Chapter 18
LINDEN
Keegan’s bed had become my new favorite place, especially when he was in it with me.
We’d just spent the entire afternoon wrapped up in each other. He’d worn me out, and I wanted nothing more than to cuddle against him and nap the evening away. Unfortunately, he had other plans that couldn’t be changed.
His fingers traced lazy circles over the curve of my hip, dipping into the hollow where my thigh met my body. I shivered at the heated look in his eyes as he stared down at me.
“Gotta head out soon.” He brushed his lips against my shoulder. “Should be wrapped up by morning if everything goes smoothly.”
I stopped asking for details when he explained the situation had moved into club business territory. He didn’t want me involved in the takedown, and I couldn’t blame him since I wasn’t equipped to help like I’d been during the research phase.
I got that Keegan and his club brothers knew what they were doing, but that didn’t stop me from worrying about him. Aegis had already taken my brother from me. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to Keegan, too.
I swallowed the knot in my throat and asked, “You’ll be careful?”
“Always am, little dove.” He captured my mouth in a deep kiss that left me breathless. When he pulled back, his thumb brushed my bottom lip. “Stay inside. King beefed up security, with extra guys at the gate and around the perimeter.”
“Okay.”
He rolled out of bed, and I watched him dress in the dim light, completely in black. When he was done, he came back to bed, braced his hands on either side of my head, and kissed me one last time.
“Should be back before you wake up.”
I stayed in bed and listened to the low rumble of engines starting up outside not long after he left me. They faded into the distance until the clubhouse fell quiet again.
Too keyed up to take a nap, I got dressed and moved to the chair to call my parents. With the time difference, it was late at night for them, so my mom’s voice was worried when she answered. “Sweetheart?”
I took a deep breath. “Hey, Mom. Sorry to call so late. Can you get Dad, too?”
“Is everything okay?”
“I’m good.” Or I would be when Keegan got back. “But I need to tell you guys something about Carson, and I only want to go through it once.”
“Just a moment, dear.”
Her voice was muffled as she explained to my dad that I was on the phone, then put the call on speaker.
Then I heard him. “Hey, kiddo. What’s your status?”
“I’ve been better, Dad.”
“Oh, dear,” my mom cried. “I thought you said you were good?”
“I’m safe now, but I stumbled into something here in Georgia, connected to Carson’s crash.” I squeezed my eyes shut to hold back my tears, then I told them most of what had happened over the past few weeks.
The information we’d pieced together, skipping over how Wizard had gotten the black box because my dad was a stickler for the rules.
There was a moment of silence after I broke the news that the crash wasn’t Carson’s fault or a mechanical failure. That someone had murdered him.
Then Dad spoke, his voice cracking in a way I’d only ever heard before at my brother’s funeral. “You’re sure?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Mom started crying, which made my eyes burn even more. Dad thanked me, then insisted I stay out of it from now on so nothing happened to me too.
When we hung up, I needed air. So I went downstairs and slipped outside to the patio on the side of the clubhouse. I sat on one of the weathered wooden benches, my knees drawn up as I zoned out.
I wasn’t out there long before I heard footsteps approaching. Stella appeared around the corner, carrying a plate with a sandwich.
“Figured you could use some food.” She set the plate beside me and handed me a napkin. “You missed out on the BLTs Elena made. She’s in the craving bacon stage of her pregnancy and blaming Onyx all the way.”
“Thanks.” I picked up half the sandwich and took a bite, but my mouth started to water for the wrong reason before I could swallow.
My stomach lurched, and I barely made it to the bushes before I was heaving, the bite I’d taken coming right back out along with what felt like everything else I ate today.
When the spasms finally stopped, I braced my hands on my knees, breathing hard and feeling embarrassed. “Sorry, I usually love bacon, but…”
Stella’s hand rubbed slow circles between my shoulder blades with an amused look I didn’t understand. “First time?”
I wiped my mouth with the napkin. “What?”
“Come on.” She tugged on my arm and steered me around the side of the clubhouse to a smaller building. Pushing the door open, she waved me inside what looked like a medical clinic. “Razor, we need a test.”
Razor, one of Keegan’s club brothers who was a doctor, looked at Stella and shook his head. “Knocked up again already? King’s gonna have to start building another wing at this rate.”
Stella snorted. “First of all, Cadell is fifteen months old, so it’s not like our children would be too close together if I were pregnant, which I’m not.”
“And second?” Razor asked, quirking a brow.
She jerked her thumb at me. “Tomcat’s old lady is the one who needs the pregnancy test.”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I wasn’t sure what surprised me more—that Stella thought I was carrying Keegan’s baby or that she’d referred to me as his old lady. “I’m not…I mean, he hasn’t…”
Both of them snorted at the same time.
“You have to know by now that he’s planning on it.” Stella nudged me with her elbow. “Don’t you remember what I said on your first morning here?”
I bit my bottom lip and nodded. “I guess once everything with Aegis is over, I’ll need to define what’s going on between us.”
“There’s nothing to be defined.” Razor shook his head as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Tomcat will make sure you have no doubts that he’s already claimed you as his.”
The certainty in Razor’s voice left no room for doubt, but I still whispered, “Do you really think so?”
“Even if I set aside the fact you’ve been walking around here in his spare cut”—he jerked his chin toward my belly—“no way in hell would he put a baby in a woman he didn’t plan on claiming permanently.”
I sank onto one of the chairs. “We don’t know that I’m pregnant.”
“Only one way to find out for sure.” He left the room for a moment and came back with a pregnancy test. “Started keeping these on hand since my brothers seem determined to have so many kids we won’t need to recruit new members in twenty years.”
“There’s a bathroom in here,” Stella suggested. “Unless you want privacy.”
My hands were shaking so badly that I almost dropped the box. “I think I’d better take it now.”
“We’ll be right here if you need us.” She guided me to the bathroom. “Whatever it says, you’ve got a whole club behind you. And Tomcat is gonna lose his damn mind in the best way if it’s positive.”
I spent what felt like the longest five minutes of my life in that bathroom, reading through the directions, taking the test, then waiting out the timer.
The results were clear.
I pushed open the door and found Razor and Stella standing only a few feet away.
“Two lines.” I showed them the test. “I’m pregnant.”
Stella whooped and pulled me into a hug. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
“Could do an ultrasound if you want.” Razor grimaced and raked his fingers through his hair. “With how early it is, I’d have to do transvaginal, though.”
Stella laughed and clapped him on the back. “That can all wait until Tomcat is back.”
“And with a female OB-GYN,” he muttered.
I nodded, unable to speak around the lump in my throat.
Stella walked me back outside and looped her arm through mine as we headed toward the clubhouse. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” I pressed my hand against my stomach, my mind reeling with the news.
There had been plenty of chances for Keegan to get me pregnant. We’d had plenty of unprotected sex, so I wasn’t sure why I was so surprised.
She guided me into the lounge and got me settled on one of the couches before bringing me a cup of peppermint tea. “This should help settle your stomach.”
“Thanks.”
I closed my eyes and pictured Keegan’s face when I told him I was pregnant, and my nerves eased. There was no need to worry when I knew he’d be thrilled.
When he came back from his club business that would make sure I was safe—and our baby too—I’d give him the best news of his life.