Page 26 of Gluttony

Learnin’ that lesson a little late, aren’t ya, asshole?

Was this woman sitting across from him one of those, a predator?

“I’m Shannon,” she replied, “and we fucked”—she curled her lips again— “six weeks ago.”

He nodded, acknowledging her answer, but still not getting a fucking recollection of their time together. His gaze dropped to her belly, furrowing his brows. Now…that didn’t seem right.

“Six weeks ago….” He stopped, his mind circling back, and finally, he supplied, “The gym.” Six weeks ago, he’d just gotten off a three-day long dark web dive that had robbed him of sleep, nourishment, and showers. He’d been determined to finish the task for Frost and Tornado, and so he’d put all else on hold. Once he’d given his findings to Frost, he’d headed to the gym, determined to burn off the orange soda and take out Indian food he’d consumed while working. Once he’d gotten to the gym, however, he’d taken one look at a blonde in a tiny pair of shorts and a sports bra, and his cock had quickly reminded him he’d gone without sex for three days—something that was easyenough to remedy. For a moment, he’d thought of Val, his Daisy, since he hadn’t been in their chat room in three days, and he missed her, but thoughts of her faded as the woman led him to the bathroom, pulled his cock out of his gym shorts, and sucked his soul out through his vas deferens.

Thinking back at that now, he realized what an absolute piece of shit he’d been, especially when he remembered that, just four days before that, he’d promised Val he’dwait.

I’ll wait for you, my Daisy…and four days later he was banging Shannon in the gym bathroom…and knocking her up.

Fuck, he was going to puke.

“Yes,” Shannon replied, smiling. “You remember.” At his nod, her smile grew; she thought she had him. “That quickie in the bathroom didn’t just leave me satisfied, it also left me pregnant.”

“Why didn’t you contact him as soon as you found out?” Tornado asked, his expression blank. The man had the emotional palette of a piece of paper—if you didn’t know him.

Shannon shrugged. “I didn’t know if I wanted to tell him…but then my parents found out. They’re determined to marry me off to some rich, old asshole in Poughkeepsie, and I don’t want to do that—I want my baby to have his father.”

As moisture gathered in her blue eyes, Red felt the world jerk to a stop.

Hisfather?

Holy fucking shit! Was it possible? Was this woman carrying hisson?

Shannon rubbed her baby bump, her smile widening as the men in the room followed her movement with their gazes.

Cluster, the fuck, slapped him on the back. “Congratulations, asshole, seems like there’s a new little Unchained brother on the way.”

Suddenly, the room was unmoored, floating through time and space, tumbling him like a loose coin in the laundry.

This couldn’t be happening.

An image of Val’s face flashed into his mind, the fire in her eyes dimming. She wouldn’t want to have anything to do with him if this baby was his…a baby he’d sired right after promising to put her first.

His chest grew tight, his heart racing, as he met Shannon’s calculating gaze. Oh yeah, she was definitely eager to get her claws into him—and what he could provide her as a member of the Unchained.

Silence seemed to rule the room until Tornado’s phone pinged again. He checked it, met Red’s gaze once more, then turned to Shannon.

“You have an appointment at Geisinger in Scranton for a DNA test at 3 PM today,” he recited, his voice flat, but Red could hear the tension beneath the surface—the man was pissed for Red; he’d been the target of a similar instance not even three months ago.

Shannon tensed, the color draining from her face. “DNA test? Why? Redtube is the father—he’s the only man I was with six weeks ago.”

Again, that number didn’t seem to align with the size of her bump, and trying to swallow the idea that he was the only one she’d fucked six weeks ago was like swallowing a hot coal. Shannon had come to the gym looking for a hook up—she’d even told him that once the deed was done and he was putting his cock back in his shorts. If she was that predatory in a goddamn gym, there was no way she hadn’t been wrangling for more strange soon after.

Turning to Frost, Red asked, “When Emily was six weeks, was she that…big?”

Again, Shannon gasped—apparently it was a thing with her. Yes, Red was aware he was being callous in the face of possible parenthood, but in that moment, thinking of the repercussions, of what Val would think, what she would do, what he would lose, he just couldn’t find it in his heart to be gentle. He wanted to tear the whole fucking building down to the studs with his bare hands.

Frost turned icy eyes to Shannon, his gaze dropping to her belly, then rising to skim her features. She wasn’t looking at him; her gaze was downcast, staring at the table, her hand on her belly turning white. Her expression was pinched, which told him she did not like the way things were going.

What was she expecting, him to just take her at her word like a fucking idiot? Was she that arrogant that she didn’t think he’d question her?

The moment he’d seen her standing at the gate, he knew how this would playout, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t sick at the idea that there was the sliver of a chance that he was the father of her baby.

He just had to be 150% sure, and that took asking the right questions.

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