I hand her the printout, and she squeals when she looks at it. “I can already tell your baby’s gonna be so fucking cute.”
I snort. “Obviously. If it looks anything like Casey —”
“Alexis, sorry Lexi. Good to see you back from your appointment.” My skin crawls at the sound of James’s voice behind me.
Tasha’s eyes widen, then narrow, then she gives me that universal look all girls give each other when we’re silently communicating. She hands me the picture and disappears behind the partition wall.
I tuck it in my purse, and try to ignore him. “I’m just getting set up and then I’ll send you over those files.”
“Thank you.” He doesn’t leave, and I glance over my shoulder.
“Did you need something?”
“You have a leaf.” Before I can stop him, he pulls my hair over my shoulder. His fingers graze over my neck and I shiver, and not the good kind. My heart is thumping against my rib cage so fast I can barely breathe.
My scalp tingles as he picks through my hair, pulling something free.
“There. All better.” He takes my hair again, sweeping it back into place, and I’m frozen.
Everything about this feels wrong, too invasive, too much.
“Please don’t do that again,” I say in a small voice, and I hate that it is. I don’t want to be cowed by this man.
But the way he looks at me, like I’m the problem, has my hand resting over my stomach. Protectively.
“It was just a leaf, Lexi. Maybe you shouldn’t have come in this afternoon if your appointment rattled you this much.”
He walks away before I can formulate a response. My hand reaches for my mouse, but I can’t ignore how much I’m shaking.
I should tell Casey. I should. But I won’t because I know what he’ll do when he finds out. I don’t want to be the reason he has blood on his hands, or chips another piece off his soul.
And he will lose his mind if he knows what’s happening to me. James won’t just be a footnote, he’ll be eradicated like he never existed.
EIGHT
CASEY
It’s beentwo weeks since the scan. Two weeks of watching Lexi’s body change, two weeks of our baby growing inside her, getting bigger. Two weeks of losing my mind every time she’s out of my sight.
We’re having a lazy morning before she has to get ready for work. The bed covers are pushed down under her belly, my tee bunched up under her tits. I trace the small swell nestled between her hips with awe. I’ve never seen anything so fucking perfect in my life. Every time I look at her body, I’m amazed at what she’s doing, at what she’s carrying.
I lean down, leaving kisses on the underside of her tiny bump, trailing up to her navel and back down. I fucking love her more than I can ever put into words and since she got pregnant, my possessiveness is even harder to control.
But there’s something else. Something… more.
Lex should be happy. She is—mostly. But I see it in her eyes. They’re not as bright, not as lively as they usually are. I tried to convince myself it’s just the pregnancy taking its toll, but I have this feeling it’s something more. I just… don’t know what.
The baby is fine—the OB confirmed it. I know her job is stressful, but it’s always been that way. She deals with it.
But I see the strain in her eyes that I can’t place and I hate it.
“You would tell me, wouldn’t you?” I stroke her stomach. There’s a small stretch mark on the underside of her bump, and I lean down to kiss it like it’s sacred.
It is.
It’s the evidence she’s carrying the most important thing we’ve ever done together.
Her eyes find mine, her head tilting on the pillows. “Tell you what?”
