Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 61100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
“Morning sickness?” Hutch repeats, looking like he’s experiencing the same things I am.
The young woman, who’d been surveying our bodies and checking out our ink, looks up at Hutch and notices his stunned reaction. She looks around at all of our faces and then hers goes white. “Oh, shit. Shit! I’ve got to get inside.”
She spins around to leave, but Zipper’s hand is faster, gripping her shoulder to lock her in place. “Rose is pregnant?”
“Oh, shit. You didn’t hear it from me. I can’t believe I said that, but I just assumed since you’re here and you all look so worried about her … I figured she told you.”
Zipper releases her, his hand dropping heavily to his side, his wide eyes the only expression on his face.
The woman apologizes and rushes inside the club.
“Do you know about this?” Hutch asks Duke, but Duke shakes his head.
“I didn’t know,” he says in a solemn tone. “All I know is that she called off, and she expects to come in tomorrow.”
“We can’t wait until tomorrow,” Zipper says, turning away.
“See you later,” Hutch tells Duke at the same time that he turns to follow Zipper.
At the truck, Zipper nearly rips the door off the hinges when he yanks it open, but instead of getting in, he rounds on us. “Which one of you motherfuckers fucked her without protection?”
43
CHRISTIAN
Hutch looks at me, I look at Mace, Zipper glares at all of us, and it would be a comical whodunnit scene if the four of us weren’t so pissed off at each other and so worried about Rose.
“Never,” I say.
Hutch’s chest is out, like he’s aching for a fight. “Sure as hell wasn’t me.”
Mace claims innocence too, and all of us examine each other’s faces for cracks. It’s like looking in a mirror as I scrutinize them. I believe them.
“How the fuck did this happen?” I say.
“Why didn’t she tell us?” Hutch is deflated now.
“Maybe it’s not ours,” Zipper says, “if we were always wrapped up.”
Before I even know what’s happening, Hutch shoves Zipper so hard that he stumbles. “Fuck off!”
“We didn’t have any commitments with her,” Zipper says, eyes narrowed at Hutch. “She was free to be with whoever she wanted.”
Hutch’s jaw is so tight I expect bone to break through his skin at any moment. “She wouldn’t do that. You saw how she reacted when we told her we couldn’t keep seeing her.”
“Fuck,” I say. “We broke up with her and she’s pregnant.”
“How long do you think she’s known?” Mace asks.
“What if she was coming to tell us the day we broke up with her? Fuck, we’re idiots.”
“Standing around, speculating in the parking lot of a male strip club isn’t going to help anything,” Hutch says. “Get in the truck.”
He drives by the coffee shop, but it’s dark inside, long since closed for the day, as expected.
“I wish we knew where she lived,” he says, banging the dash with the palm of his hand.
“I’m gonna text her,” I say.
“This isn’t a conversation for text,” Hutch says.
“What choice do we have?” Mace asks.
“We could wait until tomorrow,” Zipper says.
“Yeah, right.” I give him a heavy dose of sarcasm as I pull out my phone.
Hutch pulls to the side of the road and turns to look at me. “What’re you gonna say?”
“Ask how she is and see if she volunteers the information,” Zipper says.
I do as he suggests, and then we wait, an uneasy silence filling the vehicle.
When my phone chimes, three heads jerk back in my direction.
“She says she’s okay,” I tell them. “It’s a one-word response.”
“That’s not like her at all,” Mace observes.
“Don’t know what you’d fucking expect,” Zipper grumbles, even though the simple question I sent was his idea.
“Ask if we can see her,” Hutch says.
A long silence follows the request I send to Rose.
Finally, dots appear, then her message. “She’s already in bed. Says maybe tomorrow.”
The frustration is so thick, it’s nearly visible. Without a word, Hutch peels out onto the road and heads for home.
Unanswered questions pile up in my head like cars in a summer traffic jam. How is she feeling? How long has she known? Which one of us is the father?
44
ROSE
For the first time since I found out I’m pregnant, there’s a busy day ahead of me, and I’m not sure which part I’m dreading most.
First, there’s my shift at the coffee shop, where I have to pretend that my life hasn’t fallen apart, while I do my best to get along with my brother and Nancy. I’m still mad at both of them, but I have much bigger things to worry about. Or rather, much smaller things.
After the coffee shop, but before my night at Club Red, I’ll be seeing Hutch, Mace, Zipper, and Christian at my apartment. A couple of days ago, I’d have been elated that they contacted me, and I’d have been hoping that they changed their minds about us, but now everything is horribly complicated.