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Another tight cramp rolls across my stomach, the babies’ shifting position with the false contraction. Rhys stares at my every wince and twitch, watching for signs of distress like he’s waiting for something to go wrong.
“I’m okay. I promise,” I assure him again. “My next appointment is next Friday, a little over a week from now. Do you want to come and you can ask Dr. Balanger to help reassure you that I’m okay?”
“Yeah,” Rhys answers quickly, his beautiful, scared blue eyes darting up to meet my own. “Yeah, I want to come.”
“Okay.” I smile at him, my heart feeling full with all of my men here. Hudson lightly snores beside me as Adam tosses and turns a bit. Looking at Rhys, I reach my hand out to him and pull him closer. He lies down on my thigh, his hand rubbing the underside of the bump.
“Careful, twin A likes to kickbox down there. She takes after me that way.”
Rhys kisses my bump softly. “I love you, Lay. I’ll do better with work and I’ll make sure I take more time off for all of you. I want to be a present father, not one that’s always worried about something else or working all the time.”
“You will be. I have complete confidence in you,” I whisper, closing my eyes and sinking my hand into his hair. “With our move in a week, I think we’re looking at a brand new beginning for all of us.”
“I like that,” Rhys mumbles quietly. “Even if the new beginning doesn’t happen with the move, we’ll find a way to make it happen. We deserve a happy beginning and an ending that doesn’t come for a very long time.”
Blinking back the sudden tears filling my eyes, I work hard not to show how much his words just shook me. The fear from the nightmare comes back, slamming into my chest and bringing another wave of the tight, sharp cramping in my stomach. The waiting and worrying is eating me alive whether I care to admit it out loud or not.
With Kevin still lurking and the threat of what he’s going to do next still hanging over our heads, I just don’t know if a new beginning is actually in the cards for us.
Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Adam
Anotheryawnhitsmeout of nowhere, making my eyes water for the hundredth time this hour. Paperwork is always extremely boring to me, but it's absolutely brutal today. After being up half the night with Lay and then tossing and turning in the overly full bed for the rest of the night, I'm exhausted which really isn't helping me get through this any faster. Unfortunately for me, this needs to be done by tomorrow. I took a week off for the move to help get things settled, which means all of my normal deadlines are a bit tighter than they otherwise would have been.
Checking my phone again, I groan when I realize it's over an hour past my normal leaving time. Picking up my reports, I count three left to do, which doesn't seem like much, but I left my longest, hardest reports last 'cause I didn't want to deal with them this morning. That decision is now biting my ass harder than a leech after skinny dipping in infested waters.
A knock at the door brings another groan of frustration from me. It's after hours, everyone should have left at minimum half an hour ago. Part of me wants to ignore the knock, but I'm the boss here, it's not like I can just shuck my responsibilities and ignore my employees. It may be someone just checking in before leaving or it could be a counselor with an unexpected crisis, and that's something I can't risk ignoring.
Opening the door to see Jade on the other side, I make a point to look at my watch despite knowing the time. "Jade? What are you still doing here? It's well past the time you should have clocked out and left. I don't recall you having any outstanding work to finish."
My boss voice is on in full force, the stern, take no shit tone one I perfected when I first started the center. It's easy to be fun and easygoing in my line of work, but it quickly gets taken advantage of by many employees and nothing pisses me off more than people taking advantage of kindness. To avoid anger outbursts, I had to find a middle ground between buddy and authoritarian asshole.
"Sorry, I just noticed you staying late and I didn't want you to be stuck in the building alone in case you maybe, ah, needed something," Jade responds, biting her lip and blinking up at me excessively. "Did you need anything, Adam?"
"No," I answer sharply, probably far more sharply than I normally would have at work. The exhaustion from being up all night, the frustration from being interrupted, and now anger from her inappropriate flirting is a perfect storm for my anger. "You may go home Jade. In the future, it is not appropriate to stay behind at work unnecessarily. I expect that your work is done in the time you are scheduled and if you cannot complete it, please get approval from me before staying late."
"Oh," Jade says, her face twisting in confusion and hurt. "Um, I'm sorry. I just thought—"
"You clearly thought wrong. Look Jade," I snap, pinching the bridge of my nose. "This is a job and I expect professionalism in all aspects. Your intentions here are clear and it's quite frankly unacceptable to put a coworker in the position you've put me in. I have a girlfriend, which you are aware of, and I am not interested in you in any way."
Jade drops her eyes to the floor, her shoulders slumped in rejection. Internally, I sigh in relief that she took it exactly the way it was intended. The fact that she's forced us to be alone in close proximity has my trauma senses tingling, but at least she's taking the rejection to heart. A second later, determination and lust fill her features instead sending fear and anxiety shooting through my body.
Instinctively I take a step away from her, but she only uses that space to force herself through the door of my office.
"You say no, but your eyes say yes. You liked my company once before," Jade purrs, making bile rise in my throat. “Let me remind you just how much you enjoyed my company.”
Jade reaches forward, grabbing my dick through my slacks and pressing her lips to mine. My body freezes, even my breathing is shallow and quick. A million images flash through my mind of all the men and women just like Jade who thought they were entitled to my body.
A feeling of dread and powerlessness fills me up, my body shaking with the memories I had long since repressed. The part of all of this that I hate the most is the fact that I don’t fight or flee, I freeze like a fucking coward every goddamn time.
A thudding sound of something falling jolts Jade away from me, giving me enough time to move across the room and gather my thoughts. An anger unlike anything I’ve felt in years floods my body until the heat of my rage radiates off of my body.
“Get the fuck out!” I roar when Jade steps further in the room. Her steps falter, fear filling her eyes at my tense body language. “Get the fuck out of this building and never fucking come back. You’re fucking fired if that wasn’t clear.”
“What?!” Jade shouts, her hands shaking as she raises them to her mouth. “Why? You wanted this! You’ve been stringing me along for months! Now you’re going to fire me?!”
