Shifter’s Baby (Alpha Fantasy Paranormal Billionaire Shifter BBW Romance) (122 page)

Jackson’s Secret

By: Laura Jane

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Copyright 2016 by Laura Jane - All rights reserved.

In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

CHAPTER ONE

The examination table was uncomfortable and Leila shifted crunching the long white paper underneath her, but she felt very exposed in the paper top they gave her to wear for the ultrasound. It was the first one since the pregnancy was confirmed the day of the incident on the stairs. Jackson sat on a stool reaching for her hand as they waited for the nurse tech to conduct the sonogram, afterwards the OBGYN would come in and explain what they found during the exam. She was worried about the long term effects her fainting would have on the baby. Three whole days she'd been asleep. Leila still could not believe it, but Jackson told relayed to her how scary it had been watching her unconscious with Caitlyn. My parents had come and gone as they could but he never left my side. It would be more impressive if he actually cared about his missed classes.

Leila had decided that in the wake of the incident to truly give him another chance not just with their baby, and so far he hadn't let her down. He made sure she took her prenatal vitamins and that she got at least eight hours of sleep. He held her hair when the morning sickness came day and night. He joked that it wasn't even morning sickness when the bouts of nausea came unexpectedly at midnight.

Jackson rubbed his thumb on her palm to attempt to settle her nerves. She continued to fidget. He looked up her leaning against the table with his elbow. "It's going to be okay." He said in a docile tone.

"What if there are some delayed complications from when I blacked out!" Leila frowned at her belly, the bump wasn't much yet, but she could see her stomach beginning to round out. Caitlyn told her that she could not see any difference. At first it seemed like her abs were toning, but now her belly began to soften. She was officially two months along. Only Jackson, Caitlyn, and her parents knew about the baby, but they hadn't started telling other people yet. Leila could only think about the ‘what if's.’ She'd already been hospitalized at the beginning of her pregnancy.

"Leila," Jackson stood up and kissed the top of her head. "We are fine, the baby will be fine. I read that we may be able to hear the heartbeat today." He placed a hand on the top of her midriff. The nurse tech knocked on the door in that moment and came in.

"Hello, Mom and Dad. I'm Sheila!" She smiled at them. "Are you ready to see your baby?" Sheila picked up the chart and sat it on the counter as she pulled over the ultrasound cart. "I see that you're eight weeks along! With any luck we'll be able to hear that the baby's heart." Jackson looked down at her smirking as if to say I told you so.

"Great, thank you." She bite her lip, worry heated the top of her hairline with dread. She was not convinced that everything was going to be okay.

"This will be cold, I'm sorry." Sheila lifted the top of the paper top exposing Leila's stomach. She squirted the gel generously on her lower part of her abdomen. The scanner felt strange against her skin. The screen flicked to life with the Doppler device's reading. "Okay, let me show you, this is your baby. It's very small, just the size of a bean. I'm going to try to find the heartbeat now." She moved the scanner some more and Leila's fear spread the pit of her gut. Jackson squeezed her hand, watching the screen intently. The pause was long, they both started to worry they were going deaf the silence was so loud. Then suddenly it happened. Leila was almost sure that the machine was picking up her own heartbeat; the pounding in her chest was so hard. "There it is." Sheila said at last. "That is your baby's heart." It sounded like music, angels singing throughout the room. She held the device in place for a long moment. "Okay, let me go get your doctor to go over everything with you and answer any questions you may have."

When they were left alone, Leila looked up at Jackson and saw that he'd been crying. She reached up and wiped a tear from his cheek. He smiled down at her and leaned in to kiss her. "I told you everything was okay." He pressed his forehead to hers. Leila nodded closing her eyes. Enough though the machine was now turned off, she could still hear the beating of its heart. It felt as if the whole world dissolved and only left the three of them. Their little happy family, even if their happiness ended up being short lived Leila felt grateful.

Another knock came to the door and the doctor walked in. "Hello I am Dr. Ross and I am your OBGYN. The last time that I saw you, you were unconscious so it is great to see you again!" She strode across the room turning the machine back on and placing the reader in various places along her belly. The heartbeat played again through the speakers. "Good. All right, so I don't want to keep you both here too much longer. I just want to go over the results." Leila nodded, placing her hand on top of Jackson's. "Everything looks great, the baby is healthy. Do you have any questions?"

"Should we expect any long term effects from my passing out?" Leila asked right on cue.

"At this point, I would not worry about that. Everything is okay; the baby is developing right on schedule. If we start to see any declines or delays from here on out, it would be safe to say that it is not caused by the accident." Dr. Ross supplied. Leila nodded, finally allowing herself to relax. "Is there anything else?"

"I don't have any questions, do you?" Jackson asked Leila who just shook her head. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth again, she might throw up.

"Okay, wonderful. If you think of something just call my office and I'll be happy to help you. We will be seeing you in four more weeks." Dr. Ross smiled before leaving the room.

CHAPTER TWO

Leila laid in bed, the sonogram picture in one hand and the other hand on the growing baby. It was late now; Caitlyn was out with some guy that she'd been matched with on a hookup app. The appointment earlier only placated her anxiety for a few hours, now alone with her thoughts she couldn't help but think that if anything went wrong it would be her fault. She'd chastised herself for not taking better care of her body the second that she found out about the baby.

She started to picture her and Jackson holding the baby in their arms, and the baby growing up into a toddler. If they had a boy he would throw a football or a baseball around the yard. If it was a girl she imagined French braiding her hair, teaching her about what it means to be a girl. They would read to the baby every night. She was determined that no matter what happened between her and Jackson the baby would also feel loved.

The faint sound of a thud came from outside of her window and it slowly slides open. She looked over at Jackson standing with is back to her as he closed it again. Leila slide over making room for him on the bed and he climbed in with her. He placed a hand on top of hers and studied the picture. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

"That was the most magical sound I've ever heard earlier." He said softly into her ear. His fingers caressed to the top of her hand, tracing patterns on her skin. "What do you think it is?" She thought about it for a moment. She'd always been told that a woman just knows something about the way the baby feels as it is developing or maybe it was they way it was carried later in term.

"I don't know." She said finally. "I just want it to be healthy." Jackson stroked her hair comfortingly.

"Dr. Ross said that you're in the clear." His voice was barely a whisper. Of course, Leila knew that. She'd been there and heard the words spoken to her. For weeks after she left the hospital she abided by the strict only allowed to attend class bed rest to make sure the baby continued to be healthy. Now she could do other things and probably should get of out bed and exercise. As long as she didn't faint again everything would be okay. "Can I tell you what I hope it is?" Leila nodded rolling onto her side. She buried her face into his chest. He wrapped his arm around now. "I hope it's a girl, one as sweet and caring as you, as understanding and patient as you've been with me. I never deserved that."

"No, you didn't." His shirt muffled her voice and he chuckled.

"Thank you for giving me that anyway." He looked down at her and took a long breath. "I wonder if I can even ask you for more." Leila pushed away from him and sat up on her hands to look at him fully in the eye.

"What did you do? No! Don't answer that. Why did you have to ruin this? We've been doing so well and finally we know for sure that the baby is healthy. It has a heartbeat now it has life growing! And now you're going to just throw all of that away aren't you?" She was outraged and couldn't believe that this was happening now.

"Leila, please it is nothing like that." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "I don't even know if this will affect you and our child, but I need you to know something. I have kept something hidden from you and it's because I'm not proud of it." Jackson watched her face as he spoke, waiting for her to kick him out of her room. "When I was younger, I became involved with the wrong people. My Dad had to bail me out too many times to count. They were a gang and I was never officially initiated."

"You were in a gang?" She drew out her words slowly trying to comprehend this news.

"Not formally." Jackson said again. "I was on my way to being initiated but my parents moved us to keep me from joining."

"Why are you bringing this up now?" Leila frowned down on him.

"I saw one of the members earlier today. He recognized me and tried to approach me, but I found away to lose him. They have no claims to me so there shouldn't be an issue, I just wanted to let you know in case something does come from it." Leila cast him a dubious look but settled back in his arms as she had before. His shoulders relaxed, some time during their conversation he'd become tense, worried that she would not take the news very well.

"Jackson, just please no more surprises from here on out." Leila exhaled. He rested his chin on top of her head and thoughtfully tapped his fingers on her side.

"No, I promise that is everything now. No more secrets to share." He assured. They were quiet then listening to the gently rhythm of beatings in their chests sang them to sleep. Leila dreamt of cribs and pacifiers, she imagined Jackson holding a baby girl with the same brown hair curled on top of her head as Leila's. In her dream, Jackson sang to the baby while rocking her in the corner of a room. Light cooing set the instrumentals for his song. When Leila entered the room, he smiled up at her love sparkled in his blue eyes. Everything was perfect. Their little family complete at last. That's what they were now.

When Caitlyn came home much later, Leila stirred from her sleep to find that Jackson had slipped out most likely a few hours after she slipped into her slumber. She wasn't upset; he had to be gone before bed checks. She looked around the room with hazy eyes. The sonogram was facedown on her bedside table with a sticky note stuck to the back. Caitlyn looked over and mouthed an apology for waking her up. Leila picked up the note, 'I didn't want to wake you. I'll see you tomorrow, Jax.'

CHAPTER THREE

At the front of the lecture hall, Leila's economy professor drone on, hands on either side of the podium every so often he would turn and write a point he felt was very important on the whiteboard. The class was only half way through and she was already dozing off, her head in her hand, eyelids heavy from the mundaneness of it all. Economics already a boring subject to her but the monotone discussion added to the boredom that she felt. Her head dropped off of her palm and she jerked back up alert once more.

Her classmate to her left wrote notes furiously on his open notebook. Leila looked down at her own pad, she'd written the date of the lecture and some key phrases that had made it to the dry erase board. To the side, she'd doodled different names. All feminine names, since Jackson confessed his hope that the baby was a girl it had became her wish as well. She drew hearts and flowers coming off the names and stars next to her favorites which included Kayden and Kylie. Leila leaned over the names beginning to write another one when the first drop of blood hit the paper. She gasped looking over her fingers and arms. Everything looked okay but more splatters appeared on the lined sheet.

"Your nose." Her classmate said staring at her. Fingers came away completely wet with the red substance. She held her hand to nose as she frantically searched her backpack for anything she could use coming up empty, she stretched out the sleeve of her cardigan and pressed the cotton roughly to her face. Leila stood messily grabbing her belongs; she rushed out of the hall. Eyes followed her all the way out the door. The blood continued to gush as she made it to the bathroom. Balling up toilet paper, she replaced it with her sleeve. Her face was straight out of a horror movie.

She leaned against the sink waiting for the blood to clot and stop flowing, but it only soaked through the firs ball of paper. She went into the stall and created another one. Leila sat on the toilet seat and waited, but she went through two more wads. There didn't seem to be an end coming. She dialed quickly and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hey sweetheart." Jackson said after three rings. "What's going on? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"I am, I got this nightmare of a noise bleed and it isn't stopping. I don't know what to do! I'm worried that I need to go to the hospital." She started to cry.

"Where are you?" There was a shuffling sound and a door slamming behind him.

"I'm at Jones Hall in the ladies room." She balanced the phone between her ear and her shoulder. "It's been ten minutes. This cannot be healthy."

"Stay on the phone, I'll be there as soon as I can." He replied.

"Okay." She continued to cry softly to herself. The bathroom door opened and women stopped at the sinks.

"Did you see her running out?" One said to the other. "That was a lot of blood."

"I bet she's a coke head." The other one laughed.

"Leila are you there?" Jackson said through her phone. "What's going on? Did you faint again?"

"No, I'm here." She whispered into the receiver.

"Oh, shit." The first girl said peeking under the stall to seeing Leila's bag and discarded notebook. The women rushed out of the bathroom.

"There were some girls in here talking about me just now." She said in a normal voice again.

"What?" He almost yelled. "I'm almost there." She nodded to her self and rested again the wall of the cubicle. Leila exchanged the wad of paper for a fresh one. "Leila you're going to be okay. His voice echoed and she knew that she was hearing him outside the bathroom and through the phone now. He came into the bathroom and opened her stall. She dropped her phone into her lap. Jackson wordlessly took the paper from her hand kneeling in front of her. He dapped at her nose and frowned.

"Thank you for coming." She told him taking in a deep calming breath. His reply came with the shake of his head.

"I told you that I would be here for you. This is normal at nine weeks." Jackson remarked. She raised her brow in surprise. "Don't look at me that way. I've been reading that book your parents recommended and doing research online. You have a lot of excess blood right now because it's going to the baby now, too."

"I haven't read anything." She confessed.

"You may also feel dizzy in the this stage." He warned. "You should be on the look at for that since you have already lost consciousness." Jackson reached for more toilet paper. "I'll give you the book, you need to read it. This is happening to you."

"So I don't need to go to the emergency room?" She asked lamely. He pulled away the paper and showed her that it was clean.

"Nope it looks like it's all over." He kissed her lightly.

"Thank you again for coming here right away." She stood up carefully testing to see if she felt dizzy due to all the blood lost. Leila went to wash her hands.

"I would do anything for you, Leila. I love you." She stopped and turned around to face him, her eyes wide as a full moon at midnight. Jackson wrapped his arms around her kissing her more passionately. His tongue flicked against hers as she opened her mouth allowing him in.

"I love you, too." She said once they broke apart. He went to the door and turned the lock engaging the deadbolt. Jackson walked back to her as she pulled her shirt off over her head. He ran his fingers around her side to the small of her back. Lips pressed to her neck, he gently sucked on her skin.  Leila's breath hallowed and a low moan escaped from her throat. It had been so long since he touched her this way, they'd been so careful since her hospitalization. He stroked her back, hands pausing on the clasp of her bra. His lips left a trail of kissed from her neck to her shoulder as he slipped off the straps and discarded it completely on the sink next to them.

Jackson took her breast into his mouth bite delicately on her nipple. He grabbed a fist full of her other mound rubbing circles around her areola with this thumb. Leila closed her eyes as he switched his actions to the other breast. She grabbed a hold of his hair and pulled on it lightly. He stood up kissing her mouth, Jackson held on to the back of her head. Leila caressed the outside of his pants where he was engorging. He bites on her bottom lip, growling playfully. She giggled in return moving her hands to the top of his pants, slowly unbuttoning his jeans. Leila lowered herself onto her knees undoing the zipper. She tucked her fingers under the hem of his pants and pulled them down to his feet. The hardness peeked through an opening in his boxers. She fully exposed him, admiring his throbbing cock. Leila fondled his balls still hidden in his underwear as she licked mischievously at the pinkish head. Moving her hand to his shaft she held it steady as her mouth slowly enveloped him. Jackson humped as he tried to stifle the moan building deep from within.

She drew all of him into her mouth now, moving him in and out of her lips. She wrapped a finger and her thumb around the base of his penis moving it them in rhythm of her sucking. He couldn't take it anymore.

"Come here." Jackson said, pulling her back up to him. He takes her by the mouth, kissing her affectionately. Leila helped him remove her trousers. Her heat rose from within her as Jackson placed his hand on the outside of his panties. She craved him, needed him inside of her. He ripped down her underwear and picked up onto the edge of the sink, lifting her legs up heavy around his waist. His fingers posed on her perked clit. The moisture increased with every touch.

"Fuck me." She commanded. Jackson tittered at her impatience. He slipped into her opening, cutting through the wetness as he entered into her. She wailed in pleasure, grabbing onto his shoulders. He silenced her with his mouth. Jackson thrusted deeply into her seizing her ponytail, pulling hard she gasped into their kiss. He slammed harder into her, shifting his tongue to her bosom. Sucking hard on her tit once more.

"Ohh." She let out the mounting pleasure peaking as her muscled clinched, tightening around him and relaxing again. She reclined back against the mirror. He rocked his hips into hers as he continued to work. Leila clung her legs around him, she grabbed onto the sides of the porcelain sink.

Jackson let out a long groan as he came into her; he slumped into her resting a hand on the wall to support them. Breathless they stayed there, intertwined until they heard someone banging on the door.