Page 49 of Ruthless Beasts

When he dropped my hand, I felt the loss. The familiar loneliness instantly took over, and I wanted nothing more than to chase him down, link our fingers, and never let go. But it was Ace. We were hardly friends. He was the last person in this house I should want to hold hands with.

“Go get cleaned up,” he ordered. “I’ll change, then make you lunch.”

“I’m not hungry,” I protested because damn it, if I ate every time these men tried to feed me, I’d gain a hundred pounds this pregnancy.

“That’s not what she said.” He grinned and pointed at my stomach.

I looked down, the bump that appeared overnight not visible under the baggy shirt I wore. “You think it’s a girl?”

“Don’t you?” He tilted his head as he watched my stomach intently. “I’ve always wanted a girl; not like I’ve ever been in any relationship serious enough to have kids. But there is an appeal to the power little girls seem to hold over men like us.”

“And boys?”

“They are born with the weight of this violent world on their shoulders.” He sighed. “But we’d love him just the same.”

“Even though his father?—“

I didn’t get to finish my sentence before he cut me off. “His father is under this roof. DNA doesn’t create fatherhood. Go on now, clean up so I can feed you two. You’ve got thirty minutes.”

Thirty minutes?

That was more than enough time to relieve some of the energy that was buzzing low in my stomach and wash off the dirt that clung to my skin. “Fine. But don’t eat without me.”

“I could never.”

“Liar,” I tossed over my shoulder, then I practically skipped toward my suite. If there was one person in his house who’d eat a meal without me, it for sure would be Ace. “I’ll be quick.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

ADAM

The pounding on the door outside my room was persistent as fuck, making it impossible to concentrate. I had come to my room to search for my pen that I misplaced. It was dumb, really. A stupid pen that I insisted on using every day because my dead wife had gifted it to me. But this had been the first time in the five years since her passing that I carelessly misplaced it. I’d tear apart this whole house to find it. And I was. At least until the knocking disturbed me.

I pulled open the door that I had left ajar, seeing Mercer knocking on Bellamy’s door. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

He turned toward me, his eyes looking panicked. “She’s not opening the door.”

“How long have you been knocking?” I didn’t bother asking if he knocked loud enough. The whole fucking house had to have heard him. Hell, even Ace had wandered down the hall to stand next to us, his hands on his hips as he looked between us.

“Long enough. Ace asked me to get her for lunch.”

Ace nodded. “It’s been a few minutes for sure.”

Mercer swallowed. I knew what he was feeling, knew the trauma from his childhood was surfacing, the ghosts chasing him from the time he was a defenseless child, unable to help the only person he depended on. But Belle wasn’t his mother. She didn’t do drugs; she didn’t partake in intentional overdoses. And she’d surely not be selfish enough to leave us with the aftermath of such things. She was ours and we’d never let her get pulled that far under with her thoughts. We’d vowed to protect her, after all.

“She’s fine,” I reassured him.

“Should we go in? Check on her?” Mercer asked, and I knew that was the first and last thing he wanted to do. He was committed to our Belle, and he’d not hesitate to rush in and protect her. But he never wanted to walk into a room feeling as he had in the past, where someone he’d cared for lying dead.

“She had a lot of sun today.” Ace’s voice was slightly nervous. “Maybe it’s best if we went in. Just to make sure she doesn’t have heat stroke or anything. She’s pregnant, after all. Can’t that make your body extra sensitive?”

I knocked on the door; it shook on the hinges as I called her name. When no one answered, I put my ear to the frame, hating myself for opting for the expensive build and not cheap cardboard walls. “I think I hear music. I doubt she hears us.”

Though I wasn’t sure how she couldn’t. Even asleep, I would have woken at the sound of Mercer banging on her door. Beside me, Mercer put his ear to the door too. “I think I hear it too.”

I shook the knob, thankful that she had left it unlocked. I met their gazes. “I’ll go in and check on her.”

I didn’t wait for their responses, instead pushing the door open, instantly being met with music. I searched around the room with my eyes before I dared step inside. I didn’t see her. With my best friends on my heels, I turned the corner to her bathroom and froze. She left the door open, a practical invite fora view of her naked body, fully displayed with her head tilted back and…

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