Page 117 of Force At Third

“Nine weeks.”

“Nine freaking weeks!” she exclaims.

Whit laughs. “We all thought she had a boob job, maybe gained a few pounds—which you needed—and didn’t tell us. We were willing to let it go because you’re Gwen.”

“I need to find a man, because I need a pair of boobs like that,” Cora states.

Chloe looks like she seems to have never considered the idea of her “baby doll” getting pregnant until now.

“Remember, you get the belly and ass, too,” I point out, and they all laugh. “I don’t want to talk about the scary stuff after this, but I was told I couldn’t have kids after …” I stop and clear my voice. “I had an appointment to terminate, but miscarried and?—”

“These are the women you call sisters; you don’t have to explain yourself to them,” Sophie says quietly.

“She’s right; you don’t. But I have one question, if you don’t mind?” Chloe holds up a finger.

I already know what that question is. “No, Locke never knew.”

“When did you find out you were pregnant?” Whit asks, pointing to my belly.

“The night we caught William.”

“What?” Chloe gasps.

“Before you get all in your head about this, he didn’t shoot me in the cervix. The damage was already done.” I square my shoulders, happy to move from feeling weak and vulnerable to strong and focused. “But when I head to court next month, I may use that in the civil suit for jury sympathy, as long as you know it has nothing at all to do with?—”

“Wait—now I have a question,” Whit cuts me off.

“I already know what you’re going to ask, too, and yes, it’s Locke’s.”

“You and he?—”

“Fucked in the alley behind Ollie’s after Grandpa Locke’s services, and no, it wasn’t the first time that’s happened over the past decade and a half,” I admit.

“When did he find out?” Fawna asks.

“The same time she did,” Dromida answers.

They all glare at her.

“Oh, please, I took an oath”—she looks down at me—“and you scare me.”

“Yeah, well, you and my man had a moment not too long ago.”

“I didn’t?—”

“He wasn’t technically mine then,” I cut her off with the truth. “You saved my life. Love you, mean it. Moving on.”

She pouts out her bottom lip and uses her hands to make a heart.

“Do the boys know?” CeCe asks.

“Pope’s waiting on me to give him the thumbs-up to tell them. And we can talk more about all that, but I am starving.” I look at Chloe, who is just two months behind me in her pregnancy. “We haven’t found out the sex yet, but our kids are either going to be best friends or banging.” The whole table breaks out in laughter, and I add, “But we can’t discuss that until little Slugger or little Lockett is in my arms, okay?”

She wipes a tear away and nods. “Okay.”

I look across the table at Fawna. “This place is stunning, and I’m starving.”

Smiling, she lifts her hand and nods to a waiter. “Good, because you all have to try everything and tell me the truth.”

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