Tame: Carter Kids #3 (27 page)

"The doctor as good as told us that you are," he shot back, tone just as panicked as mine. Shoving his wallet and phone into the jeans he'd just pulled on, he walked over to where I was sitting and crouched down in front of me. "So stop being a fucking baby and take the damn test."

A sudden knock on the door startled me and broke the tension between us. Scrambling, I managed to stuff the box into my purse just as Lucky slipped his head around the door.

His eyes landed on Noah first and then me. "Hey you," he said with a crooked smile. "Feeling better?"

I nodded and forced a bright smile. Physically, I was feeling better. Emotionally, I was a wreck. "Welcome home," I added after a moment. "I missed you."

Letting the door close behind him, Lucky ambled over to where I was sitting and Noah was standing over me, glaring. "Everything okay?" he asked cautiously, eyeing my husband with concerned blue eyes.

Noah shook his head and opened his mouth to speak.

"Everything's fine," I blurted out, interrupting, not wanting to air my private turmoil with anybody else just yet.

Like a cruel twist of fate, the triplets walked into the changing room then, all three loaded down with questions, all three sharp as razorblades, followed by Noah's team of asshats.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Quincy's loud voice boomed through the room and suddenly everyone was talking at once, giving their two cents on what had gone down – well, everyone except for Noah.

Sinking down on the bench beside me, Noah continued to stare hard at my abdomen, so much in fact that I was beginning to feel extremely self-conscious. Every once and a while he would shake his head before resuming his staring.

Surrounded by eight men and a mute husband, I managed to drone their voices out until Cam's broke through my resistance.

"So, you must be the convict," he announced without an ounce of tact or shame, as his eyes roamed over Lucky's ink-covered skin. "I was expecting someone…"

"Bigger?" Lucky interjected good-naturedly.

"Who looked less like a boyband member," Cam corrected with a grin, revealing that devilish dimple in his cheek. "You don't look like a killer."

"Smooth, Cam," Logan said with a heavy sigh. "Real smooth, bro."

"Whatever, Low," Cam grumbled before refocusing his attention on Lucky. Moving towards Lucky, he held out his hand. "It's good to finally meet the man who kept Noah sane inside."

Lucky grinned crookedly and shook Cam's outstretched hand. "The pleasure was all mine."

"We need to leave," Noah announced out of nowhere.

Jerking to his feet, he grabbed my purse and stalked towards the changing room door only to halt halfway and turn around when he noticed I wasn’t by his side.

"We need to leave
now
, Thorn," he repeated in an emphatic tone, eyeballing me. "We have things to do." He not-so-subtly shook my purse in my face.

"Right," I whispered, wanting to do anything except that. Hell, I was contemplating staying right here with Tommy, Quincy, and Beau.

I really was afraid…

"You guys can't go," Colt piped up. "Mom and Dad are expecting you both at the hotel."

"Tonight?" I squeezed out.

"Yeah," Logan was the one to reply this time. "He has a car waiting outside for us. He has this family dinner organized."

"Speaking of…" Cam muttered as checked his watch on his wrist. "We should get going."

"At ten o clock at night?" I asked, puzzled.

Logan's face reddened and Colton whistled as if he hadn't heard me.

"What are you guys up to?" I demanded, smelling a rat.

"No," Noah snapped, interrupting me. Reaching for my hand, he pulled me up. "We have things to do."

"Come on, Noah," I pleaded, desperate to delay the inevitable. Even though I had stopped dry heaving, I still felt weak as dishwater and rested all of my weight against my husband's huge frame. I didn’t want to find out. I wasn’t ready. "It would be really rude not to go."

Noah balked. "Thorn," he hissed, glaring down at me.

"Please," I whispered, shaking my head ever so slightly, imploring Noah not to push me on this.

I needed time to comprehend this.

I needed a minute to myself to think this through.

I was reeling, I was petrified, and I refused to be bullied into doing this until I was ready.

"Fine," Noah growled after a long pause. "We can do that
thing
at the hotel."

I wasn’t in the mood to make small talk much less entertain a roomful of people, but that's what we were met with the moment Teagan and I stepped foot in the function room of the Henderson Hotel. Balloons, confetti, and more people than I could put names to surrounded us, all smiling, all creeping me the hell out.

"Congratulations, you two," an elderly lady, who vaguely resembled my high school biology teacher, announced as she ambled over to Teagan and me and squeezed on our cheeks. "You two were made for each other," she added with a raspy chuckle before pottering off, leaving us both confused as hell.

"What's going on?" Teagan whispered in a small voice, tightening her hold on my hand, eyes locked on mine

"I have no fucking clue," I shot back, equally stunned.

"Surprise," Colton announced, slinging an arm around me. "Happy engagement/shotgun wedding party."

"You're joking," I deadpanned as I stared in horror at the roomful of people.

"Oh my god, oh my god!" A familiar came from behind me, breaking through the noise. "Cash, go get your daddy. Tell him Noah's here!"

Swinging around, I froze to the spot when my eyes landed on Lee Carter – the woman who, for all intents and purposes, had been the mother I never had throughout the course of my teenage years.

She was smiling up at me and this feeling of warmth hit me straight in the chest.

Memories bombarded me.

Some of them good.

Most of them bad.

"Noah Messina," she said in that soft southern drawl of hers. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"

"It's good to see you, Lee." I was careful with my brother's wife, the same way I'd always been, letting her initiate the hug first – knowing she was a jumpy as a slippery fish.

Her gaze flickered to Teagan and her grey eyes shone with sheer delight. "Teagan," Lee gushed, releasing me only to throw her arms around my wife. "Look at you," she gasped. Holding Teagan's shoulders, Lee took a step back and looked my wife up and down, grey eyes sparkling. "You are glowing, Teagan."

"I am?" Teagan squeaked, blushing beetroot red.

"Absolutely," Lee said gleefully. "Married life obviously agrees with you."

"Yeah," Teagan whispered, flashing me a sideways glance. "I guess it does."

"Noah!"

Kyle's voice penetrated through my mind, and I turned slowly, taking in the sight of my oldest brother – the man who, along with his wife, had stepped in and raised me throughout my teenage years. The respect I had for my half brother was the only reason I was here enduring this
party
. Especially since I knew my wife was sitting beside me with an unopened pregnancy test in her purse.

When I saw her curled up in a heap on the changing room floor earlier tonight, my heart had all but stopped dead in my chest.

That woman meant everything to me, and knowing that there was a possibility she had my baby growing inside of her – well, that took my love for her to a whole new level.

She'd been so sick lately that I was praying for that test result to come back positive.

A baby I could handle.

Something seriously wrong with her health, I could not.

God, I needed to know.

I couldn’t understand why Teagan was stalling.

Why was she trying to delay this?

We needed to know.

Christ, if my wife was pregnant then what hope did our kid have?

What the hell kind of father would I be?

I was a convicted felon.

I could only imagine my kid's shame rolling up to school with me on one of those
what does your daddy do
days.

Shuddering, I forced myself to concentrate on Kyle and not the fear threatening to take me over.

"Did you get my gift?" he asked, casting a wink at Teagan. "Blondie," he acknowledged.

"Kyle," Teagan bit out with a stiff nod.

"We did," I replied. "And we can't accept it."

"I can," Teagan piped up, holding her hand up. "I can accept…I…I…Noah, I'm going to kill you…ugh."

Her threats and words of violent promises were cut off as her stomach rejected everything inside of her for what had to be the fiftieth time tonight.

Teagan dropped to the floor in the middle of the room and heaved mercilessly.

"It's okay," I soothed, dropping to my knees beside her. "You're okay, Thorn."

"Oh my god," Lee exclaimed in delight. "I
knew
it."

"Knew what, Princess?" Kyle asked, sounding both curious and horrified.

"She's pregnant!"

"She's what?"

"No!" Teagan wailed, waving her hand in the air weakly. "I'm not…ugh."

"Oh, she so is," Kyle chuckled. "You were the same with the boys."

"Why is this happening to me?" Teagan sobbed between heaves.

"Congratulations, brother," Kyle said proudly.

"Jesus," I muttered.
What a fucking conversation.
Looking up at Kyle, I asked, "Is there somewhere I can take her?"

I was dying and it wasn't an exaggeration.

Every breath I took caused the nausea inside of me to rear its ugly head, resulting in me projectile vomiting.

Clinging to the toilet bowl in the hotel room Kyle had graciously given us after I decimated his pretty carpet, I heaved loudly.

"Get it up, Baby." Noah encouraged, holding my hair out of the firing line of my mouth. "That's it," he soothed, rubbing my back with his large, calloused hand. "Good job."

"This is all your…" More vomit. "Fault." Dizziness engulfed me and I sagged forward, slapping my chin against the porcelain rim of the bowl. "You and your…" Tears stung my eyes as the ripping sensation in my throat intensified. "Fertile dick."

"I know, Thorn," Noah agreed, wisely accepting my jabs and proclamations of blame. "I'm sorry."

"Sure you are…" My words transformed from a muffled groan into a huge heaving gawk. Clutching the toilet bowl with a death grip, I breathed through my mouth, not daring to smell my own funk. "I mean it," I added in a weak tone. "This is all your fault, you big bastard…" my words broke off once more as the remaining contents of my stomach projected out of my mouth and into the toilet bowl.

"I know, Baby," Noah cooed, as he crouched behind me, holding my hair back, his fingers gently brushing my bare shoulder.

I couldn't see him, but I could tell he was smiling.

Panting in relief, I remained positioned over the toilet bowl for a few more minutes, until my brain was convinced my stomach had decided to stop screwing with me.

Feeling empty and violated, I leaned back and snuggled into his chest, shivering in comfort.

"I think I'm dying," I whimpered.

"You're not dying," he assured me. Pulling me into his arms, Noah stood up swiftly, taking me with him. "You're pregnant."

Carrying me out of the ensuite, Noah sat down on the bed in the adjoining bedroom, keeping me wrapped up in his arms, and pressed a kiss to my damp forehead.

"We don’t even know for sure," I countered weakly, sagging against him, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep and stay there. I was so desperately tired and my body wasn’t playing ball with me.

"There's only one way to find out," he countered calmly.

"I…" I shook my head and felt the blood draining from my face. "I…"

"You can't hide from this, Thorn," Noah told me. Reaching over, he grabbed my purse off the bed and dug inside it. Retrieving the pregnancy test, he handed it to me and said, "We've got this, Thorn. Whatever the result is. We've got this."

My uncle was going to kill me.

That was the one structured thought that found its way through the muddled up notions of my mind as I gaped down at the piece of plastic between my fingers and the two pink lines that were staring me in the face.

Fear like I'd never known before enveloped my heart as I sat on that toilet seat and then, weirdly enough, Michael Jackson's
Billie Jean
reverberated through my mind followed swiftly by Uncle Max's furious voice screaming at me.

Flushing the toilet, I arranged my clothing and tossed the traitorous stick in the trashcan, all the while strangling down the panic threatening to choke me.

Well, that was that.

At least I knew.

There was an explanation for the nausea.

This was not good.

Not good at all.

What the hell were we going to do with a baby?

I was pretty sure I was still a baby myself.

A mother?

No… No freaking way.

Exhaling heavily, I forced myself to calm down, but it wasn't coming easy to me.

I was pregnant.

Oh, sweet baby Jesus.

Shaking my head, I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep, calming breath.

You can do this,
I told myself over and over again
.

But how can you?
The sensible side of me demanded.

Noah and I were still adjusting to life on the road while being together.

We were still going through teething problems – big, jealous, trust issue teething problems.

Adding a baby to the mix would be catastrophic.

And the team?

I groaned loudly at the thought.

Noah's staff couldn't stand me at the best of times and they didn't try to hide it. I could only imagine what they would have to say when they heard the news.

The words
on purpose
sprang to mind.

This was the least on purpose and most irresponsible thing I had ever done in a life full of reckless choices.

Suddenly, I felt less like a twenty-five-year-old woman and more like a terrified teenage girl.

I needed my best friend, Hope.

I needed my mom…

Noah and I didn't have a stable environment.

Hell, we never stayed in one place long enough to leave fingerprints, let alone make babies.

JD's face and the imminent threat he represented to us flooded my mind and my entire body began to shake violently.

I couldn't do this…

In a daze, I walked over to the sink and sagged against it.

I was pregnant.

I had Noah Messina's baby growing in my belly.

Resting one hand on the sink, I covered my tender stomach with my hand and allowed my mind to wander…

"Shit," Noah growled, stilling inside me.

"Wh-what?" I mewled, continuing to grind my body against his. My skin grew warmer with every move and I knew I was close.

"The condom," he ground out. A vein bulged in his neck. "Split."

"So?" I was too horny to care. "Don't stop," I begged as I writhed beneath his hot, naked body, desperate to feel his weight on me. "Please…" Thrusting my hips upwards, I grabbed his hips and tried to drag him back down to me.

"Thorn, please," Noah hissed through clenched teeth. "I'm trying to be good here…"

"Don't be good," I purred, pulling hard on his hips. "I like you better bad."

His eyes fluttered shut and he sank into me once more before letting out a groan that sounded like he was in genuine pain. "I…can't…"

Pulling out of me, Noah climbed over to the driver's seat of his Lexus and sank down.

Disappointment floored me as I lay naked and needy on the reclined passenger seat. "You suck," I growled, twisting my head to glare at my boyfriend. "Big, fat donkey balls."

Noah cleared his throat. "You'll be glad I did that when you're not on your back in nine months."

"Okay," I muttered, appalled. "You just killed my girl-erection."

"I'm not going to be reckless with you," he told me. Rubbing his hands over his face, Noah muttered a string of curse words under his breath. "You're too important to me. I won't be selfish with you, Thorn. I won't…"

"Thorn?" Noah's voice infiltrated my thoughts, and I jumped.

The door flew inwards then and Noah stood in the middle of the bathroom, eyes wild and full of questions.

He must have changed his clothes while I was in the bathroom because he was clad in jeans and a plain white shirt now, sleeves rolled up, that sexy arm-porn on full display.

This man is the father of my unborn baby…

The thought penetrated my mind and it was all I could think about as he took a step towards me.

This is the man,
my heart whispered as it hammered furiously against my ribcage.
The man who walked through a ring of fire to save your life… the man who covered your body with his all those years ago,
my heart continued to torment me with harsh truths.
He took the brunt of the force when the car plummeted into the mountains. He went up in flames to keep you safe…

He was my partner in crime, in life, and very soon my partner in parenthood…

"Well?"

One word.

One simple question.

And I couldn't verbalize an answer, so I did what I usually did when I felt under pressure.

I screamed.