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  “Preemies are pretty good at scaring the shit out of you,” Saint agreed.

  My brows rose up as I shrugged out of my sweatshirt and tossed it on the nearest table. “Why do I have the feeling that I don’t know anything about you at all?”

  He shrugged. “So he’s okay?”

  I studied Saint for a moment, wondering why, exactly, I didn’t know anywhere near as much about him as I did about all my other fellow SWAT team members.

  “He is,” I confirmed just as everyone’s phone went off simultaneously.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Booth bellowed. “I have to go pick up Asa!”

  “I’ll text Del,” Bourne said as he was pulling his phone out. “She was on the way home anyway. Apparently, the dog that she was going to see had already been adopted out.”

  I picked my sweatshirt up, which, might I add, was not a fucking SWAT-issued one seeing as a certain someone had commandeered it, and shrugged it back on.

  “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 19

  I’m not sure how many Hershey Kisses equals happiness, but so far, it’s not 27.

  -Text from Reggie to Nathan

  Nathan

  Later that night, I walked in the door unsurprised to find Reggie with her ass planted in my chair, wearing my sweatshirt, drinking my beer.

  “You heard?” I asked curiously.

  She nodded. “I heard.”

  “How?” I wondered.

  She pointed to the house next door. “Hastings. She was outside when I got home and was talking about stuff that she heard on the police scanner. Apparently, Sammy tuned in a radio for her that’ll allow her to listen to everything.” She paused. “Can I have one of those?”

  I just shook my head and walked to the couch to collapse next to her.

  “Are your parents on the way?” I wondered.

  “Yep.” She looked at me. “I almost called and canceled.”

  I groaned. “They would’ve just come over here. My dad has some news. My mom wants to rip me a new one. And I’m fairly sure that your dad has already called and reamed my dad out for something he had no control over.”

  She snickered and handed me the beer, which I promptly downed in a matter of seconds.

  I handed the empty back to her and stood up.

  “Let me go change,” I said. “Then we can go.”

  I walked into the bedroom and headed for my closet, desperate to get the fuck out of my wet clothes that I’d been in for the last two hours.

  I heard the clink of glass on glass as she threw the bottle into the trashcan, and wondered how many of my beers she’d had tonight.

  “So tell me exactly what happened,” she ordered.

  I looked at her just as I got my wet t-shirt off over my head and flung it in the direction of the hamper.

  “Darius’ brother, Sylvan, decided to try his hand at making meth. Only, he didn’t do anywhere near as good of a job. He caught the apartment on fire, and knew he was going to get his ass into trouble. So he then decided to barricade himself and his two-year-old son in the apartment that you vacated.” I paused. “He’s so going to jail.”

  “That doesn’t explain why you’re wet,” she pointed out.

  I crinkled my nose in disgust. “The toddler decided to go running out the door and through the parking lot toward the fire trucks that he thought were cool as shit. I caught him right when he would’ve taken a face full of pressurized water from one of the pumpers.”

  “Oh, fuck.” She shook her head. “That would’ve been really, really bad.”

  I’d seen it happening before Sylvan had even let the kid go.

  Luckily, everything had worked out.

  Unluckily, I got wet in the process and had to deal with it for the next three hours.

  Needless to say, my balls were now chafed and my head was pounding. The very last thing I wanted to do was go out.

  Especially with my girl standing in front of me in black leggings, my sweatshirt, and super warm, basic bitch UGG boots that made her feet look three sizes bigger than they were.

  I wanted to wrap her up in my arms, fall into the bed, and stay exactly that way until morning.

  Sadly, my parents didn’t care that I’d had a day.

  What they cared about were answers.

  Their spider senses must’ve been twitching because instead of calling to tell us where to meet them for dinner, they showed up at my house with Reggie’s parents in tow.

  And I hadn’t even put a shirt on yet when they all barged into my house as if they owned the place.

  “All right, Nathan,” my mother said. “It’s time to tell me what in the hell is going on. I’ve given you the time Wolf said you might need. But I just can’t deal with it anymore. My head’s spinning all sorts of scenarios here, and I’ve decided that I can’t wait any longer. I need details.” Her eyes moved to Reggie. “Especially details on what the hell is going on with you two.”

  Reggie looked at me and then grinned. “Well, it all started with a pact.”

  That wasn’t exactly a lie.

  When Reggie and I were young kids, one of my good friends had asked me if I ever thought I was going to get married one day.

  I’d looked over at Reggie and said, “I’ll marry her.”

  I’d said it in such a way that it sounded like I was giving Reggie a gift.

  And, it wasn’t until much later, that I realized that it was the opposite. Reggie was the gift.

  I was the curse.

  “So I have a grandbaby?”

  That was Hannah.

  Travis threw his arm around her neck and pulled her in tight.

  “I’m not sure that’s exactly how it works,” Travis said to his wife. “At least, we should probably wait until we at least get these two married for real.”

  Reggie scoffed. “We are married for real.”

  Travis looked at Reggie’s ring finger. “You’re wearing a ring that you stole from your mother. It’s not even a wedding ring. It’s one she found in the parking lot.”

  Reggie shrugged as if she wasn’t affected in the least, even though I knew it burned her deep that she’d lost the ring that I’d given her in Vegas on our wedding night.

  “This’ll do.” She shrugged. “It has to be smooth anyway or I can’t wear it at work. A lot of the other nurses up there are wearing those silicone ones that you can get for cheap on Amazon.”

  Travis’ eyes locked on mine, and I understood in a matter of heartbeats what he was wanting.

  He wanted her to have a real wedding where he could walk her down the aisle. He wanted her to have a ring, and he wanted her to have everything she ever wanted.

  I gave him a slight nod.

  “So, now that’s settled,” Wolf grumbled. “Let’s talk about the shit that Eerie’s pulling.”

  I’d rather eat dirt that a cow had just pissed on than talk about Eerie.

  But, unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury of ignoring this.

  Not after today and the things that she’d said.

  “When’s the court date?” Hannah asked.

  “Two weeks from today. I had the lawyer call today and move it up. That’s the first possible day that he can do it. So we have until then to get any and all shit on her that we can find that we might be able to use against her when she tries to sue for sole custody,” Reggie murmured, walking into the kitchen only to appear long moments later with three beers in one hand, three wine glasses in the other, and a bottle of wine underneath her arm.

  I took the beers and the wine, and she carefully set the glasses down, and I twisted the cork out of the bottle and poured three hefty glassfuls.

  “There,” Reggie said as she handed everything out.

  Travis took a seat on the fireplace hearth and leaned forward with his hands on his knees.

  “Tell me about the doctor. I feel like he’s the weak link,” he murmured.

  “Doctor’
s been fired pending an investigation, he may or may not lose his license,” Dad said. “I have a couple of friends looking into it, hopefully nailing his ass in the process.”

  That actually excited me to hear.

  “Has he talked?” Travis asked. “Said why he helped her?”

  “Nope,” Dad said. “It’s in his best interest to keep his mouth shut, and I highly doubt that he’s stupid if he’s a doctor.”

  “So does Eerie face any charges?” I questioned. “Can we do anything?”

  “It’s not looking like we can,” Dad admitted. “Honestly, all she did was get implanted with an egg that was already her property. At least, that’s what she’ll say if it ever comes down to filing criminal charges. It sucks, boy. It does. But who was in the wrong legally was the doctor and the company that did the implanting.”

  Fuck.

  “You could sue her, though,” Hannah suggested. “You’ll probably win, too.”

  “This is such a fucking nightmare,” I muttered, throwing my arm over the back of the couch.

  My hand encountered Reggie’s shoulder, and absently I played with a tendril of hair that had fallen down from her bun. Curling my finger around it, I wondered what, exactly, I was going to have to do to get custody of my own kid.

  “What do you think the chances are I’ll be given sole custody?” I asked curiously. “My lawyer’s very open. She says that, sadly, the fathers still don’t have as good of a chance at winning custody because everyone still thinks that the baby is better off with its mother.”

  “I think that you keep playing all your cards right, and you still have a really good chance,” my mother said softly. “Make sure that we mention everything that she’s done incorrectly. Bring attention to her plights. Find something to exploit and do what you can. But, just sayin’, you might have to deal with shared custody. She’s his parent, whether you want her to be or not.”

  I knew that. Which was why I hated it.

  Dealing with Eerie for the rest of my life because of Dare was really, really going to suck.

  Reggie leaned into my hand and I curled my fingers around her neck, massaging it lightly.

  She groaned and leaned into my hand farther, and I turned back to look at my parents.

  They were both staring with small smiles on their faces.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” they both said in unison. “Nothing at all.”

  “Now, let’s talk visitation.” Mom turned to Hannah. “Let’s go visit tomorrow.”

  “You can’t come in just yet,” Reggie said. She looked over at me with worry clear in her eyes. “After his setback today, we want him to get a little stronger. But, I assure you, as soon as he’s able to have visitors, I’ll let you know. The second I’m aware of it.”

  They spent the next thirty minutes talking about Dare and cooing over pictures on Reggie’s phone—who surprisingly had quite a few photos—while Travis, Dad and I went out onto the front porch to talk some more.

  “How are you really?”

  Travis’ question startled me.

  “I’m okay,” I admitted. “Surprised. Excited. Pissed off.”

  “You’re having feelings for my girl,” Travis continued.

  I looked Travis straight in the eye and said, “I’ve always had feelings for your girl.”

  Travis didn’t look surprised in the least.

  Dad snorted loudly. “We know that, nimrod. You’ve only been fighting so hard against it that you couldn’t see it. You and Reggie were so fucking convinced that you hated each other that neither one of you took a step back and thought about why you were so hell-bent on hating each other. There’s a fine line between love and hate, and y’all crossed into the love category a long time ago. Both of you really love to hate each other, though, so neither one of you were willing to admit your feelings. We knew you had it bad for each other. It was only a matter of time before you figured it out for yourself.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that.

  “You think she has those kinds of feelings for me?” I asked.

  We hadn’t lied about why we’d gotten married. We didn’t lie to our parents, no matter how much easier it would’ve been had we just lied about it.

  “I think that my kid loves you so much that she’s willing to marry you to save you,” Travis admitted softly. “I think that she loves your kid, even when she should hate what it represents. And I think that, if you love her right, she’ll be your biggest champion, just like her mother is mine. And Raven is Wolf’s.”

  I felt hope bloom in my chest.

  I wanted that.

  I wanted what everyone else had.

  Always had.

  “Now,” Travis said. “Let’s talk about who and what we’re going to press to get that baby home and in your house and not Eerie’s.”

  Chapter 20

  When I said I was normal, I might’ve exaggerated slightly.

  -Text from Reggie to Nathan

  Reggie

  Two weeks later

  Other than the setback the day that Eerie had thrown her attitude around for all to see, the baby had done surprisingly well.

  I’d started calling him Darren instead of his ‘legal’ name. Dare for short.

  And the entire NICU staff had started that as well.

  Today was the first court hearing that would be hammering out a custody schedule for the baby. The judge would also be hearing about why we wanted to change the baby’s name.

  I sat biting my nails as I looked at the judge staring hard at Eerie. She was kicked back in her chair, glasses perched on the end of her nose, just glaring.

  Swayze got up and walked a pamphlet of information up to the judge, a sweet, older woman that looked like she would take no crap. Honestly, she looked like Mrs. Claus with her white hair, rosy cheeks, and quick smile.

  “What have we got?” Judge Barron asked.

  “The information you requested,” she said. “It’s all there.”

  Over the last couple of weeks, Wolf and Silas, as well as a few other people, had been busy.

  They’d dug up every bit of information they could on Eerie, the doctor, and Eerie’s attempts at keeping the baby a secret and put it into a nice, pretty little bow for the judge to read with her own two eyes.

  Swayze had also laid out a very eloquent case for the judge to decide on.

  “Ms. Foster,” Judge Batista said softly. “Were you aware that your contract was legally binding when you signed it?”

  Eerie looked like she wanted to throw up.

  “I just wanted to have a baby,” she said softly. “I wanted a kid. Is that bad?”

  That also didn’t answer the question.

  She knew just as well as I did.

  “It’s not a bad thing to want a child, no,” the judge said. “But what is bad is to force a child on a man that didn’t know that he was having one. Now he has a child with another woman that isn’t his wife. How do you think that makes him feel?”

  “I didn’t ask him to take care of this child,” Eerie snapped. “He can go and have babies with his wife and let me have this one.”

  “Why do you say that like she’s a disease you don’t want to catch?” The judge tilted her head and inspected Eerie as if she was an interesting bug that’d just crawled across her path.

  “I…” Eerie started.

  “My client had cancer, Judge Barron. She can’t have any more children naturally. Without the eggs that she had frozen, she has zero chance of having a child ever again. This was her only way to do it. The measures were quite extreme…” her lawyer, Mr. Talb, admitted. “But she wanted a child. A mother’s love knows no bounds.” He pointed at Nathan. “He didn’t want this child. We all know it.”

  What a crock of bullshit.

  From what I’d heard, her chemo hadn’t taken that option away from her. This option had only been a more viable one because of who the father
would be.

  I hadn’t heard her actually say it, but I had a feeling that this was convenient for her. That her having this child had nothing to do with her wanting a baby, and everything to do with something else. Something we hadn’t learned quite yet.

  “Regardless of whether my client wanted the child or not.” She paused. “Which, might I add, wouldn’t be something that a married man would want—a child that was born while married to his wife. Can you understand the rumors that will flow following this? Nathan Cox isn’t some run of the mill man. He’s a retired baseball player. He’s an upstanding member of this community. He also has his wife to worry about. Him just popping up with a child while being married to his wife will raise quite a few questions, don’t you think?”

  The lawyer didn’t have anything to say to that.

  Eerie, however, did.

  “Nathan doesn’t care about his reputation.” Eerie snorted. “If he did, he wouldn’t have done half the things that he’d done during his baseball career.”

  I wanted to throat punch her.

  Nathan hadn’t done anything bad during his career.

  I would know. I’d borderline stalked him his entire life.

  The most risqué thing he’d done was marry me. And that had been way out of his comfort zone.

  I kept my trap shut, though.

  They didn’t need my input. Especially when all it would’ve been was a couple hundred ‘fuck yous’ aimed Eerie’s way.

  “Nathan does care about his reputation. He also cares about his family. Do you know why he quit?” Swayze asked. Not waiting for a reply, she continued. “He quit because the media was pulling up information on his father—his biological father—that had been murdered, along with his mother and unborn sibling. After asking them to cease their probing, they just ramped it up. So to keep himself out of the limelight, he retired.”

  “That’s the biggest bunch of…” Eerie started, realizing that what she’d said wasn’t quite as quiet as she’d intended for it to be.

  The judge gave her a sharp look that had her trailing off before she’d even finished her sentence.

  Seriously, if looks could kill, she’d be a glowing cinder right then.