Page 48 of Ruthless Son

“Mia…”

“I’m fine,” I sniffed. “I just… miss home.” Lies were coming easier and easier, the acidic taste in my mouth a symbol for the untruth that spilled from my lips.

Rex’s hand stroked my hair in one long caress, down my spine and back up again. The soothing motion dried my tears and comforted the emotional wreck that I was. My heart swelled for the man that offered solace in my time of need. Flashes of him cradling a bundle to his chest sent a twinge of longing through my already aching heart.

“Maybe your parents can visit?” he muttered into my hair. “I have a house, there are tenants in it at the moment, but I can get rid of them…”

“My dad and his wife… Millie’s mum, not mine.” I buried in closer to him, tucking my cheek against his chest, the strong thud of his heart resounding in my ear. “Dad cheated on my mum with her. I’ve never really had much to do with her, I mostly ignored her growing up. Anyway, she has so many health issues, she wouldn’t travel and Dad would only come here for a short period of time.” I sighed. My feelings for the woman were pretty ambivalent. She’d never been horrible to me, but she was always the ‘other woman’, and I couldn’t resign her to anything else. My lips parted to say more, wanting to spill everything to him, but I froze in his arms. Scared of ruining this moment with him, scared of ruining this… thing that we were slowly building.

It had been a matter of weeks, but already the thought of not waking up next to him sent a cold shiver down my spine. Missing his jokes, missing his comfort; not having this intimacy each day seemed unfathomable.

“Maybe we should just stay like this all day,” I whispered. “We can play… what do you call it in America? Hooky?”

Rex burst out laughing, squeezing me to him. “I love it when you talk dirty to me.”

Distracted, he stripped out of his cut, but he was smart and I don’t think the promise of sex was going to keep him preoccupied for long. Sooner or later, I’d have to tell him.

But for today, we could stay wrapped up in our bubble for a little longer.

Mia

Being able to get out of the clubhouse, even with a brother following me for safety, was so much better for my mental health. I didn’t realize how miserable I’d become being cooped up inside for so long. I inhaled the fresh air through the cracked window of the cab, with Easton in the driver’s seat. The trip to the diner to meet Jenna was a welcome break, one I had been looking forward to all morning. Rex had prompted the little trip after my breakdown yesterday. He had comforted me in the only way he knew how, offering his shoulder and just holding me while I cried into his cut. The day’s heat warming my face already had me feeling much better about my current predicament. It was probably all the vitamin D I was getting—no pun intended.

The truck rumbled down the alley, before turning left to hit the main stretch of town. The sun shining through the windshield was blinding, and I reached into my bag to grab my sunglasses. “Oh fuck, I forgot my purse.”

“I’ll get what you need, princess,” Easton drawled beside me. “Rex will beat my ass if I let you go out and can’t pay for anything.”

I didn’t know much about East, he was a quiet man of a similar age to me, but he was unranked. His cut carried the patch of the Street Kings, but there were no other insignia across the black leather. He very rarely engaged with me or the other women, preferring his own company and never taking any of the club women back to his room and it wasn’t for their lack of trying.

“That’s sweet, but I want my own money, otherwise you may as well just turn around and go back.” I was living on the Kings’ dime since we moved in here and I wasn’t about to have Rex pay for every single thing. Besides, I couldn’t buy a pregnancy test with Easton watching, the first thing he would do was run and tell his brother. “I need to buy some feminine items…” I left the comment hanging, letting him get the gist of it, his cheeks flushed pink, keeping his eyes on the road in front of him and avoiding eye contact. Why did men get embarrassed at the mention of tampons? It was universal, and the men here were just like the men back home. Dad used to flinch at the mention of our periods and walk out of the room, preferring us to keep it ‘between women’.

Easton’s sigh of surrender filled the cab, and he threw the truck in reverse, heading back to the clubhouse.

“I’ll be two minutes.” I threw the door open, and ran inside. The guy was doing me a huge favor taking me, I didn’t want to make him wait any longer than he had to. Throwing the bedroom door open, it took me a minute for my brain to catch up with my eyes. The image of Rex sitting on the bed was burned into my retinas, my bag dropped to the floor, I didn’t even register the contents spilling out by my foot.

“You weren’t supposed to be back yet.” Rex threw the condom to the bed, the unused condom that he was just… just…

“I… did you….” Betrayal wormed its insidious way through my body. “Were you poking a hole in it?”

Rex rose to his feet, his hands outstretched before him. “Now listen, princess?—”

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?” My heart thudded in my chest as I screamed at the man who had torn my life apart. My screams had men pouring from their own rooms watching in fascination as Rex tried to calm me down.

“Hey, hey. Calm down, let me explain.”

“Explain? Explain how you were trying to baby trap me by poking holes in your condoms,” I screamed over the gasps behind me. “How long?” I seethed beside the door, stepping back from his outstretched hand, but I wouldn’t let him touch me again. He’d done enough. I guess I didn’t need to take that pregnancy test anymore.

“Fuck off outta here.” Rex stabbed his finger at the bystanders, who quickly left me to deal with Rex’s betrayal on my own. I guess all that talk about being one of them was just for show, because when I needed them to help me, to have my back, they close their doors in my face, leaving me to my fate. “Princess, stop…”

“Don’t fucking call me that, I’m not your fucking princess,” I spat as I walked backward, keeping Rex in my line of sight. I wouldn’t turn my back on him again. The treacherous snake had coiled his way around me, and kept me in his prison… and I’d let him. But he was shedding his skin, and I could see him for what he was underneath… the serpent who betrayed Eve had whispered his silver tongued promises in my ear—I’d stupidly listened. Now I was stuck in a new prison of my own making, one that would last 18 damned years before I could be free.

“What was your plan huh? Get me pregnant and I’d be forced to stay here?” I hissed, loathing—both for him and myself for trusting him with my body—spread through my entire being. I stared at the man in front of me, a man I had begun to fall for, to care about, and it was all a lie. “TELL ME!” He flinched as if I’d struck him, his fists white knuckled by his side.

“You weren’t supposed to find out.” My laugh was hollow at his muttered excuse, the joy of finding out I was expecting a child completely absent, because it was forced on me, and he couldn’t even say sorry. “Mia, I did it for us?—”

“Don’t you fucking dare!” My teeth clenched around the hatred that I felt right then. “You did it for you, this was always about you. All of the excuses about having to stay here because it was too dangerous outside was just a bunch of lies to keep me here.”

He inched forward one step at a time. “It’s all true, prin… Mia. I kept you here to keep you safe, because I wanted—needed to protect you. And now we have someone else to protect.” He gestured to my stomach. “Please just come in and sit down, you need to calm down or you’ll hurt yourself.”

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