Page 145 of On the Double

He had no fucking clue.

Wren yanked her arm back and threw again, only the knife slipped from her grasp and flew backward. I ducked just in time, scowling at Fox.

“Fucking amazing, huh?”

“Okay, granted, she needs a little more work?—”

Shaking my head, I stalked back to Harper. At least Fox hadn’t gotten his hands on her yet. I didn’t have to worry about him teaching her anything about throwing knives or shooting people. And as far as I knew, he hadn’t yet talked up his whole torture room to her.

“Girl, come on. I’m already done with my margarita and you haven’t even touched yours. Are you pregnant or something?” Rae asked.

I stopped walking, my heart skipping a beat as Harper’s gaze flicked to mine. Her cheeks flushed red, and in that instant, as our eyes locked, I fucking knew.

Make love to me.

My heart hammered in my chest.

Every look. Every touch. It was laced with goodbye. She was fucking leaving me. But why?

Because she’s fucking pregnant, asshole. She’s leaving because you said you didn’t want this. You fucking told her you would never marry her.

And she knows.

I shook my head slightly, feeling an overwhelming need to bend over and stick my head between my legs. Everything swayed around me, but she…her face was firmly in front of me, the one steady thing in this whole fucking world.

And if you stay with her, you’ll end up hurting her.

No, I wouldn’t. I would fucking protect her.

That’s what your old man said, too. Look how that turned out. He fucking murdered your mom, and what did you do? She’s not safe with you and neither is your kid. You’ll only end up hurting them.

Would that really happen?

You fucking told her this would never be more. And now she’s fucking pregnant. She did it on purpose. She manipulated you because she knew you would never commit.

“Edu…”

“Is it true?” I croaked out.

She swallowed hard. But there were no tears. She wasn’t fucking upset she was pregnant. She was fucking happy. Nervous about telling me, but she wanted this.

“Yes.”

My gaze flicked to her belly, then back to her eyes. My jaw clenched as I looked at the drink in her hand. “How long have you known?”

“A few days.”

I nodded. “And this is your way of fucking telling me?” She opened her mouth, but I didn’t let her talk. She had fucking days to do that. “Very dramatic, but then that fits you to a tee.”

“What?”

“Standing here with a fucking drink in your hand, but not actually taking a sip. You wanted everyone around you to fucking guess. Is that it?”

“No, I?—”

“You couldn’t even tell me in private? You had to let it all play out perfectly in front of everyone else.”

Her face flushed red as she glanced around. Everyone had stopped everything they were doing. They were all here to watch the show she had so carefully crafted. It all made sense now. Last night, she was drawing me in, laying down the groundwork to look like the sad, pathetic girlfriend who got knocked up. Today, she was playing it up for the crowd.

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