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I shook my head. “Kara, you have Stockholm Syndrome.”
She glared at me. “I don’t know what that is, but I don’t have it. You weren’t there, Rebel. He’s the only reason Hayley didn’t die during her birth. I was ready to give up. It was him who coached me through it. It was him who went out and bought everything I needed for a baby. He took a bullet because of me, and now he’s dead.”
Her final word seemed to hang in the silence.
Even if she did have a case of Stockholm Syndrome, it didn’t matter now, with Hayden gone. He couldn’t hurt her anymore. “Hayley is a beautiful name,” I assured her.
“Hayley Jade,” Kara added on. “I’ve just always loved that name.”
“Me too.”
She stared at me worriedly. “Am I stealing your baby’s name? I know that’s a thing, and it’s like some cardinal sin, right? One of the women I was held captive with told me about it.”
I laughed and shook my head. “I love that name, but no. You use whatever name makes you happiest. I don’t know I’ll ever have kids. I’m already thirty.”
Kara eyed me. “With three men, I dare say your odds are pretty good.”
I snorted. “That’s true.” Fang’s whispered words in the gym, his confession he wanted babies, echoed around in my head, replaying on a loop. “Fang would like it if that were to happen.”
“Your other men wouldn’t?”
On instinct, I went to say no, but then when I really thought about it, I wasn’t sure that was accurate. “I don’t know, to be honest. We haven’t talked about it.”
Kara studied me quietly. “Maybe you should.”
I laughed it off. “It would be crazy. How would that even work, having a baby with three men?”
But Bliss was doing it. She had friends in the same situation, and they’d all made it work.
I was a wild child at heart. If I’d finished high school, I was sure I would have been voted ‘least likely to settle down.’
I was still that girl who wanted to live life to the fullest, dance in the fucking moonlight, and drive my car too fast just for the thrill of it.
But I also wanted to be loved. I wanted family. Losing my mom had only reminded me we didn’t get an endless amount of time on this earth. And maybe I should be using it more wisely.
My heart still hurt for the baby my mom had lost.
Bliss’s baby bump was so sweet.
And I was desperate to get my niece back. I craved the feel of her in my arms. I wanted to hold her close and whisper she’d never be in danger again, because I was her aunty and I’d never let the bad stuff in.
My experience wouldn’t be hers.
But giving that to a niece or my bestie’s child was one thing. I wasn’t ready for a baby of my own.
Shouts from out in the common room sent Kara scuttling closer to me. I took a chance, hoping we’d bridged the gap enough that I could put my arm around her and offer her some comfort.
She didn’t pull away.
“They won’t hurt you,” I promised. “I swear that to you. No one here will ever lay a finger on you.”
“I don’t want to be here,” she whispered.
“We can move you into my place. I live there with Kian and Vaughn, and Fang is there a lot too, but it’s still a lot quieter than this place is.” I smiled hopefully at her. “I’d really like to get to know you better.”
More shouts came from outside, as well as the rumble of the two club vans. Kara flinched, sinking down into the bed.
I wanted to yell for them all to shut up. They were scaring her again, just as I’d started to coax her out of her shell.
