Page 32 of Buried

“River…” I called softly. His words were cutting me, no matter how true they were. I was doing my damnest to not be that woman anymore, and he knew that.

River shook his head at me, his blue eyes blazing with rage. I swallowed thickly. “Nah, darlin’, he needs to hear this shit. You and everyone else has sugar-coated this shit way too much. Yes, you made some dumb ass decisions on your part, but Tristan played a fucking hand, too. I don’t give a fucking shit how close you two are. I willnevertrust him to keep you safe because he just can’t seem to fucking understand how to do it.”

Axel began crying in my arms, and I bounced him gently, quieting his cries. “Watch yourself, River,” I warned him, my guard going up hard against him to protect myself.

River stepped up close to me, his hands clamping down on my hips when I tried to take a step back from him. His grip held me in place. “Remember what I told you?” he asked. “I willneverlash out at you, Adelaide. But you and Tristan are extremely toxic for each other. I promised you that I would never make you choose between me and someone else, and I’m not going to, but I will step in when it’s necessary to make sure that you, Axel, and our unborn baby are safe, and right now, Tristan needs to understand that this was a dumb ass fucking decision on his part. He put you in grave danger. It’s not just you that all of us have to worry about anymore. You’re pregnant, and you’re Axel’smom. He should have been thinking clearer instead of being prideful and deciding to not reach out for help.”

He pressed his lips to my forehead for a moment, and he didn’t move away until he felt me relax some. “There you go,” he whispered. He gently pressed his lips to mine before he turned to face Tristan again. “I want to know how anyone found out about Adelaide being pregnant in the first place,” River ordered. “She fucking lives with me, Grim, and not a fucking person besides Sam knows she’s pregnant, so how the fuck did the news get out in your fucking club and Adelaide isn’t even fucking here with you?”

Tristan fisted his hands on his lap, and I knew he was restraining himself from destroying something. He wasn’t used to people talking to him like this, but he knew River was a force to be reckoned with. It was one of the reasons he had always trusted River with me over anyone else, even his own VP.

His only mistake was that River had betrayed him by sleeping with me because River’s loyalty to me ran a hell of a lot deeper than it did to his had-been president.

“Frederick has to have people in his pocket,” Tristan finally told him. “I don’t know how the fuck he found out, but he knows, River, and Adelaide is in danger. He had no idea she was with you, so that may work in your favor.”

A smirk twisted River’s lips as he looked over at me. I already knew what he was thinking before he even spoke.

“You want to finally let people know that I’m with you and that the baby is yours,” I stated more than asked.

River nodded in agreement. “It’s time to let everyone know that you’re mine, darlin’, and any mother fucker that tries to fuckwith you has another thing coming for them because everyone knows that I’mnotthe one to be fucked with.”

Joey stepped back into the room, looking a lot calmer this time. I honestly hadn’t expected him to come back to the hospital at all. He said he wouldn’t get back with River until later.

“Include me in that,” Joey said, looking to River. River nodded once. “Someone wants to be stupid enough to fuck with her, they fuck with my entire club,” he growled, sending a shiver down my spine.

Joey looked at me then, his dark eyes clashing with mine.

He was letting me keep him with me.

I let a small smile touch my lips. He nodded once at me, his lips twitching, but he didn’t smile. “Always, pretty girl,” he promised.

My heart swelled in my chest.

Tristan looked between the three of us, clearly confused, but River only slid his hand along the back of my neck, drawing my lips up to his for a soft, slow kiss.

“Hold him with you,” he whispered against my lips.

Chapter Twenty-Three

River

Three weeks.

It had been three weeks since Tristan had gotten shot and since I had made it known that Adelaide wasmywoman—not Tristan’s.

Someone could try to fuck with her if they wanted, but she would be the last person they would go after. Either Joey or I would make sure of it. It all depended on who got to the dumb son of a bitch first.

After what I had learned in the hospital room, I had immediately taken Adelaide home the very next day, not wanting to risk something happening to her or Axel because of the shit Tristan had going on with Frederick. His dumb ass hadn’t even told his own VP what was going on with Frederick, not the full extent.

Secrets in a brotherhood led to deaths, and I didn’t want my woman around that kind of shit.

I held Axel on my hip as I shook his bottle. Sam was leaning against the kitchen counter in front of me while Reina madebreakfast for all of us. She seemed to be dealing with what happened to her okay, though I knew she still went to Adelaide a lot when she felt bothered by it.

“Is Adelaide up yet?” Sam asked me as I shifted Axel in my arm so I could feed him since he was still too young to hold his bottle.

I shook my head at him. “Jaxon kept her up a lot last night,” I informed him. “So, she didn’t get much sleep.”

About a week ago, Adelaide went in for her monthly check-up, and we were able to find out that she’s going to be having a boy. Without hesitation, she named him Jaxon Tyler Boris. It felt nice to finally call our kid by a name instead of always calling him ‘the baby’.

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