Page 378 of The Tempted

Like she had to breathe for her brother to save his life.

Like she walked a mile in my fucking shoes.

Like she came home with blood on her hands to be told, “Hey so there’s this baby that exists and its half yours.”

What the fuck?

Me a dad?

Get the hell out of here.

I followed her into my room and closed the door behind us. I placed my hands on my hips, standing as still as a statue, trying to figure the right thing to say.

This fucking blows, didn’t seem fitting.

And I didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was because…she was fucking pregnant.

Jesus.

“The veins in your forehead are bulging a bit,” she said observantly. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t how I planned for you to find out. I tried telling you before you left but…well you were there, you know how you stormed out of here,” she added bitterly, and taking a seat on the foot of my bed.

“I had a momentary lapse of weakness and thought before you went out guns blazing like a cowboy you should know that you’ve got a kid on the way,” she started, biting the inside of her cheek before she continued to ramble on. “I don’t mean that having a kid should stop you from being who you are but, well, fuck! I don’t even know what I mean anymore,” she dropped her head into her hands.

I stared at her speechless, not realizing at first that I was pacing my small room. She dropped her hands and lifted her eyes to mine.

“I don’t expect anything from you,” she whispered.

I walked toward her and pressed my index finger to her mouth, silencing her. I felt more out of control in that single moment than I had in the last two days. Her eyes widened as I took a retreating step backward and she opened her mouth to say something else but I shot her down with a curt shake of my head.

Silence.

It was golden.

Especially when you were having a mental breakdown of sorts.

I peeled the bulletproof vest off and dropped it to the floor, kicking off my boots and disarming myself. I made sure the safety was on because clearly I was an advocate of safety.

What a fucking joke.

How’s that for impending fatherhood?

I sighed, taking a seat next to Lauren and stared at the wall.

“How long have you known?” I asked, robotically.

“About two weeks,” she replied.

I’m sure there was a protocol for this shit, like a list of questions I should’ve asked but the ones that came to me, sounded foul even inside my head. I wasn’t going to ask her if she was sure the kid was mine. I may not know her very well but I knew her well enough to know what we had, that one night, was nothing but a detour.

Me and my big fucking mouth.

“I’m guessing you want to keep it,” I said, grabbing my knees as I turned my head to face her.

She looked exhausted, drained, but still so fucking pretty.

She bit her lip and nodded.

“I’m keeping our baby,” she insisted.

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