Page 57 of Taken By my Brothers' Best Friends

“Try.”

I stopped where I was in the street and took a deep breath. “When I was in the hospital the night after everything happened, the doctor told Mills that I’m pregnant. Not even me. I never heard it from a professional, but Mills was sure.”

Bianca grabbed my hands. “I’m doing my best to be professional right now but I want to freak out about that asshole doctor. Is that why you’re scared? Because you’re pregnant?”

“I’m scared I might not be.” My voice broke but I held it together. “A lot of rough things happened to my body right before that. I landed on my stomach multiple times. I don’t know if the baby would’ve survived but I’m too scared to know for sure. At first, I was scared the guys wouldn’t want a baby and I wasn’t ready but as soon as those worries went away, I realized I’d talked myself into getting ready for a baby that might not be…viable. It’s felt better to pretend everything’s okay than to know that he or she didn’t survive what happened at the Mays Ranch.”

She pulled me into a tight hug. “Oh, Vera… I can’t believe the guys haven’t dragged you to the clinic already.”

I winced. “I haven’t told them.”

“What?” She stepped back. “Things are good with them, I thought.”

“Things are good! Better than good. I just can’t tell them. If the baby’s gone, I don’t want to hurt them by telling them they’re going to be dads and then snatching it away.”

“Vera, no. You can’t go through these things by yourself. Your guys are there to help you. We’re going to go into my clinic and take a pregnancy test. If you’re not pregnant, you’re going to call them to come and get you so you can let them comfort you.”Bianca jumped suddenly and screamed as she looked behind me. “Fuck!”

I screamed and spun around, expecting to see something from a horror movie. Instead, I came face to face with Reed. I knew instantly he’d heard everything. There was a dark look in his eyes that promised I was going to find myself in his ropes before the night was over. And not for purely fun reasons.

“Take the test.” He looked at Bianca. “Will we know tonight?”

“In less than five minutes.” She looked at me. “Are you ready now?”

I wasn’t. Not even a little bit. I couldn’t even focus on the excitement I usually felt when I knew one of Reed’s punishments was coming. It was only fear and dread. I had to take the test and deal with the results, though. “Yes.”

The three of us went into the clinic and Bianca gave me a cup to pee into and showed me to the bathroom with Reed. His jaw was so tight I wasn’t sure I wanted to be alone with him. Not because I was afraid of him but because I didn’t want to see the results of my choices reflected back at me from his eyes.

I started to say something but Reed growled. “Take the test, Vera. We start there.”

CHAPTER 45

Vera

I sat in the waiting room across from Reed as we waited for Bianca to reappear with my test results. I chewed on my lip as I stole glances at him. I felt terrible. I knew keeping such a big thing from them would upset them but I’d just been so scared. As was usual for me, I felt a ramble coming on and winced.

“Um. How were you just behind me on the street? Were you just hanging around, waiting on me to spill my deepest secret? You scared Bianca half to death. I guess it’s good you were there. Now I don’t have to gather the strength to tell you.”

He slowly stood up and moved across the room to sit next to me. “Your meeting ran long and I wanted to make sure you got to your car okay. I wasn’t trying to learn your deepest secrets. I’d hoped you would’ve shared those without me having to overhear them.”

I leaned into him and rested my head on his shoulder. I hated that he didn’t immediately relax like he normally did when I touched him. “I’m sorry, Reed. I’m just so scared of what’s going to happen.”

He sighed and wrapped his arm around me. “No matter what that test says, nothing changes. You’re ours, Vera. I love you. Just so we’re clear, though, your ass is mine tonight.”

I shivered. “Tell me again.”

“That your ass is mine?” He glanced down at me and smiled. “I love you, Vera. Don’t think flashing your cute little smile at me is going to save you. You don’t keep secrets from us. If you got sick, I don’t know what I’d do. I wait outside of your secret meetings every week to make sure nothing ever happens to you again. Do you get that?”

I moved over so I could sit in his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I love you, Reed. What are we going to do?”

“If you’re pregnant, we’re going to wrap you in bubble wrap and I’m going to tie you to our bed for the next eight months.” He held me tighter. “And if you’re not… We’re going to take some time to be sad before we start planning for what we want next. You shouldn’t have been going through that alone, baby. Never again. Promise me.”

“I promise.”

“Hey, lovebirds.” Bianca came into the room carrying a tiny test strip in her gloved hand. “It’s ready.”

Reed took a deep breath. “Tell us.”

She slowly turned the strip over and gasped. “Pregnant!”

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