After Us (Next Generation #6) - J.M. Walker Page 0,86

the pounds came off, he became meaner. There was something in his dark eyes that whenever I looked into them, I knew that he was the devil in disguise.

“Jaron.” I rushed to keep up with him. “Have you seen the mayor since the last time?”

“No. I’ve been home with you.”

When we reached my car, Jaron put the groceries into the trunk and slammed the hatch closed. The sound jarred through me. The tension rolled off him in waves. He was plotting and I didn’t know how we were going to survive his wrath.

Once I put Brynlee in the back in her car seat, she babbled about something, probably warning me that her father was about to lose his mind. I kissed her cheek and closed the door.

I folded up the stroller and put it in the trunk as well while Jaron paced.

“Jaron,” I said gently, fearing that he was once again closing up on me.

“I need a moment,” he muttered, heading around to the driver’s side. Once he was seated behind the wheel, he slammed his fists against it.

My heart jumped, knowing that this was either going to turn into a discussion, a fight, or worse.

Jaron

I hadn’t seen or heard from the mayor in weeks. Cyrus and Sammy tried keeping tabs on him as best they could, but it was like Price just disappeared off the face of the fucking earth.

I tried keeping my nose clean, not caring in the least about the shit he did but I wasn’t kidding anyone. I did care about what he did because the fact he was mayor of our small city, was only a cover-up. He was a shithead and the worst kind of human. If you could even call him that.

When he had made those threats about Piper and Brynlee, I instantly put a watch on them. Not that Piper ever left the house much anyway and especially not without me, but I still wanted to her to be safe for when she got over her anxiety of leaving the house. She would become stronger and leave the house again on her own. Especially now that was I home to make sure that they were safe.

“Tell me about the money you received,” Piper said, turning toward me.

We were still in the parking lot at the grocery store. I could have driven us home already, but I knew that we needed to talk. I texted Sammy and Cyrus, asking them to meet us at the house. Besides my parents, they were the only ones I truly trusted when it came to my girls.

“I had them transferred to you every month,” I told her. “Not all of the money was earned the legal way, Piper, but it’s yours.”

“Who did you take it from?”

I leaned my elbow on the windowsill, scratching my jaw. “The mayor.”

She barked a laugh. “No wonder he hates you.”

“I also killed his son, so I’m sure that has something to do with it too,” I said, my voice flat.

“How did you get the money?”

“That doesn’t matter.” I looked at her then. “The less you know, the better. It’s already dangerous for you to be with me.”

“Hold on.” She pointed at me. “You better not be saying that you’re going to leave me just because the mayor has it out for you.”

“No, I’m not leaving you but I’m giving you a choice, Piper. It’s not safe. Being with me is not safe. I should have realized this weeks ago, but I missed you so fucking much, I couldn’t think about anything other than being with you and our daughter.”

“And future baby,” she whispered.

My heart jumped. “What the fuck did you just say?”

Piper sighed, leaning her head back against the seat. “I wanted to make it a surprise or do something fancy, but I think I might be pregnant.”

Every cell in my body stirred. “You think?”

She nodded. “My period is almost two weeks late. I had some home pregnancy tests that I had from when I was pregnant with Brynn. I took a test this morning.”

I turned toward her and grabbed her hands. “Tell me.”

Her eyes slid to mine. “It was positive, Jaron.”

All breath left me at what I was hearing. Cupping her cheek, I slid my hand to the back of her head and leaned my forehead against hers.

“I want to take another test and go to the doctor’s to make sure everything is fine before we tell anyone,” she murmured.

I nodded, brushing my nose against hers before placing a soft peck