“You can’t do that again.”
Like hell, my dick growls, settling down when I threaten to get Woody to kick me in the sack.
“But I wanted to and it was so yummy, Cage. You know how I like to touch you.”
“I do, baby, and believe me that was freaking awesome. But I don’t want you straining yourself right now, and kneeling over me must be really uncomfortable for you.”
The doctor warned us at the last appointment that she could go into labor any day now, and that if that didn’t happen he was scheduling her for a C-section before the eighth month was up.
They usually try to keep the babies in for as long as possible, but as Dr. Sparks told an irate and protesting Luci, her health is just as important as the babies’ and her body is not quite handling the strain as well as he was comfortable with.
She’s been on full bedrest for the last two weeks, hence my enforced fourth rule. No sex with my uncomfortable wife, even if the sight of her makes me so hard I want to pass out form blood loss to my brain.
Luci pouts but soon smiles when I kiss the tip of her nose and rub my stubble against her chest.
“Fine. But I am so not doing the bed thing all day again, Cage. I’m bored and going out of my mind here. I need to at least move around a little, and no, that does not include you breaking your back carrying me around all day.”
I concede grudgingly but only because as much as I love her and want to pretend that I’m all man, she is getting heavy and my back is not happy with me.
“Deal. I’ll let you walk around a little if you hold my arm and promise not to overdo it.”
Luci nods just as my phone chirps and I answer it with a smile that falls right off when Dr. Sparks requests an immediate appointment.
“Why? What’s wrong?” I demand, my heart beating so hard, I feel my knees give a little.
“Nothing to be worried about, Mr. Cage, I just need Mrs. Cage to come in because the blood tests we did and the foetal sample results are in. We need to talk.”
“We’ll be there in an hour.”
“Good, good. You may want to make sure she’s calm when you come in. What I have to say may shock her.”
When he rings off I somehow manage to act the calm husband and tell her about the appointment.
“Why? What’s wrong? Are the babies okay?”
“They’re just fine. Dr. Sparks just wants to give us all the results and check you out again, that’s all. Now up and at it, little mama. Let’s get dressed and grab some breakfast before we have to get through morning traffic in the city.”
By the time I’ve dressed her and slid on a pair of slippers, the only thing her poor feet can fit into, I’m calm enough to get breakfast into us both and drive to the doc’s office.
It’s the minute we sit down and the man starts sweating that I really think I’m going to have a heart attack.
Poor Luci looks on the verge of tears, her nails digging into my palm hard enough to draw blood.
“Doc, what the hell is going on? I thought you said it was all cool. Quit scaring my wife and spit it out, man.”
“I-I don’t quite know how to tell you this, Luci, other than to just say it and hope you’re okay, but…well there seems to have been a mix-up with the semen donor that was selected for your IVF.”
The man looks ready to cry and I can totally relate when he continues.
“The sample appears to have been lost and another donor’s semen was mistakenly…”
“Are you telling me that I’m pregnant with some random man’s sperm?” she asks calmly, quietly.
Way too calmly and quietly.
Dr. Sparks swallows again and nods, pulling at his tie and collar as if the heat of hell is on him. Can’t say I blame the man when Luci seems to swell up like a little ball of rage and starts yelling some of the most obscene things I have ever heard. From a man or woman. Ever.
“Baby, calm down. Just breathe and stay calm, honey. It’s not the end of the world and our babies—”
“But I chose him because he had the same hair and almost the same shade of blue eyes as you, and now, now our babies are going to be born looking like…I don’t even know what they’re going to look like!” she screams shrilly, her voice so high and hysterical it takes a beat for me to realize what she just said.
Did she just admit to choosing sperm from a man who looks sorta like me?
“Baby, hush now. All this yelling and stress can’t be good for our babies. You need to calm down and think about our little ones now, okay? There you go, baby, nice deep breaths,” I croon, shooting daggers at the doctor who will very soon be seeing the inside of a courtroom after I sue his ass for this shit.
“I am so sorry Mr. and Mrs. Cage. I swear to you I have no idea how this happened. I was so careful with the samples and the technician swears that the labels were clear and intact when he brought them to me.”
Icy fear and a niggling suspicion take root inside me, and it’s all I can do to stay seated and calm as Luci bawls her eyes out and leans into me for comfort.
I need to call Woody. But for once in my miserable life I do what I have to do and soothe my very angry and upset wife while dread eats at my insides. By the time she’s under control and only threatening to kneecap the doc, she’s tuckered out enough that she doesn’t put up much of a protest when I swing her into my arms and carry her out and all the way to the car.
She’s out like a light by the time I get her home and tuck her into bed before firing off a text to Woody to get his ass over here pronto before I have a nervous breakdown.
“Yo, man. What’s up?” Woody asks with a smile thirty minutes later when I open the door to him after pacing till my legs cramped.
“Study.” I grab a drink as he follows me in and shuts the door with a questioning look.
I pour him one too and go back for a second before sitting down, only to jump up again.
“Please, please tell me you did not have your guy swap out the semen after I called you.”
That gets me a guilty look and I groan long and loud when I realize that as we speak, I am probably on the verge of divorce.
“Woody.”
“What? You think I was going to let you let your girl get knocked up with some random asshole’s sperm when it was clear as fucking day you two belong together?” he yells, coming up out of his seat to walk back to the drink’s cart.
I groan again and shoot my drink, holding my glass out for another when I think about having to go out there and admit to Luci that I freaking conned her and had her impregnated with my sperm.
Just the thought of how she’ll react has me breaking out in hives. Shit. She’s going to beat the shit out of me when she finds out, and then she’ll leave me and take my babies and…
It hits me then like an avalanche that those four precious little babies are mine. Not just me claiming them and swearing to love them like my own blood but for real, mine. From my loins.
The feeling is…
I feel emotions overwhelm me and bring tears to my eyes. I’m so fucking happy right now it’s hard to breathe.
Luci and I are melded in a way that no one can ever refute. We’re joined, forever, in those four kids that rest in her little body. No matter what happens from here on out there will always be a link that can never be broken.
Maybe they’ll have her eyes and my hair. Maybe her cute little button nose and my fucked-up yeti hands.
The joy I feel knowing part of me is in her is just so incomparable that I don’t realize I’m crying silently until Woody pulls me up and hugs me to his chest.
“That’s why I didn’t pull it back and I’m not sorry for it, either, so you can stop trying to guilt me. I knew that no matter what you would love her and those babies, but I just couldn’t see you lose that first part of her like that. I know you, bro. She had you the minute you knew you’d be the first and the last for her, and she for real caught your stupid ass when she looked into your eyes and said those three lit
tle words for no other reason than she wanted to. She’s your one. The girl who gives you all her firsts because she can’t stand for anyone else to get them.”
His words are so true, I can’t and don’t bother to deny them.
“I love her so much, Wood,” I choke out when he pushes me away, holding me at arm’s length, his eyes a stormy hazel green. “I can’t tell her again because she won’t believe me and maybe I deserve that after the shit I pulled on her, but it’s killing me to keep the words in after waiting so long to say them.”
I’m being a total and utter pussy and I know it, and maybe years from now I’ll cringe a little thinking about how weak I really am inside, but here, with my first real friend, I feel safe enough to trust that he’s got my back and won’t laugh at me.
“So don’t keep them in then, bro. Say them. Shout them. Whisper them into her ear whenever you feel the need. She may not respond, hell knowing Luci she may just kick you in the nuts and tell you to screw off as she’s so fond of saying to lesser human beings like us, but my advice? You say it enough and maybe she’ll hear you one day. I won’t lie to you and spin you some rom-com bullshit, you messed up big time with that woman.”
I nod and retake my seat when he pulls away and sits down.
“I’ve watched her chase you for months, that big old beating heart of hers pinned to her sleeve like a freaking shout out to the world. Every time I saw her come after you I saw that heart bleed a little more till it looked like it was withering away. And yet she kept coming. You broke her in a way that made me want to hate you and for a little while. I was happy when she finally started seeing your shit and fired back.”
“Wood.”
“No, let me finish. I was happy because I could see you, man. I always could. You know why I chose you that first day in college? Because I saw you standing alone for all of two minutes, and in that time you weren’t Freddie the jock or the flirt or the prankster who could make you laugh one minute and kick your ass the next. I saw your loneliness and I thought, there’s someone who’s real inside. I spent my whole life around women and guys who treated them like disposable rags. You never did that, not once in all the time we were friends. You’d flirt and fuck, I won’t say you were an angel, but you never set out to make them feel like less just because you didn’t want to commit.”
“How could I, man? I would never voluntarily make another human being feel like they weren’t at least worth a friendship.”
Not after my parents and most certainly not after school where the worth of a man was what they could get out of you socially.
“You never did that once until Luci.”
My wince is visible and I feel like a dog as I look back at him and accept the truth of his words.
“That moment right there was why I didn’t beat the shit out of you and walk away from our friendship. I knew then that she was your one, the first and only woman who was special enough to rouse your heart and make you see her. I knew you’d pull a runner. Like I said, I know you but I always knew that you’d eventually stop and look back at her and see what you were losing.”
“How do I get her to love me back again?”
“That, my friend, I cannot tell you. Only she can.”
And now the biggest question of all and the one I’ve been avoiding.
“How do I tell her about the babies?”
“I don’t know that, either. My take on this? For once in your life, be sneaky instead of just barreling ahead and demanding what you want. I know honesty is important and I get that. I grew up in a freaking harem of sisters and cousins. Chicks do not take lying well. I’m not saying you should lie to her, just keep hold of this for now till she’s in a better place to handle the truth.”
Shit.
That was just the answer I was looking for, so I know immediately it’s the wrong one.
Chapter Fourteen
Home is Where the Heart Is
Luci
“Nooooo.”
“Yes.”
“Noooo.” Dot breathes again, her horrified whisper ringing in my ears like an omen.
It’s been like one day and a night since I was told I may or may not be carrying demon spawn and I still haven’t quite processed it all to the point that I can sanely deal with it.
My go-to has always been to just ignore it if it scares me, as if peeking at the horror movie through my fingers will in some way make it more bearable to watch.
So that’s what I am doing and why I refuse to talk to Cage about this at all. Just till I know how to feel about it. It was bad enough to constantly think about my regrets about doing this at all when what I really wanted was for them to be his babies.
But now I have to consider the fact that my uterus and eggs are bonded to some unknown man’s ball batter and it’s making me nuts.
Cage is also out of whack with this news. I see it in the way he barely meets my eyes now and in the way he seems to cling to me at times and rub my belly almost as if reassuring the babies that he still loves them.
I almost cried when I woke this morning and heard him telling them that they were his, for real his, and that he loves them so much already he can’t wait to meet them.
“So what the heck are you gonna do now?” she asks as she slides a glass of orange juice at me.
“What can I do, Dotty? The doctor doesn’t know who the other sample belonged to and they have no way of finding out. According to him it’s almost as if someone slipped it in there on purpose. What a crock! I bet they’re just trying to cover their asses in case I bring on the lawsuit,” I grumble, sipping at the orange juice with a grimace.
“Would you? Would you sue them?”
“No.” I sigh tiredly, rubbing at my aching head. “It would be all over the papers and I just can't see myself doing that to Cage what with his social status and everyone knowing when we go to dinners and stuff. It would just embarrass him and piss him off if people made some off-colored comments about it.”
“I guess that’s that then, huh? You’ll never know.”
“Unless…” I muse as an idea pops into my head just as Indie, Callie, and Percy come barreling in, laughing so hard I feel my tummy start aching.
“Unless?” Callie asks, coming over to kiss me, rub the beach ball, and sit down with a sleeping Jack in her arms. “What’s up? Unless what? Oh are we plotting? Because you know I love a good plot and scheme and I love the evil ones more. Is this about Gruffy and the way she’s been boning Gramps Levin at all hours of the night? It’s so gross and yet I can’t help being happy that two old wrinkles are so in loooove.”
Note to self, do not drink while breastfeeding, because just look what it did for Callie’s mental development.
“No, I’m not talking about that, and by the way, gross,” I mutter, shuddering again.
“Then what? Because I swear I just hear your plotting voice and you know how—”
“You love a good plot, yeah, yeah, I got it,” I cut in, narrowing my eyes at them all.
“Come on, Luce, spill the juice already. I’m dying here. Are we planning an assassination on Cage’s parents, because I am so there if we are. Jack told me all about them and I hate them enough that I could bite a chunk outta their snooty asses just because.”
“It’s not that, though please table and notarize that as a future option. I still want to hurt them for the way they raised Cage.”
Yeah, that sounds like a good future goal and one for the bucket list.
“Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me,” Callie chants, lowering her volume when Jack starts niggling and shifts around near her boob.
I roll my eyes and look over at Dot, who just shrugs and purses her lips.
Like I can keep this a secret from the three killers who are now staring at me as if they’d gladly slap me around if not for the four angels in my womb. Savages.
“The sperm got swapped and I don’t know who knocked me up,” I say in a rush, abandoning the orange juice as three silent se
ts of eyes look down at me.
“What! Oh, this is some sci fi shit, straight up. I watched this terrible movie a while back where this chick was knocked up and then this alien creature started tunneling out of her and ripped her apart. It was coolness to the extreme. Do you think that’ll happen? Do you think maybe the aliens came down, broke into the good doc’s office, and put their green baby batter in your cup?”
“Thanks so much for tonight’s nightmare. I appreciate any new material my brain hasn’t already worked through. Are you crazy? Like I need to be thinking that little green men came down and targeted me. You know I believe in that stuff, Percy!” I wail.
“So…” Dot says to get me back on track.
“So. I think I should call Mummy’s girl Cleo and get her over for a little looksee.”
***
“I see a stranger coming your way.”
“Oh, really? Because that’s like not even remotely spooky considering we see strangers coming our way every day,” Percy chortles, making Cleo scowl at her and narrow her eyes.
“Percy, just shut up already! Go on, Cleo, please.”
Cleo closes her eyes and concentrates as I flip Percy the bird and threaten to gut her like a fish with hand signs that do me proud when she gulps and looks away.
“This stranger is a man you know, one you have been avoiding for years. He’s your other half, the yin to your yang, the one you really pine for late at night when you’re alone and crying into your pillow.”
Huh? What? There’s no such person. My one is a dirty blond with eyes the color of sapphires.
“See! She’s a total fraud. Lady, her man’s like—”
“I was not talking to Luci, Percival. I was talking to you.”
The use of her full name and whatever the hell else she said has Percy tensing and going stark white before she does the one thing I have never seen her do. She bolts and is out the door before anyone can react.
“What the hell?”
“Do not worry, Luci, she’s just raw because her long-lost love is returning and she’s terrified of seeing him again.”
THE NAUGHTY ONES: The Complete 5-Books Series Page 21
