I picked up some tissue and blew my nose. I patted under my eyes as a large body filled up the doorway. I could see him from the reflection in the mirror next to me.
"Are you okay?"
I nodded my head. "Yes."
"Look at me."
I didn't want to so I kept my back turned to Kane and sniffled. He sighed and walked into the bathroom. He put his arms around me and hugged me from behind.
"What happened?" he murmured. "James mentioned Gavin."
I turned in his arms and pressed my face against his chest.
"He is so stupid and stubborn. How can he not see I just want to protect him?"
Kane rested his cheek on the crown of my head. "Like you said, he is stupid and stubborn. He'll realise in time that you and your brothers are doing the right thing by being hard on him."
I whimpered. "What if somethin' bad happens to him?"
"It won't, I can talk to Brandy-"
"No!" I stated and pulled back from Kane's hold. "I don't want you involved with him, I know Brandon, I'll sort this out meself."
Kane's lip twitched. "What happened to everything being me and you?"
My lower lip wobbled. "On this, it's just me. I can't protect both of you at the same time."
Kane smiled. "I'm the protector, babydoll."
"No, I already called dibs. Sorry."
He laughed. "We can protect each other."
"Deal," I murmured.
"Please don't cry anymore," Kane murmured. "It makes me want to beat the shit out of your brother for upsetting you."
I surprisingly laughed, "Me brothers beat you to it."
"I figured as much."
I sighed. "I've missed you."
Kane snorted, "I've only been gone a couple of hours."
"So? I still missed you."
He tilted my head up so he could lean down and press his lips against mine. Our kiss started slow, but it quickly became one filled with hunger. He kissed me hard and hissed when I bit down on his lower lip.
"I can't wait to have you," he whispered.
I smiled. "You do have me."
"I mean I can't wait to have you naked."
I playfully swatted him. "We just started datin'. What kind of girl do you think I am? I have morals."
"I hate your morals," he whimpered.
I laughed. "Let me get really comfortable with being with you first. I don't want this to just be physical."
Kane rubbed his nose against mine. "I can wait. It will kill me, but I can do it."
I knew he could, and it made waiting harder.
Literally.
I was in pain.
My back was sore, and I was a grouch because of it.
"Do you want a foot rub?" Kane asked me.
I rolled my eyes. "I want you to piss off and leave me alone."
"Damn, Aideen," he mumbled. "You're cranky today."
I shrugged my shoulders. "You'll get over it."
"You should go fuck yourself."
I looked at Kane with raised eyebrows. "Excuse me?"
He held his hands up. "Masturbation is a proven stress reliever. If you won't let me fuck you, then fuck yourself and calm your pregnant ass down."
I hated that my lip quirked, and I hated that Kane, and his brothers, saw it. My brothers left my apartment hours ago; I was just left with Kane, Nico, and Alec.
"Ah ha!" He pointed at me. "I made you smile!"
I rolled my eyes. "So?"
"So!" Kane beamed. "I'm not that much of a bastard if I can make you smile."
I forced myself not to laugh. "You are a bastard. A huge one."
"I want to throw a lamp at you."
"What? Why?" I asked, wide-eyed.
"Because you need to lighten the fuck up!" Kane grunted and folded his arms across his chest.
I stared at him for a moment then burst into laughter.
"What? Now you laugh?"
I laughed harder.
"I'll never understand women, never!"
"I'm here to guide you, brother."
"Fuck off, Dominic."
I was wheezing so hard that I thought I might pass out.
"Stop!" I begged and fell sideways into Kane, who was laughing at me laugh.
I quickly got up and waddled out of the room and down the hallway to the toilet. I barely made it to the toilet before I relieved myself. Laughing whilst being pregnant sucked-wetting myself was always a possibility.
When I finished up in the bathroom, I headed back down to the sitting room. I passed the kitchen and saw all three of the brothers were inside making sandwiches. I didn't feel hungry-for once-so I walked back into the sitting room and sat down.
As soon as I sat down, she woke up and it made me smile.
"Kane," I called out.
He walked into the sitting room a few seconds later, a sandwich in his hand.
"Yeah?"
"She's awake; ask your brothers if they want to feel her move."
Kane smiled and walked over to me. He put his sandwich on the coffee table and kneeled before me, pushing my t-shirt up and placing his hands on my belly.
"Dominic, Alec," he called. "Come here."
They both walked into the room, sandwiches in their hands.
"What?" Alec asked.
"Come here, the baby is awake."
They put their sandwiches down then flanked Kane on both sides and kneeled down next to him. Like Kane, they just stared at my stomach.
"Put a hand on her stomach," Kane whispered, a big smile still in place on his handsome face transforming it into a thing of beauty.
Nico and Alec glanced at one another over Kane's head, but did as told and carefully reached a hand out and hesitantly placed them on my bare stomach. I smiled at them both and moved my hands from Kane's to theirs. I laughed when the baby gave a gigantic kick and Nico screeched a little.
"That's definitely a boy!" he declared, proudly.
Alec nodded his head in agreement but then frowned. "Although, Ado can kick pretty hard herself. So can our girls. They can even outdo us some days... Damn, it may be a girl after all."
I snorted, "It is a girl, I'm sure of it."
Kane snorted but said nothing.
He beamed when both of his brothers patted him on the back.
"That's a baby Slater in there." Nico smiled.
Alec beamed. "The first of many! I can't wait to make babies with Keela."
I was in awe of the three of them.
They were some of the fiercest men I had ever met in my entire life. They had each severely harmed or killed people-so I'd heard... and yet here they were, kneeling before me and like putty in my hands, over a baby who wasn't even here yet.
"You're goin' to be great uncles," I said to Nico and Alec.
They looked up at me and smiled then leaned up and kissed my cheeks at the same time making me giggle. They refocused on feeling the baby kick. They didn't even move when the door to my apartment opened.
"It's me," Keela shouted.
"And me, and Branna," Bronagh's voice chimed in.
I snorted.
They entered the sitting room and once they saw what the lads were doing, they shot over and leaned over the lads, placing their hands on my stomach.
"I love this," Bronagh squealed.
I frowned. "I'm sad that me stomach is gettin' so big all of your bloody hands fit on it now."
Everyone laughed.
Alec stood up and picked up his sandwich. "We have to go, so you ladies can have more room to feel away."
I frowned and looked at Kane. "Where are you goin'?"
He leaned in and kissed me. "To help Dominic figure some stuff out."
Brandon Daley and Darkness popped into my mind and I grunted.
"My thoughts exactly," Bronagh murmured.
Nico looked at Bronagh then leaned up and kissed her cheek. "It's just a fixture list for fights; I get to choose which ones I want, that's all."
Bronagh nodded her head so Nico kissed her cheek again making her slightly smile. He stood up then and so did Kane.
"Bye," I mumbled.
Kane frowned. "No, I'll see you later."
I rolled my eyes.
He always said that.
"What is with this whole ‘see you later' thing?" I asked Kane. "What don't you ever say goodbye?"
Kane focused his eyes on me. "Goodbye is final to me so I never say it to people unless I mean it. I especially don't say goodbye to people I care about. So, babydoll... I'll. See. You. Later," he said then turned and walked out of the sitting room and then out of the apartment with Alec and Nico in tow.
Things were silent for a minute or two until Keela opened her big mouth. "I told you he deeply cared for you. Didn't I tell you?"
I looked down to the ground and smiled, then looked back up with the same smile playing on my lips as I turned to face my friends.
"Yeah, you told me so."
The girls gasped.
"And you care about him! You're a real couple, not just tryin' it out!" Bronagh squealed then aww'd.
Branna clapped her hands together. "You both make the most beautiful couple!"
"This was the first time he left a room and I didn't feel like I wanted to kill him. Let's just take a breather and calm down your big tits down."
All the girls simply smiled at me and after a minute, I cracked and laughed.
"Okay, we make the most beautiful couple."