Monroe, Marla - The Edge of Night [The Protectors 3](Siren Publishing Classic)

by Marla Monroe

  They all climbed into their trucks, with Tyler on his bike, and cranked their rides. Morgan waited until everyone had pulled out and started out before he pulled her into his arms and hugged her.

  “You take care of yourself and little bit in there,” he said. “I’m going to miss you, Amanda.”

  “I’m going to miss you too, Morgan. I can never thank you enough for—”

  He interrupted her. “Don’t. Just be happy. That’s all I ask.”

  “I’m happy, Morgan. I’ve got my whole life ahead of me and have five of the best men as friends that I could ever want. You be careful.” Amanda didn’t try to kiss him. She squeezed him hard, then stepped back and watched him climb onto his bike.

  She stood on the driveway and watched as he turned the big bike around and rode down the street. He never looked back. She stood there for a few more minutes as if thinking he would turn around and come back any minute now. He didn’t.

  Finally she walked back inside and began the rest of her life.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Amanda filled her days with learning her new job, and her nights with reading and going through the nursery. She cleaned and washed everything in the room. It was obvious they had been expecting a little boy, though most of the clothes were for either sex. Everything a baby could possibly want was in that room. She wouldn’t have to do anything but buy diapers when the supply they’d bought had been used.

  She spent a lot of time reading up on babies and what to expect as her pregnancy progressed. She found that she had trouble with swelling in her feet and legs. She put them up on a stool at work while she was there and sat in the recliner when she was at home, but they continued to give her problems.

  Mrs. Pullum checked in with her constantly and worried about her swelling as well. “You be sure that doctor looks at your feet when you go back to him next time,” she reminded her.

  “Don’t worry. I don’t think he can miss it. My legs look like elephant’s legs.”

  “I can remember when my daughter had her first child, she had trouble with her legs swelling, and the doctor put her on bed rest for a few weeks.”

  “Let’s hope I don’t have to do that.” Amanda crossed her fingers.

  She did not need to lose work time. She needed all the money she could save for when she couldn’t work after the baby got there. She had some savings left over, but it wouldn’t be enough, she was sure. She still had to make her payments on the delivery and hospital charges.

  “Well, don’t you worry about it right now. Wait and see what the doctor says.”

  Amanda visited a little longer with Mrs. Pullum before walking back across the street. She’d been without Morgan for nearly a month now and missed him terribly. There were nights she lay awake until early in the morning wishing he were there to hold her. It didn’t matter how many times she told herself to get past it, she still missed him.

  The nights were beginning to cool off some now that summer was almost over. Soon it would be fall. That would help her a lot, she figured. Some of the swelling had to be from the heat. They kept it a little on the warm side for her at the office, but she didn’t complain. At home, she kept it just cool enough to make it easier for her to rest and used the ceiling fans to stir the air. She was afraid to run the utilities up too high.

  She’d managed to gain seven pounds by her second appointment, and the doctor had been very happy with that. He urged her to keep it up but to try to stay within two pounds a week. So far she was averaging three pounds a week, but she figured a pound of it had to be fluid on her ankles and legs. If she could just get rid of the fluid, she would be doing fine.

  Amanda pulled out her grilled chicken salad and left it on the counter to warm up to room temperature. She decided to lie down for a little while. Her head had been hurting off and on all day. Somewhere in her pregnancy books said having a headache was a sign of something. She would have to check it out when she got back up. It wasn’t long after she lay down that she fell asleep.

  * * * *

  Morgan pulled on his jeans and walked outside feeling disgusted with himself. Tyler could take care of Honey. He wasn’t in the mood. Hell, he hadn’t been “in the mood” in over a month. What the hell was wrong with him? He wished he smoked right then. He needed something to do besides drink. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to end right back in the shape he’d been in nearly four months ago.

  “Man, you okay?” Tyler asked as he zipped up his pants.

  “Hell, I don’t know. She leaves me cold.”

  “Maybe we need to ride off on our own for a few days. I’m getting kind of tired of barhopping, if you want to know the truth about it.” Tyler leaned back against the motel door.

  “Yeah, maybe that’s a good idea. I don’t know what in the hell is wrong with me. Maybe some wide open space will help clear my head.” Morgan scratched his chest and continued to look out over the nearly full parking lot of the little motel.

  The place was only a few steps up from some of the dives he’d lived in when he’d been perpetually drunk all those months. This wasn’t him. He was better than this.

  “Why don’t you go on to bed, Morgan? I’ll take Honey back to her place, and we’ll get up and ride tomorrow.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Morgan turned and looked at Tyler. “Thanks, man.”

  Tyler just shrugged and opened the door. Morgan walked in and crawled into the empty bed and promptly fell asleep thinking about Amanda.

  In his dream, she was round with his child, and they were planning a big party for their friends. Everything he suggested, she laughed at and added to the list. He loved hearing her laugh. He loved everything about her. She brightened his world just by being in it. She turned in to his arms and reached up to hug him to her. Her belly was between them, and something kicked out at him. He laughed and rubbed her belly to soothe his son.

  “He’s going to be a soccer player, I tell you,” she told him.

  “Naw, he’s going to grow up and be a biker, like his old man.”

  “I want you, Morgan.”

  He smiled and nudged her throat with his nose. She smelled so damn good all the time, like fresh daffodils. Morgan ran his mouth up her jawline and to her ear, where he drew the lobe into his mouth and sucked. She scrunched up her neck and giggled.

  “That tickles.”

  “I know. It’s why I like to do it,” he said.

  “Don’t tease me, Morgan. I need you inside of me. Now.” She ran her hands beneath his shirt and fingered his nipples.

  She knew how that turned him on. Then she reached between them and began unbuttoning his jeans. His cock swelled in reaction to her need. He would always respond to her needs. When his cock sprung free, she wrapped her hands around it and massaged it up and down as he pulled her maternity pants down to her ankles. She wanted it now. She was burning him up as she licked at his swollen cock.

  “Grab hold of the couch, Amanda, and bend over.”

  She gave his dick one last lick and turned around to the arm of the couch and bent over, using the couch to support her. Her sweet ass called to him. He could see her honey dripping from her pussy and couldn’t wait to taste her. Morgan went to his knees and began licking her slit from clit to her back hole. He delved inside her cunt and reamed around the inside with his tongue, gathering all the juices he could manage to swallow.

  Using two fingers, he carefully inserted them to test her readiness and found her hot pussy more than ready for him. Ever since she’d become pregnant, she couldn’t seem to get enough sex. She’d become a one-woman sex machine, and he loved it. He knew once the baby arrived there would be a while when she couldn’t have sex, but until then, he was more than willing to accommodate her.

  He stood up and aligned his throbbing cock with her wet pussy and pushed his way inside. In three pushes, he was balls deep within her. She moaned and pressed back against him, signaling she wanted more. He pulled almost all the way out and tunneled in again. She g
roaned and met him halfway with each shove of his cock inside her vagina. Her pussy milked at him, trying to suck him back every time he pulled out.

  Over and over again he drove his hard cock inside her sweet pussy until he felt her began to ripple around him. He knew she was close, and he didn’t want her to wait for him. He reached around and applied pressure to her clit, sending her over in a rush of juice and squeezing cunt muscles. He groaned and, after three more shoves, shot his cum all inside her. He held himself still there, nearly on his toes until he could move again. Then he slowly withdrew and pulled her up, turning her around to face him.

  “I love you, Amanda.”

  “I love you, Morgan.”

  He woke up hugging his pillow and knew he was in deep shit. He loved her. Despite her carrying another man’s baby, he loved her. Could he handle the child not being his? He’d spent three nearly four weeks with her and gotten used to her rounded belly as it began to grow. It hadn’t bothered him really. Would it bother him to raise the child as his own? He needed to think about a lot of things. Breaking off from the gang would do him good. If he were really thinking about going back and being with Amanda, he needed to be sure. It wouldn’t be fair to her if he tried it for a while and decided he couldn’t go through with it. She deserved a hell of a lot better than that. Hell, she deserved better than him anyway, but she had lodged herself deep in his heart, and he couldn’t get rid of her, even if he wanted to.

  Morgan got up and took a shower. Tyler was still snoring in the next bed having been up late taking Honey back to her place and explaining they were leaving early in the morning. Evidently she hadn’t been too happy with them, according to Tyler when he’d gotten back.

  As soon as he was dressed, he kicked Tyler’s bed and told him to get his lazy ass up. “I’m ready to ride, man. Get up, and get dressed.”

  “Fuck, who woke you up this morning? Freaking Barney?” he groused as he rolled out of bed and scratched his head.

  “You’ve got twenty minutes. Then I’m rolling, with or without you.”

  * * * *

  Amanda stared at the doctor. He had to be kidding. There was no way she could spend the rest of her pregnancy in bed.

  “Amanda, we tried changing your diet and the pills to lower your blood pressure, but you’re in preeclampsia. It’s a very dangerous situation you’re in. Not just you, but your baby is at risk, too. I’ve had one patient die from eclampsia. I won’t have another one. You’re on bed rest for the remainder of your pregnancy.”

  “How am I going to do this? I don’t have anyone to handle the stuff around the house, and if I don’t work, I don’t eat. You don’t understand,” she tried to explain.

  “I do understand, but if you don’t stay off your feet and remain in bed, you’re going to die. How much clearer can I be?”

  Amanda felt the tears begin to fall as the full weight of it all settled on her. She grabbed for the chair to sit down, and the doctor took her arm to help her sit. What was she going to do? What did people do when they had no one?

  “Ann! I want another blood pressure on her, now,” he called out.

  The nurse hurried to check it and found it even higher. The doctor swore.

  “That’s it. You’re going in the hospital for a few days until we get your blood pressure under control. Your stressing isn’t helping matters, Amanda.”

  “I can’t help it. I don’t know what to do.” She rubbed her abdomen where the baby lay.

  “I’m writing admission orders. You’re to go straight there. Do not go home first. Do you understand?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  Should she call one of the guys to help her? How could she? They wouldn’t want to stay around for another three and a half to four months waiting on her, hand and foot. Mrs. Pullum would help her, though. She wouldn’t mind coming over a couple of times a day to check on her. Amanda could call her if something happened or she really needed help. She could do it.

  “If I go home and promise to stay in bed, will you let me go home?” she asked, brushing away the tears.

  “Not this time, Amanda. Your blood pressure is too high now. We’ll get it under control, then let you go home on medication.”

  Amanda waited while he wrote out the orders, then drove herself over to the hospital. She would have to ask Mrs. Pullum to bring her some clothes. She’d given the woman a key to her house soon after she’d started having some problems. It was going to prove handy now.

  It didn’t take long for them to get her into a room and strung up with IVs in her arms. She felt like a pincushion and couldn’t help the constant flow of tears. Part of it was the baby hormones, and part of it was fear, fear of the unknown and fear of losing her baby. The nurses all clucked in sympathy and spent extra time with her. Someone checked on her every fifteen or twenty minutes until her blood pressure began to drop. Then they spread it out to every thirty minutes.

  Finally, after four hours, they took her off one of the medications, and she dozed off and on between nursing visits. She dreamed about Morgan. He came back and wanted to make a life with her and her baby. He wanted to be the baby’s father and professed his love for her. She woke from the dream smiling, then looked around at the hospital room and realized it had all been a dream, a good dream, but only a dream.

  Later that day, Mrs. Pullum visited her and brought her clothes and some books to read. She thanked her and asked her if she would be able to help her a little more when she got home.

  “Honey, of course I will. I don’t have a thing to do but fuss over you. My family lives so far away, I barely see my grandkids.”

  “I can’t thank you enough.” Amanda teared up all over again.

  “Now, none of that. It’s not good for you. You know that. Think good thoughts, and remember that the sooner you feel better, the sooner you can go home.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Pullum. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  When her neighbor left, Amanda curled up and got comfortable. She’d shower and change into one of her gowns in the morning. Right then, she wanted to sleep and maybe dream again about Morgan.

  * * * *

  Three days later, Amanda was relieved to be going home at last. Her blood pressure was under control with her new medication, and her swelling had improved tremendously, but the doctor still wouldn’t let her go back to work. She was afraid she would lose her job, but her boss assured her that it would be there when she returned no matter when that was.

  She realized that, despite her current situation with her blood pressure, she had so much to be thankful for. She had a home that was paid for as long as she needed it and a job waiting on her and Mrs. Pullum helping her.

  After fixing a sandwich of whole wheat bread and thin-sliced chicken breast, Amanda grabbed some fruit to keep close at hand and climbed into bed to while away the next few weeks. She prayed that if she did well until her next doctor’s appointment, he would let her off bed rest at least. Lying around with her feet on pillows to elevate them and staring at the walls wasn’t her idea of a fun time.

  Her cell phone rang, and she answered on the second ring, anxious to talk to anyone, even if it was the wrong number.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Amanda, how are you doing?” Tyler asked.

  “Hey, Tyler! I’m so glad to hear from you. How are you doing?”

  “I asked you first,” he teased.

  “I’m doing okay. Growing fat and waddling like a duck.”

  “Why are you home in the middle of a workday?”

  “Oh, I took a couple of days off to do some errands and stuff.” She picked at the bed covers, hating the lie.

  “You’re not doing too much, are you?” He sounded worried about her.

  “No, I’m not doing anything right now, except talking to you,” she told him honestly.

  “Do you need anything? I’ll be close to you in a few days.”

  “Thanks, but I’m fine. Um, how is Morgan?” she managed
to ask.

  “He’s okay, nothing really going on. We’re just riding mostly. Broke off from the gang to get a little space, you know?”’

  “So everything is going okay for both of you?” she asked.

  She couldn’t ask what she really wanted to know. Did he miss her, even a little bit? He hadn’t called once since they’d left. It hurt. Then just being apart hurt.

  “Everything’s fine. I just wanted to check on you to see if you needed anything. If we get close enough, we might drop by if that’s okay,” he said.

  “Um, yeah, sure. That’s fine. You’re always welcome.”

  “Amanda, are you sure everything’s okay there?” Tyler seemed to suspect she wasn’t being truthful.

  “Everything is fine. Just feeling fat and tired a lot. It’s all part of being pregnant. I go to my doctor’s appointments, and he keeps me on track.”

  “If you’re sure. I’ll talk to you later. Better run. Bye, Amanda.”

  He hung up, and she got the impression it was because Morgan was walking up. She was sure he’d called and hadn’t let Morgan know. Why? Was something going on with Morgan? He was probably sleeping with some bimbo like Honey, and Tyler didn’t want her to know about it. Well, she’d already figured that out. He was a sexual man. He wouldn’t go without for months. It hurt. Sometimes it hurt so bad she thought she would die from it, but she’d worked hard at putting it behind her for the baby’s sake.

  She drew in deep breaths and blew them out to calm herself. She couldn’t afford to have her blood pressure go up when she’d finally gotten it back down. He would put her back in the hospital. She hated being in there. She wouldn’t get much rest there, and she hated being stuck all the time for IVs and blood samples. No, she would do anything to keep from going back to the hospital before it was time for the baby to come.

  Amanda sighed and picked up a book to try to get back into it. She managed to read the first few chapters, then threw the book down again. She wanted Morgan, and nothing could ease the pain of that, nothing but having him there with her.