“Brock and I were childhood friends.”
“Who turned into sweethearts,” Ryder guessed.
“Yeah. We had plans, so ready to start our lives together, but life had other plans. We went down different paths.”
“But those paths have converged again,” Rosalie said.
They had, and maybe we could find a way back, but he and Killian…
My stomach churned again; bile rushed up my throat. I jumped from the stool and ran to the bathroom. I emptied my stomach. Someone came up behind me, held my hair. It was Thea.
“Are you okay?”
“My stomach won’t settle.”
“Mom, can you get Cedar some ginger ale?”
“I’ve been there,” she said, “it’s the not knowing, but Damian and his crew are really good at what they do. Killian’s an agent and a sheriff, and Brock has had to learn how to survive. It’s going to be okay.”
I nodded, but I wouldn’t be okay until they were back. All of them.
“Maybe you should try to eat something. You barely touched your breakfast,” Thea said. I moved to the sink and rinsed out my mouth.
“I usually eat a lot, but I couldn’t get myself to. It smelled delicious, but my stomach protested.”
I splashed some water on my face, reached for the towel and saw the look she was giving me. “What?”
“I don’t mean to step out of turn, but when was the last time you had your period?”
I stared at her in the mirror, her words not registering immediately, and then my hands dropped on the edge of the sink, my focus shifting to my belly. “I don’t remember.”
My head jerked up, and despite all that was going on, warmth moved through me, chased by a joy that rushed through my body and ended with the smile that covered my face. “Oh my god.”
“I have a test,” she offered.
A part of me thought I should wait, but a part of me didn’t want to. Wanted to give that to Killian when he got back. Hoping like hell I could.
I turned to her. “I’d like that test.”
She squeezed my arm. “I’ll be right back.” She stopped at the door. “I know nothing. You take it, keep it and, hopefully, share it with your man.”
“Thank you, Thea.”
After she dropped the test off, I could hear her distracting the others by getting them to help her make dinner. I never knew three minutes could be so long. I waited, chewed on my lip, and waited some more then saw the results, dropped on the toilet and cried.
Chapter Thirty
Brock
I pulled the hood off, and Declan squinted at the light. We were in a place my crew used often. It had been a shitstorm at the penthouse, and while Damian and his crew handled damage control, I took Declan.
“What the fuck?” Declan said, his focus finally coming to me. He looked surprised, but then he thought it was Dominic’s men coming for him. “Brock?” He grinned. “Hey, Man.”
“You’ve been busy,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
There was a time I would have believed he was clueless, but that was his thing: disarming people by making them believe he was clueless, meanwhile he was sticking the knife in their back.
“I honestly didn’t think you had it in you.”
Some of the good boy easiness dried up. Yeah, play on his ego, because the fucker had a big one.
“Not surprising the cops never looked at you for Ashley’s death. Who’d have believed you would be capable of, well, anything. Shit, you couldn’t even find your cock half of the time, and we all know how much you love that.”
Temper stirred.
“Where is she?” I didn’t really give a shit. My mother had never been one, but I wanted him to talk, to spill it all.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Okay, let’s try this. Why did you want me to kill Kenneth?”
“Kill him? We were friends.”
“There is no way Kenneth would see you as anything more than a means to an end. My father believed in the strength of blood, and let’s be honest, your father was a big fucking pussy. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
He jerked in his restraints, wanted to gloat, but he pulled the shit in.
“What’s the endgame, Declan? You know Dominic is going to figure out that you’re the one leaking shit to the cops. You thought he’d already caught up to you. You always did reach beyond what you were capable of.”
Anger flared. “You don’t know shit,” Declan said
“I know you’re a pampered pussy, who never did a thing on his own, always in the shadows to steal from someone else, because you lacked the balls to do for yourself. You are exactly like your father, a fucking follower, and a goddamn coward.”
Declan pulled on the restraints again, but this time, he didn’t hold back. “He was the one to arrange the deal with Dominic. Dustin not fucking Kenneth, but he didn’t have the fucking balls to keep what he started. Kenneth swooped in and took over, practically cutting my dad out of the fucking deal he arranged.”
“So, you endeared yourself to Kenneth?”
“It wasn’t hard. Played on his ego, gave him the son he always wanted.” He laughed. “When he learned about your bitch, he thought you’d stay in Saratoga Springs cause she was from Saratoga Springs. He was in deep and needed a fall guy. You were that guy. He was pissed when you denied him. I played on your disloyalty...the man could hold a grudge.”
Brock showed nothing, even though rage burned through him. So, it wasn’t even about taking up where his father left
