Page 36 of Deadlier Obsessions

It takes a few minutes for us to leave, because we’re all grinning stupidly at the picture of our baby.

Our baby.

We’re all going to be fathers, and I don’t think there’s anything scarier than that.

LUCY

The only thing more intrusive than a strange man with his finger up inside me, is our three fucking men hovering over me watching. It was mortifying, and the whole thing was sounnerving. Suddenly I’m this pregnant lady, and I’m going to be a mother, and I never wanted any of that. Not yet anyway.

There’s so much I don’t know or understand, and I’m freaking out, so when I suggest to the others that we find the nearest bar and have a few drinks, albeit soft bloody drinks for me, they quickly agree. It’s after three in the afternoon, but it takes us another forty minutes to find somewhere that we all think looks like our kind of place. I’m not sure what ‘our kind of place’ is exactly, but it’s nice. Posh. There are posters up about upcoming bands and stuff, but it’s just got quiet music playing right now. I guess afternoons aren’t really for bands.

“I’ll just have a lemonade,” I say, when Gage starts ordering drinks for everyone. Say what you like about Gage, but he’s generous with money, and I know he has a lot of it, but I think even if he didn’t, he’d still be like this. He’s an asshole at times, but he never leaves anyone wanting for anything.

Stella’s still a little quiet, and I hate that, but when she has a few drinks in her, she’ll feel more relaxed, and maybe stop worrying so much about what she thinks she can’t bring to this family and remember everything she does bring.

I’m on my second lemonade when my bladder complains, so I head off to the bathroom to pee, with Stella of course, because we ladies go to bathrooms together for so many reasons. It’s on the way out that the weirdest thing happens.

I walk smack into a man who isn’t one of the three allowed to touch me, and when this man catches my arms, and I look up at him, I’m hit with a flash of unexpected recognition, and my heart nearly stops in my chest.Oh no no no.

“Scott!”

Stella runs right into the back of me, and I crash into him again, and he chuckles softly.

“Been a while, Lucy, but you look so fucking good. You feel good too.” Oh my god! I can’t believe this is happening.

“Who’s this?” Stella asks, grabbing my arm and tugging me out of Scott’s warm grip very sensibly, because if Mav or the others see him touching me, he’ll die for it.

Scott releases me but offers a hand out to Stella. “I’m Scott, an old friend of Lucy’s from way back. Wow, I haven’t seen you in so long, Luce. Why the hell didn’t we keep in touch?”Really?

Stella shakes his hand, but she’s not speaking, and she pulls back fairly quickly, reaching down to lace her fingers through mine. I’m still reeling from this unplanned meeting, and his affectionate pet name that nobody else has ever been allowed to use, and he’s not welcome to either.

“Scott. I uh… I live in America now, with uh… with Stella.”

He raises his eyebrows, glancing at her before he looks at me again. “Like… uh… together? Wow. I never saw that coming. I mean, you were the one that got away, and I guess I always thought we’d meet up again and, well, you know.” The one that got away? Is he shitting me? Doesn’t he remember what happened back then? What a prick!

“I don’t… uh…”

“Gonna introduce us to your new friend, Lucy?” Mav is suddenly standing right behind Scott, and I can see he’s not alone. And he’s also not happy at all. Oh fuck. If Mav finds out he’s the one who broke me way back when, he’ll kill him. Mind you, if he saw him touching either of us, he’s already dead. A small part of me, a really small petty part of me, kinda wants to see Mav punch him though. Can I blame that thought on pregnancy hormones?

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

MAV

Honestly, it feels weird enough, the girls heading off to the bathroom without us, even though we’re not exactly keeping them captive anymore, but I’m still nervous as fuck letting them walk away. It’s not just them now either, is it? Lucy’s carrying our baby, and that adds a new level of fear. What if something happens to them? What if someone hurts her stomach, and the baby is lost? I didn’t know these fears existed, but suddenly I’m fucking feeling all of them. I move in my seat so I can see the door to the bathroom, even as Gage nudges Sebastian and nods at me.

“He calls me overprotective and look at him. Would you prefer to go watch them pee, man? Didn’t know that was one of your kinks.”

I ignore him though, because some fucker just walked into Lucy, and worse than that, he’s fucking touching her now. I’m up and walking, and I hear the others curse and follow me, but I’m firmly focused on that asshole touching our girls. As I approach, I hear him calling her by name, and a new wave of jealousy envelops me. He fucking knows her. He knows her name. She’s ours, dammit.

The way she panics when she sees me behind him tells me all I need to know, and I don’t fucking like it. She cares for this fucker, and she thinks I’m gonna hurt him. She has no idea the things I want to do this man who dares to fucking stand anywhere near her. The guy also has no sense of self-preservation, because he turns with a wide grin to introduce himself, keeping himself right in the way so he’s separating us from our ladies. He’s five seconds away from fucking dying right now.

“Mav! Mav, wait, let me just introduce you all,” Lucy gasps, shoving past him and joining me, as I tuck her firmly under my arm, and offer the guy my most fucking smug face. Yeah, she’s mine, and you don’t even fucking look at her.

“Stella!” Gage barks, and she rushes over to stand between them like a good fucking girl. She’s getting a reward for that later, but Lucy’s evening could go either way right now. I dig my fingers into her hip as rage tenses every fucking muscle in my body.

“Introduce your little friend, baby,” I grunt at her as I size the fucker up. I know I could beat him to death pretty easily, and that’s not taking into account the other two men in Lucy’s life, because I know they’ll want a piece of him too. Hell, with Gage, who knows which piece he’ll even want. Ugh.

“Mav, this is Scott, he’s an… an old friend. Scott, this is Mav, my uh… my boyfriend, and that’s Gage and Sebastian with Stella.”

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