine. He’s staying overnight, but the doc said it’s not too bad.”
“What about the bookstore? I’m sure I owe them a lot of money,” Blake grumbled.
“I think we can split the cost. This kid needs to take some responsibility for his actions.”
I was totally fine with that. “What about his parents?”
“Haven’t been able to get ahold of them yet,” he shrugged.
“Then what happens to him?”
“He’s underage. I need to release him to his family. I’m sure they’ll come around,” he said, but there was something in his eyes that made me think he wasn’t all that sure about it. “But until then, I’ll take him to the station. Do you want to press charges?”
“I think he’s paid enough,” Blake said dryly.
“Yeah, nothing like being pushed through a window to set you straight,” Mav grinned.
“Well, let us know what you need from us.”
“Will do. Oh, and…how was the baby news?”
Chuckling, I raised my hand to wave goodbye. “I’m sure you’ll hear about it in the next five minutes.”
“That’s just not right, Michael! Hey, you owe me!”
Wrapping my arm around Blake’s waist, we headed to the elevator.
“What was that about?” she asked as soon as the doors closed.
“I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.”
Leaning forward, I hit the button for the third floor to find out how Liam was today. Blake didn’t say a thing as we headed down to his room.
I was surprised when neither of my parents were in there.
I’d expected them to be hovering since it was still visiting hours.
Liam looked like absolute shit, lying in his bed with an oxygen mask on his face.
Thankfully, they’d taken him off the ventilator last night. But he was still in pretty rough shape.
His eyes flickered open just before he reached up and slid the mask down. “You’re not…an apparition,” he choked out.
“Nope. Still here, and still gonna kick your ass when you get out of here.”
“My lucky day.”
He started coughing again, so I pushed the mask back into place.
“You got lucky, I see. Ma and Pop aren’t anywhere in sight.”
He shook his head.
“Did you send them home?”
He nodded, but his eyes flicked to Blake and the bandage on her arm.
“Oh, that’s nothing. She just chased some punk down and threw him into a window,” I grinned. “Just another day for us.”
Blake shot me a look, but didn’t say anything from where she sat in the chair.
“So, this is Blake, by the way. My fiancée and uh…good news. Blake’s pregnant. You’re gonna be an uncle.”
He moved the mask again. “I would jump for joy, but…kinda sucky right now.” He nodded his head at Blake, but that was really all he could manage.
“Yeah, just keep that mask in place and get better. I’m not sure I’ll be around the next time to save your ass.”
He shot me a questioning look.
“I’m not going anywhere, but since you seem to find danger in your sleep, that makes it hard to predict where your next accident will be.”
He gave me a half-hearted thumbs up and his eyes drifted closed. I leaned in, keeping my voice low.
“Get some sleep, brother. We’ll be back to check on you.”
He barely nodded, but he was already drifting off to sleep. Staring down at him, I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t shown up when I did. Would Jeff have made it there in time? Would he have been able to get Liam out on his own?
The timing was pure luck.
Or some kind of fucking miracle.
“Ma!” I called out.
Shutting the door behind Blake, we headed into the house to share the good news. Ma came running out of the living room with a bright smile on her face, nearly shoving me out of the way to get to Blake.
“A baby! I mean, I know we already sort of knew, but now we really know! It’s so exciting!” she laughed, wrapping Blake in one of her warm hugs.
“Hey, I’m over here, too,” I teased.
“Oh, go check on the horses. This is Blake’s moment.”
“Really? I get no say in any of this? No joy to spread?” I asked, following behind them as they headed for the living room.
“You just donated sperm. Blake is going to carry this child and push her out of a very tiny hole at the end of nine months. Tell me how you matter.”
I stood there, mouth gaping as she practically pushed Blake down and helped her prop up her feet. And she completely ignored me. I was just chopped liver.
“Get used to it, son,” Pop said, striding up behind me. “This is her first grandchild. No way is she going to let Blake do a single thing. Guess you’d better get ready for a laundry list of chores.”
“Did she do that to you?”