Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97195 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
My soul wailed.
“I’m here, my moon,” I whispered as I held her tight to me. She sobbed. “You’re not alone,” I promised.
13
PROMISES
Ally
I groaned in protest when I felt Christian lifting me from the bed. I squinted open my sore, puffy eyes to look up at him. He pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “I’m taking you home,” he said quietly. “Go back to sleep, beautiful. I’ve got you.”
I loosely linked my arm around his neck and draped my other arm over my belly, resting my head on his shoulder as I closed my eyes again. I could hear Caiden talking quietly to Axel, but their conversation stopped when Christian stepped down the stairs.
“Christian—” Axel began.
Christian grunted, cutting him off. I kept my eyes shut. They were too sore to open them. “I’ll be at work tomorrow morning. I’m not in the fucking mood.”
I lifted my head, opening my eyes despite their soreness, looking between my boyfriend and my brother. Axel frowned, his eyes moving to me. With a sigh, he walked over and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’m here if you need me, Sis. Always,” my brother promised.
Christian moved past Axel and carried me out of the house before I could respond to him. “Christian, what was that?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “Not right now,” he grumbled. “Please, just let me get you home, and then we can talk about what happened.”
Caiden came outside and slid into the backseat without a word as Christian set me in the passenger seat. Christian pressed a kiss to my lips before he shut the door and walked around the front of the car. I followed him with worried eyes.
I didn’t like the fact that he’d obviously had a disagreement with my brother, and it had fear settling in the pit of my stomach.
I watched Christian through the mirror in the bathroom as he closed the bedroom door, giving us some privacy. I turned to face him, crossing my arms over my chest in a defensive gesture. My stomach churned. I was normally uneasy in confrontations, and it sometimes made me nauseated, but now being pregnant was about to make it a hell of a lot worse.
“What happened between you and Axel?” I asked him.
He sighed, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it into the laundry basket. “We had a disagreement before I came upstairs.” I stayed silent, watching him as he toed his shoes off. “He wanted me to leave you alone.”
I frowned. “I asked him to be left alone,” I told him. Christian shook his head at me.
“I know,” he informed me as he somehow managed to toe his socks off as well. He moved toward me, his hands coming up to cup my cheeks. “I promised you I would never leave you alone in the dark,” he reminded me. My bottom lip trembled as I fought back tears. “You asked me to stay with you even when you try to push me away. I don’t make empty promises, Ally. I will always be your light when everything around you is dark. I don’t know what happened, but I will never leave you alone to suffer.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as a tear slid down my cheek. “Christian,” I whispered, my voice breaking on his name, “please promise me that you won’t walk away from me.”
He brushed his lips to my cheek, his lips capturing the tear that had fallen from my eye. “You’re my moon. I will never leave you. We’re forever, beautiful.”
I circled my fingers around his wrist and opened my eyes, bravely looking up at him through the tears in my eyes. Slowly, I pulled his hand down and pressed it to my belly. I watched as he tried to figure out what the hell I was doing, but then his eyes widened in shock, his lips slightly parting as his eyes flickered to my belly.
“You’re pregnant?” he asked in a whisper, his eyes snapping back up to mine.
I nodded, the tears now pouring down my cheeks. “I’m ninety-nine percent sure,” I told him, my voice breaking. “I need to take a test and see a doctor, but I was really sick earlier, and my period is late. Axel put it together before I did.”
“Fuck, baby,” Christian rasped, his voice rough with emotion as he tugged me into his arms, rocking me gently from side to side. I sobbed as I clutched at his shirt. “I’m here, beautiful. I’m never going anywhere.” He pressed his lips to my cheeks, forehead, nose, lips—anywhere on my face that he could reach. “You’re not alone, and this won’t be like last time,” he promised. “I will do everything in my fucking power to ensure you carry our little one to term—to make sure you give birth to a healthy, chubby little baby.”