AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I watch her face as she inhales. "How long have you known?"
Her face tightens, but her eyes don't open. She licks at her lips. "Known what?"
I get off the bed and start pacing, my mind running through the motions, a hot blend of emotions I can't decipher spilling through me. She's pregnant. That's got to be it, right?
I fold my arms across my torso. "Can you at least look at me, Melissa?"
She pulls her legs into her body and curls up in a fetal position with her face away from mine. "I didn't know I was pregnant, Xander. That's what you're thinking, isn't it?"
"Is there any other possibility? When was the last time you saw your period?"
Her voice is a soft whisper in the breathing quiet of the room. "You don't think that's pretty personal?"
I grit my teeth to keep the snap from my voice. She's disappearing into herself. Her face is still turned away from mine. "You might very possibly be carrying my child, Mel; I don't see what could be more personal than that."
I stalk to the window, staring out blindly at the sight that greets my eyes and yet seeing nothing.
She's pregnant? She's pregnant. She's pregnant!
The thought runs through my head in many variations, and I walk back to the bed and crawl across the sheets until I can lift her face to meet mine. "I'll call the doctor, you'll go in for a test. If it's a yes, no one must know."
Her eyes open, a fiery fire light in their depths. She pulls away from me, her eyes shooting flames that burn in their intensity. "I wasn't planning on screaming the news from the fucking roofs, Xander."
She tugs her body from mine, but I haul her deeper into me. "What's the problem, Mel?"
She wiggles restlessly in my grasp, her body rubbing up against mine. "Why do you think there's a problem?"
"Because you're fighting me. You're pulling away, refusing to look at me. Is there something I should know?" I place my hand over her stomach, only now letting it sink into me that there might be a baby in there, already growing with life flowing in its veins. My heart is a wild stallion galloping in my chest. "Isn't this what you wanted?"
She licks her lips and swallows. "Is that what you want?"
My hands curl into fists, and I let her go. She scrambles away from me. "Does it matter? We're playing our parts perfectly well. I'm certain your father will be the happiest man when he hears."
She bares her teeth in a smile that comes out as more of a grimace. "As will yours, I'm certain." She shoots back. "We should do the tests today. Maybe I'm only coming down with a stomach bug."
I close my own eyes as she heads back into the shower. I lay back against the sheets, fold my arms over my eyes, and pull in a faint breath.
Mel's words don't make me feel good. Not any better than I had when she'd started spilling her guts into the toilet bowl.
I don't feel much of anything. Not fear, not anger, not happiness. Nothing. I feel as though I'm locked away in a bubble, and it's keeping away the emotions, preventing the fear lapping at the edges of my consciousness from making its way in.
The shower starts running, and I get off the bed, walking over to the closet where I find myself something to wear. My chest feels as though it's full. Tight and heavy.
I can feel the rope tightening around my neck. With Mel pregnant, we might need to marry faster.
The thought isn't as repulsive as it should be, and that's when I realize I'm in serious trouble because now the emotions I hadn't been feeling come to me. I still, my back tensing at the thought. My responsibilities will double—no triple, if there really is a baby nestled inside her.
And I have no doubt that there is. It's been more than a month since the first time I'd taken her here, with Alec and Knox finding us the next morning. We've been in bed a thousand times since.
And now I'm worried that when I officially marry her, she'll be in more danger, especially with me taking over as Capo. I worry I won't be able to protect her as much as I should, that she could be used as my weakness.
I unfurl my shoulders just as the bathroom door opens behind me, and I hear Mel's tread as she walks towards the closet. I turn to her. "You shouldn't go anywhere without Romero anymore. I'll have someone else for Lucian."
Her shoulders stiffen, and she goes rigid right in front of me. She glares up at me, but my eyes trail down her body, trying to find any evidence of my fear.
Her stomach is still flat, apart from the slight curve at the base. She still looks exactly the same as she always has.
She stamps her feet up to me, making no pretense of the fact that she's angry. "Why don't you just lock me up and throw the damned keys away if that makes you feel better." She blinks sharply. "It's not my fault I'm pregnant!"
