Page 24 of Entangled By You
“Second,” I snap, eyes blazing, “this didn’t even happen while he’s been living with me, you asshole.”
The air crackles between us, like the atmosphere before a sudden storm. My fists clench, my breathing shallows, but I hold my ground.
If he wants to fight about this, it won’t be bypassing me—like this doesn’t involvemychoices—to put it all on Pierce. I’m done letting the men in my life bulldoze through what I want like it doesn’t matter.
The Lexi who ripped her heart out and locked it away to survive getting the truth about her father’s unexpected death is stepping back onto center stage. That version of me, determined and sharp, is who I need to be again. I may be six years older now, butshewas stronger. Wiser. Unjaded and far less willing to bend for anyone.
I let Evan whittle that version of me into a speck of the girl I once was over the years. But he’s gone now. Where? I still have no clue, but bigger things are on my mind now, and unless he pops up out of the blue, beating down my front door, I’m done giving him any mental space.
“You!” Silas snarls, pointing a shaking finger at Pierce. “Outside. Now.”
Pierce’s fingers brush lightly across my skin as he moves to step past me, obeying my brother's command without hesitation. But no. Not this time. That’s not happening.
It’s now or never.
I either show my hand or let this all spiral into madness.And I’m so damn tired of waiting around, hoping things might settle. This time, I’m dealing the deck.
I move before I can second-guess myself, grabbing Pierce’s hand and anchoring him in place. My body shifts naturally into his, like it’s the most familiar thing in the world. Like waking up from a nightmare and realizing you’re finally safe. As if the last six years hadn’t shredded me from the inside out, maybe I can finally start shaking the weight of it off, and we can start over.
“You listen to me and you listen good, Silas Kane,” I say, voice deathly certain. “You might be my brother, and I might love you with my whole damn heart, but this conversation wasn’t about your permission. It was to clue you in and let you know what’s going on in my life. If you can’t get over,” I lift a hand and gesture between him and Pierce, “whatever this is, and learn to live with the fact that Pierce and I are having a baby, then we’re done. I won’t let you stand here and judge me. Especially, after the shit you pulled with Harlow.”
Pierce’s arm tightens around my waist, his hold solid and grounding. He pulls me closer, a quiet show of solidarity that says: I’ve got you. I’m here. We’re in this together.
From the couch, Harlow unfolds herself with a sigh, rising beside her husband like she’s preparing for her own kind of battle. She steps between us, surprisingly calm but no doubt aware of the restlessness suffocating the room. She’s probably the only one here who can talk Silas down in his current state.
“Okay, let’s take this down a notch,” she says, leveling Silas with a look. “Si, stop being so goddamned hard-headed. This should be an exciting time for us. For our family.”
Then she glances at me, her expression softening as she leans in and lowers her voice, her brow quirked in that teasing, knowing way only my best friend could manage right now.
“Wait, we are excited, right?”
Excited? I don’t think that’s the word I’d use right now. But I’m no longer freaking the fuck out, and honestly, that feels like a sliver of progress.
“We’re… processing. Figuring things out,” I say, glancing toward Pierce, unsure if I’m trying to convince him or myself.
“And excited,” he adds, his deep voice brushing the shell of my ear.
My hair whips him in the face as I snap my head toward him, startled. He smirks, so amused, as if he were gunning for that reaction. The wink he throws me, paired with that knowing half-smile, sends a shiver straight through my chest, down my spine, and lights a fire deep in my core, which I thought was permanently extinguished.
God. Sex hasn’t even been on my radar these past couple of months. How could it be between the morning sickness, anxiety, and the havoc of it all? Not to mention the solid single status that isn’t budging any time soon.
But being this close to him—wrapped in the warmth of his body, the smooth leather of his jacket against my skin, and the scent of burnt wood and motor oil—pulls me in like gravity. I can’t help but feel it: that annoying ache I know he can relieve, that spark he has no problem igniting between us with a few choice words and a simple look.
And judging by the way his fingertips brush back and forth across the inch of exposed skin at my waist, just under the hem of my shirt, he feels it too.
The tension in the room is thick enough to choke on. Right now, with my brother staring at us like we’ve lost our minds, is not the time to let these feelings bloom.
“I don’t like this. You’re still?—”
Harlow’s elbow connects with my brother’s ribs, and the pained grunt he lets out is half surprise, half submission.
“Ouch!”
She turns toward him with a look that could curdle milk, and for the first time in a long while, my brother looks like he might actually reconsider opening his mouth again.
“Look, man, I get it,” Pierce says, straightening to his full height, but not letting go of me. “I didn’t plan this. None of this is part of some scheme to derail her life. But I’m following her lead here. She wants to have this baby, so we’re having a baby.”
My breath catches.
