Page 45 of Claimed By the Biker Brothers

I rinse my mouth out and brush my teeth before splashing cold water on my face.

“Robyn?” Diesel calls out from the other side of the door, startling me.

“Shit,” I hiss and take a deep breath. “I’ll be out in a few minutes,” I say. “Use the downstairs bathroom if you need to.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just brushing my teeth.”

I apply some moisturizer before I let the concealer work its magic. I need all the glow I can get, so I add some illuminator and a dash of foundation on top before I apply the setting powder and brush my brows.

“There,” I tell my reflection, “you look almost human.”

Diesel, Knox, and Jagger are already in the kitchen, brewing coffee and getting a quick breakfast ready—milk, cereal, and berries galore from the fridge.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Jagger greets me with a soft, wet kiss. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m peachy,” I reply with a bright smile. “But I can’t stay for breakfast. I need to pick Kyra up and take her to school.”

Diesel frowns, measuring me from head to toe. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“I brought the Prius back from the salon for you last night while you were asleep,” he says and gives me the bundle of keys.

“Thank you.” I think about it for a moment, then remove one of the spare keys from the bundle and give it to him. “You should have a key to this place as well. Maybe make a copy for each of you.”

Knox damn near drops the coffee pot on the floor. He sets it back on the counter and turns to look at me, clearly taken by surprise.

“Are you sure?” he asks.

“About giving you a key to my house? Yeah. Positive,” I say, giving him a soft smile.

“This feels like a huge deal,” Jagger says, letting a heavy sigh roll from his chest.

I cup his face in my hands and pull him into a kiss, reveling in the ticklish feel of his short, salt-and-pepper beard as I run my fingers through it. “It probably is. But it’s also the right thing to do.”

“It means a lot,” he replies, his gaze softening as I take a step back.

“Good,” I quip and head out. “You guys lock up, then. I’ll go get Kyra. See you later!”

“Paulie’s outside,” Knox says. “It’s his turn to watch over you.”

“Okay!”

After a brief cup of coffee and chat with Ellie and dropping Kyra off, I’m able to think a bit more clearly. The nausea has yet to subside, and I know I can’t postpone the next step for much longer. I watch my daughter go into the school building in the company of her teacher, Mrs. Simpson, then drive away.

Paulie stays close on his Harley. I see him in the rearview mirror as I make my way across town. I stop at a drugstore first.

“Do you need anything from in there?” I ask Paulie as he pulls over behind my Prius. “I need some antacid or something.”

“No, I’m good, but thank you.” He gives me a worried look. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, I think it’s just something I ate.”

I don’t like lying, but if it is what I think it is, now is not the time to discuss it. There’s too much happening.

Twenty minutes later in the salon bathroom, as I stare at the plus sign on the pregnancy test, everything comes crashing down on me. The realization of what this entails. The risks. The absolutely terrible timing. The sheer joy of another life growing in my womb.

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