Avenger(30)

We stood, not saying anything for a moment. I’d always liked Amy. She was a good mom and she had always been kind to me. I was really lucky to have her in my life.

“Do you…” She trailed off. “Do you mind?”

My brows furrowed in confusion and then I looked at her hands, noting that she wanted to touch my expanding bump. “Of course,” I replied with a smile.

Her hands tentatively cupped my small rounded stomach. A slow smile spread across her face. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a grandma. I feel too young,” she laughed, looking up at me with kind blue eyes.

“I know exactly what you mean. I feel too young for this. A baby is a huge responsibility, but I love her already.”

She laughed. “Caeden told me he thinks it’s a girl.”

“Yeah, I’m not convinced, but I didn’t like calling the baby ‘it’. That seemed wrong,” I shrugged as her hands dropped away from my belly.

“I feel like I never see you two anymore,” Amy frowned. “You and Caeden should come over for dinner one evening.”

“I’d like that. I’ll talk to him about it,” I assured her as I followed her out of the kitchen. With how exhausted I’d been, I doubted dinner would happen anytime soon. She grabbed her coat and shrugged into it before wrapping a fluffy red scarf around her neck. “Well, I better get going.”

“Thank you, again,” I reached out and hugged her.

“You’re welcome,” she hugged me back tightly.

I locked the door behind her and trudged up to bed. Today had really taken a toll on me. Not only was my body exhausted, but my brain was tired too from all the endless thoughts that had been running through my mind.

Caeden was taking a shower and since I knew I was too tired to rinse away the days grime, I just got in my pajamas, climbed into bed and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Caeden

“Wake up, Sophie,” I shook her sleeping form. “Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!” I pleaded. She’d been asleep for two whole days! I should have just said screw it and not hosted the Thanksgiving dinner, but as Alpha that was my responsibility. But now Sophie wouldn’t wake up.

“Dude, stop shaking her like that. That can’t be good for her,” Nolan warned as he appeared in the doorway.

I laced my hands behind my head and paced the length of the bedroom. “She won’t wake up.”

“I kind of figured that out,” Nolan gave me an arrogant smirk. I was so angry that I was tempted to punch him in the face.

“I don’t have time for your sarcasm. I need to wake Sophie up.”

“I think you need to chill,” Nolan said. I turned around to continue my pacing, but his hand slammed roughly into my shoulder, halting my progress.

“Two days,” I cried. “It’s been two freakin’ days and she’s still sleeping!”

“Obviously this is what her body needs,” Nolan’s voice was annoyingly calm and devoid of emotion. “You could cause more harm than good by waking her up.”

I squished my eyes closed and let out a growl. When Nolan started making sense you knew things were bad.

“I don’t like this,” I shook my head as my eyes popped open. “I don’t like it one bit.”

“You don’t have to like it,” Nolan said. “That’s your wife and baby, you just accept it.”

I let out a deep breath. “When did you get so smart?”

“I’ve always been this smart. You choose to ignore me. No hard feelings, Cay-berry,” he clapped his hand on my shoulder and guided me out of the bedroom.

“I need to—”

“Nope!”

I strained against the hold he had on me, trying to get back to Sophie.

“Cay-berry, I will full on tackle you to the ground, tie you up, and drag you out of that room if you go in there to sulk for one more minute,” Nolan warned.

“Point taken,” I finally managed to get him to release his hold. Sophie’s cellphone began to ring, and before Nolan could stop me I ran back into the bedroom and grabbed the thin device off the table. “Hello?”

“Caeden? Why are you answering Sophie’s phone?” Evan asked.

“Oh, uh, she’s busy right now,” I stammered.

“Put her on the phone,” Evan sounded exasperated.

“Seriously, she can’t come to the phone right now, she’s in the shower.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “What do you need?”

Evan sighed. “The guys and I are home for Thanksgiving break and wanted to see Sophie. We talked about it weeks ago.”

Shit.

“When do you go back home?”