“Don’t be,” Seth says immediately as he rests his chin on top of her head. “We’ll help you.”
“Seth,” Khalil growls in warning.
Aurelia peeks up at him and then her face crumples before she pulls away from Seth and angrily swipes the tears from her face. Her eyes and the skin around her nose are both red from crying. She’s so fucking beautiful, even when she cries. “What’s your problem, Poverly?”
“I don’t have a problem. You clearly didn’t want us involved,” he says, waving at her stomach. “I don’t want Seth getting reattached if you’re just going to leave him in the lurch when things get too hard.”
“Oh, yeah?” she challenges. “Is that what happened? Is that what you think I did?”
“Aurelia,” I interrupt before things get out of hand. We didn’t come for this. I still don’t know why we came, but we’re here now, so down to business. “Are you with us or not?”
“With you?” she echoes.
I could be wrong, but I swear there’s a tiny spark of hope in her eyes that I waste no time snuffing out. “Are you going to help us with your uncle?”
Khalil’s right. I was told the doctors examined her too when I was brought into the hospital, which means she had to know she was pregnant when she left, and she still did it anyway.
Aurelia was having our baby, but she didn’t want us to be a part of this.
The wound she left gaping just keeps getting bigger.
“Fine,” she says while rising from the bed unsteadily and passing us as she heads for the bathroom. “I’ll help you but not for free. If you want to stay, you’ll have to earn your keep, boys.”
She walks into the bathroom and slams the door before we can ask her how.
KHALIL
I’m blowing it.
But the realization doesn’t help because then I get pissed at myself for caring.
Aurelia made us her new security team, which is serendipitous since Tyler apparently canned the men guarding her yesterday. Aurelia then made it perfectly clear that the fuckwad was still in charge of all security matters and that we’d be reporting to him.
I honestly thought she cared about the little shit, but maybe she secretly wants him dead because fuck that. Thorin, Seth, and I don’t answer to anyone, especially when it comes to protecting what’s ours. Aurelia should have learned that by now.
Thorin and I left briefly to clear out of Gary’s girlfriend’s condo, but this time we were able to use the front gate when we returned. After that, for the first few days, we did nothing but lie low since the press and online gossip blogs were all over the story, wanting to know what happened with the shooting and how Aurelia is faring.
On day four, we finally meet the illustrious Oni.
She seems more perturbed than surprised to find us here. Oni takes one look at us filling up the chic mansion like a trio of sore thumbs and drags Aurelia into a room where they yell at each other for an hour before she leaves.
“What was that about?” I ask after I follow Aurelia into the kitchen. She’s wearing a knitted white two-piece short set with the long-sleeved crop top showing off her belly.
Aurelia cuts her gaze toward me. She’s drinking from a glass of orange juice after taking her prenatal vitamins, but she lowers it and gives me a look. “Oh, you’re talking to me now?”
“For the moment.”
“Hmm.” She abandons her juice and leaves the kitchen, making it clear that she has no desire to talk to me.
I last three seconds before I chase after her.
Aurelia walks in the living area and grabs the thin yoga mat and bolster pillow waiting there before laying it out on the hardwood floor. She then grabs the remote before turning on the TV and loading up a program.
“Yoga?” I ask when I see what’s playing. There’s a woman on the screen with a man, and I realize belatedly that it’s meant to be a couples’ exercise, but Goldilocks had been forced to do it alone.
Aurelia wordlessly nods as she pulls off her top, revealing her tan sports bra underneath. “I’m told it helps with the discomfort of growing another human inside you.”
“You need a partner?”
