“I think that’s even cooler.”
She placed it on the counter, and then her smile was gone all together.
“So, ummm,” she hesitated. “Don’t freak out, but I had to borrow your brother.”
My brows rose.
“Why?” I asked.
“Well.” She wrinkled her nose, “I took him home with me because he was being a sad sac. And, well, I went to the doctor while I was down there, I wanted my mom to see the baby. And, well, things went to hell in a handbasket when my dad assumed that Easton was the baby daddy.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Did your dad recognize him?”
“Nope,” she said. “He was ‘in character’ from our undercover op because he was meeting with someone. And since that investigation is still ongoing, he didn’t realize my father was near until he’d already spoken to the other dude. He used my name, and my dad jumped to conclusions… and now everyone thinks that he’s the baby daddy.”
I dropped my hand from my lap.
“Are you ever going to tell them?” I asked.
Why did the idea of her passing someone off as her husband, someone that wasn’t me and probably way better suited for her, feel like it was ripping a hole straight through my heart? I was the one to tell her to go away and not come back. I was also the person to file divorce papers and send them her way.
“My mom already knows,” she said. “Easton’s not coming back. I’m here for the foreseeable future, and, well… I’ll tell them when you get out.”
“That’s in a really long time,” I hesitated.
“That’s all I’m willing to give them until you’re there to defend yourself,” she shrugged. “I’m sorry. That might make me the ultimate ass, but I just can’t deal with you being gone, their disapproval, the, uh…”
She didn’t have to finish.
She hadn’t had a chance to get over the attack because I hadn’t allowed her that chance.
“Okay, baby,” I said. “I can’t say that I like it, but it’s not like I have a choice. You need to do what makes you sane. And if that’s it, then that’s it.”
She walked toward me and wrapped her arms around my middle.
The baby once again started kicking.
“I love you, Trouper Aoki.”
Emotion burning in my chest, I rasped, “I love you back, Beckham Aoki.”
CHAPTER 18
When she’s had a rough day, give her a rough night.
-Dating tips
TROUP
Two months later
“Wake up, motherfucker,” I heard, then the sound of a baton slamming against the metal bars blocking me in.
My eyes snapped open, and I could do nothing but stare at the concrete ceiling.
“I said wake up!” the bar bang sounded again.
I rolled myself out of the bed, fucking hating the motherfucker, Brydens, that was doing the pounding of the bars, and stared through the brightness at the man with the flashlight that was aimed at my face.
I got up and slipped into my clothes, unsure what the hell was going on.
“Let’s go,” he ordered.
I looked at my roommate’s empty bunk and then moved out.
My roommate had found greener pastures when he’d been released last month, and they hadn’t replaced him.
I was all for that.
It made me supremely happy.
“Hurry up,” Brydens urged. “Don’t got all night.”
He actually did.
The night shift was the easier of the two shifts since all the inmates were in their cells for the night.
I didn’t bother to disagree verbally with him, though.
It was best to just leave Brydens alone.
He wound me through the hallways until we reached where we were supposed to be.
“Have fun,” Brydens snapped as he gave me a good shove in the direction of the Warden Stanley’s office.
“Close the motherfuckin’ door,” Warden Stanley ordered.
I did, unsure whether he was talking to me or Brydens.
Then Warden Stanley gestured toward the couch.
“Got something for you,” he said as he started to do shit on his computer.
I sat, and then gasped when he said, “Your wife is in labor. She all but begged me in the middle of the night to come up here and allow you to connect via webcam.”
I felt a churning assault on my stomach.
“Fuck,” I whispered. “Is she okay?”
The warden’s eyes went soft for a few short seconds before he said, “She’s fine from what I could tell.”
Then a blue screen replaced the black screen on his computer.
“There,” he said. “Now we wait for her to answer.”
Nerves wracked my body as I waited for the video chat to connect.
And when it did, it was to see Beckham’s face on the screen.
She was sweaty, looked utterly