A Real Bad Boy(23)

I didn't need to tell her anything else.

"I'll be right there." She hung up the phone, and I slowly got dressed,  still numb to what was happening. I put on one leg after the other of my  panties, and then my pants, then my bra came on and finally my shirt. I  was too damn numb, shock taking over as I stood there in the empty room  trying to keep my shit together.

I just waited, holding back the tears that were threatening to overwhelm me.





Zach



"Leo, I'm so glad to see you. When I heard what happened, I thought it  prudent to up the meeting to today," Tommy Carrington said as he shook  his hand. The man was certainly charismatic. The way he entered the  room, the way he commanded attention. It was easy to tell when he was  the one at the center of everything. "I trust everyone in your company  was okay?"

But it was also easy to tell he was hiding something. That there was a  reason for his behaviors. Just the thought of it made me ball my fist. I  needed a fight. I was looking for one. But it couldn't be here.

This situation was too delicate, and I knew it. But my body reacted to  him, to the way he moved, the way he talked. It made me want to shake  him and push him and torture him.

Made me want to force him to spill whatever it was he was hiding, but I kept my composure.

I stood there, my face stoic as he talked. Our job was to pretend we  weren't even in the room, to act as though we were exactly where we  meant to be, like furniture. We were functional and strong, but we  weren't there to make noise.

Still, Tommy acknowledged me.

He looked at me when he said that, and the two men at my sides. Since  the attack, we took no chances. Someone wanted my employer dead and it  seemed like they were willing to use any means to get what they wanted. I  wasn't going to take that threat lightly.

"No casualties on our side, but I can't say the same for the other side," Leo admitted. "It was a crazy situation."

He mimed all the sadness of someone who thought what occurred was  unfortunate, like a broken lighter or a flat soda. Shit, Leo was cold.  He didn't say much else.

What he didn't state was even more necessary to the situation. Those who  were detained had given no information according to the police, and  those killed were in clear violation of castle doctrine.

We had exactly zero leads on whoever the fuck thought it was a good idea to shoot up the place.

"Shit's been going sideways lately. This group, whoever they are, have  been coming after us. Didn't think they would step up after you, though.  You aren't even associated. At least not yet."

"You mean you've seen attacks?" Leo asked, incredulous. He was somewhere  between dumbfounded and pissed. And to be honest, so was I.

This meant the attacks were not linked to the investigation into Hope's  death. In fact, it meant that the real motivation was the good ol' boys  group. Or it could be both.                       
       
           



       

"Nothing as serious as a personal assault, at least not on my end, but I  can only speak for myself. My warehouse was broken into, destroyed. A  rural location burned to the ground."

"And no leads?" Leo asked.

"None that the police could find, but even with all my lawyers and my  posturing, they didn't try very damn hard. Like they were bought off."

Fuck. We were in over our heads.

"How recent was this?" Leo asked.

"Within the last year. Each and every one of us."

"Any personal attacks?"

"I'm not sure, to be honest. Every one of us has had property destroyed."

"And you believe it to be from the same organization?"

"Has to be. A warning not to fuck around with their territory. At least,  that's what mine was. I was looking at expanding into Grant Park area,  but when it happened, I pulled out."

"Tell me everything," Leo said.

He was coming up with a plan, I just didn't know it yet, but I could see  from the way his mind worked that it was going to be good. I should've  been interested, but I just wanted to get back to Willow. I'd left her  without an explanation, and I was kicking myself in the ass for it. And  for allowing my mind to stray from the job. I was where I needed to be  for my job, one that I was paid well for.

But the only thing that was on my mind was that wild body that I knew was lying on the couch waiting for me to come back.

Fuck, I wish I'd stayed.





Willow



Zachary Murdock looked like a tornado ripping through a corn field, and  he was headed right for me. I swear there was a path of disruption  through every place he moved as he walked down the hall and into my  hospital room.

"I'm all right," I said as soon as he stepped in and slammed the door. His nostrils were flared and his jaw was clenched. Shit.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me?" he demanded, his voice booming.

"It's fine too. The baby is fine." It was. Just a little bit of spotting  after sex. Nothing too serious, and sometimes women spotted throughout  their pregnancy. Still, to be safe, they admitted me.

"Willow, answer the fucking question."

"I was going to. I just hadn't had a chance, and then this happened. I  was going to," I said. It was a lie. I could've told him. I should've  told him a million times. I could tell by the way he was looking at me  that he didn't buy it. Not for a moment.

"Is it mine?" he asked, the anger still crackling in his voice.

"It has to be." I meant it. I'd looked at the calendar, looked at the  charts. It had to be. I didn't know how it could be Elijah's, how it  could be anyone but Zach's. He didn't question me, he just nodded. "When  can you go home?" he asked as he sat down, a small sigh escaping his  lips. I eyed his hands. They were shaking. A part of me wondered if he  was as scared as I was. The suit he was wearing was crisp like he hadn't  sat the entire night.

"Tomorrow. They said it seems normal, but they want to keep me overnight."

He nodded again, and a nurse popped her head in. "Hi there, just checking to make sure everything is all right."

She smiled at me then at him.

"Fine. He was just worried," I said as I waved it away. I was sure they could hear him the entire way down the hall.

"I brought an ultrasound machine. The hospital got a set of them just a  couple months ago. Do you want to hear your baby's heartbeat?" she asked  as she came in with a large machine on a tray

"You can do that?" I asked.

"Sure, it says here you are six weeks along. We can see as early as five  weeks now. They did it in the ER, didn't they?" I nodded. I hadn't  really had a chance to register it when it was happening; I was too  scared.

A whooshing noise came up and after a few adjustments we saw it. The  fast beat of a new baby's heart. I shifted as we looked at it, surprised  that we could see something so early.

"Can I hear?" I asked, my voice weak as I struggled to hear it.

"It's a little bit of nothing, but it's there, and that beat is strong.  One hundred and one per minute, just like it should be at this stage."

Tears welled in my eyes as I turned and looked at Zach, who stood and  came over, putting his arms around my shoulders. He kissed the top of my  head and squinted at the screen.

"Mine." That was all he said. All he had to say. It was enough.

We were his.





Zach



I was going to marry that woman if it fucking killed me.

She didn't have a damn choice, keeping that baby from me. Keeping it a secret. Fuck that shit.

I was so angry I could throttle someone. Hell, as soon as I found out, I  was racing through those damn halls. And here I was again, staring at  the fucking coffee machine ready to put my fist through a wall.                       
       
           



       

She could've been hurt. She could've lost it, and I wouldn't even fucking know.

She didn't tell me shit. It had me mad as hell and determined to make  her mine legally. I would march her ass right down to the damn  courthouse if I could.

"You look tired," a familiar voice said as I turned to see Ruby leaned against the wall behind me.

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked her.

She just smiled. "Long enough to know you don't want any freaking coffee."

I blew out a breath.

"How is she?"

"She's fine. Sleeping."

"Then why aren't you home?" she prodded.

"Why aren't you?" I asked.

"I was home for a bit, but I wanted to come see how you were doing. Figured you still be here when you found out."

I couldn't fucking leave. I couldn't walk away from her. Not now. Not  like this. Fuck everything else. Fuck my job, fuck my life.

The only thing that mattered was her and that baby. That little nothing but a heartbeat.





Chapter Fifteen