Cross grunted his agreement, a humorless smirk twisting his lips. “I’m sure you’ll get the chance to feed them a bullet eventually.”
I shot him a dry look. “I’m counting on it.”
Kevlar snorted, glancing around at the deserted parking lot. “Gonna tell Echo to keep an eye on the building, just in case they decide to fuck around again.”
“Thanks.” I slipped my gun back into the waistband of my jeans, flexing my fingers slowly, the satisfaction of retribution not nearly enough to quell my rage completely. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
As we headed toward our bikes, adrenaline still coursed through my veins. But when my thoughts shifted to Poppy, the sharp edges to my emotions softened a little. She was safe—for now—but the threat was still there, lingering at the edges of my consciousness. And I wouldn’t rest until every last trace of it had been destroyed.
15
POPPY
Iwoke up feeling like I was on a boat rocking in choppy water, not in bed with Colter. One second, I was dreaming about his hands on me, and the next, I was bolting upright, my hand clamped over my mouth and scrambling off the mattress so fast the sheets tangled around my ankles. I barely made it to the bathroom before all my dinner from last night along with a good amount of bile came spewing out of my mouth.
Colter held my hair through the worst of it, his body warm against my back as I knelt on the cool tile floor.
When it was finally over, I collapsed against him in an exhausted heap. If he hadn’t been there, I would’ve sprawled on the floor with how heavy my body felt. “I’m so tired.”
Fatigue had been creeping in for days, but I’d blamed it on swapping sleep for sex too often.
“C’mon, baby. Let me help you get cleaned up and back to bed.”
Colter lifted me off the floor and set me on the counter. Feeling a little woozy, I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my cheek against his bare chest, right over his tattoo of the ace of spades.
With his help, I rinsed my mouth and brushed my teeth without gagging too much. Then he wiped my face with a damp washcloth and pulled my hair into a ponytail. “Better?”
“A little.” He set me on my feet, and I groaned when the room felt like it tilted. “Think I caught something. Stomach bug maybe.”
He cupped the back of my neck, his thumb stroking soothing circles. “When did it start?”
“Last night after dinner for the nausea, and it got worse when I woke up. But I’ve been tired all week.”
He studied me for a long beat. Then the corners of his mouth kicked up in a smirk that was smugger than usual.
I frowned. “What?”
“We met seventeen days ago.”
When I realized that was all the explanation he seemed to think I needed, I asked, “And?”
“And you’ve been here every day since then.” Satisfaction gleamed from his light-brown eyes. “But you haven’t needed any of your feminine shit that’s under the sink.”
It took me a moment to understand what stuff he was talking about, and then I realized my period was late. It should’ve started a week ago, and I hadn’t even noticed. Not that I’d needed to track my cycle that closely before I met Colter. There was no risk of getting pregnant when you weren’t having sex. “Oh my gosh.”
He carefully picked me up again and carried me back to the bed. After setting me down gently, he walked through the bathroom and disappeared into the closet. When he came back out, he was fully dressed and carrying a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt from one of the loads of stuff he’d brought over from my apartment.
“C’mon, baby. We’re going to the clinic.”
I blinked. “The clinic? I don’t want to spend hours waiting for someone?—”
“Trust me.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead, silencing my protest. “We’re going.”
Ten minutes later, we were in the SUV, after he glared at me for daring to suggest we take the motorcycle.
He drove with one hand on the wheel and the other resting on my thigh, his thumb tracing absent circles. I stared out the window, trying to ignore the low-grade nausea still roiling in my belly as he rolled through the gates of the compound.
“Can I get a ginger ale or something as long as we’re stopping here on our way to the clinic?”
