I burst into tears and tore my arm from him. “Don’t touch me!”
“Jesus, what the hell’s wrong?”
I waved my hands in front of my face, as I was in serious danger of hyperventilating. “Oh, god.”
“Baby, what the fuck?” he whispered, closing the distance between us.
He reached out to me but didn’t touch me. Just waited for me to come to him.
“You don’t und…er…stand,” I sobbed. “I’m so…sor…sor…sorry.”
“Lyric, I know you were with that Wes guy. I don’t care about—”
“No!” I growled, trying to wipe my face as I took a deep breath.
“Jesus, you need to sit down before you pass out,” he said, inching toward me.
“I need to go.”
“You’re not goin’ anywhere until we work this out.”
I shook my head. “I need to go.”
He wrapped his arms around me and I tried to push away but he held tight. “Baby, talk to me.”
I couldn’t breathe, let alone talk.
He lifted me, carrying me to the chair against the window, sitting down and settling me in his lap. “It’s okay, Angel, I’ve got you.”
I had no fight left in me. I laid my head on his shoulder pressed my face into his neck, crying for everything I’d lost, then gained, and what I was about to lose again. I was sure the second he found out I was pregnant with a baby that probably wouldn’t make it to term, he’d freak and run again. And I just knew it would break me, so I took what he offered for the moment, hoping it would be a memory I could pull from when I needed it.
It took several minutes for the hiccups and sobbing to calm, and Doom held me, stroking my hair as I gripped his vest and took in his essence.
“You’re okay,” he whispered. “You can tell me anything.”
“Not this, I can’t.”
“Baby, you can.” I tried to push off his lap, but he held firm. “Settle.”
“Doom, you’re not going to like what I have to tell you.”
“You’re still stayin’ right here while you say it.”
“I’m pregnant.”
Doom
IWAS SURE I’d heard her wrong. “Come again?”
“I’m pregnant. With your baby,” she added in a rush. “I have no idea how it happened. It probably won’t make it to term, but it’s still a miracle. Somehow my uterus healed itself, and now it’s cradling our baby. But it’s a hope I’m scared to death to believe in, because I’m probably going to get my heart ripped out of my chest.”
“What?” I rasped, my heart in my throat.
She made a lame attempt to push at my shoulders. “Can I get up now?”
“No.” I held her tighter. “Tell me everything.”
“I was scheduled to go in and have the boot removed, but I passed out before my appointment, so they rushed me to the emergency room. When they ran tests and took X-rays to check for blood clots and whatnot, they discovered I was pregnant. I didn’t believe them, so Alec insisted on a vaginal ultrasound—”
