Page 69 of Rebel

He froze for a second before wrapping his arms around me. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

I tilted my head up to look at him and shook my head, “I don’t think so, but—”

“You think you’re pregnant?” His eyes widened.

I pushed back from him and picked up the coffee he’d made for me. Bringing the cup to my mouth, I took a sip before answering him. “No. I don’t think so. With the implant I have,I don’t get periods so there’s nothing to give a hint. But I just realized that I missed a maintenance visit with my OB-GYN. I’m in the gray area where my implant might not be working as effectively.”

His face lit up. “So that’s a maybe, right?”

I nodded, shocked that he looked so thrilled about me possibly messing things up for us. “I guess we could use condoms until I can get an appointment made.”

The happiness fell right off his face. “If that’s what you want, I’ll do it.”

“Look Rebel, I know you’re a little older than me, but we haven’t been together long. We’re not even engaged, much less married—”

He interrupted me, “Is that what your problem with being pregnant is? Us not being engaged or married? I can fix that. Give me a few days.”

“Wait! What? I wasn’t insinuating we should rush into an engagement and I’m not pregnant—at least I don’t think I am. I just wanted to be upfront with you when I realized I’d forgotten to make the appointment.”

He took another drink of his coffee and seemed to be thinking carefully before he spoke again, “I think we’re having a communication breakdown. I’m gonna tell you how I feel, and then I want you to do the same thing. Even if it’s not what I want, I won’t be upset, and we’ll come to a compromise. Does that sound doable?”

I nodded. I was starting to regret bringing up the whole damn appointment issue, but if we were starting out on the restof our lives together, then I wanted everything out in the open. I guessed now was as good a time as any to lay all of our cards on the table.

Rebel drained his cup and set it down on the counter before taking a deep breath and saying, “I get why you missed your appointment. We’ve had a lot going on in our lives and shit happens. From the moment I first decided you were my one, my goal has been marriage and babies. I didn’t bring that up because I thought we were protected, and I didn’t want to scare you off with long term plans that big so soon. If you are pregnant, I’d be fucking thrilled. If you honestly don’t want to be pregnant right now, I’ll support whatever decision you make. I’m not some mindless neanderthal that thinks women are baby factories, I respect your autonomy and shit. Just that someday, either now or in the future, I can see us being a family.” Glancing away, he added, “That’s all I have to say.”

When I set my coffee cup aside my hand was trembling so much that some of the coffee splashed out. Rebel grabbed a paper towel and cleaned my hand and then the counter while I was trying to pull my thoughts together.

“Look, babies weren’t something I saw in my immediate future, however if it turns out that I’m pregnant, I’m keeping our baby. You and I are very much on the same page about that. I’m more than ready for an engagement and marriage. I know it seems rushed, but I just had this feeling that we were meant to be. I figured when you were ready, you’d ask.”

His hands came out to rest on my hips, and he gently tugged me closer. “So, all I have to do is ask and you’ll be all mine?”

I nodded, caught in the thrall of having all his attention centered on me after being vulnerable with each other. “Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Only I’m already all yours, remember?”

The pleased expression on his face turned smug in an instant. And then he dropped to his knees to be face-to-face with my stomach. He put his ear to my belly first and I pointed out incredulously, “Even if I’m pregnant—and I’m pretty sure I’m not—there is nothing to hear.”

He made a little knocking gesture with one hand and said loudly, “Little ladybug, if you’re in there, don’t worry, me and your mama are gonna love you so much.” Then he gave me a bear hug with both arms. His playful reaction made me tear up because now I really wanted to be pregnant with his baby. And if I wasn’t, it was going to make me sad. Why oh why was the world such a cruel place?

When he got up, we talked about me finding a new doctor so we could find out if I was pregnant and if not, decide what we wanted to do about birth control. The idea of having a baby with Rebel was appealing, but if I wasn’t pregnant then we both thought maybe waiting a little while might be a good idea. Time got away from us but eventually, Rebel headed off to the courthouse to support Storm. Their club’s attorney was filing a motion to dismiss his case. Apparently, law enforcement tested the blood on the drug paraphernalia and dusted it for prints. The results came back negative for his blood type and the only prints on it were from when he grabbed it to take it away. Even though I was almost one hundred percent sure it would happen, I told him I would keep my fingers crossed that they would dismiss the case.

***

It was with a light heart that I left for work. Working alone in the office had been too much of a risk for my overly protective biker until now. But now it looked like everything was settled he’d eased off. Richie had been insistent that he hadn’t broken in, so it seemed more likely that it was linked to the other local break-ins and not personal.

However, as I got out of my car and walked towards the office, I felt unsettled. Something was different—it was like the feeling I’d gotten while walking up to my parents’ place. I kept looking over my shoulder as if someone was behind me, but the parking lot was clear. I quickly locked the door behind me and set the alarm, then ran from room to room to check that there was no one there. Once I’d satisfied myself that it was only me, I sat down at my desk and got on with work. After an hour, a customer turned up, so I buzzed him in. Once we’d finished, I showed him out to his car, and we chatted a bit more about the wiring project we would be doing on his latest renovation. I was about to reset the alarm when a familiar voice called my name from behind me. “Lacey Livingstone, what a nice little office you have.”

It was my former boss from LA and his voice sounded fake and too bright. He must have slipped in when I was showing Mr. Aristides to his car.

The initial fear gave way to anger when I realized who it was. I really couldn’t be bothered dealing with Edward today, but I supposed that I had to be polite. However, my voice probably sounded irritated as I asked, “What in the world are you doing in Griffinsford, Mr. Edwards?”

He dropped down into the seat in front of my desk. “I came to check on you, of course. We were pretty close back in LA. Whenyou stopped answering my texts and refused to pick up my calls, I got worried that something had happened to you. I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Taking a day off to come and check on you seemed like the right thing to do.”

I sat in my chair, feeling the frown on my face grow deeper. “You can’t just come strolling into my office and disrupt my workday.”

He sighed dramatically. “Why are you being so rude, Lacey?” Glancing around, taking in my office, he added. “Friends can visit friends. There’s no rule about that, you know.”

“Of course not,” I stammered. This man had a way of twisting my thoughts, but I wasn’t falling for it this time. “The thing is, I’m quite busy these days. You should have called first. The way we work here is strictly by appointment only, and we don’t have an open office policy.”

He grinned at me, “I’ll bear that in mind for future reference but I’m here now, so we should catch up.”

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