Page 142 of Cold Bastard
“You don’t get to make demands here, little girl.”
“I’m not making demands. I’m stating facts.” She paused, her gaze sweeping the room before landing back on Morpheus. “I know you want to kill me. I know I’ve caused problems for the Brotherhood. I know I don’t deserve to be here.”
“Damn right you don’t.”
“But I’m here, anyway.” Her voice softened, just slightly. “Because I need to tell him something. Something he deserves to know.”
Morpheus’ eyes narrowed. “And what’s that?”
Alex took a breath, and then she said the words that changed everything. “I’m pregnant.”
The silence was absolute. No one moved. No one breathed. The entire room seemed to freeze, every eye locked on Alex as the weight of her words settled over us like a shroud.Pregnant.The word echoed in my head, bouncing around my skull like a ricocheting bullet.
Pregnant.No, that’s not possible. She can’t be.But even as denial roared through me, I knew. The timeline fit. Weeks since I brought her to the clubhouse. Weeks since Coco Beach. Weekssince I fucked her in my room, the gathering room, in Maverick’s office, desperate and reckless and too far gone to think about consequences.
Oh fuck.My hands were shaking. My entire body was shaking. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but stare at her as the reality of what she had just said crashed over me in waves. She was pregnant. With my child. The thought was so overwhelming, so impossibly huge, that I couldn’t process it. Couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that there was a life growing inside her. A life we created together in a moment of desperate, broken need.
A baby. My baby.And she had been carrying this burden alone. Riding across the country alone. Hiding alone. Terrified alone. Because of me. Because I let her push me away. Because I walked out of that office instead of fighting for her. Because I’d been too much of a coward to go after her when she ran.
Fuck.Rage and guilt and bone-deep terror twisted in my gut, a toxic cocktail that made me want to vomit. Or scream. Or put my fist through the nearest wall. But I didn’t do any of that. Instead, I just sat there, frozen, as Morpheus stared at Alex with an expression I couldn’t read.
“Pregnant,” he repeated slowly.
“Yes.”
“And it’s his?”
“Yes.”
Morpheus’ gaze flicked to me, and I saw the question there. The demand for confirmation. The need to know if this was real or just another manipulation. I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t force words past the lump in my throat, but I nodded once, and that was enough as Morpheus turned back to Alex, his jaw tight. “You sure about this?”
“I’m sure.”
“And you came here to tell him.”
“Yes.”
“Why now?”
Alex’s expression flickered, just for a second, and I saw the pain there. The fear. The exhaustion. “Because I was scared,” she admitted quietly. “Because I didn’t know if he would want this. Wantme. Because I thought running was easier than facing the truth.”
“And what’s the truth?”
She looked at me then. Really looked at me. And the vulnerability in her eyes nearly destroyed me. “The truth is, I love him,” she said, her voice breaking. “I love him, and I’m terrified because I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to do any of it, but I can’t run anymore. I can’t keep pretending this isn’t real.”
Oh God.Her words hit me like a physical blow, stealing what little breath I had left. She loved me. She’d said it. Out loud. In front of everyone. The protective instinct that roared to life was so fierce, so all-consuming, that it drowned out everything else. The fear. The doubt. The voice whispering that I didn’t deserve this, that I’d fuck it up, that I was too broken to be a father. None of it mattered because she wasmineand so was the life growing inside her, and I would be damned to hell if I let anyone,anyonehurt them.
I stood. The movement was slow. Deliberate. Every eye in the room turned to me as I pushed away from the bar and took a step forward. Then another. And another.
Carver moved like he was going to stop me, but Morpheus held up a hand. “Let him go.”
I didn’t look at him. Didn’t look at any of them. I only had eyes for her.
Alex watched me approach, her expression a mixture of hope and fear, and desperate, aching need. Tears streamed down her face, but she didn’t wipe them away. She just stood there,waiting. Waiting for me to choose, and I did. I crossed the room in long strides, my boots heavy on the floor, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might burst. When I reached her, I didn’t hesitate. I pulled her into my arms and held her.
Tight.So tight I could feel her heartbeat against my chest. So tight I could smell the road dust in her hair and the faint scent of her shampoo beneath it. So tight that nothing,nothingcould come between us. “I’ve got you,” I whispered against her hair, my voice rough. “I’ve got you, Alex. I’m not letting you go. Not ever again.”
She sobbed against my chest, her hands fisting in my shirt, her entire body shaking. “I’m sorry,” she choked out. “I’m so sorry, Nano. I shouldn’t have run. I shouldn’t have.”
