Page 74 of Trick

Fear surges inside me as I quickly lift her T-shirt to see if there’s any damage, but all I see is her smooth skin.

“What’s wrong?” Her throat bobs as she swallows, and my fear intensifies. “Heidi? Talk to me.”

She lifts her gaze, and the look in her eyes is something I have never seen before. It’s a mix of so many emotions, I can’t pinpoint a single one.

“I made an appointment with the doctor.” That fear again ripples through me. “I haven’t been yet, but I threw up this morning. I don’t know how it happened, Trick. I didn’t do it on purpose, but I guess with everything going on, I just?—”

I grab her face between my hands again, bringing her attention to me. “What are you talking about?”

“I took a pregnancy test. It was positive.”

There is a ringing in my ears as those words settle around me. She took a pregnancy test and it was positive. Heidi is pregnant with my child.

I thought I felt protective before, but the wave that rises through me is so much more intense. Now, I have three people to keep safe. The world around me that felt so small suddenly feels too big, but a sense of peace spreads through me as I realise I’m going to be a dad for a second time.

And this time, I will not miss a single second of this child’s life.

“I’m sorry,” she rambles. “I messed up getting my shot. With everything happening, I just… please don’t think I did this on purpose. If you don’t want the baby, I understand, but?—”

“I want the baby,” I cut across her rambling. “I want you, and I want this baby.”

Her brows come together. Why the fuck would she think I wouldn’t want this kid?

“You do?”

“Yeah, I do.” I kiss her gently, as if I’m afraid I might break her.

She kisses me back, Sophia between us, as I show her with actions everything I can’t say with words. My adrenaline is leaving my body as I realise we’re safe, and with it, the pain in my shoulder makes itself known, but I don’t let her go.

This woman in front of me has given me everything. I thought my life was over. I thought I could never experience a single moment of happiness ever again, but she pulled me out of the abyss I was drowning in. She gave me purpose. She showed me how to be a father, and now, she is going to give me that gift once more. “I fucking love you, Heidi.”

Tears stand in her eyes. “You’re not mad?”

“No, I’m not. I’m fucking grateful.”

And as I hold the two most important things in my life, this shit with the Pioneers done, I finally believe I can have a future again.

CHAPTER 23

HEIDI

Itry not to look at the body as Trick helps me off the floor. I let him lead me into the living room, and only then do I pull Sophia away from my chest. I don’t know how much she saw, but I hope I protected her from the worst of it. She doesn’t need those kinds of nightmares.

Her face is tear-stained, but other than that, she seems okay, and that allows me to breathe a little easier. I kiss her head, relief a palpable ache inside me.

As much as I want to keep hold of her, Trick needs me, so I place Sophia on her playmat before I turn back to Trick. He sinks onto the couch, his hand still pressed against his shoulder as blood trails between his fingers.

There is a lot of blood, more than I thought, and seeing it dripping the way it is makes my mouth dry.

I grab one of the baby’s blankets from the back of the sofa and sit next to him, trying to exude a calm I don’t feel.

“This looks bad,” I murmur as I gently push his kutte off his shoulders.

He winces at the movement but helps me to remove his top. It’s hard to see the wound, but my assessment of how fucked it is isn’t wrong. There’s so much blood staining his skin and pouring from his shoulder.

“It’ll be okay.” This doesn’t reassure me as much as he thinks it does. “Just put pressure on it. The doc’ll stitch it.”

“It’s only a graze, right?” I laugh nervously, repeating what he had told me when I was shot.

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