The UN Series Complete Box Set (207 page)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

PARKER

Pregnant? Did she just say she’s pregnant? That can’t be. Can it? I mean we haven’t used protection in a while, but she’s on birth control. Are we overly cautious? No. But ... how could it …

“Say something,” she whispers.

“How long have you known?” I find myself asking.

She licks her lips and speaks softly. “Four weeks.”

I let go of her hand and take a step back from her. “Why haven’t you told me?”

“I didn’t want to be that woman.”

“What woman?” I ask confused.

She throws her hands out to her side. “We didn’t know where we were going, Parker.” She sighs. “I didn’t want to tell you I was pregnant and then you feel obligated to marry me.”

“I love you,” I say without hesitation.

She gives me a soft smile. “You don’t need love to make a baby. Just because you love me doesn’t mean you want a child.” This is the part about her that I fell in love with but also hate. She’s so strong. Whenever she is faced with something, she would rather do it herself than have someone by her side to help her.

“How can you say that?” I ask wide-eyed.

“Look at you.” She lifts her hands to gesture to me. “You’re not all that thrilled about it now. You’re saying four weeks ago, you would have been more willing to be a father?”

I step back to her and place my hands on either side of her face. She looks up at me; the tears have stopped falling, but her eyes are still watery. “I thought that I would want nothing more than to be your husband, Kat. But now, I can’t imagine anything better than you having my child.” Her eyes fill with tears once again, and before they can fall, I lower my lips to hers and kiss her. She opens her mouth, and I deepen the kiss. She presses her body further into mine, and I let out a moan when she runs her nails down my back over my shirt.

When she finally pulls away, she places her hands on my wrists and breaths heavily. “Do you understand now?”

I frown. “Understand what?” I need specifics here. All my mind can think of is we’re having a baby. I’m gonna be a dad! The woman I love is gonna be a mom! And I couldn’t be happier.

“That’s it not only about you and me.” She pulls away from me. “I don’t feel safe at our house anymore, Parker. I love you, but I’m putting our baby first. I can’t be there when your father knows where we live.” I go to speak, but her eyes widen and she gasps. “Your brother. Is that why he all of a sudden wanted to come over? Is he …?”

“Stop. Stop,” I say interrupting her. I shake my head. “No. My brother is helping me. And as far as the baby, I am going to put you two first. Do you understand that?” She nods after a long second. “We won’t go back there until it’s finished. Okay?”

She nods again. “But what are we gonna do?” She looks around Slade and Sam’s kitchen. “We can’t stay here. They have Sadey. I would never want to put their family in danger.”

I open my mouth to speak but another male voice speaks. “You’re safe here.”

We both turn to see Slade and Sam standing at the entry of the kitchen. “Oh, no.”

“Really,” Sam interrupts Kat. “We have the best security system, and it will be like a girls’ night every night,” she says excitedly.

“We couldn’t ask you guys to do that.” She shakes her head in protest.

“You’re not. We’re offering,” Slade says with a smile. “And we won’t take no for an answer.”

Sam walks over to us. “Come on, let’s go unpack your suitcase and then you need that nap you were talking about when you first arrived.”

Slade walks over to me. “Well, buddy, let me be the first to congratulate you.” He slaps me on the shoulder.

“Do we get to drink now?” I ask in all seriousness.

He chuckles. “No.” He starts to move around the kitchen, getting a skillet and spatula out of a drawer and cabinet. “I’m gonna make us pancakes, though,” he says with a smile.

I laugh as I sit down at the kitchen table. “Sounds great to me.”

******

I throw my head back and yell, “Noooooooooo!”

Dropping my head to my chest, I openly sob as I sit on the cold concrete while I hold Kat in my lap. Her head lies on my lap, her body on the floor. We’re both covered in blood. Her blood! “Kat,” I sob as my hands dig into her dark hair. “Please, baby!” I beg her to come back to me. But she’s not going to. She’s dead!

Her hands lie out to her side on the floor motionless. Her white maternity shirt is stained red from the stab wounds. I close my eyes, and my entire body shakes. “Please.” I place my head down onto hers, and my tears fall down onto her face.

“Pathetic.”

My head snaps up to see my father standing in front of us. The same knife he killed her and my child with still gripped in his right hand. My jaw tightens. “Why?” I demand through clenched teeth. “Why not just kill me?” I shout in anger.

He smiles down at us. “It was an easy decision, really. There was no way I could allow another person into this world who you could turn against me.” He rolls his eyes as if I should have known that. “And watching you cry like a little bastard is fun too.”

I sit straight up in bed breathing heavy and covered in sweat. A hand lands on my shoulder, and I shove it off.

“Parker? What’s wrong?”

I turn to look over my shoulder when I hear Kat’s sleepy voice. She sits up next to me, eyes heavy and face free of makeup. Her hair looks a mess and my white t-shirt she prefers to wear clings to her big tits. We’ve been staying here at Slade and Sam’s for three nights now, and I still forget where I am when I wake up in their spare bedroom.

“Nothing,” I say roughly.

She lifts her hand and starts to rub my back. “Talk to me, baby,” she says softly.

I don’t wanna talk. I don’t wanna tell her that I just had a nightmare that she was eight months pregnant and my father stabbed her and our child to death. She is already scared of what he is capable of doing. I don’t wanna make it worse.

“It’s nothing,” I assure her again. Before she can say anything, I reach out and wrap my arms around her and pull her down to the bed with me. It's dark in Slade and Sam’s spare bedroom, but a soft light comes in through the window. I push the dark strands of her hair away from her face as we lie on our sides facing one another.

“I love you,” I tell her as my eyes roam her face. I never thought those words would come so easily. I don’t even have to think about it. I tell her first thing in the morning when we wake up, and it’s the last thing I say to her before we go to sleep at night. I can’t even keep track of how many times I say it throughout the day.

“I love you too,” she says softly as she looks at me with concern. I know she worries about me. I worry about her just as much and it’s getting to me. Making me lose my mind.

I place my hand on her hipbone and run it up her side, pushing her shirt up in the process. The feel of her soft skin under my fingers makes my cock harden.

She licks her lips before rolling over on her back. I can take the hint. I push the covers off us, sit up, and straddle her narrow hips. She looks up at me as she runs her fingernails softly down my chest.

This time, I place both of my hands on her hips and let them make their way up her stomach and rib cage lifting the shirt up in the process but for a different reason this time. “Sit up,” I demand softly, and she does as she’s told, lifting her arms up in the air letting me know she wants her shirt off as much as I do.

Once I toss it to the floor, she lies back down. My hands make their way up to her chest and I cup her big tits and squeeze them gently.

“Parker.” She sighs as she arches her neck.

“Yes, baby?” I ask already rocking my hips against hers. I can feel the heat through her panties. I bend down and lick her right nipple. It hardens as I lightly blow on it. She gasps when I take it between my teeth.

I moan when her hands find their way to my hair and she grabs hold of it. I need this. Her. Ever since she told me she was pregnant, all that has been on my mind is what I stand to lose. The fact that I’m gonna be a dad just gives my father more power over me.

“Make love to me,” she whispers before my lips touch hers.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

TATE

The first time I met Missy, I thought she was a curse. I’ve always lived in a dark and rough world, but seeing her, someone so innocent and beautiful, made me feel even worse about myself. It made me want to be that guy who had money and dressed to impress. I wanted to be someone that a woman like that would want. But then, when I found out she wanted me, I wanted nothing but to take that innocence from her. Show her the monster that I truly am to scare her away.

Then, after I had her in Vegas, I panicked. I ran like a little pussy. Afraid of what she made me feel. That she was capable of making me believe I deserved better than what I was worth. Funny that she knew exactly what I needed.

“Come on, Missy,” the doctor says to my wife.

“Tate,” she says breathing heavy. She turns her head to look up at me; tears streak her face and a look of terror in her big blue eyes. “I can’t.” She shakes her head and closes her eyes tightly. “I can’t do it.” She squeezes my hand to the point it cuts off my circulation.

“Yes, you can,” I tell her.

“Missy,” her doctor calls out her name as he sits at the end of her hospital bed. “We just need one more push. Okay? Then your baby will be here. Just one more.”

She opens her eyes and looks up at me, and it makes me feel helpless. I wanna take her pain away. I just wanna squeeze her belly for her until our child just pops out. But the only way I can help her is to coach her through it. “You can do this, baby. I’m right here.” I place my free hand over her hand that is still squeezing mine like a vise. “Just one more. Come on. You can do it.”

She grinds her teeth together before sucking in a breath between them. She nods her head quickly, closes her eyes, and lets out a growl as she grunts and pushes. Her growl turns into a scream as she gives everything her little body has left. And moments later, we hear a little cry.

“Great job, Missy!” the doctor announces happily as he holds up our little girl for us to see. “She’s perfect.”

Missy begins to cry as she looks down at our little miracle. A miracle I never expected to have.

I push her slick blond hair from her forehead and lean down to give her a soft kiss. “I love you,” I tell her. “I love you so much.”

Her body shakes as she now sobs at the fact that we officially have a child. She’s been through so much; that she even puts up with me is truly a miracle. “I love you too.”

******

We had kept it a secret from everyone that Missy went into labor. We were in bed and I was in a dead sleep when Missy woke me up by hitting me in the chest while screaming
she’s coming
. By the time we arrived at the hospital, the nurse had checked her and she had dilated to an eight. That was at four o’clock this morning. Our little princess finally arrived two minutes after ten.

I look up from beside Missy’s hospital bed when I hear her door open. Sam walks in and looks at me with narrowed eyes. “Why didn’t you call me?” she demands.

“Don’t be mad at him,” Missy says with a smile. “I didn’t want to wake any of you guys up.”

Sam’s frown turns into a huge smile when she looks at Missy and our little princess that she holds bundled up in a pink blanket that I had bought her. “Oh my God,” she squeals making her way over to the other side of the bed. As she tells Missy how beautiful she is, Slade walks in followed by Parker and Kat. They all berate me for not calling and then smile and ooh and aww after they look at my little miracle.

“She’s so beautiful,” Kat says. “Good thing she looks like you, Missy.” Everyone laughs.

“What name did you guys decide on?” Slade asks.

This has been a fight. Neither one of us could decide on a name. We ended up narrowing it down to four. We both agreed that we would wait until she arrived and we would just know what name she looked like. But none of the four made the cut.

Missy reaches over and grabs my hand as she looks at them. “We decided on Star.”

“I love that!” Kat declares.

“That is such a pretty name!” Sam agrees.

To them, it’s just a name. To Missy and me, it means everything. I once told Missy that she made me feel like I was a better person than I was. That she made me feel like I didn’t have to live in the darkness. She had told me that there was nothing wrong with the darkness. That that’s the only time the stars get to shine. And our daughter is definitely our star! After everything that we have been through, she is the light that we will forever see even in our darkest moments. And to us, no other name would suit her.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

PARKER

Three days after Star was born, I find myself sitting on Tate and Missy’s couch next to Kat. They got to come home the day after Missy gave birth to Star. But we wanted to give them a couple of days to adjust and get used to their new life. Sam’s words.

All the guys are standing around talking and having a beer. The women ooh and ahh over Star. The kids are running around like crazy little humans. But me, I just sit here and watch Kat hold my newest niece. I may not be her biological uncle, but we are all family. Family that has been through hell and come out stronger for it.

I watch Kat rock her back and forth. She touches her little nose and kisses her little cheeks. I can’t help but think of her and our child. What a great mother she is gonna be.

“Isn’t she perfect?” Kat asks as she looks down at the sleeping baby in her arms.

“Here. Let me hold her.” I place my arms out and she hands her off to me. I lift her up giving her a soft kiss on her soft skin.

“Aww. This is adorable.” I look up to see Courtney standing in the living room with a smile on her face. “The way you hold Star it’s like you’re practicing. Thought you didn’t want kids.”

I roll my eyes. “That’s not what I said …” I pause, remembering that conversation we had at the hospital when Missy had the false alarm. Courtney had suggested I was next in line, and I told her I wanted to wait a few years.

I look over at Kat. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” She was pregnant then, and I didn’t know it. Is that what kept her from telling me? Little things I would say here and there?

She waves it off. “You didn’t know.”

“No. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want that.” If I could change it, would I? Would I go back and use protection that one time that resulted in Kat getting pregnant? Absolutely not! I want this baby just as much as I want her. “I love you, Kat.” I wish I could hug her, kiss her. But Star sleeping in my arms prevents that.

She gives me a sexy smile as she places her hands on either side of my face. Then she presses her lips to mine for a quick kiss. “I love you too.”

“Hey now,” Courtney jumps in. “Calm down. Wouldn’t want a kiss to lead to another baby.” She laughs at herself.

“Maybe it already has,” I say with a smile of my own.

She opens her mouth and then closes it. She tilts her head to the side and looks back and forth between Kat and me. “What does that mean?”

I shrug. “I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Bullshit!” Josh says as he enters the living room with a beer in his hand. “You tell us everything.”

Kat looks over to me wide-eyed. “You do what?”

Missy walks over to me and I reluctantly give Star to her before Tate takes his daughter from his wife. “He’s lying,” I say trying to hold back a smile.

Josh shakes his head. “He told us about that one time when you …”

“Josh, if you finish that sentence I will nut-punch you,” Kat warns.

I laugh as I wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her to me. Leaning into her ear, I whisper, “I can’t help but brag about you.”

She laughs as she tilts her head to face me. We’re nose to nose. “You had better keep some of it to yourself.”

“Never,” I tease.

She puckers her lips and I give her a quick kiss. When we turn back to look back to the living room, everyone is now staring at us. Sam is smiling at us and Slade is standing next to her with an angry Sadey on his hip. Courtney has a big smile on her face and Josh looks like he couldn’t care less what we are doing. Tate sits on the couch next to his wife as he holds his daughter and Missy looks back and forth between us.

“Why do I feel like we’re missing something?” Missy asks.

“Should we tell them our little secret?” I ask Kat for all of them to hear. Which it’s really not a secret! Sam and Slade know.

“I think it’s time,” she says with a smile. Then she looks at all of them. “We’re expecting a baby.”

******

Kat and Sam are planning our wedding as we walk into Sam and Slade’s house. “We really should go get a hotel,” she says turning to face me.

“Absolutely not!” Sam says to her. “You are welcome here as long as you like.”

Kat sighs heavily. “You shouldn’t have to take us in,” she insists. “Tomorrow, we’ve been here a week.” It’s been hard considering our work schedule. I don’t like that she works nights at the hospital, but she promises me that she is safe there. I don’t believe that, so I have found myself up there just hanging out several nights this past week.

Sam places her hands on her hips. “If we had nowhere to go, would you welcome us into your home?”

“Of course,” Kat says without hesitation.

“And would you insist we stay when we want to leave.”

Kat pushes her right hip and narrows her eyes on her. Sam just gives her a big smile. “I see what you’re doing.”

“Good. Then you get that we’re not letting you leave.” And with that, she turns and grabs a sleeping Sadey out of Slade’s arms and walks off to put her in bed.

We say our good nights to Slade and make our way back to their spare bedroom.

I close the door and lock it as Kat pulls her pink shirt up and over her head. “We need to do something,” she says with a growl. I can tell she’s frustrated. We just spent a great night with friends. Announced that she’s pregnant but the dark cloud is still there. Kat is very independent to begin with. And now, she feels trapped. The truth is we need Sam and Slade. And even if they didn’t open their house for us, I know our other friends would. But it would still leave us at their mercy.

“I have a plan,” I say as she works on getting her jeans off. I can’t help but notice the way her ass wiggles as she pushes them down her long legs.

“What exactly does this plan consist of?” she demands.

“Well …” My phone rings cutting me off and I dig it out of my back jeans pocket to see who it is. I hold up a finger for her to give me a second to take my brother’s call.

“Hey, man. What’s up?”

“Well, we have a problem.”

I sit down on the end of the bed as he starts to tell me what he found out only minutes ago. And every word is like a punch to my gut. I keep my sentences short and promise to call him tomorrow. Hanging up, I throw the phone onto the bed behind me. Placing my elbows on my thighs, I place my head in my hands and release a heavy breath. “Fuck!” I say through clenched teeth.

“What?”

My head snaps up when I heard Kat’s voice, and I fist my hands down on my lap when I see her staring down at me with concern in her brown eyes. “What’s wrong?” she demands.

Running my hand through my hair, I tell her. “That was Braxton. You know the witness I told you about who could help us put Dick away?” She nods. “She’s dead.”

She places her hand over her mouth. “Oh, no. Do you think he did it?” she asks in horror.

I nod. “I know for a fact he did,” I growl.

“Can you call someone and have them go and arrest him right now?” she asks.

I shake my head. “It doesn’t work that way, babe. Plus, it was ruled as a suicide.”

She frowns. “I don’t understand. You just said that you know he did it.”

“I do.”

“How can you be so sure?” she asks coming to sit down next to me.

I gently rub my hand up and down her soft leg. “Because she was killed in the warehouse.”

Her body stiffens under my touch, and she stares at me for a few long seconds. “
The
warehouse?” I nod. “Do you think he’s trying to send me a warning?”

My brows draw together. “Why would he be sending you a warning? You didn’t know he had anything to do with it until six days ago.”

She looks down at her hands in her lap and her long dark hair falls around her face hiding her face from me. “Hey,” I say reaching up and pulling her hair back. “What is it?” I ask knowing that something is wrong.

She looks up at me as she nibbles on her bottom lip. “You’re not the only one who has been keeping something.”

I shift on the end of the bed and turn to face her. “What is it that you’ve been keeping from me?”
Besides a baby?

She also turns to face me and looks me in the eye. “I remember.”

I frown. “What do you remember exactly?” I ask slowly. We never talk about what happened to her. Having your mouth wired shut for six weeks was hard on her. There were times she would get so angry that she would shatter anything within arm’s reach. Then there were days when she would just cry. The pain. The silence. It got to both of us, but we made it through it. When she was able to speak normal again, we didn’t wanna talk about what she went through. She never brought it up, and I didn’t want to. “The doctor said you wouldn’t remember any of it,” I say.

She nods. “He told you that I could block it out.”

I sigh as I run a hand through my hair. “You heard him tell me that, so you decided to stick to that,” I say realizing what she is saying.

She nods again. “But I remembered everything.” I grab her hand and gently squeeze it to let her know that I’m here for her. “I woke up on my knees. It was cold and hard. My hands were behind my back and the cuffs were so tight that my wrists were numb.” She swallows and looks away from me. “I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn’t. At first, I thought there was something over them, but I soon realized it was because they were swollen shut.” My jaw tightens. “I could hear another set of footsteps.” My body stiffens. “The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t figure out who it was.” She looks back at me and tears fill her eyes. “Why not kill me? Why not just shoot me right then and there?”

“Don’t ask those questions,” I say softly reaching out to her. But instead, she shoots to her feet and looks down at me.

“Why not? Why beat his son’s girlfriend instead of just shooting me in the head?”

“Stop!” I demand as I stand as well. My eyes stare down at her and my heart beats fast.

“No! I won’t stop! I want to know what he is up to! Why did Mason tell you to go there? Did he plan to kill you? Was I just bait?” she demands.

“Stop!” I shout this time. “Just stop, Katherine!” I demand placing my hands on her shoulders. “I don’t have the answers to these questions.” I soften my voice. “And all you’re doing is getting yourself worked up. Please just drop it. I promised you I will make him pay …”

“And how you gonna do that, Parker? He just killed your only witness.”

I let go of her and hang my head. Running a hand through my hair, I sigh. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

“Let me help,” she says.

My head snaps up to look at her as if she’s lost her mind. “What? Absolutely not!”

“Let me do something, Parker. How many more people have to die? How many more people have to pay for what I did?” she demands.

“Kat.” I reach up and push her hair back from her beautiful face. “You did nothing.”

She shoves me off. “Of course, I did. I survived. If you would have let me die, then …”

“He would still be killing people who get in his way,” I finish for her through gritted teeth. “He’s always been this way ever since I was younger, Kat. This didn’t start because of you, and he’s not gonna stop with you.”

“So what?” she demands. “I just stand by and wait for him to come after me again?” She throws her arms out to her side as she looks over the bedroom. “We stay hiding in our friends’ house for God knows how long? I can’t live like this, Parker! I won’t live in fear!”

She’s shouting and breathing heavy as she gets herself worked up. “I won’t do it!” Tears of anger start to fill her eyes. “I won’t raise a child who can’t go outside in fear of a family member hurting them. How long do we just sit and wait for him to decide when he’s done with us?” she asks, her brown eyes wide.

I wrap my arms around her and pull her to me. Her body starts to shake as I hold her tightly. Running my hand up and down her back, I whisper softly to her over and over that I love her. That I’m going to protect her. And that I’m going to make it better. But the problem is I have no idea how I can keep that promise. And no matter how good it sounds, she knows it.