Harmless (Pier 70 Book 4)

by Nicole Edwards

  They’d come too far for this.

  “You need to go, Seg,” Roan said softly. “I don’t think now’s a good time for us to do this. A relationship is the last thing I need.”

  Seg spun around to face him, his stomach twisting into a knot. He wanted to talk, not end this. “What? No. Don’t do this, Roan.”

  “It’s the only way I know to—”

  The sound of the door opening was the only thing that stopped Roan from launching into his spiel, Seg knew. The overhead lights flickered on, and suddenly, Seg and Roan weren’t the only two people in the room. Near the door stood…

  Seg had to count.

  There were six men standing there, all looking at Roan intently.

  “Son of a bitch,” Roan mumbled. “Don’t you people know how to leave someone alone?”

  “We’ve done that before,” the biggest one said. “Look where that got us.” The guy looked over at Seg. “Not sure if you remember us by our faces, but I’m Cam.” He turned and started pointing. “This is my husband, Gannon. Then Teague and his husband, Hudson. Hudson’s mute—doesn’t speak but he can hear. And that’s Dare, I think you’ve met him here at the office.”

  “We’ve met,” Seg agreed.

  “And this is Dare’s fiancé, Noah.”

  “Where’s Liam?” Roan inquired.

  “With Milly. She and AJ are at your house.”

  Cam glanced between Roan and Seg, then turned his attention to Roan. “Now why don’t you fill everyone in on what’s going on so we can move on to the solving-the-problem part.”

  Roan huffed, but he didn’t move. “My stepmother wants custody of my son. She doesn’t believe that Liam should be raised by a gay man. And this”—Roan motioned between him and Seg—“only adds fuel to her fire.”

  The anger radiating from Roan was palpable, and to be fair, Seg couldn’t blame him. If Seg hadn’t had a full-blown meltdown when that reporter approached him, none of this shit would be happening. He wouldn’t be trying to solidify his place in Roan’s world because their relationship wouldn’t even be in question.

  And now this.

  With or without the audience, Seg fully intended to keep the conversation with Roan going. He appreciated the fact that Roan’s friends had Roan’s back, but Seg wasn’t done here. “Have you talked to a lawyer?”

  Roan pivoted to face Seg, his eyebrows lifted as though the thought hadn’t occurred to him.

  “You have legal guardianship, right?”

  “Yes, but that won’t stop the court from siding with my father and deciding Liam would be better off with them.”

  “Why?” Seg didn’t get it. Roan was a fantastic father. “Why would you even think that?”

  Roan glared at him.

  Seg continued, “Would he? Would he be better off with your father?”

  “Fuck no.”

  “Then you need to get a lawyer.”

  “I will,” Roan stated, his eyes locking on Seg’s face. “But first, I need to get my life in order. And to do that, I need the reporters to go away. Which means…”

  Seg needed to go away.

  “Roan—”

  Roan took a jerky step closer. “No. You don’t get it, Seg. Liam is the most important person in my world. Nothing or no one compares to him.”

  “I do get it,” Seg snapped. “Because that’s how I feel about the two of you. You and Liam are the most important people in my world.”

  “Then you understand why I’ll give up everyone and everything before I give him up.”

  “Who said you had to?” Now it was Cam’s turn to get pissed. “Why the fuck do you think you have to go about this alone? You took on taking care of Cassie by yourself. You pushed all of us away. We didn’t even know about Liam.”

  Roan spun to face Cam. “I apologized to you for that.”

  “I don’t want your apologies, Roan,” Cam hissed. “I want to know why the fuck you think you need to shut us all out.”

  “I wanted to protect you from Cassie’s bullshit.” Roan thrust his hand through his hair. “So I did what I had to do. This time I’m protecting Liam.”

  Seg stepped in. “Are you? By shutting out everyone who could help you?”

  “You can’t help me,” Roan growled, pinning Seg with a disgusted look.

  “The hell I can’t,” Seg snapped, moving closer. “I love you, Roan. Don’t you fucking get that? I want to spend the rest of my life with you and Liam. I’ll move heaven and earth to keep that boy safe, the same way you will. But you have to stop thinking that you’re the only person who can handle this. Your parents can do whatever the hell they want, but do you really think they’ll go up against an army to get Liam? Hell, in the months we’ve been together, I’ve never even met your parents.” He didn’t add that he’d never seen the guys standing behind him either. Nothing more than when he’d met them at the arena all those months ago. “I’ve never even heard you mention that they’d come by to see Liam.”

  “Because they haven’t,” Roan noted, his face expressionless.

  “But your friends have. They’ve helped when you needed help—”

  “I don’t need help,” Roan yelled. “I can take care of him on my own. I don’t want some judge thinking I’m incompetent.”

  Seg’s mouth fell open as he stared at Roan, but Cam was the one to speak. “Is that what you think? That by relying on the people who care about you, you’re incompetent? Damn. That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.”

  Roan looked at his friend, seemingly speechless. Seg could see the hurt look on Cam’s face.

  “So what?” Gannon asked, stepping forward and placing his hand on Cam’s back, probably to soothe him. His eyes were laser focused on Roan. “There’s an invisible bubble that you can wrap around yourself to protect you and your charge? First it was Cassie. Now Liam.”

  “It doesn’t work that way,” Dare stated, moving closer to Roan.

  Seg watched the dynamics between these men. It was clear they were family. They’d come together in the middle of the night in an effort to show Roan that he wasn’t alone.

  If that in itself didn’t make Roan see he didn’t have to do this by himself, Seg figured nothing would.

  Meanwhile, back at Roan’s house…

  MILLY WAS ANTSY.

  She wasn’t sure if that was because AJ was so close and because he smelled so good or if there was something else at play. She enjoyed being with AJ, and she liked that he’d come over to help her babysit. Although babysit was probably a stretch for what she was doing. Considering Roan had put Liam to bed before he left and Cam and Gannon had agreed to watch him, Milly was pretty much guarding the house and that was it.

  “Wanna watch a movie?” AJ asked, glancing over at her.

  She wondered if he could feel the tension, too. It was there every time they were together. Ever since she’d told him she was pregnant, they’d become friends.

  Not more than friends.

  Not friends with benefits even.

  Just plain old boring friends.

  Sometimes she wished for more.

  That was probably her hormones talking though.

  “I don’t care,” she told him.

  Before he could flip through the channels to find something to watch, there was a knock on the front door.

  Milly’s gaze slammed into AJ’s. It was midnight, for goodness sake. Who in the world was showing up at Roan’s house in the middle of the night?

  “Probably Cam,” AJ said, getting to his feet. “He jetted out of here so fast, probably forgot his key.”

  Milly nodded, watching AJ as he walked to the door.

  Damn, the guy had a nice butt.

  Like, really nice.

  Again, hormones talking.

  AJ frowned after peering through the security hole. “It’s Roan’s dad.”

  It took more than a little effort, but Milly managed to get to her feet. Being a million months pregnant was a pain in the butt.

>   “Want me to open it?” he whispered, his gaze imploring her.

  “Yeah.” Milly had a few things she wanted to say to this man. She’d heard all about the crap he was pulling with Roan, and she didn’t much care for it.

  AJ opened the door and Milly joined him, staring at the newcomers. Not only was Roan’s dad standing on the porch but Roan’s stepmonster—the nickname Milly had lovingly given the woman—was there, too.

  “Roan’s not here right now,” Milly informed them. “Is everything all right?”

  Daniel looked a little put out to be standing there when he should’ve been sleeping, but Milly didn’t miss the nudge Lydia gave him.

  “We wanted to check on Liam,” Daniel said with a sigh.

  “He’s asleep.”

  “Where’s Roan?” Lydia questioned. “It’s the middle of the night. He should be home with Liam.”

  “He ran an errand,” Milly lied effortlessly. “He should be back any minute now.”

  “Then we’ll wait,” Lydia stated, pushing her way into the house.

  No, Milly wasn’t fond of this woman. She’d met her on the day of Cassie’s funeral, and something about the woman had put her off then.

  AJ placed his hand on her shoulder and gently guided Milly out of the way.

  “I … uh…” Milly did not want to sit here with these people. “Why don’t I tell Roan that you stopped by.”

  Lydia’s gaze dropped to Milly’s left hand, then her belly, then up to AJ.

  No way could Milly resist rolling her eyes.

  “Lydia,” Daniel said softly, his eyes searching the room. “I think she’s right. We should go home.”

  “I need to know that Liam’s safe in this house.”

  Okay, so maybe her hormones were a little out of whack from the pregnancy, but Milly did not miss the accusation in the woman’s tone.

  “Liam’s perfectly safe,” Milly told her.

  “I’ll check for myself.”

  “Uh, no.” Milly was not going to let this woman come into Roan’s house while he wasn’t here. “He’s asleep and I don’t want him woken up.”

  Lydia paused, once again glancing down at Milly’s belly.

  “As a soon-to-be mother,” Lydia began, “I would think you would understand my concern.”

  Milly lifted an eyebrow. “Actually, no. I don’t.”

  “Is that man Roan’s dating going to come back here with him?” Lydia inquired.

  “Uh…” Milly glanced over at AJ, then back to Lydia. “I’m not sure. Not that it’s any of your business. Or mine, for that matter.”

  “It is if you’re at all worried about Liam.”

  Okay, enough was enough. Milly was tired and she wanted to sit down. Motioning toward the door, she forced a smile. “Well, I’m happy to say that Liam’s perfectly fine. And he’s more than safe with Roan and his boyfriend.”

  And yes, she added that part just to piss the woman off.

  Lydia’s gaze moved to Daniel, a line forming between her eyebrows.

  “If you don’t mind,” Daniel said with a huff. “We’d like to take Liam back to our house tonight. We need to talk to Roan about a few things, and we can do that when he comes to pick him up.”

  Milly’s back straightened and her anger exploded.

  “No. First of all, I’m babysitting for Roan. He didn’t mention you coming over at all, so I think it would be best that you leave.” She turned her attention to Daniel. “If he chooses to come talk to you and he wants to bring Liam along, he can do that tomorrow.”

  “Young lady,” Daniel snarled, his hand lifting as he pointed toward the back of the house. “That is my grandson in there and I have every right to—”

  “Actually, you don’t,” Milly snapped. “Go. Now.”

  AJ’s warm hand curled around her waist and Milly appreciated the comfort. She could tell he was on edge, but he was doing his best to stay out of it. With him there, she felt safe. Then again, with him there, she felt a lot of things.

  Lydia started to the bedroom and Milly stepped directly in front of her.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “I will call the police if I need to,” Lydia stated softly.

  “Well, you need to,” Milly countered. “Because I am damn sure not letting you leave this house with Liam. And if you try, I’ll call the police myself. That’s kidnapping.”

  The woman’s eyes grew wide. She probably wasn’t used to anyone standing up to her, but Milly wasn’t a pushover. There were a million things she wanted to say to Lydia Gregory, and she’d managed to keep her mouth shut so far. She was playing nice.

  That wasn’t going to last much longer.

  Twenty-Nine

  FIRST OF ALL, ROAN DID not appreciate his friends ganging up on him like this.

  Secondly, he did not like the fact that they were right. That only added insult to injury, and Roan was far beyond feeling tattered and broken.

  It pained him to acknowledge that he couldn’t take care of Liam on his own. Oh, sure, he could physically do whatever the boy needed, but Roan knew he did need these people in his life. They were his friends. Hell, they were his family.

  “We’ll forgive you for being a jackass once,” Cam stated.

  “Once?” Dare looked confused. “You think he’s only been a jackass once? You mean once an hour, right?”

  A rumble of laughter eased some of the tension.

  “We’re going to get through this together,” Cam added. “Look at who you’ve got in your corner, Roan. We’re not a bunch of lightweights here.”

  Roan glanced at all the faces before him.

  Gannon’s phone buzzed, and Cam instantly turned toward him.

  “It’s Milly. I have to get this.”

  Roan waited, his heart in his throat as Gannon answered the phone. He was silent for what felt like ever, but finally nodded.

  “Yeah. Okay. Thanks for calling, AJ. We’ll meet you at the hospital.”

  Roan’s eyes widened, panic setting in.

  Hospital?

  Oh, shit. Was Liam okay? Please, God, let Liam be okay.

  Gannon ended the call and glanced at Cam first, his tone a little flustered when he said, “Milly’s in labor.” He peered over at Roan. “Looks like your dad stopped by your house. Milly confronted him. She got a little riled up.”

  Oh, shit.

  Gannon’s smile was that of a man who was proud to call Milly a friend. “The woman can’t leave well enough alone.”

  “Is she all right?”

  “Yep. Although she is in labor and that baby’s not gonna wait for us.”

  A rush of relief nearly sent Roan to the floor. That was when Roan realized Seg was standing directly beside him, there to catch him if he fell.

  “We’ll follow you,” Dare told Gannon.

  “We’re … uh … leaving right now,” Teague stated as Hudson turned and bolted for the door.

  Roan swallowed hard when Cam turned toward him.

  “We’re right behind you,” Seg stated, reaching down and taking Roan’s hand as though that was the most natural thing in the world. “I’ll drive.”

  Gannon nodded but then turned and walked right out of the building with Cam directly behind him. It was clear he was in a hurry.

  “My father made Milly go into labor,” Roan mumbled as he allowed Seg to lead him to his Range Rover.

  “Is she not due yet?”

  Roan shook his head. “Not for a couple of weeks.” Roan felt the tension in Seg’s fingers. “Not that it’s a bad thing. The doctor told her she could have the baby any time now.”

  Seg’s hand relaxed as he opened Roan’s door.

  Climbing inside, Roan realized this was the first time he’d been in this man’s vehicle. He peered into the back seat and noticed… No way. The guy had a car seat identical to the one Roan had for Liam.

  His heart leapt into his throat.

  It was then Roan also realized they’d never been on a real date. Then it dawned on
him that they’d bypassed all of that dating bullshit and jumped right in the deep end. Without a life jacket.

  Roan’s gaze tracked Seg as he crossed in front of the SUV. Roan’s eyes were still following him when Seg climbed behind the wheel. The man looked calm and cool, not to mention sexy. Far beyond how Roan felt at the moment.

  Without saying a word, Seg started the SUV, then pulled out of the parking lot and followed the caravan on the way to the hospital.

  When Seg reached for his hand, Roan almost pulled back. Now that his brain had come back online, he was still contemplating his next steps. He didn’t pull away, however. Having Seg here with him…

  Roan glanced over. “I’m not sure I deserve you.”

  Seg cut his eyes over, frowning. “Funny,” he said, without even an ounce of humor. “I was thinking the same thing. I definitely don’t deserve you.”

  Roan wouldn’t go that far. Despite both their faults, they did have amazing chemistry.

  “We’re quite the pair, huh?”

  “Maybe that’s why we work,” Seg replied evenly.

  “Do we?” Roan glanced out the window. “Work?”

  “I’d like to think we do.” Seg sighed. “That doesn’t mean it’ll always be easy.”

  “Nothing ever is.”

  “Or that I won’t fuck it up,” Seg mumbled.

  Roan squeezed Seg’s hand. “It was a knee-jerk reaction.”

  “That’s no excuse. I take responsibility for my actions, Roan. I’m not looking to make excuses.”

  The fact that Seg didn’t jump at the opportunity to brush what he did under the rug made Roan love him more. As much as he wanted to guard his heart, protect himself from pain, he knew he couldn’t. Not completely. That was the very reason he’d been alone before Seg. It all boiled down to the fact that Roan was scared to take a chance.

  “I want this to work,” Roan told him pointedly.

  “Me, too.” Seg’s eyes left the road briefly to glance his way again. “But the only way to make that happen is to be in it together. We’re both guilty of doing things our own way.”

  Roan knew that was true.

  He also knew that he was in desperate need of having someone at his side. Sure, he had friends to see him through this, but he knew there was only one way he’d come out the other side in one piece.