Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 123922 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123922 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
Harley drove me home and walked me up to my apartment door. He bailed on my invite for a cup of tea because he knew I was tired. He left when I was safely inside my apartment with the door locked.
For a few moments inside my apartment I was calm and collected but all of a sudden, I couldn’t help it when tears welled in my eyes and spilled down my cheeks. I wasn’t much of a crier—I grew up with four brothers and a single father, it toughened me up—but with everything on my mind, I couldn’t keep it together.
I was going to have a baby, and my family hated the father of the baby.
I looked up to the ceiling and whimpered, “Whatever game you’re playin’, Ma, I don’t find it one bit funny.”
I could hear my mother’s rich laughter in my head and for a moment, it soothed me. I walked into my kitchen, flipped on the lights, and put my bag on the kitchen table. I filled my kettle with water and set it to boil.
I needed a cup of tea.
I actually needed something stronger, but seeing as I was pregnant, tea would have to be my go-to stress reliever drink from now on, and I could see a lot of cups of tea being made in my future.
“Aideen? Open up, it’s me.”
I blinked my eyes open and couldn’t help but smile a little as I got up from my sofa and lazily walked over to my apartment door and opened it wide for my best friend.
“I’m so sorry, babe,” Keela said as she stepped into my apartment and wrapped her arms around me. “I would have come over this mornin’ had I known.”
I hugged her back. “It’s fine.”
“It’s fuckin’ not!” she stated and pulled back.
She closed my door and led me into my sitting room where we sat on my sofa. I tucked my legs under my bum, and Keela did the same.
“Your face!” she gasped.
I waved her off. “It was an accident.”
“I promise I would have been over this mornin’, but the lads went back to Nico and Bronagh’s house to clean up and they stayed away until twenty minutes ago. They thought it would be better for us to hear what happened without seein’ them covered in blood.”
Flashes of the lads fighting this morning flooded my mind.
I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. “It was horrible, Kay. They beat the shite out of one another. All of me brothers will have black eyes.”
“The lads have sore jaws and bruises, that’s for sure. Kane and Ryder’s jaws are swollen to hell, the bruises are up on their cheekbones and jawbones. Nico’s nose bled for ages he said, his eye is darkening and Alec... well, Alec only had two cuts—he was perfect compared to the others.”
I couldn’t help but snort. “That’s because Gavin stepped up to him, the little eejit.”
“He was helpin’ his brothers, which is what Alec was doin’. They’re both as bad as each other.”
“Men.”
“Yeah.”
We sat in silence then until Keela said, “From all the violence, I take it your brothers didn’t take Kane being the baby’s father well then?”
I burst out into unexpected laughter. “You could say that.”
Keela smiled at me. “Who was more pissed?”
“James,” I sighed. “He hates the brothers, so do the other three, and now me da definitely does. He threatened to kill Kane with a baseball bat.”
Keela gasped, “The steel one?”
“That’s the one.”
“Fuck me.”
“Yep.”
Keela shook her head. “I don’t understand why this shite happens to the lads, they can never just talk stuff out.”
“The day they talk somethin’ out, is the day pigs fly.”
“I second that.”
I smiled, but it was forced and I couldn’t hold it for long.
“Are you goin’ to stay here for rest of the weekend?”
I nodded my head. “No offence to you, but I just want to be on my own to wrap me head around everythin’. I still can’t quite believe I’m pregnant. It’s just so crazy.”
Keela let out a little squeal, “I’m so excited.”
I genuinely smiled at her. “This might be the start of a baby boom in the Slater family.”
Keela nodded her head. “I think it will be. I’m perfectly content with Alec and meself goin’ at a slow pace, but I bet when the baby is born it will be me wantin’ to speed things up this time and not Alec.”
I chuckled, “Once you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”
“I’m gettin’ there,” Keela said. “The four sessions I’ve had this week with me shrink are helpin’. We’re discussin’ things and it’s makin’ me feel better. Much better. Last night was the fourth night in a row that I didn’t have the nightmare. I’m takin’ it as a good sign.”
I reached over and squeezed Keela’s knee.
“It will get even better. Before you know it that horrible nightmare will be a thing of the past, just like its content.”
Keela smiled then waved her hand. “Enough about me, let’s get back to you.”
I groaned, “Let’s not.”
“Come on, you’re pregnant. This is huge.”
I grunted, “I know that, trust me.”
Keela was silent for a moment then she said, “Are you really goin’ to keep it?”
“The baby?” I asked, surprised. “Of course, I already told you that last night.”
Keela beamed. “I know, but I just wanted to make sure. I would support you no matter what you decided to do, but I’m glad to hear you say you’re really keepin’ it. I can’t wait to be an auntie.”
I blinked. “Givin’ the baby up never even entered me mind, neither did an abortion. I was just thinking about livin’ space, and money... and tellin’ Kane and me family.”
Keela chortled, “That’s normal. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t worry about being able to finance a child, but you can. You have a solid job with good pay. You can do this.”
I was still unsure.
“I guess, besides, it doesn’t look like I could get rid of Kane even if I tried. I’ve a strong feelin’ he came here with you and you just made him wait downstairs.”