Hawk (Reckless Kings MC #2) - Harley Wylde Page 0,35

make sure I ate three meals a day. I tried to eat something better than junk food. Normally, I’d have cooked something. I was just too tired today, not to mention I didn’t know where everything was in Hawk’s house. Or if his fridge was even stocked.

“Are you sick?” Hawk asked quietly. “Have you really been throwing up because of stress or is something else going on?”

“It’s just stress,” I said.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “Did you see a doctor?”

I shook my head. No, I hadn’t been to a doctor about it. I’d felt fine until I’d lost my home. Okay, so not fine, but I hadn’t been throwing up until then. I figured the two were connected, and Viking had seemed to think the same thing. I couldn’t afford to be sick. Not just because I didn’t have insurance. Freya needed me.

“I’m going to ask the doctor to make a house call. I’d say we’d wait until tomorrow, but I’m worried about you, Hayley.”

“I’m fine,” I said.

“No, baby. You aren’t fine.” His brow furrowed and his jaw tightened. “When’s the last time you slept all night?”

“Before Freya was born,” I said. “The last few months of my pregnancy weren’t the most comfortable. I sleep when I can.”

He closed his eyes a moment, a flash of pain crossing his face. I didn’t understand why. None of this was his fault. I could have asked Preacher about him, but I didn’t. For that matter, I could have told my dad Hawk’s name when he asked who’d fathered Freya. I could have stayed home with my parents. Instead, I’d been stubborn and determined to make it on my own.

“We’re going to change that. I’m not sure how since you’re breastfeeding, but we’ll figure it out. You look like you’re about to drop, baby.”

He wasn’t wrong. I felt like I would drop at any moment.

“What do you think it means for you to be here? I thought I explained everything well enough before we got here, but I’m starting to think we aren’t on the same page. Because I don’t just open my home up to anyone, Hayley.”

I took a small bite of food and chewed while I thought about how to answer. I wanted to be honest, but there was also such a thing as too honest. If I said something that pissed him off, there was nothing that would keep him from tossing me out of the house. And since he’d decided to be a father to Freya, he could very well want to keep her and not me.

Crap. My bite of food tried to come back up my throat.

He reached over and squeezed my hand. “Breathe, Hayley! Jesus. Okay. Dinner can wait.”

He stood and lifted me into his arms, carrying me past the nursery. He kicked open another door and I looked around at what I assumed was his bedroom. Ours, I corrected as I saw my things in the corner. He sat on the bed with me on his lap, his arms banded around me.

Whether I liked it or not, it seemed like we were going to have a discussion about my place in his life. I only hoped I could handle what I found out.

Chapter Seven

Hawk

The thought of something being wrong with Hayley, of possibly losing her after just getting her back, made it feel like someone was driving a knife into my heart. The fact she kept throwing up scared me shitless. I knew from Beast’s griping about Lyssa’s pregnancy, or rather the lack of sex after Madison was born, Hayley couldn’t have had sex for at least six weeks after Freya was born. I supposed there was a chance she’d been with someone since then and could be pregnant, but it didn’t seem likely. She’d given me her innocence. If she’d had a boyfriend, she wouldn’t have been struggling so much. Of course, she could have been dating an asshole, but she hadn’t mentioned another guy, other than Viking. And he’d made it clear they were just friends.

“Hayley, when I said I wanted you to come live here, both you and Freya, I didn’t mean as a houseguest. The property cut means I’m claiming you as mine. I don’t think you fully understand what that means.”

“I guess I don’t,” she said.

“In some clubs, men still screw around with the club girls even when they have an old lady. Around here, that shit wouldn’t fly. Beast would beat the hell out of anyone who even thought of