Charlotte’s arms wrapped around me in a tight embrace, and her belly mashing against mine caused us both to laugh. Going by my calculations, I was further along than she was by only a few weeks, but I needed to get myself off to a doctor to find out for sure and to see if everything was going okay with the pregnancy and the baby.
I hugged Charlotte once more before I pulled back and smiled at the flock. They had all gathered and welcomed me back with open arms. Not a single word of reproach from them. Just thanks that I was safe and back.
“Aunty Rainnnnnnn,” a pixie voice screamed from behind me.
I turned just in time to brace myself from the impact of Shiloh throwing herself against my legs, her little head hitting me low in the belly. It didn’t hurt me, though. Just surprised me.
“Hey, Squirt. Remember you have to be careful with Aunty Rainn,” Mannix reminded the club princess as he walked into the kitchen behind her, a look of worry on his face.
“I’m fine, Mannix. Hello, sweet Squirt,” I greeted Shiloh happily as I pried her arms from around my thighs and picked her up.
Her legs automatically wrapped around my hip, well, the best they could with the width my hips were now.
“Youse didn’t say goodbye. Youse was gone for like forever. I’s missed you,” Shiloh scolded me in her growly voice.
I held in my laughter and tried to look sorry.
“No, I didn’t, Shiloh. I won’t do it again. I promise.”
“See that you don’t, Red. Mummy says you is having a baby, too.”
I couldn’t help the bubble of laughter that left my mouth at the nickname she gave me. Darth called me Red, and what Darth did, Shiloh copied.
“Um…yes, I am, Squirt.”
“Geez, another one. What is wrong with youse people? Don’t everyone know I am the effing princess?” Shiloh huffed, looking at all the women in the room with accusing eyes.
Honestly, this kid.
“Shiloh Zoe, how many times do I have to tell you not to speak like that?” Charlotte admonished her daughter, but I could see the tiny smile she was fighting.
Shiloh reached up and grabbed my face in her little hands.
“Oh boy, youse better let me down now, sexy dancer. Mummy is having one of her mood swings again. Daddy says we should run and take cover whenever she gets like this,” Shiloh said as she wiggled from my arms.
I placed her on her feet and watched as she high-fived Mannix before she left the kitchen, shouting for Darth as she went.
“Oh, my giddy aunt. The things that child says.” Mia laughed.
Charlotte hid her face in her hands as she tried to control her laughter.
“Can you imagine what she is going to teach these babies once they are old enough?” Stella said, placing her hand protectively over her belly. Hers was flatter than Charlotte’s and mine but slightly rounder than Mia’s bump.
“Rainn, let’s go,” Mannix said.
“Where are we going?” I asked with attitude. Mannix Steel was going to be in my life in some capacity for the next eighteen years at least, but that didn’t mean I had to be nice to him. I certainly wasn’t going to let him boss me around.
“Doctor’s appointment. Let’s go,” Mannix commanded, his tone not inviting a discussion.
All righty, then. I did have to go to a doctor. I needed an ultrasound, but I really didn’t want Mannix to think he was making me, that he came up with the idea. And what the hell happened to my resolve to not let him boss me around?
I could hear giggling around me. Charlotte was at least kind enough to hide her laughter. Mia and Stella though—those cows were laughing outright. Even my glare didn’t stop them. Damn, I must have lost my tough girl persona when Mannix knocked me up with his baby beast.
“Rainn,” Mannix shouted again.
Huffing, I grabbed my handbag and slung it over my shoulder, making a mental note to reduce not only the amount I carried in it but to get a smaller bag. I was carrying enough weight in my stomach.
Ignoring the cackling from the flock, I followed Mannix out of the compound to the car park and made my way to Mannix’s bike. Tucking my bag in the saddlebag, I went about putting on my helmet as I positioned myself on the pillion seat. It wasn’t until I was ready that I looked and saw Mannix standing by my car.
“Are we going or not,” I yelled at him, frustrated, just looking at him hurt. I wanted so much with the man. I wanted a family—well, we were having that in a few months’ time, but I wanted a real family, and I wanted Mannix Steel to love our baby and me—and I wanted his trust. That wasn’t going to happen until he stopped this belief he had about woman duping him. He needed to believe me, and that was something he had to do all on his own.
“Lady, if you think you are riding on the back of my bike in your condition, you’ve got rocks in your head,” Mannix said as he stormed over to me. His hands unbuckled my helmet and took my bag from the saddlebag.
“This bag is too heavy for you to be carrying around, Rainn,” he murmured, placing it on my shoulder and gently brushing my hair back so it didn’t catch under the wide shoulder strap. His fingers lingered there, then made their way up my neck and traced the curve there.
My body shivered at his touch, as warm, calloused skin traced in a pattern of light strokes. My neck bent almost of its own accord and allowed him better access. He knew my weakness, my need for his hands on me like that. Mewling like a kitten, I gave in to my desire.
“Kiss me, Beast. Please, kiss me,” I begged as his mouth peppered kisses on my jawline, his lips soft, warm, and wet.
“I have missed you so much, Lady. Been so fucking worried about you,” he rasped, his lips hovering just over mine. So close. His arms came around my body and hauled me against him.
I automatically wrapped my arms around his neck and held on. “Missed you, too, babe,” I whispered.
His lips were only millimetres from my lips, and his breath mingled with mine, smelling of sweet red licorice, which was Mannix’s favourite treat. I wet my lips with the tip of my tongue, and with his lips so close to mine, my tongue reached his bottom lip as I did.
“Oh, Rainn.” Mannix groaned, and it went straight to my core. It had been so long since we had been with each other intimately. I’d stopped when I first noticed my stomach starting to swell.
Suddenly, the most incredible and worst thing happened. My belly kicked Mannix. The sensation took me by surprise. The first time I felt a real, honest-to-God kick and not just a flutter, Deck had been the one to feel it. Of course, the second time had to be while his father was just about to kiss me.
“What the fuck—” Mannix pulled back as if he’d been scolded by hot water, a look of complete shock on his face.
I was so lost in the sensation of the moment that I didn’t think. I grabbed his hand and held it to my stomach, eager for us to both feel it again.
“Did you feel that? Holy shit, Beast,” I cried happily.
Mannix quickly pulled his hand out from under mine. The change in him was instant. Gone was the raspy desire-filled look, and in its place was anger.
“Let’s go, Rainn. I have things to do at Body and Souls after this.” Turning on his heels, Mannix strode away from me, taking with him the happiness of the moment our child made his presence known—and my heart.
Chapter 11
MANNIX
What the fuck just happened? One minute, I was about to get lost in my woman’s taste again after weeks of being without her, and the next, I felt a kick to my stomach from Rainn’s stomach. I didn’t know how to handle it, so I did what I do best and got angry. Always the wrong decision on my part, but fuck me, this shit was getting crazier by the second. I needed a minute to catch up, to get a grip on the fact that Rainn could very well be carrying my kid. Somewhere, deep down inside me, I already knew the truth. Getting my mind to believe it was going to be another thing.
“Mannix?” Rainn said quietly. She hadn’t said anything since she got in the car and buckled herse
lf in. There had been a time when I would have leaned over and helped her only to turn it into an excuse for a hot and heavy make-out session, leaving us both breathless and needy for more. But that was another time with a different Mannix and Rainn.
Fuck, I hope we could find those two again. I missed us.
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
I nodded my head. What she was sorry for I didn’t want to ask. If she was sorry the baby kicked me, there was no need. I loved it. Fuck, I nearly cried from the feeling, but I didn’t. Just in case the baby wasn’t mine. I wasn’t about to get attached to something that wasn’t mine, not again. If she was apologising because the baby wasn’t mine? Then I was going to fuck shit up.
“All good, Lady.” Reaching over, I turned up the volume on the radio. A little more time in denial was what I needed.
———
“Hello, Ms Marcus. Okay, so according to your chart, you are roughly four months along, but it says here you are experiencing kicking from the little bub, is that correct?”
The doctor started talking the second he opened the door. He didn’t even look my way as he took his seat behind the desk and looked down at the papers in his hands. I was an eye-contact kind of a guy. It was too easy for people to hide behind pretty words, but the eyes? They didn’t lie. You could tell the worth of a person’s word just from a look in the eyes. This fucker couldn’t even be bothered saying hello.
“Um, yes to both,” Rainn answered, her eyes narrowed at the doctor, too.
Ahh, Rainn wasn’t too keen on the bastard, either. I had initially tried to get an appointment with the female doctor that was seeing the other pregnant women in the flock, but with the short notice, she wasn’t able to fit us in. I wanted—no, needed to get more answers than Rainn had given, so this guy was the only one available for today. But rest assured, Rainn wasn’t going to be seeing this doctor again.
“Well, I’m sorry, Ms Marcus, but it is impossible for you to be able to feel strong kicks at this gestation. Flutters, yes, but not kicks.”
Who the fuck did this guy think he was? And if he didn’t look up and acknowledge Rainn in the next ten seconds, I was going to ram something sharp up his arse.
“Listen here, Doctor,” Rainn said, the last word coming out in a snarl. “Not a half-hour ago, my baby not only kicked me but he also kicked this guy sitting next to me. And if you had any manners at all, and actually looked at us when you walked in, you would have noticed not only the man sitting beside me but also that my stomach is actually quite big for four months along. So if you don’t want to see what the man sitting beside me is capable of, I suggest you get up and go find another doctor to take over this appointment.”
I couldn’t help the burst of laughter that escaped my throat. I then laughed again when Rainn reached out and punched me in the arm. She scowled at me, but her lips turned up in a smile. The first proper smile I had seen from her in months, and I fucking loved it.
Proud of her for not putting up with the doctor’s bad attitude, I turned my attention back to the idiot in question.
“You better do as the lady says, mate. I have seen her in a bad mood and experienced it more than once. Trust me—your balls will feel it for days. And if that doesn’t scare you, then maybe you should piss me off some more, and see where that gets ya.”
Chapter 12
RAINN
I was still giggling to myself ten minutes later when we were led into a small room for an ultrasound. The only thing that wasn’t funny was Mannix.
Getting undressed in front of Mannix shouldn’t have been uncomfortable, but it was. He hadn’t seen my naked body for some months now, but even with his reluctance to accept the baby was his, his hungry gaze hadn’t wavered as I took off the necessary items of clothing. Just knowing those smouldering coffee-coloured eyes were watching my every move made me tingle in places only Mannix Steel could make tingle.
I had to admit, it annoyed me he wouldn’t leave and let me have privacy, though, but Mannix Steel was exactly who he was—stubborn and annoying to a fault. He was also aroused, very aroused if the bulge in his jeans was anything to go by, and I had lots of first-hand knowledge of what that bulge could do to a woman. To me.
“Rainn.”
The warning growl snapped me from my sexual fog. Again.
“Huh?”
“There is nothing I want more than to sink deep inside you and stay there for at least a week. I want to tie you up and eat that sweet pussy until you can’t take anymore. I want to smack that beautiful arse for making me worry about you, and then I want to fuck it.” Leaning forward in his seat, he inched closer to me, our faces touching. “You mean the fucking world to me, Lady. Our friendship is something I don’t ever want to lose.”
Finally, he pressed a chaste kiss to my lips, and an overwhelming urge to deepen the kiss hit me. It had been too long. But Mannix pulled back, his forehead resting against mine.
“Let’s just see how this goes,” he said with a sad smile.
I felt a lump form in my throat, and a cold shiver passed through me that had nothing to do with the paper sheet being the only thing covering my body. He didn’t believe me. I meant the world to him, but he didn’t believe that I was having his baby. Sadness overtook, and I felt my world falling apart. Mannix was the father of the child growing inside me, and he didn’t want it.
“You don’t believe me,” I whispered with utter desolation. I needed him away from me, but I knew he wasn’t going to leave the room. If Mannix Steel considered you a friend, then he was there for you. I was his friend, and apparently, no more than that. He was also stubborn, and what his ex-wife did to him, ripping his family out from underneath him, caused his mistrust issues. In turn, it was causing my heart to break and shatter.
“Rainn, we weren’t exclusive—” he tried to explain, but I really wasn’t in the mood to hear the same old argument. This whole pregnancy deal was hard enough as it was, but to have my friend, my lover, be so stupid and not able to see what was right in front of him? It was extra anxiety I couldn’t deal with.
“It’s fine, Mannix. I just want this done so I can go home,” I told him, my own stubborn streak making an entrance.
A scowl instantly appeared on his handsome face.
“You are staying at the compound, Lady, and that is final.”
“Suck a di—”
“Hello, Ms Marcus. I’m Doctor Freedman. Are you ready to see your baby?” The replacement doctor walked into the room putting an end to anything else Mannix and I had to say to each other.
Thank God.
I was either going to tell him to suck a dick or ask him if I could suck his. The ladies of the flock may see me as a strong-willed, modern woman who could look after herself, but what they didn’t know was my weakness to the sexy man who gave me the best gift in the world, a part of him to have forever. He just wouldn’t let me have his heart, too.
I sighed. “Yes. I would like to see my baby.” My eyes never left Mannix as I said the words. This was my baby, and he wasn’t going to take any of the shine off it anymore. The joy and happiness were all mine, and Mannix Steel really could just go suck it. Now I just had to get myself to believe the words, and all would be right in my world.
Chapter 13
MANNIX
“Okay, that’s interesting,” the doctor murmured for the third time as she moved the wand over Rainn’s lower abdomen.
My nerves were about shot, and hitting something about now appealed to me. Darth or Creed would do fine, but both would be even better. I was all about control, which was why blowing shit up in the army was my speciality, because it took control. Now I was definitely not in control, and it didn’t sit well with me.
“Doc, do you wanna let us in on what is interesting, or should we guess?” Sarcasm? You bet ya.
“Please, Beast, let the doctor do her job,” Rainn said. I could tell she was nervous, too. When the doctor first started the ultrasound, we were able t
o see the screen. But when the doctor turned the monitor around so we couldn’t see it anymore, Rainn started to worry, and when Rainn worried, she became very polite and used the word please a lot.
“Okay, well, this is what we have.” The doctor turned the screen back so we could see and pointed at a black and white blob. “You, Ms Marcus, are having twins. Do you have a history of twins in the family?”
The innocently asked question was more like a bullet to my heart. Twins? That wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. Twins? Rainn was having twins. Sweat started pouring down my back under my shirt. Fuck me drunk. I heard a startled gasp come from Rainn. Without thinking, I turned my gaze to her and saw unshed tears filling her eyes as she stared at the monitor. Her beautiful face was a mixture of happiness and sadness and something else I didn’t want to acknowledge.
“Um, no, there isn’t,” Rainn answered, her voice sounding like she’d swallowed gravel.
“Well, maybe the father, then?” the doctor asked, looking directly at me.
Inside, I was screaming, Yes, I am a twin. I am the father. But I just sat there like a stunned mullet, not saying anything.
“No, it’s just me.” The whispered confession hit me exactly where it was meant.
“Excuse me, I ah— Sorry, I have to go. There is something I have to—” Without finishing my made-up excuse to leave, I pushed out of the seat and headed for the door. “I will get Darth to come see you home, Rainn,” I mumbled before I opened the door and nearly stumbled out of the dark room like a coward.
Chapter 14
RAINN
“Rainn, I’m not sure this is a good idea, honey. The compound would be a better choice for you,” Darth said for what seemed like the hundredth time since he came to the clinic and escorted me back to my house because Mannix ran off during the ultrasound after the doctor told him we were expecting twins.
Twins.
Mannix Steel not only knocked me up, but he knocked me up with twins, and then he hightailed it out of the room like he was going to vomit.
His Lady: The Wounded Souls Page 7
