Page 68 of Penn

“Are you sticking around?” I ask Penn as he parks the pickup outside the Seven Crows.

As we get closer to my due date, he’s insisted on driving me when he’s in town. That way, if something happens, he knows we have a vehicle he can use to get me to the hospital quickly.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Penn says. “Not really in the mood to socialize.”

My heart sinks. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t tell him how I feel. “Oh.”

His hand grabs mine as I turn to get out of the pickup. “Do you want me to stay?”

“Only if you want to.”

“I can come in for a little while.”

I give him a small smile, and he returns it. Briefly.

We walk inside, and his breath hitching gets my attention. Then I see him: Stephen.

“Did you know he was here?” Penn asks, his voice quiet.

Shaking my head, I look up at him. “No, I swear.”

“I’m not fucking leaving.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Dixie!” Stephen calls. “I’ve been waiting for you to reach out. Who’s that?”

I walk up to Stephen and shake my head. “I’ve thought about your offer—”

“I found the perfect little house for us. It has a pool and four bedrooms. Plenty of room to give our little bundle of joy a sibling or two,” Stephen says.

He stands there wearing a crisp charcoal gray shirt, and I can’t believe I thought he was the most handsome man I’d ever seen. What really turns me on is the biker with calloused hands who can probably fix anything in his house without having to call a service to do it for him. A man who not only handles his responsibilities but also takes on those that don’t belong to him.

When he reaches out to touch me, I move out of his grasp. “No.”

His smile falls. “No?”

“I don’t want what you’re offering.”

“I’m leaving my wife,” he says. “I’m giving you everything you want.”

“I don’t want that anymore,” I say with a shake of my head. “And I don’t want you. Go home, Stephen. Figure out how to make things work with Caroline. Be a good father to your kids.”

“Dixie—”

“I mean it, Stephen. You threw cash at me to get an abortion, and then you set my house on fire when I didn’t do it. Nothing you say now can fix that,” I say. “I’m sorry.”

His face changes in an instant. The charming and sincere mask cracks, and I see the fully rotten version he keeps carefully hidden. His mouth twists into a sneer as he grabs my wrist. “You’re carrying my child. My blood. You think you can just walk away?”

“Let me go,” I say, trying to pull my arm from him. “You’re hurting me.”

“I’ll take the baby from you. You’ll never see that child ever again, and you can’t fight me on it. You don’t have the resources.”

First he didn’t want this baby and now he’s threatening to take him from me? I feel sick, and I worry he’s going to break my wrist. “Stephen, let go.”

A large hand clamps onto his neck, and Stephen lets out a squeal as he finally releases me. Penn glares at him with more anger than I’ve ever seen before, and he tosses Stephen backward. “Don’t ever fucking touch her again.”

“This has nothing to do with you, scum,” Stephen growls. “She’s carrying my kid, and if she’s not going to be with me, she won’t be with that kid, either.”