Page 75 of Unmasked Anarchy
He rolls out, wipes his forehead with the back of his wrist, and spots me.He goes still, hand hanging in mid-air, blue veins pulsing under the skin.His gaze lingers on me, and I honestly don’t know how I’m going to do this.I don’t know how to say it, or how to approach it.And before I can think too much, my mouth starts moving.“I’m pregnant.For real.I know I told you I wasn’t, and that I just said that, but it turns out my little threat was actually correct, and I am indeed with child.”
He pushes the creeper aside, stands, and wipes both hands on an old rag.His eyes never leave me, not even as he circles the bike and comes closer, slow, his face expressionless.He stops a foot away.“Mine?”
I nod.“I had the DNA run.It’s yours.”
Everything on his face goes blank.The world feels like it stops spinning as I wait for his reaction.
He blinks.“You’re sure?”
I bite down on my bottom lip.“I’m sure.”
The silence is so thick it makes me shift uncomfortably.Gage finally lets out a breath, his hands shaking just the tiniest bit.“Fuck me,” he growls.
“Yeah,” I laugh, bitterly.
He looks to my stomach, then back up at me.“Kael know?”
I nod.
He closes his eyes, exhaling.“You gonna keep it?”
I nod again.“Yes.I’m not asking you to do anything you don’t want to do.I want you to be the dad if that’s the position you wish to take, but I need you to accept Kael will be in its life, too.You know what you used to say about the club, about how we’re all family whether we like it or not?I want that.It’s your kid, you get that.But don’t ask me to pretend Kael isn’t my future.Please, Gage.Don’t make me choose again.”
He licks his lips, his eyes unreadable.He steps forward, plants one hand against the workbench behind me, caging me in.He speaks so quietly I have to read his mouth.“I’m gonna be a dad?”
The world blurs.
I nod.
He sucks in air.For a second, I think he’s going to break.Instead, he lets out a low laugh.“Fuck, Sabie.After all that, you come here and just drop this on me.”
My own eyes are burning now.I swallow it down.“It’s not what I wanted.But you deserve to know.I would never take that from you.”
He leans harder against the bench, staring through me.“How the fuck is this goin’ to work?”
I have already thought of that.“I want agreement.I want a plan, set in stone, before the baby is born.You want to be a part, you can, but you gotta show me a plan I can believe in.I need to know my baby is safe.”
He studies my face, then steps back and nods.“Get that.”
“I can’t have this baby unsafe, so I won’t be able to hand it over for custody until it is older.You can see him or her whenever you like, and when they are old enough, you can have them as part of an agreement.I don’t want a war with you, Gage, I just want this baby raised properly.Together.With two families that love it wholeheartedly.Can you do that?”
He crosses his arms, then nods.“Yeah.”
I exhale.
“You know what that means, Sabie?”
I stare at him.“What?”
“You can’t get rid of me.”
I snort.“Yes, well, it seems the universe thought I hadn’t had enough of you, so it gave me your junior.”
He grins.“I told you that I’d always be around.”
Indeed he did.
“We’ll talk more soon, I just wanted you to know.”
