Page 58 of Keeper

Weapon forgotten, he sleepily reaches out his arms for me, drawing me in. It feels good to be back in his bed, cuddled close. We don’t get to do this often.

“Hi, baby. We have some bad news.”

“Uh uh. No such thing when you’re in my arms.”

God, he’s cute when he’s sleepy.

“Will you get him to take this seriously?” Alex hisses, making Draven blink up at him with a frown.

“You’re still here?”

“Yes.”

Snuggling closer, I kiss him gently. His world is about to get a lot more complicated — the least I can do is let him relax for a few moments more.

It takes his attention off his brother, softening his features, but Alex doesn’t seem to be on the same page.

“Father is demanding we take a paternity test.”

Dray kisses along my neck as he responds. “Whatever, I’ll go instead. I know this baby is mine.”

I wish it were that simple. “He wants to go, baby,” I whisper gently. “Ephraim wants to go.”

“The dude that didn’t go to one ultrasound with either baby mama wants to go tothis?”His tone is joking, but when neither of us respond to his question he finally sits up. “Why? What does he know?”

Now he sounds accusatory, and it seems to be pointed at his brother.

“I have no idea. As far as I can tell, he’s just worried about Sullivan being a whore.”

I flip him off, pulling Dray closer. “Sounded to me like he’s doubtful you finally got it up,” I counter. “Either way, it doesn’t matter. It’s happening and we need a plan.”

Draven’s jaw ticks, but I can tell my touch is helping keep him calm. “I’ll call Damian. I’m sure he has a way to get in the system... or he can fuck up father’s computer that morning... or both. I have to be the one to take that swab.”

His hand moves to rub my stomach as it always does, settling that wild thing inside of me. It makes it easier to think clearly. “Okay. So plan A will be drawing Ephraim away. Plan B will be hacking the system to change the results, but that feels more complicated.”

“How sure are you Damian could get in?”

Draven huffs. “He could get into the Pentagon, Alex. Don’t doubt what he can do, you’re the one that’s going to have to convince father he’s needed here.”

“I can do that.”

I doubt it, but I don’t argue with him. “We’ll figure it out. But we should probably come up with some sort of a plan C, just in case we can’t. Like what we’re gonna do if we can’t pull this off and he finds out the truth.”

“I think it’s Alex’s turn to come up with some sort of an idea, he’s supposed to be the smart one.”

“Yeah. I got it,” Alex mutters. “If we fail and he figures out the truth, you two are taking Morella and getting far the fuck away from here.”

“If I agree to babysit your woman, then give me your word you’d protect mine if something happened to me.”

Alex looks at me, then back at Dray. “I may not ever love her, but she will be my wife. I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“This is happening before the wedding,” I remind him. “There’s no way he pushes this wedding if he finds out this child isn’t yours.”

“I think you’d be surprised at how much he’d love to make us all suffer,” Draven says. “He’d do anything to keep you from me if he knew how I felt about you.”

“If the engagement didn’t, what makes him think a wedding would?” I ask. “This isn’t a real marriage. On paper, sure. But where it matters? The heart? It’ll never be real. No matter what he does, it’ll never be real.”

His blue eyes are staring into mine intently, and he leans in to kiss my nose. “Unless you want to see me eat your fiancé’s pussy, I suggest you fuck off for a little while, big brother.”

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