AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We both freeze. A small frown pulls at my brows, and then it happens a third time.
Slowly, I look down. “Is…is that…”
“Yeah,” she whispers, my free hands already on its way to her pregnant belly.
She takes half a step back.
I take a full step forward, pressing my palm against the front, and the baby kicks again.
A smile breaks across my face instantly, and I look at her.
There are tears in her eyes again, but there’s also more. Something deeper.
Something almost…raw. It thumps against my chest walls, a sensation too profound to put into words yet too delicate to understand.
It’s heavy and light at the same time.
A weightless force, drawing me to her.
Callingme to her.
My torso tips, my upper body curling over her tiny frame. A hiss instantly whooshes past my lips, my muscles screaming in disapproval, my body having moved on its own without thought or care to its condition.
Her eyes fly wide, and she pulls away, blinking rapidly. “Oh my god, you need to sit down.”
She goes to step by me, but my good hand flies out, latching on to her before she can. She gasps, looking up at me with a desperate sort of confusion, the same emotions flitting through my own mind, but I don’t care to listen right now. Not to my body or my mind.
“Pretty Little,” I rasp, her mouth the North Star to my broken compass, leading me fucking home.
“Well, fucking,well!”
Payton literally jumps at the sound of Lolli’s voice, and both of us look toward the back door.
Payton smiles sheepishly, and I frown at my cousin’s girl.
“I brought French toast.” Lolli smirks, holding up a plate of food. “Unless of course you’re hungry for something a little more…” Her saucy tone trails off when she notices my bandages, her face pinching with worry.
I tense instantly, heat crawling up my neck, and I go to turn away, but then the little blond beside me jerks forward, using her tiny body to try and hide my much bigger one from view. Like she’s protecting me, and just like that, the black cloud hanging over me turns a lighter shade of gray.
“Thanks, Lolli,” Payton says swiftly, rushing her way and taking the plate from her. She sets it on the counter with one hand, clasping Lolli’s bicep with the other, shocking the shit out of me when she leads Lolli all the way to the door, gently nudges her out of it, and, with a tone that brooks no argument yetsomehow still holds gratitude, says, “I’ll let you know if we need anything else.”
Alone on the other side of the glass doors, Lolli gapes from her to me, but Payton’s not done. She yanks the sheer curtains across the window, closing us off completely before she spins to face me.
And I’m. Fucking. Stuck.
She holds me captive as she walks back this way, tucking her long blond hair behind her ear with one hand and snagging the plate of food with the other. Payton grabs my fingers, and I let her lead me to the couch, where she shoves some pillows in the corner. She doesn’t let me go until I’m sitting back against them, and then she lowers onto the coffee table in front of me.
She bends, digging into something at the foot of the couch, and when she says “Open,” I don’t question her.
I open my mouth, and she drops two pills inside before lifting a cup with a straw to my mouth. My lips wrap around it, eyes on hers the entire time.
I release it, and she grabs the plate, setting it on my lap.
“Here.” She pushes to her feet, rushing toward the back door. “Now that they know I’m here, I’m going to go home and grab some things.”
I watch as she slides her feet into a pair of sandals, my pulse beating a little harder at her words. “Things?”
Her head lifts, gaze finding mine over her shoulder. “I need to take care of you.” A small frown pulls at her brows. “Please don’t say you don’t need me here.”
