“R-really?” she whispered, her brows pinched together. “You swear you didn’t hook up with her?”
“Baby, there’s been no one since you. Not even my damn hand.”
“For me either.” She touched her lower abdomen. “I promise this is your baby.”
I covered her hand. “I know, Mila. I never doubted that for a second.” I kissed her forehead and stepped back. “Now, sit tight. You’re going to get checked out.”
Chapter 14
Mila
I sat on the uncomfortable emergency room exam table, dressed in an open-backed gown with a sheet over my legs. I’d told the nurse I didn’t need any of that, but she’d taken one look at Lyric and pushed the items into my hands before promising to be back with the ER doctor within a few minutes.
That was ten minutes ago. I’d been sitting there with no panties on, while Lyric stood leaning against the wall beside the door, typing nonstop on his phone the entire time. The clicking sound as he typed was starting to wear on my nerves, and his lack of attention was making me even grumpier.
He’d been so concerned earlier that he’d made me come to the emergency room to get checked out, and now he wasn’t even talking to me.
“Is there somewhere else you need to be, Lyric?” I asked, my tone deceptively sweet as he barely glanced at me while continuing to type. I was seriously contemplating grabbing his phone and shoving it somewhere only the doctors could retrieve.
“There is nowhere I need to be except right here, babe.” But his gaze quickly dropped back to his phone.
“Who are you talking to?” I demanded unhappily, trying and failing to hide my pout.
I was not that girl. The one who needed constant attention. I detested girls like that. But it seemed, with Lyric, I was anything but myself ninety percent of the time. Or maybe it was just the pregnancy hormones making me act like a needy, whiny bitch.
“Mom and Aunt Emmie,” he said, distracted. “Mom says she remembers having blood pressure issues when she first got pregnant with Luca and me. It cleared up around twenty-plus weeks, though.” His face tightened, and he looked up from his phone, his face gray. “But she did go into preterm labor with us. We were premature. Fuck. What if it’s twins? Aren’t identicals more likely to have twins? We are both identical, Mila. You could be pregnant with twins.”
I wanted to roll my eyes at him, but he looked so worried, I couldn’t. It was actually kind of cute, and my heart melted a little more for him, making me want to wrap my arms around him and tell him it was going to be okay.
Apparently he’d been telling his family about his impending fatherhood, so I could understand why his attention was otherwise engaged while I was sitting there bored to tears. That couldn’t have been easy.
Fuck, I knew it wasn’t because I’d chickened out repeatedly about telling my own parents.
“The thought had occurred to me, yes. My mom had really bad issues with low blood pressure when she was pregnant. She was put on bed rest fairly early into her pregnancy to avoid preterm labor. She was lucky to get as far into the third trimester as she did, especially with Maverick’s big head taking up so much room and crowding Monroe and me.”
His lips started to twitch with amusement, but then he lost what little color was still in his handsome face. “My mom almost died. That’s why they never had more kids. I can’t lose you, Mila. I fucking can’t.”
The desperation and fear in his voice put an abrupt end to any lingering hurt I was feeling. Lifting my arms, I begged him with my eyes to come to me. Without hesitation, he was across the room and wrapping his thick arms around me.
A shudder went through his big body, and he buried his face in my neck. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you stay healthy throughout this pregnancy,” he choked out. “I want those babies, but I can’t live without you, Mila. I’ve had to for months, and it wasn’t living at all. It was hell. Pure agony. I missed you so damn much, I ached, baby.”
I swallowed around the sudden knot of emotion blocking my throat. If I was being honest, I’d missed him too. When I wasn’t plotting cutting off his dick and mailing it to his pretty blonde. But now that I knew the truth, I could see I’d jumped to conclusions and only hurt myself in the long run. My only excuse was that I was jealous, and I had no experience with that emotion.
Maybe if I’d confronted him when I’d gone to see him and found him with Violet, we wouldn’t have spent the entire summer miserable without each other.
“I missed you too,” I was able to confess once the knot eased somewhat. “It’s crazy. We only knew each other for a few hours, but it felt like you were suddenly my entire world and…”
And that world had been perfect while we were together. But apart, it disappeared like we had only been a dream.
“You are my world,” he rasped, his arms tightening around me. “Time makes no difference. You were meant to be mine, and I knew it as soon as I laid eyes on you.”
Tears burned my eyes, and I clung to him. It seemed we were both a little insane, but oddly enough, it made me happier than I could ever remember being.
A knock on the door alerted us to newcomers. Keeping one arm around me, Lyric turned to see the doctor walking into the room with the nurse from earlier. I released a relieved breath that it wasn’t Doc Robertson, the doctor who took care of everyone in the MC.
I couldn’t let someone else tell Dad I was pregnant before I had a chance to talk to him. Especially if I wanted to keep Lyric around. And breathing.
Five minutes later, the doctor left, and the nurse was doing blood work on me. Things moved quickly after that. A tech pushed an ultrasound machine into the room just as the nurse was putting a bandage on my arm and telling me to get comfortable.
The doctor came back into the room with the on-call OB/GYN, thankfully a woman, but I suddenly felt like a specimen under a microscope. Clutching Lyric’s hand, I tensed as the tech pushed the wand into me to do a vaginal ultrasound, and I tried to relax when she asked me to.
Lyric lifted my hand to his lips. “It’s okay. I’m right here,” he murmured softly. “I got you.”
“Looks like everything is as it should be,” the tech commented a few minutes later.
“Not completely,” the obstetrician said and nudged the tech out of the way. She began adjusting the wand, being considerably more careful than the tech had been, and started pushing keys on the machine. “So,” she said, glancing first at me then Lyric before returning her gaze to the screen. “This is Baby. Heartbeat looks good. Everything is coming along very well. But here…” She adjusted the wand again, and I whimpered at the tenderness I was suddenly feeling. “This is Baby Two.”
I wasn’t even a little bit surprised she was telling us it was twins.
“Identical?” Lyric asked.
“It looks like we have two separate sacs, so no.” She was still messing around, and I was ready for her to tell us there were more than two. When she didn’t, I began to relax. Twins, I could deal with. More than that, I wasn’t so sure.
“I would like you to take things easy, Mila,” the doctor told me as she carefully pulled the wand from me. “Right now, your body is learning to adjust to being pregnant. That can affect a woman’s blood pressure, and it seems to be giving you more issues than most. I want you to avoid taking hot showers or baths. When you go from lying down to sitting, and sitting to standing, I want you to move slowly. Sit up, then slowly stand. With help, if you can. Falling is a big risk right now with your blood pressure so low.”
“I’ll make sure she takes it easy,” Lyric assured her, his fingers squeezing mine.
“Good. Also, try to keep stress at a minimum. Any time we have a multiple pregnancy, I treat them as high-risk, no matter the situation. I know avoiding stress is like trying to avoid breathing, but the more relaxed Mom is right now, the better.” She pulled off her gloves and tossed them in the trash. “I want to see you in my office in a week, Mila. We can do another ultrasound. I would l
ike to do a monthly one on you throughout this pregnancy, and closer to delivery, we should do them weekly. Just to keep a close eye on everything these two kiddos are doing behind closed doors.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “I just have one question.” The woman lifted a brow, waiting for me to voice it. “Is sex safe?”
Beside me, I felt Lyric tense, but I couldn’t look at him. I wanted him so damn bad, but first, I needed to know if it was safe to be with him. We both knew he wanted to ask the same question, but for some reason, he’d kept quiet so far.
The doctor’s lips tilted up. “As long as you aren’t experiencing any discomfort during intercourse, sex is fine. But if you start spotting, or happen to feel any pain or discomfort during, I would advise you to forgo vaginal sexual activity.”
Her gaze went from me to Lyric inquisitively. “Any other questions?”
When Lyric remained quiet, I shook my head. “No. Not at the moment.”
She smiled compassionately. “My staff will be in touch. See you next week.”
She and the ER doctor left, telling me a nurse would be in with discharge papers, and then I could go home. As the door shut behind them, Lyric released a relieved breath. “I’m glad you and the babies are okay.”
I nodded, suddenly feeling unsure of myself, which was an odd experience for me. I was usually the most confident person in a room, but right then, I wasn’t sure of anything. Pregnancy seemed to be turning me upside down. I felt off-kilter, as if nothing was ever going to be the same again, and I wasn’t sure if that was scary or exciting.
“Do you want to go ahead and get dressed? The nurse should be back soon, from what the doctor said.” He touched my arm and I closed my eyes, loving the feel of his skin on mine, but a wave of ice-cold terror washed over me.
“You have to go,” I whispered, fighting tears. “My dad is going to kill you.”
“Not this again,” he grumbled. “Listen to me, babe. I am not scared of your dad or his friends. The only thing that scares me is something happening to you and our babies.”
“The three of us will be fine,” I half sobbed. “My dad is dangerous, Lyric. I’m his little girl, and you got me pregnant without marrying me first. He will lose his mind and start shooting—or worse, slit your throat. You have to go. I’ll talk to Mom, find a safe house in another country or something. I can’t let him kill you.”
“Stop it, Mila,” he said with a laugh. “I can handle myself with your dad. Just let me talk to him. We’ll get this sorted out. Don’t worry. Okay, baby?”
“You’re not taking this seriously!” I yelled at him as I jumped to my feet.
But of course, I’d gotten up too fast. The world started to go dark around the edges of my vision, and I felt light-headed all of a sudden. A curse left Lyric as he wrapped one arm around my back, holding me against his hard body while his other hand tucked my head against his chest. “The doctor told you to be careful, woman,” he scolded. “Stop making my heart stop. You’re the one who’s going to kill me, not your dad.”
I clung to him, my vision returning, and the world stopped spinning so fast. “I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you. My dad—”
“Can suck it,” he growled before kissing the top of my head. “I have my family to take care of. I’m not leaving you. I refuse to run away, and you need to stop pushing me on this.”
I loved his confidence. It made me want him even more. But he was only fooling himself if he thought he could handle my dad and my uncles. They would kill him first and ask questions later.
“Come on,” Lyric urged. “Let me help you get dressed, and then we can go home.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I tried to argue even as he pulled the gown off me, leaving me standing there in only my bra.
He inhaled sharply, his hypnotic eyes swirling with hunger and something else I hadn’t seen there yet. He clenched his fingers into fists and took a step back. “You better put your clothes on, babe. If I touch you right now, I’m going to bend you over and fuck you. It’s been too damn long since I’ve felt your pretty pussy wrapped around my cock.”
I pressed my thighs together, almost wishing he would do just that and put us both out of our misery. Quickly, I pulled on my panties and jeans then my shirt. Once I was covered, he let out a long exhale.
“I don’t think we should go to my house,” I repeated. “Let’s figure this out, and then we can talk to my parents.”
His brow furrowed. “I didn’t want to go to your house. I said we were going home. Our home.”
“What home?” I groaned in frustration. “We don’t live together, Lyric.”
“We do now. I bought a house close to the high school. I didn’t come here to play around, Mila. This is where you live, so this is where I’m putting down roots. Good thing the house has several extra bedrooms. We can turn one into a nursery, and then when the kids get older, they can decide if they want separate rooms or to share one. Luca and I shared one for years because we hated being away from each other.” He pulled his keys from his pocket and started taking one off. When he was done, he handed it over to me. “This is to the back door. I don’t have the extra to the front door with me, but I’ll get it for you once we are home. You’ll also need the shop’s keys.”
“Why would I need the shop’s keys?” I muttered, taking the house key from him in a daze.
“I want us to work together. You can take care of the front. Didn’t you say you do that for your dad?” I nodded and he grinned. “So, you have plenty of experience.”
“I can’t just—” What, I wondered as I broke off. I couldn’t just leave my dad to deal with his shop on his own? He didn’t need me. Monroe could help him just as easily as I could. And now that Maverick was working there with his own clients, River was always stopping by and helping out too. It wasn’t like I would be leaving them in a bind or anything.
“Yes, you can,” he said and bent to kiss the corner of my mouth. “We’re a team now, my Mila. Me and you. Nothing and no one else matters.”
Chapter 15
Lyric
“I thought you said we were going to your house,” Mila complained as I drove home.
“Our house,” I corrected her, keeping my eyes on the road. I’d already learned plenty of kids played outside after school in the neighborhood, and some of them obviously needed better parental supervision the way they were always running into the street.
“That’s my house,” she said, pointing out a nice two-story only a block from our place.
“Your parents’ house,” I corrected again.
“Whatever,” she muttered. “That’s the house I grew up in. Better?”
“Getting there,” I said with a smirk as I shot her a wink before turning my gaze back out the windshield. “I didn’t know you were so close. If I had, I might have climbed in through your bedroom window already.”
“Funny,” she sassed. “And then you would have been a bloody mess on my bedroom floor. Because my dad would have killed you.”
“Only if he caught me, babe. Only if he caught me.”
She huffed, but I could practically hear the smile in it. When I pulled into our driveway, the huff turned into a soft gasp, and I put the SUV in park so I could turn to watch her take in our home.
“You bought this?” she whispered in awe, turning those gray orbs on me in wonder. “This house… It’s been on the market for almost two years. I would sometimes walk by this place on my way home from school and daydream of living here.”
“Wish I’d known that before I had Aunt Emmie buy this place. She sent me a bunch of intel on all the houses for sale in this town, and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw the first picture.” I leaned over the console and kissed her temple. “Aunt Em got me a good deal on it, but not before she pissed off the sellers a few times. If I’d known you loved this place, I would have told her to give them whatever they wanted for it.”
“Is there still a big pool in the backyard?”
she asked, her eyes dancing with excitement.
“It’s there, but it needs some work. I was going to wait until spring to have it renovated, but if you want to use it sooner rather than later, I’ll call someone this week and get it taken care of.”
“You don’t have to—”
I kissed her, cutting off her protests. “It’s already done,” I murmured against her mouth. “Are you hungry?”
She licked her bottom lip, moaning when she tasted me there. “Starving,” she breathed.
My cock throbbed, but I mentally told him to cool his jets. “For food, baby,” I clarified, and she sighed unhappily.
“I could eat.”
Grinning, I straightened then reached for my door. When I heard her opening her own, I turned to glare at her. “No. I’ll help you out.”
She rolled her eyes but stayed in her seat until I came around to assist her. If she fell because I wasn’t there to hold her up, I would lose my damn mind. This chick was everything to me, and I couldn’t breathe when I thought of something happening to her—and now our babies. Taking her hands, I guided her out of the SUV and kept one hand at her back as we walked into the house.
The garage was still loaded with boxes needing to be unpacked, but the SUV was too long to put in there. Mila’s car would fit perfectly, however, so I would get the space cleaned out for her soon. When I told her that as I unlocked the front door, she opened her mouth to protest, but anything she might have said died on her tongue when we walked into the house.
“It’s beautiful in here,” she murmured in awe as she glanced around. Walking away from me, she drifted from one room to another on the first floor. “This place is bigger than I imagined. I’ve seen all the pictures from the real estate agent’s website, but they didn’t do it justice.”
“Sorry it’s so bare,” I said as I followed her. “But I thought you would want to decorate each room, or at least we could do it together. I want a piece of you in every room, babe.”
Savoring Mila (Angels Halo MC Next Gen & Rockers' Legacy Book 3) Page 9
