Axel chuckled and slapped him on the shoulder, gripping it tight. “Trust me, you do not want to take on Knight.”
“They don’t call me Ghost for nothing.”
“He’s the Ghost, Snake, basically all of you rolled into one,” Hunter grinned, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s cute that you think you could take him though.”
Suddenly all the guys from Axel’s team dropped to the ground, passed out. Knight stood behind them, flipping some kind of metal device in his hand. Chris glared at him and ran to Axel’s side.
“What?” Knight asked, like it was no big deal. “They’re just passed out. It’s totally harmless. Besides, somebody had to finish them. It was like listening to a bunch of women bicker.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Molly
“What are you doing here?” Tony asked as we walked back to Reed Security.
“Um…well, I came to apologize. See, I think I may have totally freaked you out.”
“You do, huh?”
I got the feeling that he was being sarcastic, which meant that I was right in my assumption. “I didn’t realize that wasn’t the way it was supposed to go.”
He stopped and crossed his arms over his chest as he stared me down. “You didn’t think that was how it was supposed to go? How was it supposed to go, Molly?”
“Well, I thought that it was something where I had to tell you, you know, the way I wanted it.”
“That’s not how this shit works. You know, I have to want it too.”
“Oh,” I said, a little taken aback. “I thought, I mean, it seemed like you wanted it.”
“In what way?” he snapped.
“Well, you didn’t say no and you seemed to really enjoy everything.”
“So, when I practically ran from your apartment, that told you that I liked it?”
“I thought you needed to get to work!”
“I was trying to get away from you!”
Damn, I had really miscalculated. All this time, I thought that he enjoyed what we had done in the bedroom. I mean, the chemistry was off the charts and the things he did to me…wow!
“Look, I can see how you would be turned off by that. I mean, it wasn’t until Jenny explained things to me that I realized what a mistake I had made. I thought things were supposed to be that way.”
“Really? And your mother never informed you of how this shit went?”
“My mother? Ew. I mean, I have a pretty open relationship with my mother, but never about sex!”
“Not about- wait, what are you talking about?” he asked in confusion.
“I’m talking about the sex! How I…was a little too vocal with what I wanted. See, Jenny told me to read Fifty Shades. I thought that was what men wanted!”
His eyes widened and then he burst out laughing. I didn’t know what to do. Was he laughing at me or was he laughing because of the situation?
“You thought that you shouting at me to spank your pussy was- oh thank God!”
“I’m really confused. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?”
His eyes darkened as he stopped laughing and instead stared me down. I could feel my panties getting wet just from that one look. God, he was so hot.
“Did you like being spanked?”
“I guess. I mean, it felt good, but some of the other stuff I read about? There’s no way I could let you shove something up my ass.”
“Not even my cock?” he growled.
I flushed bright red, but nodded. “Maybe.”
He shook his head and took a step back. “I thought you were insane. I mean, in other ways than the obvious.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Look, I have to get back to work, and no, I’m not calling you after work or stopping by. I have to clean up and then we have a meeting.”
“Okay. I have to work anyway.”
I bit my lip and tried to decide what to do. I really wanted to kiss him, but he seemed kind of growly right now. Still, I came out here to reassure him that I wasn’t psychotic, and that was what I needed to do. I pressed my lips to his and threw my arms around his neck. I felt him tense for a minute, but then his arms wrapped around my waist and he pulled me in closer. It was magical and everything I wanted from my man. When the kiss broke, I could still feel the electric sparks zinging across my lips.
He took a step back and motioned for me to head to the parking lot. “Be careful.” And then he was gone.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Tony
After our company meeting, I had just one thing in mind, a tasty beer. Of course, I would have to go to the seedy bar across town because there was no way that I was heading into The Pub and running into either Molly or Gus. I needed to let off some steam though.
I was so fucking confused with everything that was going on in my life. The change of having Molly suddenly there all the time was both disturbing and a little nice. The more time I spent with her, the less guilt I felt over losing Delaney, and that made me feel like shit. And so it went around and around.
But the one good thing in my life right now was my killer new nickname. TNT. Fuck yeah, I was dynamite. I spun around, punching at absolutely nothing, feeling like fucking Rocky. I was on fire, and it most likely had a lot to do with me going RED. I knew I had it in me, and now the guys did too. That would only cement my name forever around here. I would be a legend.
“Oi! Oi!” I sang, feeling the AC/DC strumming through me. “Cuz I’m TNT. I’m dynamite. TNT. And I’ll win the fight. TNT. I’m a power load. TNT. Watch me explode,” I sang, strumming my air guitar. It was fucking awesome. I felt like I was on stage right now, singing out my own damn theme song. I had finally gotten rid of Tacoman, and now I was the legend that everyone would look up to.
“Oh, thank God!” I spun around and saw Maggie leaning over, holding her belly.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, running over to her, my theme song momentarily forgotten.
“I’m in labor.”
“You’re in labor?”
“Yes!”
“Like, right now?”
“Yes, right now, you idiot!”
“Holy shit. I’ll call Cap.”
“No, he said he had a really important meeting this afternoon. You can’t interrupt him.”
“Do you want to wait?” I asked, a little panicked. She glared at me, her hands still wrapped around her stomach.
“Does it look like I should wait?”
“Uh… I’m guessing no. Okay, this is no big deal,” I said calmly. “I’ll call Hunter or Rocco. They’ll know what to do.”
“I already tried them. No one’s answering! I need you to drive me to the hospital.”
My eyes widened and I immediately started shaking my head. “No, I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because you could go into labor.”
“I’m already in labor, you dumbass,” she spat.
“I can’t deliver a baby!”
“You’re going to have to if we keep standing here!”
I nodded. That made total sense. Okay, I could do this. I just had to get her to the hospital and then I would be good. I could walk away and grab a beer. “Alright, you’re right. Let’s get in the truck.”
I slowly rushed her over to the passenger side and then hoisted her up inside. She glared at me when my hands landed on her ass, but what was I supposed to do? There was literally no safe place to put my hands. When she was in, I ran around to my side and jumped in. I headed out the gate, barely sparing the guard a glance. I had one goal and that was to get Maggie to the hospital before she blew.
“Where are you going?” she asked around her pants of breath.
“I’m going to the hospital.”
“No, not the one in town. I’m delivering in Pittsburgh.”
“But that’s an hour away! And with traffic at this time of day, there’s no fucking way you’ll make it in time.”
“I have to deliver there. This pregnancy is considered
high risk! You have to get me to that hospital! Go!”
“Alright, alright! Stop fucking yelling at me.”
I turned toward Pittsburgh and drove like a bat out of hell. I thought for a moment of calling Sean and asking for a police escort, but that might be taking it too far. I kept glancing over at Maggie, trying to tell if she was any closer to pushing those kids out. I just couldn’t handle it if she went into labor right now. Plus, I was really fucking low on gas, and I wasn’t sure we would even make it. What the hell would I do then?
“Just keep breathing,” I coached her. “That’s in. In and out.”
“Would you shut the fuck up?” she growled.
“Sorry, I was just trying to be one of those coach things.”
“I’ve done this before,” she said. “I don’t need you to coach me.”
“Alright, geez.”
I kept my mouth shut the rest of the drive, trying not to freak the fuck out. This was more responsibility than I felt capable of dealing with. And the last time that I had been stuck in a truck with Maggie was when I met her and she was running from people that were shooting at her.
I glanced over again, but she was staring out the window with a smile on her face. That was weird. Shouldn’t she be all panting and shit?
“Everything okay over there?”
“Perfect,” she grinned.
I shook my head, realization dawning on me. “You did not just use me to get out of there.”
“I did and it worked so well.”
“Why? Why would you do that to me? I was freaking the fuck out!”
“Look, it’s not a big deal. And if it makes you feel any better, I’ve been having Braxton Hicks contractions all morning.”
“Then we should get you to the hospital,” I shouted.
“It’s false labor.”
“What? That doesn’t even make sense. Either you’re in labor or you’re not. There’s no in between.”
“Exactly. It’s just my body preparing for labor.”
I pulled into a gas station about twenty miles outside the city and threw the truck in park.
“What are you doing?” she asked in a panic.
“I’m filling up my tank and then I’m taking you home. We would have been lucky to make it to the hospital. I was almost out of gas.”
“I am not going home!”
“Yes, you are. I can’t believe you would do that to me. I thought we had some kind of special…something.”
“Oh, please. I do this to everyone. Don’t think you’re special.”
“It doesn’t matter. We’re going home and that’s the end of it. Cap would kick my ass if he knew that I took you out.”
“That’s the whole reason I escaped! He’s had me on lockdown for weeks. You’d think there was some kind of deadly virus going around.”
“And do you think he would go easy on me because of that? Hell no. I’d be out of a job and back at fucking Taco Bell faster than you can say Tony Tacos. And I finally got an awesome nickname,” I shouted, slamming my hand on the steering wheel. “I was TNT, but now I’m gonna be back at fucking Taco Bell and I’ll never escape that fucking name!”
“Oh, would you relax? It’s not like TNT was a real nickname anyway.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, slowly turning to look at her.
She rolled her eyes and shifted to look at me. “It was a made up nickname so everyone could secretly make fun of you behind your back.”
“What? That doesn’t even make sense. TNT is explosive and awesome.”
“Yeah, it means Tony Nachos Tacos.”
I stared at her completely horrified. There was no way that my awesome nickname was all about Tacos. “That’s…that’s just mean!”
“Yeah, well, you’ll get over it.”
My shock turned to anger. “I’m taking you home. I’ll be right back.” I started to close the door, but stopped and glared at her. “Stay right the fuck where you are.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, like I could move faster than you anyway.”
I shut the door and pumped the gas, but the damn card reader wasn’t working, so I went inside and paid, then headed back out. I was fucking pissed. That was my nickname, and it was fucking awesome. Now it was tainted. It was a joke nickname that meant absolutely nothing. I kicked at the truck as I yanked the door open. Maggie looked a little too satisfied sitting on the other side of the truck, and that really pissed me off.
“Don’t look too smug. You’ll be back under Cap’s watchful eye in just a little under an hour.”
“Whatever you say.”
I put the truck in drive and slowly pulled out. “Did Cap even have a call?”
“He doesn’t have anything on the schedule that I know of.”
I internally yelled at myself for being such an idiot and falling for her tricks. It was probably why she chose me. She knew that I was still new enough to fall for her shenanigans. I was just about to pull onto the highway when I felt the telltale sign of a flat tire.
Gritting my teeth, I glanced over at Maggie and saw her chuckling. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” she said innocently.
“It’s fine. I have a spare.”
Slamming the truck into park, I got out and checked the front passenger tire. Sure enough, it was completely flat, and so was the rear tire. I sighed and rubbed a hand over my face. “Why me? Seriously, what the fuck did I do to deserve this?”
I opened Maggie’s door and gripped it hard to keep from slapping the shit out of her. “I really hate you right now.”
“See, none of this would have happened if you had just taken me shopping.”
“And how’s that going for you now?”
“At least I have a few more hours before I have to go back to my prison,” she snapped and then bent forward, wincing slightly.
“Don’t play that shit with me. I’m not buying it again.”
“Uh…” She bit her lip and looked up at me with a little bit of fear in her eyes.
“No,” I whispered. “Please tell me that you are not seriously in labor right now.”
“I’m not in labor right now?”
She winced again and I lost it, turning around and yelling at the sky, “What the fuck!”
“Tony, I know that this all seems like my fault right now-”
I spun around, slamming my hand into the hood of the truck. “You think?”
“But you should remember that I’m in labor with triplets and now isn’t the time to cast stones.”
“Cast stones? I’m not fucking casting them. I’m hurling them your way like the Hulk!”
“Can you just call Sebastian?”
“Are you kidding me? You want me to call him so he can come murder me?”
“Tony! I’m in labor!”
“Goddamnit,” I muttered as I pulled out my phone and dialed his number. It rang and rang, but he didn’t answer. I hung up and tried again, and then ten more times before I gave up and realized that he wasn’t going to answer.
“Call Sinner,” Maggie said, taking in a deep breath and holding it.
“Stop doing that,” I snapped. “You have to breathe through it.”
“You breathe through it while three babies are trying to shove their way through your vagina!”
“This wouldn’t have happened if-”
“Just shut up and call Sinner!”
I mockingly mouthed everything she just said, as childish as that may be. I was pissed.
“Sinner,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief when he answered. “I need you, man.”
“Aw, I need you too.”
“I’m stuck on the side of the road with Maggie-”
“Nope, I’m gonna stop you right there. I already told Cap that I wasn’t going anywhere near Maggie until she had the babies.”
I glanced at Maggie, all scrunched over and in pain. Fuck, I was screwed. “Well, she’s about to have them right fucking now.”
“Where are you?”
“Twenty minutes outside of Pittsburgh.”
“What the fuck are you doing out there with her?”
“She told me she was in labor and needed to deliver in Pittsburgh.”
“And you fell for that?” he shouted. “How fucking stupid are you?”
“Hey, I don’t know her the way you do. I thought she was serious. And when I figured out that she was playing me, we were already out here. I pulled over to get gas and she slashed my fucking tires!”
“No, I’m sorry, but I cannot see that woman’s vagina again. Twice is enough.”
“Yeah, and when I call Cap and tell him that I called you for help, and you said no and the reason why, what do you think you’ll be staring at for the next year?”
Silence filled the other end of the phone. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
He hung up and I went back to check on Maggie. She looked like she was in a lot of pain and I had no fucking clue what to do for that. “Just…keep breathing.”
“Tony, I’m really sorry.”
I sighed and rubbed her back, hoping that it helped. “No you’re not, but I appreciate you lying to me.”
“I don’t mean to scare you, but these contractions are coming along pretty fast.”
“Okay, what are we talking here? Like, faster than a speeding bullet or faster than granny with a walker?”
“Those aren’t even close.”
“Yeah, but if you say closer to granny with a walker, I won’t freak out as much.”
She groaned and started breathing hard again.
“Uh…Don’t worry, be happy,” I started singing until she glared at me. “Sorry, I’m not sure what’s appropriate in this situation.”
“You suck at singing. How long until Sinner gets here?”
“He should be here soon. I’m sure he’s speeding.”
Thirty minutes later, Sinner pulled up, and Rocco and Cap jumped out of the truck.
“Freckles, what the fuck?” Cap shouted, running toward us.
“Oh, thank God,” I shouted. “A medical professional! Let’s get her transferred and to the hospital,” I said, totally ignoring Cap. He was useless.
“Did you call an ambulance?” Rocco asked.
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