Coup De Grâce (17 page)

I guess I wanted so bad to give Nikki the benefit of the doubt that I ignored the signs.

I never looked to see if she was
taking
the birth control.

Mother. Fucker.

“Michael,” she said, pressing her hand against my abs.

And I suddenly forgot what she and I were fighting about.

Mostly because her mouth was on mine, and her hands were wrapping around my neck.

She held on tight as I started to fight her, but then she pressed those delicious hips against my raging cock, and I forgot that I was mad.

Forgot that my life had just changed.

Forgot that she was trying to distract me.

Because she
did
distract me.

And I took the bait.

Hook, line, and
fucking
sinker.

My mouth slammed down on hers as I gathered her up into my arms.

The slinky skirt that reached her ankles tangling up in her legs as I tried to lift her up.

She and I both shoved the skirt up until it rested up around her hips, then I moved until I pressed her against the brick wall of the building we’d just exited.

“Nikki,” I growled, grinding my dick into her pussy.

“Yeah?”
She asked, need evident in her voice.

She rocked her hips against my cock, and keened when I hit her clit just right.

“Please…just don’t lie,” I begged.

She didn’t answer, which I guess that was answer enough.

“Nikki,” I said, reaching between us to rip my cock free from the dress slacks and place it at her entrance. “Why?”

She shook her head. “I did everything right. I swear on my life, Michael. I did everything right.”

My eyes closed, and my heart felt like it was breaking as she sank down slowly onto my cock.

Her heat fisted my dick, covering each and every single inch of skin covering my length.

My eyes closed, not that it mattered anyway since it was pitch black outside now.

The lone light we’d been using for the minimal lighting it gave went out when a hard burst of wind screamed between the buildings.

Nikki gasped, and I couldn’t figure out if it was because of the pure darkness, or the way I rammed into her, taking my frustration about the entire situation out on her pussy.

“Michael,” she gasped, clinging tighter.

“Take it,” I ordered.

She leaned down and bit my neck,
hard
.

And I exploded.

It was all too much.

The way she clenched around me.

The way she smelled.

The thought of her carrying my baby.

A baby that was a miracle in it’s own right, but would probably grow up to be just like me.

“I finished without you,” I murmured into her hair.

She petted my head, running her nails along my scalp and making shivers chase down my spine.

“That’s okay,” she whispered softly. “Just don’t do it again.”

I laughed humorlessly and pulled out of her, letting her feet fall back towards the ground.

Once I knew she was steady, I let her hips go.

Her skirt fell from my grasp as I did, and we sat there in an awkward silence.

Me with my head against her shoulder, and her with her arms still around me.

“What are we going to do?” I rasped, eyes clenching tight.

A sob caught in her throat, and I knew that she didn’t do this on purpose.

I knew it with all my heart and soul.

And when she whispered, “I don’t know, but I love you,” I knew that I would do whatever it took to come to terms with this.

Because I had just as much of a part in the conception of this child as she did.

And that’s what a man did.

Stepped up to the plate.

So tell me what you want, what you really, really want.

-T-shirt

Nikki

I knew he wouldn’t find me here.

It was the one place I could go without
anyone
finding me.

Salsarita Mamacita’s.

My family wouldn’t be caught dead here.

It was the poorest quality dancing place in town.

Plus, Michael didn’t dance.

He’d
told
me so.

Many, many times.

When I’d be dancing around the kitchen making dinner, he’d just roll his eyes at me in exasperation when I tried to get him to join in.

Something about attending too many dances when he was younger or some bullshit excuse like that.

It’d been two months since I’d told Michael that I was pregnant.

Two months since he’d fucked me, stayed with me throughout the rest of the night, and then disappeared without a trace.

Well, not without a trace.

I knew where he was.

He called me, updated me on what was going on, but he wasn’t
there
.

He was seeing a therapist.

He was ‘coming to terms’ with the baby, as he said.

He’d been on a case.

I knew it was a bad case.

I also knew it was a worthy case for him to be on, but I didn’t understand why it was taking him away from me like it was.

And I was fairly sure he was just using it as an excuse to lick his wounds. Wounds that he believed I delivered against him.

I was on birth control. I didn’t know what else to do to prevent a child other than abstinence…and
that
wasn’t going to happen with Michael.

I hadn’t been on antibiotics, so it wasn’t anything stupid on my part.

Nor had I forgotten
any
pills. I knew he didn’t want kids. I would never trap him into keeping me, nor give him a child he didn’t want on purpose.

So, needless to say, I was in a mood.

A lonely mood.

Because he wasn’t
there
.

He wasn’t with me, and I needed him so bad that I could barely stand it.

I’d been ducking his calls for three days now

And I knew he either would plain old stop calling, or he’d pull his head out of his ass and come see me.

Either one was a desired effect at this point.

I knew he loved me.

Knew it so deeply that I felt it with each call he made to me.
Heard it in the tone of his voice.

I took a gulp of my water, enough that I could technically say I was done with it since there was no way I’d be touching it when I got back to my table.

I wasn’t going to be roofied.

Plus, I wasn’t stupid.

“Want to dance, mamacita?” I heard called over my shoulder.

I turned from where I was swaying my hips along with the beat to find a very beautiful man at my back.

He was tall.

He had a black leather vest over a red t-shirt with black jeans and a pair of black boots.

I knew he spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

Did I care?

Fuck no.

Because I was a single lady, and single ladies had needs.

No, not
that
kind of needs.

Needs that made me want another human’s touch.
Crave it.

Needs that Michael should be fulfilling right now. Not leaving me to my own devices.

Jesus, now I was depressing myself again.

I turned, and the man’s eyes immediately went down to my stomach.

Something I made no effort to hide.

I was proud of this stomach.

I was one week shy of four months pregnant, and I was definitely showing.

My previous flat belly was now gently rounded.

And my jeans that I was wearing hugged my legs and hips like a glove.

I had on black spiky heeled boots that came up to mid-calf, and a skin tight black, low cut tank top that showed off the girls.

It was an outfit that I knew would drive Michael wild if he saw.

He wouldn’t, but I still hoped.

“Yeah?” I asked sharply.

His eyes moved up from my belly to my face and he asked abruptly, “You got a man?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I have a man.”

His shoulders seemed to slump. “Shit. I was hoping you’d say different.”

I smiled genuinely at him.

“Life’s a bitch like that,” I offered him my hand. “My name’s Nikki.”

He took my hand, shook it twice, then let it go.

“Name’s Dane
.
Can I get you another drink?” He asked, looking pointedly at the near empty glass.

“Sure, but I’m going to dance right now. You may want to wait because if it sits there too long, I won’t drink it,” I told him, taking a step away from him.

He smiled. “I’ll do that. But I have a meeting that’s supposed to start in about fifteen minutes. I’ll have to take a raincheck.”

I tossed a laugh over my shoulder and then disappeared into the crowd onto the dance floor.

Shaking my ‘bon bon’ to some Ricky Martin, completely forgetting about the man and his ‘meeting’ by the time the fourth song, Pitbull this time, rolled around.

Forty five minutes later, I came off the dance floor with one thing in mind.

A bathroom.

Quick.

I barreled through the door to my destination, and came to a sudden halt when I was faced with the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen.

And she was pregnant to boot.

Flowing blonde hair that came down to her ass. A black skirt pulled up to just underneath her belly, a sky blue tank top, and gold gladiator sandals rounded out the outfit.

She looked hip and trendy, something I never managed to do.

My curves were too generous to look nice in what she was wearing.

“Hello,” I said, skirting around behind her to go into the stall behind her.

“Hi!” She answered back immediately.

I did my business, but heard her leave before I made it back out of the stall.

Washing my hands and fixing some fly-aways from the bobby pins holding my hair out of my face, I smoothed my hands down my jeans and made my way out to the mouth of the hallway.

I tried to decide whether or not to grab a drink from the bar again before going out to the dance floor once again when I saw them.

And my heart stalled in my chest, coming to a slow, pounding stop before it started beating again at a rapid staccato.

Because there, in front of me, was Michael.

He had his arm around the blonde woman from the bathroom, laughing with her.

Dane was across from them on a bench by himself, watching the two interact with crude eyes.

He said something to them, and made his way to the bar.

Where he ordered a water, and turned to smile at me.

I didn’t smile back.

Instead, I walked to him, dread in my every step, and took the glass from him.

I’d never in my life wanted a drink as bad as I did right then.

But, alas, I was pregnant.

And that was a no-no.

Fuckers.

“What’s wrong?”
Dane asked as he took in the set of my shoulders, the way my eyes were flat without any emotion.

“How do you know them?” I asked pointing at Michael and the mystery lady.

“Colleague,” he answered.

Wonderful.
Dane was another cop.

With a sigh, I walked to the dance floor, knowing Michael would see me as I walked past his table.

Then I found the first person I saw, remembering that he’d wanted me to dance with him throughout the time I’d been there, and grabbed him.

Startled at first, the man smiled when he saw who it was.

Then started to grind into my backside.

And dammit, I hated it.

I wanted to want it so bad that I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings.

I totally missed the man that was staring at me as if I’d just stolen his heart straight from his chest.

Missed the way Dane caught it all, and the way understanding lit his eyes.

I also missed the way the woman watched me, knowing I was the one for Michael.

When the man’s hands moved up to cup my hips, I slapped his hand away.

Michael missed that, though, because he turned to talk to the woman, and hurriedly she moved out of the booth allowing him to head straight to me.

Michael

“This has to look real,” Dane said to Lisette and me.

I rolled my eyes.

“We’ve already gone over this a million times, Dane,” I growled.

“You aren’t even touching her. In fact, you haven’t touched her all night. How convincing is that?”
Dane laughed.

I ignored him, scooting closer to Lisette and putting my arm over her shoulder. “Better?”

Dane
studied the two of us. “Yeah, I guess.”

I felt like I was betraying Nikki.

Even sitting here, just like this, wasn’t good.

I knew it.

I should call and explain.

But I was a coward.

“What time do you want us to meet up at the doctor’s office tomorrow?” Lisette asked Dane.

Dane
shrugged. “What time’s your appointment?”

I ignored them, pulling my phone out of my pocket once again, disgruntled when I still had no reply texts or returned calls from Nikki.

I laughed when Elliott said I texted like a girl, and watched when he got up to leave.

“You don’t really want to do this,” Lisette observed.

I shrugged. “It needs to be done. I just wish I didn’t have to lie to my girlfriend about it. She’d be devastated if she ever…”

I watched as the woman I’d been dreaming about walked past me without a glance in my direction.

Eyes down at the floor and a look of devastation on her face, I knew she’d seen me.

Hell, how could she not?

We were in the middle of the dance floor under the fucking lights for Christ’s sake.

“
Fuuuuck
,” I groaned, turning my head to watch Nikki as she walked up to some punk of a kid, grabbed his arm, and started grinding her ass against him.

I was stunned still, for long moments, and only came unstuck when the punk’s hand went to Nikki’s hips.

She slapped his hands away, but he didn’t take the hint, grinding his dick into her ass and holding on when I knew she didn’t want him to.

“Move quickly please,” I urged Lisette.

She’d seen the altercation, had followed my eyes to the dance floor and Nikki, and chose to move.