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I tried to avoid looking at the counter as I found a towel and wiped her clean.
It was only when I couldn’t stop myself that I clenched my hands onto her hips, cupped her face, and said, “Ready?”
She nodded once.
We both pulled away and looked down at the little window that said, very fucking clearly, ‘PREGNANT.’ We both breathed a loud sigh.
Mine was of relief.
I wasn’t sure what Ashe’s was for.
Which had me nervous.
I turned to look into her eyes.
“Good sigh or bad sigh?” I asked bluntly.
She tilted her head, her eyes looking down once again at the pregnancy test.
“I think it was a good sigh.” She paused. “I’m not telling our parents.”
“Rock, paper, scissors?” I asked hopefully.
She shook her head. “No. I’m not strong enough. This is going to have to be you.”
I sighed. “We’ll tell them together.”
Ashe went to the shower and turned it on.
“I have to take a shower,” she said. “My feet are still cold and now I have you all over me.”
I grinned. “I’m going to get dressed.”
She stepped into the shower and turned to look at me.
“I was being completely serious about my clothes.” She narrowed her eyes. “You can’t have any of them back.”
I raised a brow. “I didn’t realize you were a clothes thief.”
She closed the door in my face.
“Just make sure that you don’t wash it before you return it. I find that it’s better wearing it when it smells like you.”
“Ashe?” I called.
She pulled the glass door back open, staring at me intently. “Yeah?”
“Are you really okay? About the baby?”
That’s when she smiled.
***
It was about five minutes into our drive home that we got the call that the girl was awake.
“She wants to talk to y’all,” Luke said. “I told her y’all were out of town for the weekend, and she asks that you stop by the moment you’re back in town.”
I looked over at Ashe who nodded her head.
“We can go now,” I said. “We’re already late.”
Ashe nodded her head. “Let’s do it.”
I pulled a bitch at the first intersection we got to and headed in the direction of the hospital.
“He was pissed that I’d taken his gifts,” she whispered. “I got the first two out, but the third box never got to where I needed it to go. He found me first.”
I frowned hard.
“Sweetie.” Ashe stepped forward and smoothed the girl’s hair out of her face. “You’re not making sense.”
“The kittens!”
Ashe’s eyes met mine.
“You were the one to bring the cats to me?” Ashe guessed.
She nodded.
“Twice,” she whispered. “I was on my way with another box when he caught me. I had to abandon the box in the woods near the pond. You have to send someone.”
Ashe’s eyes met mine, and mine met Luke’s.
“We’ll send someone,” Ashe promised. “I have someone going right now, honey.”
The girl nodded.
“My name is Lacy,” Lacy whispered.
“I know,” Ashe said. “Your parents are on their way right now.”
Lacy grimaced and looked at her frantically.
“Hey, hey,” Ashe said when the girl started to fidget. “You’re okay.”
“He’ll kill them,” she whispered. “You have to tell them not to come up here.”
Ashe once again calmed the girl down.
“Who will kill them?” Ashe asked. “Who did this?”
Lacy swallowed. “Him.”
“Who is him?” Ashe pushed.
“He…” Lacy started to cry. Each tear that slipped down her cheek made my heart break for her just a little bit more. “He made me call him…” She swallowed really hard. “He made me call him Daddy. I don’t know what his real name is.”
Anger tightened in my chest.
“That’s okay,” Ashe said, wiping away a few of the girl’s tears. “What does he look like?”
She gave us a description of nearly half the population of Kilgore.
I saw Luke clench his fists, likely thinking the same thing.
“How did you end up with this man?” Ashe continued, calm despite everything that had happened today.
“I don’t…” Lacy shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“That’s okay,” Ashe said. “We don’t have to talk about anything that you don’t want to. Do you want to tell me about the cats?”
Lacy nodded. “I… he brought them to me as gifts. He noticed that I liked one particular cat that kept walking by outside the window. My… room.” She paused. “And he brought me more. And more. And more. But when I displeased him… he’d…” She looked at Ashe. “He’d kill one.”
“Every single cat that you brought me is doing great.” Ashe grinned. “They’re all happy and healthy. I even adopted a few of them out already. You’re going to be excited when you get to see their family’s pictures. I have one on my phone, see?”
Ashe pulled out her phone and started going through pictures, stopping, I guessed, on the picture that she took of Hayes with the cat she’d pawned off on him during our training event.
