“Fuck that. She’s turned into a little menace. You need to watch the amount of time she’s spending with Icer. He’s been a bad influence on her,” Sketch suggests. “She’s turned into a little badass.”
“I dare you to tell Icer he has to limit his time with her. If you do decide to go there, make sure I’m around to see his reaction,” I tease. “With a beer and tub of popcorn on my lap.”
“I’m going to veto that suggestion,” Riptide inserts. “Just because we own a mortuary doesn’t mean we should use it to bury our brothers.”
“Amen,” Slayer mutters. “Even I’m not man enough to tell Icer that, he’d go nuclear.”
“None of us are,” I state, shaking my head. “You don’t attempt to limit his time with the kids unless you want your face rearranged.”
We all begin ribbing on Icer even though he’s not there to defend himself. That’s one brother none of us are willing to cross in a dark alley. I’m not frightened of much, but going toe-to-toe with him is one of those things that have my flight instincts kicking into high gear.
Any encounter with Icer, that’s not on friendly terms, would make a grown man piss his pants. He gets this look in his eyes that tells you nobody’s home when he’s in warrior mode. I’ll admit that I’d rather be at his back than be in front of him any day of the week.
CHAPTER
THREE
Zoey
I full bodylaugh and wipe my eyes to rid them of the mist forming in them at the doctor’s ridiculous announcement. He has to be pulling my leg. Is it April Fool’s Day and I missed the memo? Did time jump, and somewhere along the way, I lost track of time? It’s either that, or the lab got my urine mixed up with somebody else’s. Because what he’s claiming is near impossible. We’ve taken every precaution to ensure that.
“I think you need to run those tests again, Doc Mallard. There’s no way in H.E. double hockey sticks I’m pregnant,” I proclaim.
He gives me a confused look before telling me, “Zoey, hun, those tests are one-hundred percent accurate. You’re pregnant, we just need to figure out how far along you are since you claim to have had a menstrual cycle each month.”
“I have,” I vehemently state, standing my ground because I’m not a liar. “Every damn month, like clockwork.”
“And I believe you. It’s not an anomaly, Zoey,” he promises. “But spotting is something we need to take seriously. I need to do a pelvic exam and an ultrasound.”
“Yes, let’s do that ultrasound first, please,” I beg. If he shoves that wand up my hooha and sees that my womb is empty, that there’s no new life growing inside of me, we can end this entire charade and find out what’s really going on with me.
“I’ll go make sure our technician can fit you in. In the meantime, I suggest you digest this information because that little one inside of you isn’t going to magically disappear,” Doc Mallard states, giving me a kind smile before leaving to go pencil me in with the sonographer.
“This is ludicrous,” I mumble beneath my breath. “I’m on the shot to prevent this sort of thing from happening for fuck’s sake. We’re not ready to add another member to our family. We’re just now getting used to it being the three of us, there’s no room for a baby in our small house. We’d need a new…everything. This cannot be happening,” I grumble, smacking my forehead with the palm of my hand. “Harrison is going to flip out.”
For a long, dreary forty minutes I sit here and stew. Whereas I adore the idea of bringing a new life into the world with the love of my life, together, we decided to wait a few years until we were better established and the issue with the Onyx Dragons was resolved. As I jump off the exam table and begin pacing, there’s a knock on the door and the nurse comes strolling in like it’s just another ordinary day. For her it may be, but for me, this is the day that could potentially change everything.
Then she really sets the tone when she chipperly asks, “Are you excited to see your baby on the big screen?”
Her high-ho attitude has the opposite reaction of what she thought it’d be when I stand there, gawking at her in distress instead of skipping down the hallway, pumping my fists through the air. “Sure,” I drawl out. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around this and how it could’ve happened considering I’m on the shot.”
“Is this not a celebratory occasion? I’m sorry if I overstepped by being excited. You know there are other alternatives readily available to you if you’re not ready for a baby, right?” she asks, and suddenly I feel protective over this child that just a few minutes ago, I was wondering what I was going to do about him or her.
“No, none of that will be necessary, but thank you for telling me. I’m just in shock, I suppose. We were taking precautions to prevent this from occurring. This baby isn’t unwanted, just unexpected,” I explain. “I had my meltdown, now I’m ready to face this head on and start making some decisions, after I tell my man.”
“Do you think he’ll be happy?” the nurse asks as we traipse down the corridor. As I step on each carpeted square, I consider her question.
“I think he will be. It’s not that we didn’t want more kids, it’s that there are some things hanging over our heads we wanted dealt with first,” I clarify.
She gives me a sympathetic glance as she leads me further into the back of the clinic. “There’s a gown on the bed, please remove all of your clothing from the waist down. You can cover up with the sheet that’s folded at the end of the exam table. When you’re ready, please hit the red button on the wall at the head of the bed and we’ll be with you shortly.”
I nod my head in thanks as she scurries out of the room, closing the door behind her. I begin disrobing, my mind still lost in thought. But as the time passes, my nerves go from ‘oh shit’ to ‘I can’t believe we’re having a baby and I’m actually getting enthusiastic about it’. Elodie would love having a baby sister or brother to dote on. When I grab the ‘blanket’ I snort. This thing is paper thin and nearly sheer. I can see my fingers through the material as I draw it up and over my legs.
“I guess it’s more for the illusion than anything else,” I mumble as I reach across to the wall and press the button as the nurse instructed me to do before she fled. My belly dips as three knocks on the door happen in rapid succession before it swings open and the nurse comes strolling back in followed by the technician. “Hi,” I say, waving at them both before remembering how sour I was with the nurse earlier and lowering them to my lap in embarrassment. “Sorry about earlier,” I tell her. “Like I said, I was in shock but I’m feeling better and more upbeat now.”
“There’s no reason to apologize. That news can be shocking if you weren’t expecting it, but I’m glad you’re feeling better about learning about your pregnancy now,” the nurse says, giving me a buoyant smile.
“Hi, Zoey. I’m Melody. Are you ready to check on that baby and see how far along you are?” the sonographer asks.
