Page 23 of Insatiable

“Because we’re waiting for the final reports to come back from the coroner. I have a friend down there who called to tell me the news, but it’s not official yet. I didn’t want to tell Zane until I knew for sure,” he said.

“And until you were sure that I wasn’t an accessory to murder,” Zane filled in.

“Yes, that too,” Crew admitted. “I’m sorry, Zane,” he said. “I never believed that you were guilty, but I needed proof that I could take to my boss before I could do anything. He insisted that I leave you guys because living with you both was a conflict of interest. That’s why I packed up all my stuff and moved out. I take it that you found my note?” he asked.

“I did,” Dakota admitted, “and that was a shitty way of telling us that you were leaving. Why didn’t you just talk to us face to face?” she asked.

“You know how these things work,” Crew said, “if Zane had been involved in Susan’s murder, all my evidence proving him innocent would be inadmissible in court since I’d be involvedwith the suspect. I needed to break away from you both to prove Zane’s innocence. Otherwise, it would have been for nothing.”

“I get that, but it doesn’t mean that you’re leaving didn’t hurt both of us,” Zane whispered. It had hurt him too, but Crew didn’t point that out to his guy. He needed to give them both time to work through their hurt and hopefully forgive him in the end.

“And I’m sorry for hurting both of you. I hope that someday, you can both forgive me,” Crew breathed.

“What happens now?” Zane asked.

“Now, I can go to my boss with the file that you found, and turn it over as evidence. I don’t want to know how you found it, or where, got it?” Crew asked. He had a feeling that they had to do something unlawful to get the thumb drive, and if that was the case, the court might not allow it as evidence. “I’ll turn it in and hopefully, Zane will be completely cleared as a suspect. We’ll arrest this Johnny guy and your father.”

“Good,” Zane breathed. “Let us know when it’s done,” he said. He grabbed Dakota’s hand and tugged her along with him to the door. He wanted to protest them leaving before he had a chance to tell them both how much he loved them and wanted a second chance, but Zane wasn’t going to allow that. He didn’t even look back at Crew as he walked out of the motel room. Dakota did though, and the look on her face nearly broke his damn heart. She mouthed the word, “Bye” to him and he nodded at her, not wanting to cause more trouble than he already had. Instead, he just stood in the middle of his shitty motel room and watched the two people he loved most in the world walk away. Maybe he deserved it since he had done the same thing to them both first, but it still hurt like a son of a bitch.

Dakota

Three weeks without Crew felt like three years. Every day that he didn’t come home broke her heart a little bit more. She could tell that it was taking a toll on Zane too. He was quiet and reserved, making her worry about him. She was sure that all this worry was the reason that she hadn’t gotten her period yet. Dakota was sure that it would come any day, but every day that passed without it made her more nervous.

She decided to take matters into her own hands and find out if her fears were even a possibility and on her way home, she grabbed a few pregnancy tests. When she got home before Zane, she was actually relieved. The last thing she wanted to do was make him worry without just cause.

Dakota ran up to the master bedroom and took all the tests that she had purchased, not wanting to take any chances of an incorrect test result. And when she realized that they were all pregnant, she sat on the side of the tub, holding her head. “How did you allow this to happen?” she asked herself. She knew the answer to that question—she was swept up in all her feelings forthe two men who had stolen her heart. She should have been more careful, but she wasn’t, and that was on her.

“Here you are,” Zane said, stepping into the bathroom. Dakota hadn’t even heard him come in and she quickly stood and tried to clean up the pregnancy tests off the vanity, but it was too late. She could tell from his expression that he had seen them—all of them.

“Are they positive?” he asked. She looked at the tests in her hands and back at him, dropping them back onto the bathroom vanity.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry, Zane. This is all my fault,” she insisted. “I wasn’t careful enough.”

“No,” he said, pulling her into his arms, “We weren’t careful enough. There were three of us involved in you being pregnant. No one person is to blame,” he insisted.

“But I’m the one who forgot to take my birth control for a few days. I guess I just got caught up in being with you both. I’m sorry,” she repeated.

“Hey,” Zane whispered, “I’m not upset about the baby. In fact, I’m thrilled. I love you Dakota and a baby is just the next step.” She could tell that he was trying, really trying, but the sadness in his eyes told her otherwise. He knew that without Crew, having a baby together would always feel as though they were missing an integral part of their family.

“You miss him too, don’t you?” she whispered. His arms tightened around her, and she could feel his nod. “I do too,” she admitted. “What are we going to do?”

“I got a text from Crew this morning, letting me know that my father and Johnny were arrested yesterday afternoon. I’m not surprised that my father didn’t reach out to me for help. Instead, he called his lawyer and when Crew found out, he called me to tell me what was going on.”

“Well, that was kind of him,” she said. “Did he say anything else—you know, about coming home?” She knew that she was hoping against hope for the three of them to be a family again, but she just couldn’t help herself.

“No,” he admitted. “I didn’t talk to him personally. When I saw that it was Crew calling, I acted like an idiot and sent the call to voicemail. He left a message and that was all he said.”

“How did he sound?” she asked, not sure if she actually wanted to know.

“He sounded worn out,” Zane admitted. “He sounded as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and didn’t know how to handle it.”

“We could help him handle it, if he’d let us, Zane,” she insisted. “But you have to forgive him before he’ll want to come back to us. Can you do that?”

He looked as though he might not have an answer to give her. When he finally nodded his head, she let out a breath that she didn’t know she had been holding. “I think that I can,” he admitted. “I’ve been thinking about what he said when we saw him in that shitty motel a few weeks ago. He said that he was trying to prove my innocence, and I believe him. He had to walk away from us both in order to prove that he wasn’t trying to fuck up the case that his boss was building against my father and me. I might have walked out of there angry at Crew, but that anger faded with time.”

“Oh, thank God,” she said. “I don’t think that we’ll be able to have this baby on our own. I love you both, and I want you both to be our baby’s fathers,” she admitted.

“I want that too, baby,” he agreed. “So, any bright ideas about how we get him back?” he asked.

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