by A. M. Myers
“Ready,” she says from behind me and I turn my head to look at her. The pale pink floral dress she is wearing hits her mid-thigh, showing off her long, sexy legs and the v-neck molds to her chest, showing everyone a peek of what is mine. I growl, shaking my head as I turn back to the TV.
“You’re not wearing that.”
She scoffs. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” I say, spinning back around and meeting her heated glare. “You can't wear that.”
“Just who the hell do you think you are, Wyatt Landry? I’ll damn well wear whatever the hell I feel like.”
Turning the TV off, I jump up from the couch and stalk across the living room to her before shaking my head as I run my fingers down her chest where the fabric ends. “I do not want every man in Baton Rouge seeing my wife like this.”
“Well, we’re just going to the doctor so it won't be every man and what does it matter?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest as she arches a brow in challenge. The move pushes her tits up even more and makes the damn neckline even more obscene. “I'm not showing anything inappropriate and at the end of the day, I'm going home with you so let them look.”
Maybe I should just let it go but the thought of a bunch of guys looking at her makes me feel crazy. Does she want someone to see? Does she enjoy the attention? Shaking my head, I plant my feet and cross my arms, mirroring her pose.
“Baby, we’re going to an OB’s office. There will be plenty of guys there and there is no way in hell I want them seeing your tits.”
She rolls her eyes. “You can’t see my tits and I’m wearing this dress. Get over it.
“Absolutely not.”
“Do you really think you can stop me?”
I grin down at her because, in my head, I can already see where this is going to go. She is going to challenge me and when I don’t back down, we’ll end up back in the bedroom, missing our appointment but ask me if I really care.
Spoiler alert, I don’t.
Or hell, maybe I’ll just throw her down right here on the living room floor and take her until both of us are too tired to do anything else. Either option works for me since I will have her moaning my name all damn night. She takes a step toward me and narrows her eyes but they shine with excitement, telling me all I need to know as my cock presses against my jeans.
Fuck.
This is going to be fun.
“Don’t you dare give me that look, Landry. I’m horny enough as it is and we have an appointment to get to.” She slips past me before I can catch her and I shake my head as I turn to see her grabbing her purse off of the table.
“I’m serious, Pip. You’re not going in that dress.”
She spins to face me, planting her hands on her hips as she glares. “You listen to me, I’m fucking tired all of the goddamn sudden, my boobs are fucking aching, it’s ten a.m. and it’s already ninety fucking degrees outside so I’m wearing this dress and if you keep arguing with me, I will chop your dick clean off and bury it in the yard. Let’s. Go.”
“Shit,” I whisper, shaking my head. “At least put a damn sweater on.”
“Ninety fucking degrees, Wyatt!” she yells, opening the front door and marching out without another word and without a sweater. Shaking my head, I run my hand through my hair.
Remember those mood swings I was talking about?
Jesus Christ.
Swiping my keys off of the table, I grab her sweater off of the hook and follow her out. As I climb behind the wheel of the Bronco, she sulks in the passenger seat and I pass her the sweater but she just looks at it, refusing to take it. Rolling my eyes, I drop it onto the seat next to me. Her skirt rides up slightly but I ignore it as I pull the truck out of the driveway and reach across the seat, holding my hand out to her.
“You gonna be mad at me all day, baby?”
Her gaze flicks to me. “That depends. Are you gonna be a stubborn ass all damn day?”
“No, I’m done.”
Sighing, she slips her hand into mine and as I feel the tension leave her body, I pull her across the seat to me. She cuddles into my side and I press my lips to the top of her head, savoring the smell of her honeysuckle perfume. I’ve been acting like a maniac lately - extra possessive, over the top jealous, and not willing to let her out of my sight - and I know she doesn’t deserve this but I can’t shake this fear that I’m going to lose her. The worst part is, I don’t know how it’s going to happen so I feel like I have to cover all of my bases but it’s making me lose my mind and no matter how much she reassures me that she is good and that she is here to stay, I can’t help but think the worst.
“You ever been to Seattle, baby?” I ask and she looks up at me with a scowl on her face, her eyes searching mine.
“Seattle? No, why?”
I shrug. “Just wondering.”
“Well, if you’re planning a trip or something, pick somewhere else. I don’t want to go on vacation to a place that rains all the damn time.”
“Note taken,” I mutter as my mind spins. Is she lying to me? All this time that I’ve been following her, I haven’t seen anything that would make me think she is planning to leave me but that just leaves me with more questions. If she has nothing to do with the flowers at her work and the reservations in Seattle, then who could it be? As I stare out at the road in front of us, a theory pops into my mind and it’s so ridiculous that I shake my head but it still nags at me.
What if it’s the same person threatening the club?
“What are you thinking so hard about over there?” Piper asks and I glance down at her, forcing a smile to my face.
“Nothing, babe.”
I can feel her gaze on me as I glance up at the road again. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah, baby. I’m great,” I lie, hoping the smile I flash her this time is more convincing as I slow down and turn into the parking lot of the doctor’s office. She sighs but doesn’t say anything. I turn the truck off and get out of the truck before turning to help her down and she remains silent as she takes my hand. The silence makes me fucking nervous and I resist the urge to twitch as we walk into the doctor’s office and Piper walks up to the window.
“Can I help you?”
Piper smiles. “Yes. I have an appointment at ten thirty.”
“Piper Landry?”
Piper nods and the receptionist tells her she is all checked in and to have a seat in the waiting room. She doesn’t even glance back at me and I follow behind her, wishing I could get my shit together but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
“Hey, babe,” I say and she stops, glancing back at me. I pull my phone out of my pocket and hold it up. “I’m gonna go make a quick phone call.”
“Just don’t take too long.”
Nodding, I turn away from her and walk back outside as I dial Streak’s number and put the phone to my ear. His annoyed groan greets me.
“What?”
I laugh. “Morning, sunshine.”
“Oh, shove it up your ass, Fuzz. I was up until five in the morning going over those fucking cases.”
“Speaking of which, you got anything new on those?”
“What the fuck do you think?” There is a pause before something crashes on his end of the line. “Jesus fuck. I mean, this is fucking hopeless. You know that, right? I’ve combed through these cases, you’ve combed through these cases, and I’m just not seeing anything that will help us. I talked to Rodriguez again today but he’s just as stumped as we are.”
Blowing out a breath, I run my hand through my hair. “Yeah…”
“I mean, there is evidence but it’s like only the evidence he wanted us to find. It’s just enough to drive us crazy but not nearly enough to get us anywhere.”
“I know what you mean.”
“Like, how the fuck do we find him if all we have to go on are the breadcrumbs he wanted us to find? He’s leading us in goddamn circles and I’m losing my shit over here.”
I lean against the wall of t
he office and drop my head back. “I know what you mean. Pretty sure I’m single handedly ruining my relationship.”
“That sucks, dude. I actually like Piper. She’s good for you.”
“Yeah…” I mutter as the idea I had in the truck pops into my mind. “Hey, do you think this guy would meddle in our lives? Like send our women flowers and make fake hotel reservations?”
He scoffs. “At this point, I don’t even know how to answer that. We know about the girls but he has probably been messing with us in other ways that we don’t even know about. Who knows what he’s actually done.”
“Right,” I reply. It’s the answer I wanted but it doesn’t make me feel any better. “All right, man. I gotta get back inside before the doctor calls Piper back.”
“Whoa. Is she okay?”
I grin, remembering his reaction to Tate’s news at our housewarming party. “Yeah. We just found out she’s pregnant.”
“Motherfuckers. All of you,” he says before hanging up the phone and I laugh as I slip it back into my pocket and walk back into the office.
“Piper,” a woman in pink scrubs calls from an open door as soon as I step inside and I glance over at Piper as she stands up. Relief washes over her face when her eyes meet mine and we meet halfway across the waiting room, locking our hands together as we stop in front of the nurse. She smiles at us and turns. “Follow me, please.”
We trail behind her and after she takes Piper’s weight and blood pressure, she leads us back to a room with a table, two chairs, and a desk. As I sit down in the chair, she hands Piper a paper gown.
“Just put this on. The doctor will be in shortly.”
Piper smiles. “Thank you.”
She closes the door and Piper jumps off the table and pulls her dress over her head before slipping out of her panties and pulling the gown on. When she’s covered again, she grabs her clothes off of the table and folds them, setting them in the chair next to me.
“You gonna ignore me all day, baby?” I ask as she sits up on the table and she shrugs.
“I don’t know. You gonna keep acting weird?”
Leaning forward, I drop my head into my hands. “I don’t know, Pip.”
“I was thinking about going to your parents’ house again this weekend. Tell them the good news, you know?”
“Yeah,” I whisper, meeting her gaze again. “That sounds good.”
“Did it help? When we went last time?”
The memories of last weekend flash through my mind and I scrub my hand over my face, unable to believe that was only a week ago when I feel like it’s been months since then. Being back home did help but I’m not so sure how well it would work a second time. As I look up at my wife, I feel so much love it feels like my heart might bust open but there is also that little voice in my head, screaming all my doubts and suspicions back at me.
I’m at war, with myself, with her, and with this threat shadowing all of our lives. It’s constant, teasing me, tormenting me, and it’s not hard for me to understand how Piper spiraled out of control so easily when I deployed. Most days, I feel like I am one more incident away from losing it but the only thing that holds me together is the knowledge of what could happen to Piper if I’m not here to keep her safe.
“Wyatt,” she whispers, tears welling up in her eyes as she stares at me. “Please talk to me.”
I can’t though.
I can’t tell her all the awful thoughts running through my head because she needs me to be the strong one. She needs me to hold everything together, for her.
I open my mouth to assure her everything is okay when someone knocks on the door and before we can answer, the door swings up and the doctor, a lovely older woman, walks in, flashing me a smiling.
“Hello. I’m Dr. Ward.”
I nod, shaking her hand as she holds it out. “Wyatt.”
“You must be Piper, then,” she says, turning to my wife and glancing down at the chart in her hand. “I see you came in yesterday for the official pregnancy test so we’re just going to run over a few things and take a look at your little one today. That sound good?”
Piper and I both nod as Dr. Ward sits down at the desk and starts flipping through pages, asking Piper questions about how she’s feeling, her last cycle, and her medical history. When she’s finally finished, she turns to us with a smile.
“Okay. Should we take a look at your little peanut? Dad, you go stand up there and hold Mom’s hand.”
I do as I’m instructed, positioning myself near Piper’s head and grabbing her hand as her words crash down on me.
Holy shit.
I’m a dad…
Logically, I knew that and I’ve thought about the baby a bunch but when I think of a dad, I always think of my dad. It hasn’t occurred to me yet that I am the dad now. My heart hammers in my chest and a flutter runs through my stomach as the doctor pulls the ultrasound machine to Piper’s bedside and grabs a long wand. I scowl, watching her as she slips a piece of plastic over it and squirts some lube on the tip. My eyes widen and I glance down at Piper as her teeth sink into bottom lip to keep herself from laughing.
Jesus Christ…
I thought they would just move that little thing on her belly to see the baby.
Piper turns her head to the other side and covers her mouth with her free hand as her chest shakes with laughter. Dr. Ward looks up at us, takes in my expression before glancing down at Piper, and starts laughing, too.
“Oh, I know that look. When the baby is this small, we have to do a transvaginal ultrasound.”
I nod, trying not to think about her shoving that wand up between my wife’s legs. “Uh-huh.”
“The look on your face,” she says, laughing as she turns back to the ultrasound machine and Piper joins her, giving my hand a squeeze. I meet her gaze and she smiles, reaching up to pat my cheek.
“Just look at me if it bugs you.”
“If you’re going to pass out, pull a seat up,” Dr. Ward says, pointing to the chair behind me and I scoff.
“I’m not going to pass out.”
“Famous last words. Let me tell ya, I’ve seen it all.” She turns to Piper. “Let your knees fall to the sides, honey.”
Piper does as instructed and Dr. Ward inserts the wand as I glance up at Piper’s face. She grimaces for a second, her muscles tensing as the probe goes in but then she sighs and smiles up at me. A grainy image appears on the screen and both of us turn to stare at it, trying to decipher the images but it honestly just looks like white noise to me.
What the hell am I supposed to be seeing here?
“Ah, there is the little one,” Dr. Ward says, pointing to a tiny little blob on the screen. She moves the wand, getting a few more angles before taking a few quick measurements. “Now, we may not be able to hear a heartbeat…”
A whooshing sound fills the room and my heart seizes in my chest as I stare at the little blob she pointed out to us and the flickering motion in the center.
“There is your baby.”
Tears sting my eyes as I stare at the little blob, unable to wrap my head around how it will become our son or daughter but filled with so much love that I don’t even know what to do with it. I glance down and meets Piper’s gaze as she smiles up at me with a few tears slipping from her eyes.
“Looks like you are at four weeks and one day,” Dr. Ward says as she takes a few more measurements and hits a couple of buttons on the machine. “Which makes your due date… April twenty-seventh.”
The doctor pulls the probe out and I help Piper sit up and swing her legs over the edge of the bed as Dr. Ward presses a few more buttons and the machine starts printing out pictures of our baby. When they’re finished, she hands them to us with a grin.
“Congrats, you two. You’ll need to head downstairs and get your blood drawn, Piper, and then I want to see you back here in a month, okay?”
Piper nods, cradling the photos in her hand. “Okay.”
Dr. Ward tells us to have a good day
before walking out of the room and Piper looks up at me again, fear and sadness in her eyes as a tear slips down her cheek, racing to her trembling lip. My heart seems to stop for a moment as I wrap my arms around her and pull her closer.
“Hey, what’s wrong, baby?”
Her lip trembles. “I don’t want to lose this, Wyatt, and everyday it feels like you’re drifting further and further from me.”
“No, baby,” I whisper, pressing my lips to her forehead as my chest aches and my stomach twists. In my obsession to keep her safe, I’ve been failing her and it has to end now. “I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”
Chapter Thirty
Piper
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” Wyatt says as we pull into the driveway after our doctor’s appointment. I pull my gaze away from the ultrasound pictures to peek over at him, arching a brow.
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
He grins and I see a tiny little glimpse of my Wyatt looking back at me, which has been rare these days. “Let’s go out on a date to celebrate our new little life changer.”
“Okay.” I flash him a smile as butterflies flutter through my belly. It’s been a while since we went out on a real date and I don’t need any excuse to soak up time with my man - especially when he is actually acting like my man.
He turns to back the truck up again. “What the hell?”
“What?” I ask, glancing behind us as a man with sandy brown hair in a button up shirt and a bow-tie steps out of a little four door sedan. “Do you know him?”
“No.” Wyatt turns off the truck and opens the door, stepping down before turning back to me with a serious expression on his face. “Stay in the truck.”
He walks away like that is the end of the conversation and I shake my head.
