A noise slipped from his mouth, and it was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. I stared up at him, waiting to see what he would say, but he was looking at the ultrasound picture.
“How far—” He shook his head and met my stare. “How far along are you?”
“Thirteen weeks.”
I couldn’t get a read on him. He was giving nothing away, and that made it worse than anything else. He was processing, I understood that, but I needed…something.
“This is…a lot to process.” He held the picture up. “Can I keep this?”
“Yeah.” I nodded my head way too many times to look normal. “It’s yours.”
He smiled that small smile that always hit me in the gut. “You should get some rest.”
I agreed with him, but I was desperate to know what he was thinking. We were in limbo yet again, but at least this time everything was out in the open. “Will you sit with me while I fall asleep?” I asked, stepping back.
He pushed the ultrasound picture into his pocket. “Yeah, I’ll sit with you for a while.”
For a while. He’d be here, at least for a little while.
BRODY
I placed the key in the lock and turned it, telling myself I was only checking on Lola to make sure she was still there. It was more than that. I knew it, and she knew it, but I could only deal with one thing at a time.
Time was of the essence with the case, which was why I was getting into the office at the same time as Aaron at stupid o’clock in the morning. But first, I had to check on Lola.
I’d wanted to stay the night. Every fiber of my being hadn’t wanted to leave her in this apartment, but Cade was at home, so I had to. I’d left just after midnight and found the maintenance man of the building. He hadn’t wanted to give me a key to her apartment, but one flash of my badge and he handed it over. That wasn’t a good sign. Anyone could have come in and shown him a badge to get what they wanted. Just another reason why I had to get this case handled, because the sooner I did that, the sooner we could start our life together. Just the two of us—soon to be three.
Fuck. She was pregnant with my baby, and I was over the fuckin' moon. But she didn’t know that yet. I should have told her last night that I was all in, that it was never a question whether I would do this with her. But I’d been stupid and let my emotions get to me. As soon as I made sure the case with Hut was handled and nothing would come back on her, I’d shout it from the goddamn rooftops how much I love her and our unborn baby.
I walked to her bedroom and peeked in, seeing her fast asleep, her arms spread wide, and a small smile on her face. She rolled over, groaning, and her hand moved to her stomach. My hands were moving before I could stop them, and my large palm covered hers. “I love you,” I whispered to both Lola and the baby.
A couple of minutes ticked by, and I stayed in the same position, just staring at my hand over hers. Finally, I backed away, confident she was okay right now. She’d need to process what happened with Hut, but the fact that she kept repeating she didn’t have a choice meant it wouldn't haunt her as bad as it could have. She knew Hut better than any of us, which meant she knew he wouldn't have given up, no matter what.
I locked her door behind me and headed straight to the office. I called the guys and told them to meet me there, and I didn’t think twice about walking into Aaron’s office to wait until he came in. I was determined, more than I ever had been. If they wouldn’t be behind me and my plan, then I’d go it alone. I trusted these four guys more than I trusted anyone else.
Jord arrived first, sitting down on the couch along the back wall and spreading his legs out. He didn’t say a word to me, just nodded in greeting. Ryan wasn’t far behind him, and then Kyle. I looked at the time on the clock on the wall and figured we had around ten minutes until Aaron got here.
“First thing I’m gonna say is that if you want out of what I’m about to say, I understand.”
“We’re in,” Jord said, sitting forward. “You don’t even have to ask, you know we’re in.”
“What he said.” Kyle pointed at Jord. “We know what you want to do, and we’re behind you.”
I raised my brows at each of them and stopped on Ryan. He was the one I wasn’t sure of. But when he said, “I’m in,” I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
“As you know, Lola is pregnant,” I told them. “And it’s mine.”
“Of course it’s yours.” Jord rolled his eyes, an action that didn’t suit him one bit. “Who else’s would it be?”
“I…” I shook my head. “Shut up.”
“Is that why you’re doing this?” Ryan asked. “Because you knocked her up?”
“No.” I stood and paced the length of the office. “I was going to do this anyway, but the baby makes it all the more solidified in my mind.”
“So…” Kyle leaned back on the sofa. “When’s the wedding?”
Jord punched him in the arm. “His divorce isn’t even final yet. You got wedding fever, man?”
“Can’t help it.” Kyle shrugged, a grin pulling at his lips. “Weddings always have the best women.”
I chuckled, not expecting anything less from him. He was a ladies’ man through and through. “One of these days, you’re gonna meet a woman who knocks the breath from you, and you’ll realize that none of your other lays were worth a percentage of what she’s worth.”
“That how you feel, Brody?” he asked.
I rubbed my chest, the image of Lola sleeping peacefully in her bed springing into my mind. “Yeah, I do.”
“You do what?” a new voice asked, and I straightened. “Wanna tell me why the four of you are in my office at”—he looked down at his wrist—“six a.m.?”
“Sir.” I tracked Aaron’s movements as he walked to his desk and placed his briefcase on it. “We need to talk about Lola.”
“Who?” he asked, clicking the buttons on the side of it.
“The girl we brought in—”
“Oh. The one who killed Emerson Hutton?” He raised a brow and pulled a folder out of his briefcase. “Girl deserves a medal.”
I didn’t think she’d see it that way. She cared too much about the people who hurt her the most, myself included. “Yeah, her.” I pushed my hand through my hair and glanced over at the guys. They said they were with me, but once I said this, there was no going back. “She can’t go down for it. I…I love her, and she’s having my baby, and—”
“Already handled,” Aaron said, undoing the button on his suit jacket as he sat down.
“I—what?” I frowned, not understanding what he was saying.
“Way I see it, the girl did us all a favor. He’s not around anymore, and from what I gathered watching the tapes of your interview, it was self-defense.”
“You…watched the tape?” Jord asked, glancing over at Ryan. “I thought you’d turned it off—”
“Boys.” Aaron held his hand up. “You should know better than that. When has something happened around here that I don’t know about?”
“He has a point,” I remarked.
“You can all get out of my office now,” Aaron said, dismissing us with a wave of his hand.
That had gone easier than I’d imagined.
“Brody,” he called when I was about to step out after all the guys. “You have some paperwork you need to fill in.” He tapped the folder in front of him.
“What paperwork?” I asked as I ambled back over to him. I picked the folder up and opened it. “What the—”
“I’m retiring,” Aaron said, finally looking at me. “And you’re going to take over.”
“I...what?” He hadn’t talked about retiring. In fact, he’d worked just as hard as we had to bring Hut down.
“I’ve watched you come up in the ranks. I’ve trained you to be at the top of your game, and now it’s time you do what I taught you to.”
“But...you’re retiring?”
“Yep.” He leaned back in his seat and locked his fingers togeth
er. “Reckon I’ve earned one of them long-ass cruises.” He raised a brow. “And I reckon you’re gonna wanna be home more now that you have another baby on the way.”
He wasn’t wrong, but not having him in the office didn’t feel right. “Are you sure about this?” I asked, holding the folder in the air.
“More sure than anything.” He pointed at the folder. “Sign your name, and you can take over in a month.”
“I—”
“Don’t think about it too hard, Brody.” His lips quirked at the corner. “Your brain will start hurting.”
I dropped the folder on his desk, opened it up, and signed my name. It was the first good thing of the day, and I was about to go and do a second.
Chapter Thirty-Four
LOLA
Normal life didn’t seem so normal anymore, but I had to try and keep living the way I’d planned. No matter what had happened, nothing could change the past.
I was a combination of sad and angry. Sad that Hut was no longer on this earth and breathing, angry that he’d put me in that situation. Angry that I’d had to choose, but sad that I’d had to choose. I shouldn’t have had to do what I did, but it was him or me, and I didn’t hesitate to choose me. It should have devastated me that he was gone, but instead, all I felt was relief.
Relief that I wouldn’t see him again.
Relief that he couldn’t hurt me.
Relief that he was gone.
Added to that, there was not knowing how Brody felt about the baby. He’d sat with me while I fell asleep last night, but when I woke up this morning, he was gone. Coupled with the pregnancy hormones, and I was all over the place, so it only made sense I go in to work and do what I did best: distract myself.
The early morning shift was always my favorite. Not only did you have an influx of truckers who were about to go on day-long journeys, but you had a combination of parents, kids, and teenagers. It was an eclectic crowd of a morning, with enough customers to distract me for at least four hours.
Until the door opened and Brody stepped inside.
He was donned in his dress pants and a shirt, his badge on his belt and gun attached to the other side. Everyone could see he was an officer of the law, as well as the three guys who followed him in.
My heart beat faster, my pulse thrumming like a drum at a carnival. They’d come to take me away. I just knew it. Yesterday had just been too good to be true. Brody couldn’t just walk me out of his office, and that would be it. I’d killed someone, and now I was going to have to pay the price.
“Why do you look like you’re about to puke everywhere, Lola-Girl?” Sal asked from the pass. If I turned around and tried to see my reflection in the shiny surface under the warming lights, I’d probably be able to see how pale I felt, but as it stood, all I could do was stare at the four guys as they chose a booth toward the back and away from a window.
“I…” I cleared my throat and shook my head. I could have told Sal what happened yesterday, but I was doing my best to distract myself, and distracting didn’t entail spilling your guts to your boss who had become a surrogate father in the time you’d known him. “I’m good,” I finally said.
I plucked my notebook from the pocket in the front of my dress, pushed my shoulders back, and headed to their table. I’d act as normal as I could, and maybe they’d realize I was just an ordinary girl who had been in an impossible situation.
“Hi.” I pushed some hair behind my ear that had fallen out of my ponytail. “What can I get you?”
They all reeled off their orders, not giving me much attention. Not even Brody looked up at me. And the longer I stood there, the more my hopes dashed. I hadn’t expected him to get on his knees and tell me he’d be with me forever because I was pregnant, but I hadn’t expected the silent treatment I was getting right then.
I moved away from the table and went back to the counter, handing Sal the ticket and trying to forget they were sitting so close by. I tried not to track their movements as Brody got up and walked to the bathroom or notice the fact that he’d stuck his head into the kitchen.
I certainly didn’t try to hear what he was saying to Sal, not that the sizzle of the fryer in there and the chatter out here could be heard over. I filled random people’s cups with freshly brewed coffee, wiped the knives and forks over even though I’d already done that, and I was just debating whether to check if the ketchup bottles needed filling up when Sal called, “Order up.”
My sweaty palms would be the death of me, so I wiped them on my dress and grabbed two of the six plates. I went back and forth again, and on the last trip, Sal said, “You can take your break now, Lola-Girl.”
I didn’t argue because, if I was honest, I could use some fresh air and a little time to clear my head. I had no idea what was happening around me. I was floating on a cloud that could dissipate at any second.
I gripped the edges of the two plates and walked back over to Brody’s table, placing the one plate in front of him and then frowning down at the omelet and slice of toast. “Erm...whose is the omelet?” I asked.
Brody moved over and patted the seat next to him. “It’s yours. Come and sit.”
“Oh no, I—”
“Sal has given you your break, and I ordered your food. Come and sit.” He paused, his gaze flitting over the guys and finally settling back on me. “We need to talk.”
“We do?” I asked, my voice betraying me. I was an emotional wreck.
“Yeah.” He took the plate from my hands and placed it next to his. “Sit.”
I did as I was told, completely aware I’d adhered to his command, but my rumbling stomach didn’t care one bit. All it wanted was more food.
The guy with the small Afro covered his breakfast with ketchup, and I screwed my nose up at the smell. Tomatoes were a real problem for me at the moment, anything that contained it, which meant pizza was firmly out, as well as my favorite pasta dishes.
“What?” he asked.
“You gonna have any breakfast with that ketchup?”
He looked down at his plate, his lips quirking, and then back up at me. “Nah. I love tomatoes.”
I fake gagged and cut a piece of my omelet. “That’s just...disgusting.”
He pointed at my omelet. “Because that looks appetizing.”
“It’s the only thing I can keep down before noon.” I shrugged and placed some egg into my mouth. “It does the job.” The atmosphere changed at my words, and all four of them stared at me with wide eyes. “What?”
Brody shook his head and cleared his throat. “I never even thought about morning sickness.” He blinked, his hand clenched on the table. “Do you have it now?”
“I’m good right now.” I smiled at him. “But I’d bet you ten dollars that this doesn’t stay in my body for longer than an hour.”
“Ew,” the other guy who had been in the interview room with me said. “Too much info, Lola.”
I raised a brow. “So you know my name, but I have no idea who any of you are.”
“Jord,” the guy with the Afro said. Followed by “Kyle” from the guy who was in the interview with me, and then “Ryan” from the person sitting on the other side of Brody.
I nodded. “Nice to meet you all. Sorry about yesterday.” I cringed at my words and groaned. “Shit.” My fork clattered against the plate, and my shoulders sagged. Hut’s body flashed in my mind, and I jerked. My stomach roiled, and I wasn’t sure whether that couple of bites of omelet would stay down for five minutes, never mind an hour.
“Lola,” Brody’s deep voice called. His hand landed on my knee, and my head shot up. “Take a breath.” His calming voice always had the desired effects. “We came to tell you that you have nothing to worry about.”
“You...did?” I croaked out, my hand itching to move over the top of his.
“Yeah.” He smiled and winked. “And to get some breakfast, of course.”
“Of course,” I replied. “But what happened—”
“It’s best you do
n’t know,” Jord said, stuffing his face with more ketchup. “Just know you have nothing to worry about.” He paused and met my stare. “Apart from getting swollen feet and morning sickness.”
“Jord,” Brody groaned.
“What? I’m just telling her what’s gonna happen. And, I mean, have you seen the size of you? You remember how big Cade was when he came out.”
My heart galloped in my chest. I’d never even given thought about the actual birth. All I’d been focusing on was what was right in front of me, not what was going to happen in six months.
“You’re scaring her,” Kyle said, pointing his fork at me. “She looks like she’s about to—”
My stomach churned again, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold it in this time. I darted out of the booth and across the diner, heading straight for the bathroom. I didn’t even manage to get down on my knees before the omelet came back up, followed by the burn of orange juice I’d drunk this morning when I woke up.
“Lola?” Normally it was Jan who followed me into the bathroom to make sure I was okay, but Brody’s deep voice rang out, and the door clicked closed. I hadn’t had time to close the stall door behind me, so when I flushed the toilet and spun around, he was standing there with a frown on his face.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” I wiped my hand across my head. “Told you it wouldn’t stay down.” I moved past him and splashed my face with water.
“That can’t be healthy.”
I shrugged and walked out of the bathroom, heading for the staff room and the mouthwash I kept in my locker—I’d learned that trick from Jan.
“It’s meant to let up at the three-month mark,” I said, knowing Brody was following me. “But here I am at fourteen weeks, still being sick.” I opened my locker and retrieved my mouthwash. “Or maybe it’s because I can’t stop seeing my dead brother on the ground after I stabbed him.” A laugh bubbled up in my throat, one that was so awkward and crazy, but I managed to push it down. I couldn’t believe I’d said those words aloud, but again, distraction was what I needed, so I swirled some mouthwash and spat it out in the sink.
Fallen Duet: Brody & Lola: Free Fall & Down Fall (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 1) Page 36