Page 94 of Loving a Warrior

Standing behind the couch, Matt dipped the cloth in the water and attempted to wipe the blood off Shane’s face.

“Looking at you upside down is making me dizzy,” Shane groused. “C’mere.”

Matt put the bowl of water down on the coffee table and straddled Shane’s lap. Taking his chin in his palm to hold him steady, he wrapped the washcloth around one finger to gently clean the gore away. As he worked, Shane let his hands wander, along Matt’s thighs and up his back, under his shirt.

The feel of his calloused palms against his skin made Matt shiver. “Stop it,” he grunted. “I’m trying to clean you up so you don’t scare any more innocent people.”

Shane subsided with a smile, leaving his hands resting lightly on Matt’s hips. For a while the only sound in the room was the sound of sloshing water as Matt dipped and rinsed the rag. At last he tossed the cloth into the bowl and dropped a kiss on the tip of Shane’s nose. “Best I can do. Luckily it’s just a scratch.”

“Thanks.” Shane looked up at him, one battered eye bruised and swollen. “And thanks for sticking up for me tonight. It—” He swallowed. “It means a lot.”

“Mmm. You realize that if you were going to jail, we were all gonna go,” Matt said softly, sifting his fingers through Shane’s hair. “You’ll never be left behind again.”

Shane closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, they were glowing with emotion. He started to say something, but before he could, there came a muffled sound at the front door.

“Matt? Shane?”

Alexis tiptoed into the room, a sleeping Libby in her arms. She stopped short when she saw them. “Oh, shit, I’m so sorry. I saw your truck but I was hoping—I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Her face was pale and drawn, her voice congested, as if she’d been crying. Matt climbed off Shane’s lap as Shane demanded, “Lex, what’s wrong?”

She took a deep, shuddering breath, shaking her head. “Derek, uh, didn’t come home last night.”

Shane’s face shuttered at the mention of Derek, so Matt went over to lead Alexis to sit down. As she sank to the couch, Shane reached to take Libby out of her arms and settle her against his own shoulder.

“Is he home now?” Matt asked her softly, patting her clenched hands. She gave a jerky nod.

“Yeah, his dad found him in one of his old—the old places he used to—”

Matt winced. A drug house.

“He’s at his parents’ now and he’s okay, Matt. I just wanted to give them all some space and I didn’t think you guys would be home…”

Squeezing her hand, Matt said, “Last time I talked to him, he said he was feeling great, really into the workouts I designed for him. What happened?”

“It’s all my fault.” Alexis’s eyes were shimmering with tears. “I sprang some news on him that I know he wasn’t ready for, not yet. I should have—I should have—”

“What news?” Shane’s voice was tight, and when Matt looked at him, he could see how pinched and white his face was, the wound on his eye a lurid contrast.

Alexis trembled for a moment, then sat up straight. “I’m pregnant.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Whoa.

The tension in the room hit astronomical levels. Instinctively Matt stood and took Libby from Shane’s unresisting arms, bearing her off to the guest room where a small portable crib was still set up next to the bed. Hoping he was doing it right, he laid her down gently on her back, and with a snuffle she rolled immediately to her belly, little bottom up in the air.

Tiptoeing out, he closed the door gently and then leaned against the wall next to it, not wanting to intrude on whatever was going on between Shane and his sister, although he could hear every word.

“Lex, why? How?”

“Because the antibiotics I’ve been taking for my arm lowered the effectiveness of the pill. Nobody told me and I didn’t know, okay? It was an accident.”

Matt could hear Shane blow out a breath.

“I’m happy, though,” Alexis went on defiantly. “I love him and I want this baby.”

“Does he?” Shane’s voice was hard. “Listen to yourself. You tell him he’s gonna be a father and he’s so freaked out, the first thing he does is fall off the wagon. Is this the way it’s gonna be with him, having to coddle and ease him into shit?”