by Rye Hart
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
RYE HART SNEAK PEEKS
TOP DOG
CHAPTER 1
JULIA
This is all so surreal.
I felt my nerves creep up my spine as I sat in the parking lot of the restaurant. I couldn't believe I was about to meet Romeo after six years.
He’d taken over his father’s seat. Head of the Martine family.
The news of his decision to take over the family business had shattered my dreams of a happily ever after. I’d seen too much and experienced too much. And now that I was a mother to a beautiful precious little boy, I had to keep my hands clean.
Matteo was beginning to ask questions, so the silence needed to be broken.
Everyone knew of our tryst. The two lovers from rival families who found love in the oddest of places. And I had to admit, I’d loved Romeo Martine once.
His deep blue eyes had called to me.
His words had melted my heart.
I’d always been putty in that man’s hands.
But more than that, he was respectable. Good to his core. Which was why it sickened me when he took his father’s place. Our families ripped us apart, forbidding us to be together, and I was shipped off. Forced to raise Matteo alone.
For years, I had dreamed of us getting back together, leaving New York City and starting a life of our own that d
idn’t involve the authorities and bloodshed and mayhem.
Until I heard of the death of Romeo’s father. And Romeo’s ultimate ascension to the throne.
For decades, our families had been at war, and an innocent city I used to call home was caught in the middle of it all. The Martines and the Bianchis, always killing and always feuding, trying to one-up the other and falling short.
Red tainted the streets and bodies dumped into unmarked graves were all that remained of some of my cousins.
My brothers.
And my father.
A car accident, they said. I heard the rumors that someone from the Martine family ordered a hit on my father. There was no proof, yet after years of rivalry, nothing could be put past the Martines. I knew Romeo wasn’t capable of such a thing, but his link to the Martine Family was always the source of torment in my life.
Uncle Stefano urged me to make amends with Romeo. He’d always meant well, especially after my father’s died. News of his death had sent my uncle into a tailspin. But instead of reaching for his gun, he reached for his phone and informed the family of his want to make peace and he took up my father’s place in the family as the patriarch, the shot caller. And though I hated what our families stood for in the community, I could get behind his message of peace.
That was why I was sitting in the parking lot of the first restaurant Romeo ever took me.
To make peace.
To make the impossible somehow… possible.
No pressure Julia. You’ve only got the future of your family riding on your shoulders.
I clutched my purse and pulled out my phone. Uncle Stefano had already sent me pictures of Matteo. He was riding piggyback on one of my cousins with a massive smile on his face. More and more every day, he looked like his father.
He had my brown hair with those thick red streaks, but he had his father’s blue eyes and his father’s scowl whenever he was upset.
He even had his father’s tall stature. He stood taller than every single kid his age that he’d come across.
Sighing, I stuck my phone back into my purse. I climbed out of my car and smoothed my hands down my dress, then made my way to the restaurant. So many memories came flying back. The red dress I had on for our first date. The corner booth we sat in so no one would spot us. The drinks we threw back and the way his foot slid up my bare leg during dinner.
How he fucked me against the bathroom wall when I’d escaped to the women’s restroom with a wink.
I walked into the restaurant, spotting a man at the back of the room who stood up from the same booth we’d giggled in almost seven years ago.
I felt my heart race.
Holy fuck.
I’d know those blue eyes anywhere, and his thick head of dark brown hair almost blended into the background. He towered over everyone else, a cool six-foot-five, and the suit cut against his body clung to every muscle. I nodded at the hostess and began walking toward him, trying to draw deep breaths.
But he was as sexy as he had ever been.
He was stacked with more muscle than I remembered, but still gorgeous. There was a grin set upon his cheeks, and his chiseled jaw stood out against the shadows of the restaurant.
His legs were long and his waist was slim. His shoulders and chest were impossibly broad, and I waited for the fabric stretched across them to groan and give way. His large hands reached toward me in greeting.
It was his lips, however, that drew me in. That pouty lower lip I loved sucking on years ago.
“Julia.”
I stepped up to him and clutched my purse in front of me. I felt my legs wobbling in my heels. The way he looked at me, I could tell he was impressed.
His eyes danced along the curves my past pregnancy had brought about and stopped at my legs, shimmering with smoothness and glistening in the pale light of the restaurant.
I saw him lick his lips.
My legs had always been his favorite part of me, and he was making no show of trying to hide his appreciation for them.
But he was guarded, and so was I.
“You look good,” I said.
“Took the words from my mouth,” Romeo said.
Oh, his voice. That smooth, velvety timbre against my ears.
“It’s been a while,” Romeo said.
“It has.”
“Care to take a seat?”
His arm ushered out toward the booth, and I slid in, glad to put a barrier between us.
“I’m sorry for not responding to your messages for so long,” I said.
Romeo’s eyes hooked onto mine, and I could feel myself falling into his trance again. I felt myself swirling in his beautiful eyes. My feet started gravitating toward his warmth underneath the table.
Get it together, Julia. He’s still the head of the Martine family.
“You owe me nothing. It’s your father that owes me an apology,” Romeo said.
“And since he isn’t alive to deliver that apology, consider this from him,” I said, bristling slightly.
“I didn’t mean to sound inconsiderate.”
“You play the part well,” I said flatly.
“Would the two of you care for a glass of wine tonight?”
I looked over at the waitress and saw her smiling kindly at me.
“No, thank you. But I would enjoy some water,” I said.
“Water for me as well,” Romeo said. “Also, two steaks, medium rare. Mushrooms on hers but not on mine. Each with a side of garlic broccoli, then add a salad to mine and fries to hers.”
I stared at Romeo, attempting to hide my disbelief.
The beautiful bastard remembered.
“I’ll get right on it and have your waters out soon,” the waitress said.
“So,” Romeo said as he unbuttoned his suit jacket, “how’s Matteo?”
The sound of my son’s name falling from his lips pulled me from my trance.
“How do you know his name?” I asked.
“He’s my son. I know a great deal about him.”
I narrowed my eyes slightly as I scooted heavily into the cushion at my back.
“Is he not my son?” Romeo asked.
I swallowed thickly as the server set our waters in front of us.
“Thank you,” I said as I reached for the glass.
I took a long pull before I set it back down on the table.
“He is,” I said. “Matteo’s your son.”
“I would like to see him.”
“No,” I said plainly.
“You just said he’s my son. I would enjoy being a part of his life. Something your father didn’t give me a chance to do.”
“Are you done blaming a dead man for your quarrels?” I asked.
I watched his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. Yeah, I wasn't the timid, meek-minded girl from seven years ago. I had a son, and I meant to keep him out of the hands of the families. I was determined to keep him away from this lifestyle, to shield him from everything I’d witnessed as a little girl.
“You can’t see him,” I said.
“Might I ask why?”
“Because I’m keeping him away from everything to do with—”
I bit the inside of my cheek as Romeo nodded his head.
“I see.”
“Why did you do it?” I asked.
“Do what?”
“Why did you take your father’s place?”
I watched something flash behind his eyes, but I couldn’t decipher what it was. Guilt. Pain. Possibly anger? I wasn’t sure. That was the thing with Romeo. He was good at covering up his feelings.
The first time he told me he loved me, I wasn’t even expecting it.
“You won’t let me see my son because I took over my family’s business,” Romeo said.
“That’s correct.”
“Your side isn’t exactly innocent in all that’s gone on between our families,” Romeo reminded me. “The mafia has no bearing on whether or not I can see my son.”
“The maf
ia also has no bearing on me allowing my son in your presence. I’m not here on my own behest. I won’t put my son in the line of fire if I don’t have to.”
“Then on whose behest are you here?” Romeo asked.
I drew in a deep breath and closed my eyes.
“You have to understand where I’m coming from,” I said. “Matteo is precious. A boy full of curiosity and light. A life in the mafia—”
I opened my eyes and saw our waitress headed to our table. She placed our food in front of us, but I was no longer hungry. This was a mistake. If Romeo seeing Matteo was what Uncle Stefano wanted to use to bring peace, I couldn't make that happen.
Matteo wasn’t a bargaining chip.
I got peace. I enjoyed peace. I understood the need for it. But I couldn’t do it. As much as I wanted to support my uncle’s agenda, the mere idea of exposing Matteo to the world of the mafia immobilized me.
I couldn't do it.
“I had dreams, you know,” I said.
“Dreams of what?” Romeo asked.
“Of you coming back. Of me introducing you to your son. Of us running away together with Matteo and starting a new life.”
I panned my gaze over to his and watched him stab at his broccoli.
He was cool. Collected. Calm. Like the lifestyle he had chosen didn’t even bother him.
He was the father of my child and looking at him now made me want to cry.
“I’m so disappointed in you,” I said.