Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 74022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
I take a deep breath, and say, “I’m pregnant.”
For a moment, everything goes silent. And I’m scared. So damned scared. I’m terrified that he’s about to throw down, tell me to get out, and that’ll be the end of it. His face is expressionless for a moment, and he just stares at me, vacantly. I hold my breath, waiting for the moment to come, waiting for him to lose it.
“You’re pregnant?”
I nod, and a tear rolls down my cheek, but I hang onto the rest. Dammit, do I hang on.
“With a baby?”
“I hope so,” I whisper laugh.
“My...” he stops, and hesitates, “baby?”
I nod.
He moves so quickly, it takes me a moment to realize what he’s doing. Only when I hit his chest and he winces in pain, do I see he’s pulled me into his arms, and he’s hanging onto me, clutching me tight, making it hard to breathe. The tears flow now, hard and fast, there is no stopping them. It wouldn’t matter how hard I tried, they’d break through.
“I fuckin’ love you,” he growls into my neck.
“You’re not angry?” I sob into his chest.
“Fuckin’ no. It just makes me love you so much fuckin’ more. It makes it all so clear. It makes me wonder why I ever had any doubt. You, this, all of it. It’s what I’ve wanted and needed for so fuckin’ long, and I’ve only just realized that.”
I pull back, and he uses a thumb to swipe away my tears.
“It’s so soon...” I say, my voice still shaking from the tears.
“Yeah, it is, but it’s also fuckin’ everything. This, it’s all happening exactly how it’s meant to. Know this is new, for both of us. Also know I’ve put you through a lot. But, know this, Chantelle, I’m going to fuckin’ take care of you, and that baby, until my last fuckin’ breath.”
I lose my shit and he cups my face, hanging onto me, letting me lose it.
“And it only makes you that much braver for what you did.”
I take a deep breath and whisper, “I had to get you out of there, for all of us...”
“Love you for that.”
I smile and swipe my tears away with the back of my hand. “Say that again...”
“Love you, baby.”
My heart, it explodes.
It feels so damned right.
“We’ve got this, yeah?” he says to me, voice gravelly.
“Yeah,” I smile. “We’ve so got this.”
And we do.
Because, from the start, there has always been something between us.
A deep connection.
An understanding.
I could look at him, and see the darkness, and only want to light a candle and stay there until it became brighter.
But it turns out I didn’t need to light a candle...I am his candle, and I bring him enough light to get him through, to pull him out of the deepest, darkest parts of himself.
And he’s given me back life. Feeling. Something.
Just something.
And now, together, we’re going to have a baby.
And I’ll finally have the family I always needed.
And so will he.
Yeah.
He’s right.
We’ve got this.
~25~
NOW – PENELOPE
“Chantelle,” I call, and Chantelle turns in the hospital corridor, her face red and puffy, and she looks at me.
“Penny,” she whispers, wiping her face and taking a deep breath. “Are you okay?”
I nod, walking closer to her. I heard what she did. For Boston. And I wanted to see if she was okay. But, it wasn’t the only thing I came here for. I came here to make it right with Boston, too. We’re not made to be wildly in love, or together, but we were made for something. We are in each other’s lives for a reason, and I think that reason is friendship.
He’s important to me.
And he’s saved my life more than once.
I was scared, and broken down, and battered over what happened with Ashton. But, when I heard Boston had been taken, I realized that I didn’t want him to ever live thinking that I hated him for it. Because I don’t. I realized I’m not the girl for him, because I’m not strong enough to endure the things the club goes through, or the things the men have to do sometimes, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t the very best friend I’ve ever had.
And it’s only now that it has become so clear, that was all it ever was.
I was just in such a confused state, I never realized it.
Chantelle stops in front of me, and she looks exhausted. She must be. She’s been through so much, and she’s still here, standing strong, like the damned warrior she is. She is exactly what Boston needs, she has always been exactly what he needs. Because she can love every inch of him, the good and the bad. Not only that, she is strong enough to endure everything about his life with the club.
She’s brave.
And beautiful.
And I couldn’t ask for a better woman to be in his world.