Page 60 of Angel

“Is Ollie’s mom among them?” Steel asked.

It was Ghost who answered. “Yeah, she’s there.” His voice held a mixture of disgust and distaste.

“None of them are at risk of OD’ing?” Steel clarified with Bear.

The big man shook his head. “I checked their pockets. None of them are carrying. They are going to crash hard, though.”

Ranger approached, a slight limp in his step. “I’ll take them. I have a friend who runs a rehab facility in Alexandria for vets who become addicts. He’s very discreet.”

Steel nodded. “I don’t want you going alone. Take two others and get them there safely.” Steel looked to Keys. “Do you still have the Pythons’ money or is it all gone?”

“I kept some reserves, not knowing if you wanted any of it for Ollie’s education,” Keys told him.

“I’ll handle Ollie’s education,” Steel informed Keys. “Make sure Ranger’s friend gets a healthy donation to take care of the women.”

Keys nodded. “I’ll see it done. By the way, I was able to trace a good portion of the 3Ts accounts from their money transfers with the Pythons. Want me to take that too?”

“Not everything,” Steel told him. “But you can certainly point the feds in the right direction.”

“I’m sure Ivy would appreciate that,” Keys said before hopping back into the rear of the van.

Ranger drove off with the women along with Pirate, Ghost, and Grumpy.

Pumpkin was currently holding Star’s new cat and cooing at it like it was a baby. Star was lacing up his boots. Cage and Angel were helping to pack up the tarp they’d undressed on to make sure they caught any evidence that might have fallen off of their bodies. Lucky and Bulldog were vacuuming out the SUV to catch any trace evidence there too.

Steel walked over to where Cheryl was sitting in the passenger seat of Keys’s van. Bear was standing next to her taking her blood pressure with a stethoscope in his ears.

Bear pulled the stethoscope and looped it around his neck. “Pressure’s low,” he informed Steel, “but that’s to be expected with a pregnancy.”

“Do you know how far along she is?”

Bear shook his head. “No way of knowing that without an ultrasound.”

It didn’t pass Angel’s notice that they were talking about Cheryl rather than to her, even though it was her pregnancy and baby.

“However,” Bear added, “I can guesstimate that she’s further than five months along.”

Meaning that she’d been with the VDMC when she’d conceived her baby. Angel glanced around, wondering which of her brothers was about to become a father. Cage and the married men were the only ones she automatically withdrew from that list. None of the married men would dare cheat on their wives. Further, Angel knew that none of them had a desire to. They were loyal men to their cores, especially to their women. Cage swore that he hadn’t slept with anyone but her since their hospital quickie a year ago and Angel believed him. Hell, even roofied he had somehow remained loyal to her.

Angel wasn’t sure she could say the same thing—as she’d thought her baby’s father a stranger until proven otherwise. Would she have fucked some stranger that drunk? She’d been so confused by her actions. Knowing it had been Cage she’d slept with made more sense now, but there was still that nagging question in the back of her head that made her wonder if she had been drunk enough that she would have slept with any guy that night.

“We’ll order a paternity test,” Steel told Bear. “The father will step up.” He said those words like they were law and no one would dare otherwise. “Do we need to wait for the baby to be born?”

Bear shook his head. “A prenatal paternity test is noninvasive and safe for the baby. We need to take a cheek swab from each of the guys and blood from her. The hospital’s lab can run it,” Bear informed him. “Do you want the tests run now or tomorrow? We can borrow the vet clinic again and get the ultrasound done too.”

Steel nodded. “Call Jumper. I don’t want this done in daylight.”

Bear removed the gloves off of his hands and stepped aside to make the phone call.

Without his large body to block her, Angel got her first good look at Cheryl. She remembered the former Honey being put together. Always wearing provocative outfits and too much makeup. There’d been a feminine air about her that always seemed to draw men to her.

Now? She was filthy. Her cheeks were gaunt, her hair disheveled, and she was wearing a pair of men’s sweats and a large baggy shirt.

Angel felt no sympathy for the woman, only for her baby. It was her own pettiness that had put her in her current position. Bulldog would not have fired her if she hadn’t made a scene in front of Abby in a public bakery.

Steel neared Cheryl, leaning up against the SUV’s open door. “It’s scary how much technology has become a part of our everyday lives. When I was your age, we had to use this invention called books and had to look up our questions in libraries to find answers.” He pulled his phone out of his front pocket. “I don’t need a library now. Hey Siri. Can a pregnant woman be placed in a medically induced coma?” he asked his phone.

“Here’s what I found for ‘can a pregnant woman be placed in a medically induced coma’,” his phone’s feminine mechanical voice answered.

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