come up for another month, though,” she said. “So you can stay with us until then.”
That actually sounded awful.
Coke and Cora had two kids. Mackie. Jackie. Mackie and Jackie, although sweet as could be, were also giant pains in the ass.
The thought of being with them for a short amount of time sounded great. Anything longer than a couple of hours, though…
“I need to go back to my storage shed,” I admitted. “Get it packed up and brought down here. Plus, Bronx already offered me a place to stay. I would offend him if I didn’t.”
That was a lie. It was all packed up and ready to be brought down here the moment I told the movers I needed it. And Bronx had no fucking idea that I was out, let alone staying with him.
But he would understand that the moment that I told him about Cora’s offer.
Again, they were sweet and all, but I didn’t want to be anywhere around their kids.
Just the thought of their kids made me think about my possible kid on the way.
“What’s that look for?” she asked as she started driving.
I looked at her. “I don’t want to tell you just yet.”
I was still trying to wrap my head around it.
Plus, telling her before I even had that conversation with Blaise seemed like a bad idea.
Cora would have questions… and I didn’t have answers yet.
Plus, she was only six weeks along.
Didn’t most people wait until they were farther along to tell anyone because of the chance of losing the baby?
Just the thought of Blaise losing the baby, though, made panic roll through me.
“You’re really being weird,” she grumbled as she turned into the nearest gas station. “Now, pump the gas for me? I’m starving and I could really use a Snickers or something to hold me over until I can get home.”
I got out and did just that.
All the while wondering if this was anywhere near as bad as my head and heart were making it out to be.
• • •
Hours later, with a new license in hand, updated insurance, my motorcycle, and a brand-new cut on my back, I walked up the front walk of Blaise’s place.
It was nice.
Very nice.
And the place that I was likely going to rent, which wasn’t ‘next door’ as much as ‘down the road’ seeing as there was only a house every half-mile or so, was just as nice.
I knocked on the door, felt my heart in my throat, and waited for her to answer.
I heard the ‘click-click’ of dog nails, and then a menacing growl.
I grinned, happy that Blaise had that.
“Oh, Sarge,” I heard Blaise call, “give it a rest. It’s probably just the mailman, like it always is.”
“So not the mailman,” I said to the woman that opened the door without, might I add, looking through the peephole to see who it was.
She blinked at me. “What are you doing here?”
I gestured to the dog that was now growling at me from much closer than I was comfortable. “You mind?”
“Sarge,” Blaise said. “Get back here.”
Sarge backed up into the house, but he kept his eyes on me.
Just the sound of her voice was sending tingles down my spine.
And don’t even get me started on the fact that my cock was now raging.
Thank God I no longer had shitty prison pants on, though.
That, and I had on real underwear—boxer briefs might I add—that felt like heaven after all those years of boxer short hell.
“What are you doing here?” she repeated.
I looked at her, then allowed my gaze to slide down the length of her body.
She was wearing black yoga pants—the kind that were tight at the ankle and not flared—a black t-shirt that was loose that said, ‘Talk to me Goose,’ and a pair of black ankle socks that looked to have quite a bit of brown hair stuck to the bottom of them.
My eyes went back up to her abdomen where our baby lay.
“I’m here to talk to you,” I said softly, allowing my gaze to once again meet hers. “We have a lot to talk about.”
She rolled her eyes. “You were pretty clear.”
“I was?” I asked, confused.
Honestly, her telling me was a blur.
Over the last four days, I’d replayed our entire interaction in my head, up until she left and didn’t turn back around.
I’d decided that she’d heard me when I’d called her name.
There was no way in hell she hadn’t.
The guard had heard me.
So she would likely have heard me, too.
Which had made me