by Rye Hart
“Would you like some breakfast? Made some biscuits and gravy,” he said.
My stomach turned. “Not right now, thanks,” I said. “I'm not feeling all that well right now.”
“If you need anything, Hailey, just let me know,” Cason said through the door.
I was wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt and panties, or else I'd have opened the door and talked to him. Still, I felt bad for at least not saying good morning. I opened the door just a sliver and peeked out, giving him a smile.
“Thank you, Cason. You and your brothers are so generous and amazing. I'm thankful to you guys.”
He smiled, a deep smile that went all the way to his honey brown eyes, and showed off the dimple in his cheek. He ran a hand through his short, brown hair and looked like he might blush. His chin had a hint of stubble, which I had to admit, looked incredibly sexy. I mentally scolded myself for having such a thought. After all, I'd slept with his brothers, and I was dealing with a possible pregnancy scare at the moment. The last thing I needed was to put one more McCormick notch in my belt.
“Anything for you, beautiful,” he said. “I'll be around if you need me.”
He turned to walk away, but I stopped him. “Oh Cason? Jenn is coming by, I hope that's okay?”
“Of course,” he said. “Want me to just send her in when she gets here?”
“Yes, please,” I said, biting my lip.
He winked at me, making my knees go weak. Damn, why must these men all be so sexy?
I closed the door and put on some pants as quickly as possible. I knew Jenn lived nearby, and when she said five minutes, usually she meant three. But this time, it surprisingly took her a whole ten minutes. I was already dressed completely by the time she got there.
“Hailey?” she called in to me. “You in there?”
I pulled open the door and hugged my best friend, so grateful to have someone I could confide in. Shutting the door behind us, she handed me a pregnancy test.
“Take it. Now. The earlier you test, the better,” she said. “I'll wait.”
“But –” I stared to argue.
“If you think you're pregnant, take it. At least that way it can ease your mind if you're not, right?”
“I guess so,” I mumbled, staring down at the packaging.
For some reason, even thinking of taking a pregnancy test sent me into panic mode and I stood there staring at it a moment longer.
“Go,” Jenn said, nudging me toward the bathroom. She followed me in and shut the door behind us. “I'll turn around, and while we wait for the results, you're going to fill me in on everything. Got it?”
“Yes, m'am,” I said.
I followed the directions on the test and placed it on the sink. It said to give it a few minutes for the results – and I knew it was going to be the longest two minutes of my life. Jenn paced the bathroom, and I had to tell her to stop.
“You're making me nervous,” I said and laughed.
“You're not already nervous?” she asked me.
“Of course I am,” I said, putting my head in my hands. “But you're making it worse.”
“Alright then, tell me why you're here,” she said, stopping in front of me.
The bathroom was large enough for us to both stand comfortably, but she hovered right above me, her eyes boring into mine like she was trying to see straight into my soul.
“My ex came back in town,” I said.
“The one from California?”
“Yes,” I said softly. “And let's just say – he's not too happy about me leaving him.”
I filled her on the rest of the details – glossing over how I fucked both Quinn and Bennett in my childhood bedroom, but mentioning that “stuff did happen.”
She stared at me, slack-jawed. “Last night? This happened last night?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled.
“Oh honey,” she said, laughing as she shook her head. “Then there's no need for a pregnancy test. You can't be pregnant from having sex last night.”
I stared at her. “I know that,” I said. “I'm not a total moron.”
“So, what are you saying then?”
I couldn't find the words, so instead, I glanced down at the test.
“Two lines,” I said.
I frantically looked for the instructions which I'd tossed in the trash can. Pulling it out, I tried to find out what having two lines meant.
“Hailey, it's positive,” she said.
“What is?”
“The pregnancy test,” Jenn said.
My heart fell into my stomach as I stared down at the two pink lines, clear as day. I was too shocked too cry. I felt nothing. No joy, no sadness. Nothing. Just when I thought my life couldn't get more complicated.
“I'm pregnant,” I said, finally pulling myself together and looking up at Jenn.
“It appears so,” Jenn said.
She grabbed my hand and pulled me back into the bedroom, and together, we sat on the bed facing one another. She held my hands as she looked deep into my eyes.
“Hailey, do you know who the father is?”
I nodded, feeling nauseous and not even wanting to admit it to myself.
“Good,” Jenn said. “Now, we need to talk about the next steps.”
“Next steps?” I choked out.
“Yes, like telling the father, and –”
“No, I can't tell him,” I said. “I won't tell him.”
Jenn cocked her head to the side. “Why not?”
“Because it's Leo,” I said.
Jenn missed everything that happened the night before. She didn't see the way he acted. She didn't know the things he'd done to me. The harmful, hurtful things.
“Jenn, Leo is-”
She waited a moment and then looked at me, encouraging me with her eyes. “Leo is what, hon?”
I tried to tell her he was abusive, but the words were lost on me. Instead, I lifted my shirt and showed her the bruises which were healing on my body. At last.
With her eyes full of tears, she hugged me close, not saying a word. Not needing to say anything at all.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - QUINN
I'd left Driftwood a little early. Nate, one of the cooks we'd hired, had it handled, and it was a slow night. Besides, it would give Cason a chance to get over here. When I opened the door to the house though, I found it empty. Or at least the living room was.
I walked down the hallway. “Hailey? Cason?” I called out.
“We're in here,” a small, feminine voice called out from the master bedroom.
I poked my head in the door and found Hailey sitting on the bed with Jenn. Hailey was curled in a fetal position, sleeping. Jenn stared up at me with tired brown eyes.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, she's had a rough day,” Jenn said, stroking her best friend's hair.
My heart raced. “Did Leo –”
“Oh no,” Jenn said, trying to keep her voice low.
She didn't elaborate, however, and I had a feeling she wouldn't talk no matter how many questions I'd asked. Jenn had always been a good friend to her and a stalwart guardian for Hailey, so I knew better than to press.
“Do you need anything?”
“I have to head home soon, my kids need me,” Jenn said, but she didn't move from the bed. “I just don't know what to do.”
“I'm here,” I said. “I'll keep an eye on her.”
“I don't know about –” her phone buzzed, and she muttered under her breath. “Dammit. My son needs my boob, they're out of milk. Do you think you could keep an eye on her? I can be right back?”
“Sure thing, Jenn,” I said.
She pulled herself off the bed as if it was a struggle to leave her best friend's side. I had no idea what had happened, and as much as I wanted to find Cason, I wasn't sure I should leave her alone. I sat down on the bed beside her and stared down at her. Her face was mostly covered by her long hair, but her perfectly upturned nose peeked out from it and I
fought the urge to kiss it.
“I'll be right back,” Jenn said.
“No rush,” I said, pushing the hair from Hailey's face. “I'm here for her.”
Jenn's face softened, and she looked like she might melt into the carpet. I had to urge her, again, to go.
“Your baby needs the boob, remember?”
She laughed. “Yeah, I'm going,” she said.
Her footsteps echoed down the hall, and I heard the front door open and close. I looked down at the beautiful woman beside me and wondered what might be going through her mind. Why her day had been so difficult. I curled up beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist, suddenly feeling very protective of her. I heard more footsteps, this time it was Cason.
“You're home early,” he said, standing in the open doorway.
“Yeah, it was slow, Nate had it covered,” I said. I looked up at Cason and asked, “So what's going on with her?”
He shrugged. “Jenn and Hailey have been shut in here all day,” he said. “I didn't want to bother them.”
Hailey jerked in her sleep, pulling away from me and muttering something I couldn't make out. Her eyes flew open and she stared up at me, eyes wide and full of fear.
“Quinn?” she said.
“Yes, it's me,” I said, trying to keep my voice low and calm. “Cason is here too. You're okay. You're safe.”
She relaxed into me a bit more, and my brother came over and sat down on the bed beside us. He watched from a distance as I held her tightly.
“Are you okay, Hailey?” Cason asked.
“Not really,” she muttered.
He moved closer, stroking her back. Cason laid down behind her, propping himself up on the pillows on the bed.
“What's going on?” I asked her. “It's okay, you know. You can tell us what's going on. You're safe here. You'll always be safe her.”
She sighed before answering me, “I'm pregnant,” she said softly.
“Are you – serious?” I asked, trying to pull myself together. I propped myself up and looked over at Cason who had the same look on his face. “How do you know?”
In my head, I tried to remember what I'd heard about knocking girls up. Could she know this soon? Could I be a father? Could any one of us be the father? My heart raced and for a moment, I couldn't help the smile on my face from growing wider. The idea that somehow, I might be a dad filled me with greater joy that I thought it would.
“I took a test,” she said, burying her face into the pillows. “And it came back positive.”
Cason looked at me and then Hailey. “So, it's not one of ours?”
She shook her head. “Wouldn't be possible,” she said, not looking at us. “It has to be Leo's.”
My heart slipped down into my shoes, but I found myself reaching out to her still. Comforting her.
“It'll be okay, Hailey. We'll figure it out,” I said.
“Leo doesn't have to know,” Cason said. “We'll protect you.”
The front door opened and slammed, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps in the foyer. A moment later, Ben called out to us.
“Cason? You were supposed to come in –”
He stopped in the doorway, all three of us staring back at him. He scratched his face as he looked down at us laying on the bed, Hailey still hiding her face, both of us soothing her. He could tell something was wrong.
“I have Nate watching over everything,” he said. “It should be fine.”
Cason nodded, and Ben came over to join us on the bed. He sat at the end, near Hailey's feet, and stroked her leg, a look of concern on his face.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“It will be,” I said.
CHAPTER NINETEEN - HAILEY
“You can stay here as long as you need to. As long as you want to,” Bennett said to me once we broke the news to him as well. “You and your child. You're both welcome here.”
“Really?” I sniffled, looking at him.
“Really,” Cason said.
Quinn also nodded. “It might be nice to have a kid around,” he said with a grin. “Somebody to throw the ball around with, maybe.”
The others seemed to agree. I sat up in the bed and looked at all three of them, taking in their similar facial features. There was a reason everyone loved these guys, and why I always crushed on them from afar. Now I was there, in the middle of the McCormick family, and they were welcoming me in with open arms.
Bennett added, “We have the extra space. And this way, Leo can't get anywhere near you,” he said, stroking my calf as he stared at me with his big, brown, soulful eyes.
“And I don't know about the others, Hailey,” Quinn said, “but I care about you.”
Ben nodded, then Cason. They all cared for me, and I felt the tears well up in my eyes. I not only had one good man who cared about me, I had three. All of them willing to protect me, no matter the cost. I reached for Bennett to come closer, suddenly I just wanted all of them close to me. I felt so safe amongst the guys, I just wanted to feel them near me.
To hold me.
To protect me.
We curled up on the bed in a puppy pile, and for a while, I could almost forget about the life growing inside of me. A life that belonged to a vile, reprehensible person. And a person who, if I had my way, would never know about their existence.
“What do you think about putting a crib right over there, near the bay window?” Quinn asked after a few minutes.
My pulse raced as I listened to him and realized he wasn't speaking to me. He was speaking to his brothers. Making plans for our future.
“I think it would look nice,” Cason said, kissing my forehead. “We'll have to move some things around, but there's plenty of room. Maybe we'll paint too. You just pick the colors, Hailey.”
“Guys, I could go back home with my parents,” I said, suddenly feeling embarrassed and like I was a huge burden.
“Not happening,” Quinn said. “This way you and your kid will never have to worry about Leo getting to you.”
“There's always at least one of us around,” Cason said. “If not all three of us.”
“Besides, it's about time we did something with this room,” Bennett said. “None of us are ever going to use it. And it's larger than your bedroom at home. With a baby on the way, you're going to need more space.”
He had a point. My room was easily half the size of this one, and there were no other options. We had a nice home, but it wasn't big by any means. And my parents were gone a lot, leaving me alone. If I were there alone and Leo showed up – I shuddered to think what might happen.
Knowing that in the McCormick house, that there was usually at least one of the boys around, I knew I'd never be alone. And I'd never feel unsafe.
“What will people think?” I asked.
Bennett shrugged. “Who cares?” he said. “If anything at all, they'll probably think one of us is the father.”
“And all of us are okay with that,” Quinn finished for him.
“The kid will have three dads,” Cason said. “And you'll have three boyfriends.”
I laughed, taking it as a joke, but judging by the looks on their faces, the guys didn't.
“Seriously?”
“Whatever you're comfortable with, Hailey,” Quinn said, stroking my cheek. “No more fighting over you.”
“Yes, no more fighting,” Cason agreed.
Bennett was the last to agree, and as I looked over at him, a smile spread on his ruggedly handsome features.
“I have a hard time sharing,” he said. “But I think I can manage.”
“So, we're doing this? We're really doing this?” I asked, feeling like my heart might explode, my mind overwhelmed by thoughts and feelings I'd never before experienced.
“Sounds like it,” Quinn said, kissing my lips.
And that's how I ended up with three boyfriends and three fathers for my child. It's strange. It's unusual and unconventional.
But, somehow, it just feels right.
The End
BEST SELLER: DAMAGED GOODS
A Single Dad & Nanny Romance
PROLOGUE
“God, you’re gorgeous,” he said breathlessly. “Holy shit.”
I closed my eyes and rode him harder than ever, throwing myself forward and back with a power I didn’t know I possessed. His groans turned into growls as he took in the sight of me on top of him. In his eyes, I could see how much he wanted me, and it fueled my own desire.
“Harder, baby,” I told him, begging him to take me.
He didn’t need any encouragement. He grabbed my hips and thrust himself upward, slamming into me desperately. With the first thrust, I cried out and rode him harder. We met each other’s rhythm easily, never slowing or losing our desperate need for each other.
“Oh God!” I cried out, unable to control myself.
“Come for me, baby,” he said, his voice low and husky. “Come for me.”
I obeyed in an instant. My body shook violently as I continued to meet his thrusts. I fell forward, my hands pressing into his chest while he held me up and continued to pound against me. The pleasure I felt was so great that I stopped breathing for a second, unable to think or move.
He flipped me onto my back and threw my legs onto his shoulders, never once sliding out of me. He rammed into me over and over again, seeking his own release. The pleasure was still tingling through my body, and as he took me hard and fast, I felt myself lingering on the brink all over again.
His eyes were hungry, and his chest was glistening with sweat as his thrusts became more urgent. I came for the third time and screamed out his name.
“Holy shit,” he groaned, feeling my walls collapse around him again.
CHAPTER ONE - SEAN
“Are you sure this was the best idea?”
Tommy’s face was turned down in a frown that I knew all too well. Ever since Telissa died, he’d become the worrier of the family. While I shut down and closed myself off, Tommy turned into an eighty-year-old grandpa, always worried about the safety of any situation.
Tommy was all me. His dark hair was cut the same as mine, and his eyes were a mirror image of my own, deep blue and brooding. If anyone was unlucky enough to catch us on a bad day, good luck to them. We were both extremely protective and also had the tendency to be hot-tempered.