Page 47 of Slayin Villain
And now, I just couldn’t stand the thought of walking into that sterile white room and seeing her.
Ember.
The woman who’d been on her knees for Rome one minute and in Villain’s bed the next.
The woman who was supposed to be just a distraction.
But distractions don’t hold your man’s hand at his bedside.They don’t look at him like he’s more than a body to scratch an itch with.
Distractions don’t get pregnant.
I found out when I overheard two of the club girls talking on the porch, sipping coffee like they hadn’t just watched our club go to war.Like nothing could phase them.
“Did you hear?Ember’s late,” one whispered.
“Not just late,” the other said with a smirk.“She took a test.I saw her with it.Talk is...it’s Villain’s.”
I didn’t say a word.Just set down the mug I hadn’t touched and walked away.
I didn’t cry.Not right then.
Instead, I drove straight to the hospital.
The adrenaline from the attack might have worn off, but the rage was still burning, low and lethal under my skin.Like I’d swallowed a damn bonfire.
I didn’t knock when I pushed open Villain’s hospital room door.
He was awake, half-sitting up, shirtless beneath the paper-thin blanket, stitches crawling across his chest like angry little snakes.His blond hair was a mess.He looked pale but alert.
And Ember?
She was perched on the edge of the bed like she belonged there.Like she hadn’t stolen something from me and dared to flaunt it.
Their heads snapped up in sync when I walked in.
I shut the door behind me slowly.
“So,” I said, arms folded.“How long were you planning to keep this from me?”
Ember stood like a guilty kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.“Rachel…”
“Don’t.”My voice cracked like a whip.
Villain cleared his throat.“What’s going on?”
“You mean you don’t know?”I turned on him, hot tears finally building in my eyes.“She’s pregnant.”
The silence that fell was the loudest thing I’d ever heard.
Ember’s mouth twitched, her throat working.“It’s not confirmed…”
“Don’t lie.”I stepped toward her.“You’ve been dressing up every damn night like you’re chasing something.And now that you’ve got it?You can’t even have the decency to pretend it’s not mine and you’re stealing from under me.”
“She didn’t steal shit,” Villain growled, dragging a hand down his face.“And she told me.”
“Oh, really?”
“But I already knew.I’ve known for a while, Ember.I found a test in your dresser drawer weeks ago.”
