Flash Bang

by Meghan March

  “I don’t care if she’s not pregnant,” Graham said. “We’re marrying her anyway.”

  Ro stared at him. “You are?”

  “We are.”

  “Wait, you lost me,” Erica interjected. “How can you both marry her?”

  “You let us worry about that,” Graham said, rolling the window down to yell orders to Ty about the change in plans.

  “And that was the worst proposal ever, by the way,” Erica added.

  “That’s because it wasn’t a proposal,” Graham replied. “It’s a done deal.”

  The Great Rowan Callahan Period Watch lasted almost four days. Rowan refused to take a pregnancy test during those four days because it seemed indulgent when she could just wait it out. She’d finally been able to talk Graham, Zach, and her dad out of a wedding. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to marry them, but Ro didn’t see any point. First, it wouldn’t be legal, because they couldn’t exactly go apply for a marriage license for three. Second, the county clerk wasn’t exactly issuing marriage licenses at all. People had more important things to worry about—like surviving. And third, leaving the ranch to find an officiant would put everyone’s safety in jeopardy, and that wasn’t a risk Ro was willing to take just to placate the men in her life. She was still struggling to process the fact that Graham and Zach had both been willing to give up everything to be with her. A commitment like that didn’t get stronger because of some piece of paper or a ceremony. Ro liked to think that she’d demonstrated her commitment to them in the privacy of their cabin. Multiple times. After she’d atoned for not telling them she might be pregnant.

  Graham and Zach finally lost their collective patience on the morning of day four and cornered her in the bathroom. Wordlessly, Zach held out the test and gave her the sternest look she’d ever seen on his face. After she’d peed on the stick, Ro sat on the bed trying to play out the scenario both ways. Heads, she, Zach, and Graham left with her dad and Erica to live for an indefinite period of time in an undisclosed location. Tails, they stayed. Her dad hadn’t said he and Erica would still leave, but Rowan couldn’t picture him willingly being separated from his only grandchild.

  Zach sat next to her, fingers tangled with hers. Graham paced the bedroom. Rowan had a strong suspicion that he was counting to one hundred eighty very slowly in his head, because he spun and said, “It’s time.”

  “Who wants to do the honors?” Zach asked.

  “All of us,” Rowan said, voice hoarse with strain.

  They crowded into the tiny bathroom—Rowan first and the two men just behind her, one on each side. Rowan looked down at the test on the counter and saw … a little blue plus sign.

  “Holy shit.” She stumbled back into two sets of strong arms. She felt lips on her hair and her cheek.

  “Let’s move this party out of the bathroom,” Zach said, ushering them back into the bedroom.

  “No. We need to double check.” Now that the preliminary verdict was in, Ro’s concern about wasting pregnancy tests went out the window. She had to know for sure.

  Graham went rigid. She hurried to explain, “I mean, it could be a false positive, right?”

  “Do you want it to be a false positive?”

  Ro shook her head. “I just need to be sure.”

  Zach grasped her shoulders. “We’ve been dancing around the subject for days, but I have to know, are you regretting this? Do you want this baby or not?”

  Ro stared at the floor, thoughts chaotic and approaching the thousand miles per hour mark. She forced herself to form words into a coherent sentence. “I … I’m. Shit.” She rubbed her face. “Does it matter that I don’t know whose baby it is?” she asked.

  Zach maneuvered her backward, until she could feel the mattress against the backs of her knees. He gently pressed her shoulders until she sat. Both men crouched in front of her, and Graham spoke first. “This baby is ours. All of ours. Doesn’t matter at all whether I’m the father or Zach is the father. This baby is ours.”

  “Do you care whose baby it is?” Zach asked.

  “No,” Ro whispered. “But I don’t want either of you to be disappointed in eight months when this baby doesn’t look like you.”

  Graham’s lips quirked into a smile as he smoothed her hair away from her face. “If the baby comes out looking like Zach, I’ll be sure to knock you up the next time.”

  Ro could feel her eyes go big and her mouth drop open. “You’re going to want more?”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “I … hell. Let’s just make sure this one comes out okay first.”

  Graham handed her another test. “Go make sure, babe.”

  Ro took it, and then looked at them both carefully. “What if it’s negative?”

  “Then you take another?”

  “No. I mean, what if I’m not pregnant?”

  “Doesn’t matter one goddamn bit. You’re ours, too.”

  Ro stood, kissed Zach, and then Graham, and went to take the second test.

  The plus sign was still there.

  Holy shit, I’m going to be a dad, Graham marveled as he followed Ro and Zach across the compound to the mess hall. He’d never considered the possibility before meeting Ro. Quite frankly, it still scared the living hell out of him to be bringing a child into the world when nothing was certain, and there was no hospital to run to if something went wrong. He had faith in Beau, but nothing was more important than protecting Ro and their baby. He still needed to convince Rick that the ranch was the safest place for them to be after the baby was born. He didn’t want Ro worrying for the next eight months about what might happen and whether she’d be faced with another devastating choice. She didn’t need that kind of stress, and he was going to make sure she didn’t have to deal with it. It was time to pull out the big guns. He was going to show Rick the bunkers and make whatever promises the man needed to hear in order to convince him to stay.

  They filed into the mess hall. Erica, Rick, Grace, and Beau were seated around the scarred wooden table. Their heads popped up like meerkats when Ro walked into the room. He figured the shit-eating grin Zach had been sporting since they’d seen that second positive test gave away the results.

  “So?” Rick asked.

  Graham put his hand on Ro’s shoulder. Her eyes misted as she nodded. Erica was out of her chair and across the room before anyone could respond to Ro’s silent confirmation. She flung herself at Ro.

  “I’m going to be an aunt!”

  Graham studied Rick, thankful the man’s shotgun was nowhere in sight. His weathered face transformed into a wide smile as he rose.

  “Come here, Rowan. Give this grandpa-to-be a hug.”

  Erica squealed as Ro extricated herself from her sister’s embrace. When she stepped away from him, Graham realized that he was going to have a hard time letting Ro out of his sight—or hell, out of his reach—for the next eight months. The woman was his heart, his soul, and every other damn thing that mattered.

  She hugged her father, and tears dotted her lashes.

  “Don’t cry. Not unless those are happy tears.” Ro nodded, and her father wiped them away. “Everything’s going to be fine, Ro. We’ll figure it all out.”

  That was his cue.

  “I wanted to talk to you about that, Rick. There’s one more part of the inner compound here you haven’t seen yet, and I think it might change your mind about a few things.”

  Rick released Ro from the hug. “What are you talking about? I’ve been over every inch of this place.”

  “No, sir. You haven’t. But if you come with me, I’ll show you the rest.” Graham started for the kitchen. “Ro, baby, why don’t you stay up here and eat breakfast with your sister? Let Beau tell you all the stuff you’re not supposed to do for the next eight months.”

  Her eyes sparkled with tears as she whispered, “Thank you.”

  Zach followed Graham and Rick into the kitchen, and squatted to roll up the colorful rag rug that lay in the center of the floor. Graham kne
lt beside him and lifted a loose plank. Rick cocked his head to the side as Zach turned the recessed metal handle and a section of the wooden floor and a slab of eighteen-inch thick concrete lifted.

  “What the hell?”

  “Come on down,” Graham said as he climbed down the ladder. Zach waited until Rick had made his way into the bunker before following. Graham stood next to the red dome mounted on the wall.

  “This actuator releases the hydraulic system so the floor drops back into place. Once the system is engaged from below, this bunker is inaccessible from above.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned …” Rick’s look of wonder gave Zach hope that Graham’s revelation might actually change the man’s mind.

  “That’s eighteen inches of poured concrete, reinforced with twice the amount of rebar normally used. That construction carries through to the rest of the bunker.” Graham pointed toward the porthole-style door across the room. “That steel door is a foot thick and, when it’s locked, it isolates this section from the rest of the tunnel and bunker system.”

  “Rest of the system?”

  “There are four bunkers, each provisioned and equipped with independent air filtration systems and stand-alone wells. If one section is compromised, the rest are still safe. This was originally built as a bomb shelter, and then upgraded to a fallout shelter. We’ve added our own touches over the past few years.”

  “Well, shit. This place might just be built better than my little hidey-hole. It’s certainly bigger, especially if the other rooms are this big.”

  “They’re near the same size.”

  Zach was about to release a breath when Rick said, “I still think you’re going to have a problem with the feds beating down your door.”

  “Then we fall back in here. We’ve got enough supplies to last us for years.”

  “But what kind of life is that? Living underground?”

  “The same kind of life you’ve got to offer. Isn’t your ‘hidey-hole’ underground? What makes it safer than this?” Zach could tell Graham’s patience was wearing thin as the muscles of his jaw tensed.

  “It’s not the same. The main living quarters might be underground, but it’s far enough out of the way that it would be safe to come up during the day. There’d be fresh vegetables once the garden was established.”

  Well, fuck. This is going nowhere fast, Zach thought. Time to put a stop to the pissing match.

  “Just … stop. This isn’t about what you’ve got or what we’ve got. The only thing that matters is keeping your daughters and the baby safe. We’re on the same side. At least for now, anyway.” Zach met Rick’s stare. “We can’t let Ro wonder for the next eight months whether you’re going to walk out those gates with or without her and us as soon as she gives birth.”

  “Now wait a minute—I’m not going to try to separate her from either of you.” Rick blew out a rush of air. “Look, as far as I’m concerned, the window for safe travel is closing pretty damn quick. I can’t say what this world is going to be like eight months from now, but I will swear to you that I will not do anything to make Rowan unhappy, as long as she and Erica and the baby are safe.”

  Zach felt the tension in the room drain away. That’s good enough for now.

  Allison insisted on another celebratory dinner—one that actually involved celebrating. Ro laughed as Ty and Travis toasted Graham and Zach repeatedly, urging them to take shot after shot of whiskey. Neither of them would be worth a damn if they kept going at this pace. Which was too bad, because she was ready to drag the pair back to their cabin and do very dirty things to them.

  Grace giggled as Ro’s dad stole her nose and pretended to forget where he’d hidden it. Cam sat midway down the table, shielding Lia from the boisterous noise of the room. Erica cleared dishes and carried them to the kitchen. Ro pushed away her plate. The only evidence of her dinner was the bare rib bones and a smear of mashed potatoes. Full, she laid a hand on her stomach and marveled that there was a person growing inside her. A little bean that would be an amazing combination of her and one of the men accepting congratulations for ‘knocking up the little woman.’ She leaned back in her chair. The warm glow that settled over her had nothing to do with pregnancy and everything to do with the fact that somehow, despite everything that had happened in the last month, she had found a new home and was surrounded by the people she loved. Ro fingered the dog tags hanging from the chain she wore. One was Graham’s, and one was Zach’s. They’d dropped it over her head unceremoniously before dinner, explaining that if she wouldn’t relent on her no-wedding stance, she was damn well going to wear some sign of their commitment. To Ro's mind, they were better than any ring.

  She’d gone from a strap-on induced pity party to celebrating the news of her pregnancy with her two men and her family. And all it had taken was a damn apocalypse. Go figure.

  A girl really couldn’t ask for more.

  Well … maybe she could.

  She covered her mouth with her palm and faked a yawn. “I’m feeling a little … tired.”

  Her hand hid a wide smile when Graham and Zach stood in tandem. Zach swung her up in his arms.

  “Let’s get you to bed, baby.” Graham smoothed a wisp of hair away from her face. Ro grinned. She was getting lucky tonight.

  “I swear to God, I’m going to neuter you both! You’re never fucking touching me again!”

  Graham flinched as Rowan’s grip approached finger-breaking strength. He looked over at Zach and noted the pained expression on his face. After delivering the baby, Beau might be setting and taping fingers.

  “I see the head,” said Beau. “Give me another push, Ro. You can do it.”

  “Come on, baby. You’ve got this.” Graham adjusted the pillows behind her with his free hand.

  “Fuck you, you don’t know what I’ve got. Holy shit, that hurts!”

  “Breathe, baby. Just breathe,” Zach said.

  Ro breathed, and Graham’s stomach knotted at the agony twisting her features.

  A cry cut through the sound of Ro’s panting breaths, and Graham’s zeroed in on Beau … who was holding a white-faced infant streaked with blood. Holy shit. We have a baby.

  “Congratulations. It’s a girl.”

  Beau immediately moved to lay the baby on Ro’s bare stomach, drying her off and covering her with a blanket.

  Graham marveled at their tiny, squirming daughter. Holy shit. We have a daughter. He leaned down to kiss Ro’s hair as Zach kissed her cheek. Graham focused on the baby and her thick black hair. Holy shit. That’s my daughter. Our daughter.

  Beau clamped the umbilical cord and cut it. Ro moved the baby up to find the nipple she was already rooting for.

  “Wow,” Zach said. “Just … wow.”

  “What are we going to name her?” Graham asked.

  They’d been arguing for months, but had narrowed it down to two girl names and two boy names.

  Ro glanced up, eyes bright with tears. “Mira. I want to name her Mira.”

  It wasn’t a name that Ro had ever mentioned. Zach shrugged. After watching her go through labor … “Whatever you want, Ro. I think it’s perfect.” Graham leaned closer. “Welcome to the world, Mira.”

  They watched their tiny daughter until Beau eased her from Ro’s chest and sponged her clean. After she was dried and swaddled, he asked, “Which of her daddies wants to hold her first?”

  Zach reached out, and Beau settled the baby—Mira—into his arms. “Holy shit, she’s so little.”

  A light tap on the door stole Graham’s attention. He walked over and opened it a crack, revealing a concerned Jonah. “We’re a little busy at the moment.”

  “I know, I know. I’m so sorry, man. The timing sucks, but the sensors triggered about ten minutes ago, and now we’ve got someone at the gate wearing a uniform. Travis seems to think you might know him from your last tour. We haven’t engaged. Wanted your input first.”

  Graham glanced at Ro, Zach, and Mira. Keeping them safe was his first priorit
y, regardless of the shitty timing. Rumors had been swirling over the ham radio waves. The military was reportedly out rounding up every able-bodied person to work as a laborer in the New Hope For America Work Corps camps. Small militia groups had formed and were engaged in guerilla warfare, ambushing them repeatedly. Whichever way Graham figured it, someone showing up at their gate in a uniform could only mean bad things.

  “Give me a minute. I’ll be right there.”

  Graham returned to Ro’s side, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “I’ll be right back.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Don’t worry. I’ve got to go check on something. I’ll be back to hold my baby girl in a little bit. I love you.” He nodded to Zach before grabbing the M4 propped next to the door and heading out to deal with whoever was interrupting the most important moment of his life. Friend or enemy, the first thing they’d be getting was a fist to the jaw.

  Thank you for taking the time to read Flash Bang. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, or wherever you purchased it. Your reviews are invaluable to indie authors in helping other readers find our books! If you write a review, shoot me an email at meghanmarchbooks@gmail.com. I’d love to thank you with a personal note. Also, the lending feature is enabled for this book, so please share it if you’d like. Finally, if you’d like to know what’s next for the crew at Castle Creek Whitetail Ranch, check out my website: www.meghanmarch.com and sign up for my newsletter. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and all that good stuff.

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  I’m not sure whether most readers read this part of the book, but I always do. So my first thank you goes to the readers. Without you, I’d just be writing for myself. And while that’d be entertaining, it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. Thank you to my husband, who put up with my inattention and absentmindedness while I chased my dream. Your love and support made this road so much easier to travel. To my betas: AJS and CNS. You told me what sucked and what worked, and your feedback made this book so much better than I could have ever made it by myself. You have my eternal gratitude for taking the time to read everything I threw at you. To Madison Seidler: Thank you for taking a chance on me and giving me the confidence to hit publish. Your editing skills are truly an asset to the indie author. To Chelsea: Thank you for polishing my work until it shone. To Helen Williams of AllBookedOut.com: Thank you for your patience and creativity in designing this fabulous cover. You’ve become a great friend from across the pond. To Jovana Shirley: Thank you for the fantastic formatting.