Shadow: Cerberus MC Book 3 (9 page)

“That’s the reason I’m heading back,” he says. “My wife is a pediatric nurse, and when I told her about Misty, she was concerned for the baby.”

“Perfect,” I say with a relieved breath. “Oh, and Doc?”

“Yes?”

“Can you do a paternity test while you’re here?” And now I’m a total asshole, but I know I won’t rest easy until it’s done.

“No problem. See you within the hour.”

We say our goodbyes, and I hang my head for a while, just needing a few minutes to myself. I thought war took a lot out of me, but I’m certain the last few hours have caused more stress than six months in the desert.

I can feel myself begin to drift off to sleep, so I swing my weight up and head out back to the garage. This place has practically been my home away from home for the last several months, but right now I feel like I’m walking into the lion’s den. I’m already formulating a plan if Kincaid insists that Misty and Griffin can’t stay here at least until things are ironed out. I don’t even know what my future looks like anymore.

Kincaid and Kid are both sitting at the small table in the corner, each with a beer in their hand. I reach into the fridge and grab one for myself, preparing to settle in for a long discussion.

“The doctor is coming back in just a bit. He’s bringing his wife to take a look at the baby,” I say breaking the ice. I sit down beside Kid and across from Kincaid. With my elbows on the table, I lean in and grip my head in my hands.

“You gotta double wrap that shit, man,” Kid says quietly.

“She told me she was on birth control.”

I look up at Kincaid, who’s being extremely quiet. He rolls his lips behind his teeth as if he has something to say but is holding off for some reason.

“You didn’t even use a rubber?” Kid asks. I know he’s shocked as hell. I’m shocked at my actions also.

“It broke,” I explain.

“While you were having sex with her?” Kincaid finally says.

“Before.”

He takes a deep, agitated breath. For some reason, it pisses me off. This is my fucking life, not his.

“Are you telling me you wrapped up with Em every time before you guys started trying to have a baby?”

He slams his fist hard down on the table. Pointing toward the clubhouse, he says, “Are you telling me you love that woman in there?”

I shake my head no.

“I didn’t stick my dick in Emmalyn until I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. My situation is nothing like yours,” he seethes.

I dart my eyes to Kid causing him to hold his hands up by his ears in surrender.

“Don’t look at me, man. Khloe is only eighteen, she’s on birth control, and we use condoms every time,” he says.

“So I fucked up. This is on me. Why are you so pissed? Do you not want them here? I can find a place for us to go if you give me a few days.” I look at Kincaid, begging with my eyes not to be thrown out on my ass.

He’s really not the kind of man that would do something like that, but this situation is a little different than any other that has been brought to our doorstep. Babies are a game changer for sure.

“No, goddamn it. I don’t want you to leave.” He takes a long swig of his beer and sits back in his chair.

“Well, you’re pissed about something.”

“I know it’s too late,” he begins. “They’re here already. Short of keeping your dick out of Misty nine months ago, this couldn’t have been avoided, but did you ever consider what Em is going through before just handing that baby off to her?”

“Fuck,” Kid and I say at the same time. Evidently he never gave Em’s struggle to get pregnant pause either.

“She loves babies, but I don’t know how she’s going to take a baby being in this house when it’s all she wants for herself.” Kincaid twists the knife in even further.

“We can leave. I’d never want to hurt Em.” It’s the truth, plain and simple. I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to distance myself from my club, from my brothers, but I will. I can’t send Misty off by herself. It’s obvious she’s struggling. If things were fine back in Denver, I never would’ve even met that little boy. That knowledge upsets me more than her showing up out of the blue with him.

“I’d never ask you to do that.” I look up at him. “She’d never ask you to do that either.”

“The doctor is going to do a paternity test when he gets here,” I tell both of them.

Kid raises his eyebrows, tips his beer back, but doesn’t say a word.

“You don’t believe her?” Kincaid asks. I shrug and take a long pull on my own beer. “Man, if you can’t trust her…” he lets his voice trail off.

“I don’t know what to believe. She shows up after all this time. I mean the timeline seems right, but who knows. She doesn’t seem like the type, but I honestly don’t know her that well.”

“She may have to go,” Kincaid says. “That changes things.”

“It doesn’t,” I insist. The stress of the day has just reached a tipping point. I stand from my chair and slap both of my hands on the table top. “Did you see the state she’s in? Even if the test comes back and that baby isn’t mine, I don’t think I can just toss her out on her ass.”

Kincaid smiles at me. “Now, that’s the man I know.”

Kid looks between us, confused on what just happened between Kincaid and me.

“You’re an asshole,” I tell him sitting down and finishing my beer.

“This is where they need to be.” He begins to peel the label from his beer bottle. “Misty called you that day letting you know that the little girl came in to report Josie being held in her home. Do you think she did that just to get in your good graces?”

I shake my head. “Not a chance. Josie is her friend. She legitimately was concerned for her.”

“Then she stays. You know Kaleb is like a brother to me. He would’ve been devastated if Josie didn’t make it home to him. She helped my family; I help hers. Simple as that.” He stands from the table and slaps me on the back. “I need to go figure out what kind of emotional state Em is in with all of this shit.”

“Thanks, man.” It encompasses so much. Gratitude for his support. Relief over him not kicking my ass out. I couldn’t ask for better men to have in my life.

Kid and I sit in silence for a while until the crunch of gravel forces me to my feet. The doctor and his wife are here, and I need to know if Griffin is healthy.

I slowly make my way into the room to see Emmalyn, who I know, is the club President’s girl, and two other women in the room. One of the other girls is young like me, and the other one is slightly older, maybe mid-forties. She’s the one I’m staring down right now since she’s the one holding Griffin.

I reach for him without saying a word, and she hands him over without question. My heart is racing, and the relaxed feeling I had after my shower is now a thing of the past.

“He’s beautiful,” the older woman says never taking her eyes off of his sleeping face.

I cradle him to my chest and sit back down on the bed.

“I remember you from Kaleb and Josie’s wedding reception,” Emmalyn says sitting down on the edge of the bed near my feet. “How are they doing?”

A sense of sadness washes over me. When my parents made me leave I never really looked back, that included the friends I’d made while working at the Little Elm Elementary. I avoided Josie, especially since she had an indirect connection to Shadow. At the time, I didn’t know if I’d ever tell him about the baby, so I didn’t need the news of me being pregnant getting out.

The other side of that is Josie was pregnant when I left also. She was no longer working at the school at that point, but we maintained some contact. I allowed bitterness to creep into my soul after finding out I was pregnant with Griffin. Josie had it all, the beautiful house, the man who’d die for her.

Kaleb, from what Josie said, was ecstatic about the news of her unplanned pregnancy. Josie had the life I felt like I deserved but would never have. It’s difficult to be around people who have everything they could ever wish for when you have nothing to call your own. Not one of my finest moments, but the feelings were there nonetheless.

“I haven’t talked to Josie in a while,” I say with no other explanation.

I lower my gaze to Griffin, unable to face the questioning eyes of three women I don’t know. They seem nice enough, but they can also have been sent here to get information out of me. If that’s the case, I wish they’d just ask already. I have nothing to hide, but the last thing I need is people pretending to be nice to me when they really don’t want to be.

I look up into each of their eyes, trying to determine if Shadow sent them here. I’m saddened at the thought.

“I’m Rose,” the older woman says sitting down in the chair across the room where I woke to find Shadow at earlier.

“And I’m Khloe,” the younger one says.

“Are you her daughter?” I ask Khloe indicating Rose across the room.

Rose barks a laugh. “You better quit with that shit,” she says playfully.

“I’m Kid’s,” Khloe says as if it explains everything in the world.

She takes in my confused look and explains further. “I’m Kid’s girlfriend. He’s one of the club members.”

I nod my head in understanding.

Emmalyn chimes in. “You know I’m with Diego,” she says. I assume Diego is Kincaid. She points to Rose. “She’s married to Doc.”

“You all live here?” I ask gently rocking Griffin, who’s beginning to wiggle in my arms.

“I don’t,” Rose says. “Doc and I have a house in town, but we’re here practically every day.”

“Khloe and I live here,” Emmalyn says. “Are you hungry? I can make you a sandwich.” She sees my nose scrunch up. “Or some soup maybe?”

“No thank you.” Just the thought of food right now makes my stomach turn.

Before anyone else can speak, there’s a soft knock on the door. Khloe stands and opens it. Shadow walks in glancing at Griffin first; then his eyes meet mine. The look on his face is inscrutable, masked with no emotion. He can hide all he wants, but I can see the exhaustion in his eyes, making his usually vibrant blue eyes seem dull.

He steps aside, and an older man followed by a woman walk into the room.

The man steps forward, holding his hand out to me. “Good to see you awake, Misty.” I shake his proffered hand. “I’m Dr. Davison, and this is my wife, Angelica.”

I look past him into the kind, dark eyes of his wife. She’s beautiful, matching the handsomeness of her equally formidable husband.

“Hi,” I say unsure of what’s going on. My eyes seek out Shadow’s for an explanation, but he’s standing in the doorway speaking with the women that started shuffling out of the room when the trio walked in.

I hold Griffin tighter to my chest.

“Shadow called me when you fainted earlier.” He points to the IV still in the back of my hand. “I gave you antibiotics and some pain meds. I’m just here to follow up.”

I try to read his face, looking for deception and finding none.

“Angelica is a pediatric nurse at the hospital. I brought her along to give the baby a quick look.” I hold him even tighter. “I presume he’s not been looked at since leaving the hospital?”

I shake my head. A pediatrician came in and checked him at the hospital, giving me a card for an appointment I had no intentions of keeping. Looking at the doctor now, I realize that was a stupid mistake.

Shadow is glaring at me from across the room. “His appointment isn’t for another couple of days,” I say more to Shadow than the doctor.

“You’ve traveled all the way from Denver with him?” I nod. “Traveling puts a lot of stress on a newborn. Let Angelica give him a good once over while I check your incision.”

He reaches for the baby and hands him gently to his wife. She carries him across the room and begins to examine him on the dresser. Shadow stands close to her. I can tell that they're speaking softly, but I’m unable to hear what they’re saying

“I see you took a shower,” Dr. Davison says pulling my attention back to him. “Did you use the sterile drapes to dry off?”

“Yes.”

“Lie back,” he says patting the pillow with his hand. I try to see what’s going on with the baby, but from this angle, Dr. Davison is blocking my view. “You got most of the IV antibiotics,” he says pulling on latex gloves. “But the infection is bad enough you’ll need some oral ones as well.” I wince when he touches the irritated area of my incision. “I’ve given Shadow some pain meds for you as well.”

I close my eyes against the pain.

“Did the hospital give you pain meds?”

I nod my head.

“And you’ve taken them all already?” I can hear the slight judgment in his voice.

“They made me sleepy,” I explain. “I couldn’t function enough to take care of Griffin when I took them.”

He smiles at me. “You need something for the pain, Misty.”

I shake my head. “I have to take care of the baby. He needs me.”

I look up and see Shadow standing at the end of the bed. “He needs you healthy,” Shadow says. “There are people here who will help you until you’re better.”

People
. It doesn’t go unnoticed that he didn’t use the word
I
.

I close my eyes and fight against the sting of tears, losing the battle as one rolls down my cheek. I remind myself that I’m doing what’s best for my son, even if his father hates me. This is only temporary I remind myself as the doctor finishes his exam. I only hope my heart can withstand the pain it will go through being around Shadow.