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“Would you walk away right now if you could?”

“Damn right I would, Tate. I’m tired, I’m sore, all broken up and possibly in danger. I’d like a hot bath and to sleep in my own bed, thank you very much, but none of that is going to happen now, so just fucking talk if that’s what you want. Or else leave.”

My chest heaved, the pain shot up and down my body, not even the adrenaline of anger was enough to bury the pain. “Besides,” I started, trying to sound much calmer, “what do we have to talk about?”

He leaned forward and settled his angry gray eyes on me. “How about the fact that you’re pregnant with my baby?”

Yeah, there was that.

Chapter 21

Tate

I knew I’d shocked Teddy but she was a pro, her emotions carefully in check and her face gave nothing away. There was a lot of bat-shit crazy shooting through her head if she thought for one damn second I’d let her keep a child from me. “Now you have nothing to say?”

She blinked, her long eyelashes moved slow and deliberate. “What are you talking about?”

“Seriously, Teddy? That’s how you want to do this? Fine, I heard the nurse tell you she brought your prenatal vitamins.” That was three days ago and yet, she hadn’t told me anything.

“You must have misheard,” she offered simply. But she didn’t say anything else, refusing to answer even basic questions about her pain levels as she reached over to the end table for a book and pretended to read a murder mystery. An hour later she’d given up the pretense and dragged her laptop off the coffee table, wincing in pain rather than ask me for her help, and checked her email. Then, she called her employees and let them know she was homebound for the foreseeable future and issued orders like a drill sergeant.

I sat right beside her the entire time, watching TV or playing games on my phone, waiting for her to relent. She never did. Not even when the pizza and wings I ordered arrived. She extended her good arm beyond the point of pain to reach for her food, rather than ask me.

“Damn stubborn woman,” I growled, slamming two slices and a few wings onto her plate.

“Thanks,” she murmured and inhaled the food. Teddy didn’t say another word to me. After eating her fill, she took a pill and fell asleep nestled into the corner of the sofa. By the time she woke up, it was nearly dinnertime.

I held a glass of water out to her so she could take her pills. “How’s your pain?”

She snorted. “I’ll take the pills without the small talk, thanks.”

“Dammit Teddy, you’re having my baby. You might hate me, even though it kills me to think it, but we are having a kid together. This is just one more reason for us to be together.”

She flashed an angry glare up at me. “There is no us, Tate. I made that mistake but only for a moment. Luckily for you, it’s easy to fix.”

“It’s not a fucking mistake, Teddy.”

She nodded, suddenly more confident and sure. “It was, Tate. You know it was, because you walked away first.”

“I said I was sorry.” I never expected Teddy to be the unforgiving type, she’d always seemed so laid back.

“But that’s just it, I don’t want your apology. You made me forget, at least temporarily, that I needed to rely on myself. It was a nice little vacation, but if I’d remembered it maybe I wouldn’t be defenseless right now.” She shook her head with a smile but there was no joy behind it. “I don’t

want or need your guilt. We had fun.”

Just when I didn’t think I could feel any worse, she said the one thing guaranteed to slice me open. Being with me had reminded her that she couldn’t rely on other people. That meant she wasn’t ready to hear everything else I had to say. Not yet, anyway. “We’re not done talking about this,” I warned her but she looked up at me, almost bored.

“Yes, we are. I’d like you to leave.”

“Fuck that! I’m not leaving you alone. Hate me all you want, but I can’t let anything happen to you, Teddy. I just fucking can’t.”

She didn’t respond, just diverted her gaze back to the television, dismissing me. She didn’t think she could rely on me and I couldn’t blame her even though it pissed me off to no end.

I’d leave, but not without making sure she was taken care of. I dropped down and roughly kissed her cheek. “See you soon, Teddy.”

She grunted and that only made me smile wider as I walked out to my truck and made a few calls. Teddy thought she could get rid of me easily but she was wrong.

So, so wrong.

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