Page 54 of Surprise Mother Pucker

Tears gathered in my eyes. I had been so stupid and so naive. I had always held on to hope that Charlotte's father was a decent person, but apparently not. Apparently, I’d slept with the campus manwhore.

I went to open my mouth and demand that I leave when Eli launched himself at Storm. Grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, he landed a punch directly to his nose that made a sickening crunch sound.

“You fucking piece of shit,” he growled, preparing to punch again, when Charlie intervened.

This was all too much. The reality of my situation was starting to sink in. I needed to get my daughter, and I needed to get out of there. I didn’t want to face this situation; it was too overwhelming. Despite what Eli had made me hope, this wouldn’t be a pack for me to join—how in the hell could I do that?

“Eli, what the fuck, man?”

“You gave her a fake name and number?” Eli growled.

“It was a fucking club hookup! No harm, no foul,” Storm said, clutching his nose.

“You have a fucking daughter, you immature dipshit!” Eli thundered.

At those words, everyone stilled. Everyone but me. Striding over to Micha, I plucked Charlotte out of his lap. With my daughter in my arms, I was scooping up my bag and getting ready to leave.

“Wait, what?” Storm asked, looking utterly perplexed.

“She spent weeks trying to track you down when she learned she was pregnant, but you gave her a fake number and a fake fucking name.”

Storm’s eyes landed on me, a look of abject horror on his face. “I thought she was just a puck bunny…”

“She’s the woman who’s pregnant withmychild,” Eli growled.

Bag in hand, I made to hurry out of the room, but Charlie gently grabbed my elbow.

I shook my head at him. “I need to leave. Now,” I reiterated as Char started to fuss in my arms.

Desperation must have been evident on my face, because Charlie nodded. “I’ll take you back.”

“No, I?—”

“That's not an offer, Kennedy. I'm not letting you make your way back home alone while those two are duking it out. It's cold out, and I'm pretty sure Eli drove you here.”

I sniffed, tears overflowing. “Char’s car seat is in his car…”

Charlie nodded, turning to the side table and rummaging through the bowl of keys. “In that case, we'll take his car.”

The moment we were all in the car, my slow stream of tears turned into a waterfall.

“I’m so sorry about that. Eli is never violent. I can’t believe he did that.”

“I think we are all in shock,” I sobbed.

“Oh, omega,” he sighed. His hands found my waist, and before I could protest, I was pulled into his lap.

I was too upset and stressed to fight it.

His clean linen scent was so relaxing, and I wanted to revel in it for a moment. He held me lovingly in his lap while I sobbed. Large, blubbery tears that probably got all over his shirt and made a mess of everything. Still, he didn't complain. He simply stroked my head and whispered words of reassurance to me.

“So, just to be clear… Storm is Charlotte’s dad?” he asked after a moment. “I think that's what happened back there, but it was all kind of a blur.”

I nodded, sniffing tearily. “I haven't seen that man in almost eighteen months… not since he got me pregnant. He told me his name was Charlie. Do you know that's why I named my baby Charlotte? Because I stupidly thought he was a decent person. It was a genuine mistake, and I wanted to respect him! Gah! I’m such an idiot,” I said as I dissolved into tears once more.

“No, you're not stupid at all. From the sounds of it, Storm is incredibly stupid. Though, it sounds like you named your daughter after me.” I looked up at Charlie, who had a wry smile on his face. “If that numbnuts gave you the name Charlie, where do you think he got it from?”

That made me pause for a moment. The real Charlie wasn't terrible. He'd been nice to me, but I had only met him half an hour before everything went to hell.

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