I have a feeling I already know. My gut is screaming it. There’s only one thing I can think of which would have led her back to me—total annihilation of her life.
“My father called me into his office. My alleged fiancé was there.” She rolls her eyes and huffs out an annoyed breath. “I won’t go into everything that was said, but it was horrible. The little impromptu meeting ended my engagement,” she uses air quotes to show how ridiculous she finds the situation, “before being fired and kicked out of my home.”
Knox lets out a low whistle which only stops when Dallas shoots him a look full of warning. Warning that I’m afraid he won’t heed.
“That’s a lot Avery,” I murmur. “I’m sorry you’ve had such a shitty day.”
“Amelia,” Avery and I look over to find Wyatt with his phone to his ear, “would you mind grabbing all your books on pregnancy, especially the two I borrowed from you and meet Bridger at,” Wyatt arches an eyebrow and looks at me expectantly.
“My place,” I grunt.
I look at Avery, my hands itching to smooth over her bump. “This way we can continue our conversation in private, and I can give you a tour of where you’ll be living from now on.”
Avery gasps and covers her parted lips with her hand. When she starts shaking her head, I want to slap her ass to get her to stop before she’s even said anything.
“I don’t want to be a burden,” she whispers.
More cracks form; I feel it. The way her words echo through her tell me a burden is exactly what she’s been made to feel like. I can’t bear it. The thought of her feeling that way, of others imposing that shit, makes me want to beat the shit out of her dad and whoever the prick is she was supposed to marry.
“I’m not going to lie, Avery, I was not expecting you to show up today pregnant.” She winces, and I hate it. I move my hands to hover over her belly. “But the last thing you are is a burden.”
As much as I want to touch her, I wait.
When Avery reaches up, wraps her fingers around my wrists and pulls my hands down to rest on her belly, something inside of me clicks into place. I don’t know exactly what it is or what it means, but I know I don’t want it to end either.
I’ve always fought against the idea of falling in love. I saw how messed up my mom was after my father left. Then there was the disaster of her love life in the years that followed. It soured me and left me feeling like love wasn’t worth the risk.
As I look into Avery’s eyes, so full of hope to mask her own pain, I realize that maybe you can be put back together after being broken. I desperately want to do that for her. No matter what happens, I’ll be there for my child, our child, because they deserve to be loved fully, wholly, and without conditions.
“Let me take you home,” I murmur.
When she nods, I rub my hand across her belly, and she gasps. My eyes widen as Avery giggles softly and asks, “Could you feel that?”
“No,” I grunt, a sense of disappointment washing over me that I’m not sure what to do with.
She rests her hand over mine, her voice sure, “You will soon.”
With the realization that I want to be able to feel our baby move, desperately, a laugh bubbles out of me. It sounds foreign to me and rough from disuse, but it’s a laugh all the same.
I’m not sure when the last time I laughed was, but it feels damn good. For the first time in my life, the idea of having my own family doesn’t feel so scary.
CHAPTER 8
AVERY
Even when silence stretches between us, it doesn’t feel awkward. It’s weighted, but I’m not expecting anything less. I did just barge into his job with my baby bump leading the way. The whole interaction could have gone a lot worse.
As it is, I’m not sure I could imagine it going any better. There was no yelling, the third degree from people he cares about was minimal, and Bridger accepted that I’m pregnant with his baby without a problem. Definitely the best-case scenario all around.
I’m not sure I’ll remember the names of everyone I met considering the daze of anxiety I was in. I couldn’t look away from Bridger while he was processing me being there and my baby bump. The fog hasn’t exactly lifted either. How could it? This whole thing is surreal.
From finding out our one night together paired with the broken condom to make a new life. To hiding it from everyone. Then I had my bump exposed by a coffee mishap when coffee is supposed to heal and not hurt. Not to mention getting fired and disowned which led me to going to the one place I could think of.
The only thing that could have made me showing up at Vibrant Ink better, was if Bridger had wrapped me up in his strong arms. But the way he caressed my baby bump with awewritten all over his face gave me a feeling of warmth I wasn’t prepared for.
Then there was the way he led me out of the tattoo shop with his hand firmly on the small of my back as if he wanted to be careful with me and keep me safe. I’m damn lucky I didn’t swoon or become a puddle of pregnancy hormones on the sidewalk.
I looked up at him and whispered, “I drove. I can follow you to wherever we’re going?”
