Page 2 of Broken King

“I don’t know what to tell you, Doc. But the draft was last month. I’ve barely had time to sleep, let alone sleep with anyone...” I trail off as I run through my mental calendar.

The draft was last month, yes. And the month before that was nonstop, go, go, go. It always is leading up to the draft, leaving no time for any extracurriculars. I was supposed to meet up with a friend of mine in March. He flies into Philadelphia for business every few months, but his trip was cancelled. And we never rescheduled.

I count back fourteen weeks.

But... Oh, hell no.

Hudson’s title fight in Las Vegas was fourteen weeks ago.

Son of a bitch.

I wasn’t concerned with a broken condom.

I was covered with the shot.

What are the odds that both forms of birth control would fail?

Apparently, higher than I knew.

“I can’t be pregnant.” I meet Doctor Esher’s knowing brown eyes and cringe. “I would have known by now. Wouldn’t I?”

I want to scream at her warm smile. “Not necessarily. At this point in a pregnancy, the telltale sign for most women is a missing period. But you already weren’t having a monthly period to miss because of your birth control. It’s still too early to feel the baby move for a few more weeks yet. And not everyone experiences morning sickness.”

You’ve got to be kidding me. My chest tightens as the room begins to spin around me.

I am Scarlet fucking Kingston.

I am stronger than this.

I do not panic in public.

“Could you please run the test again? I have to believe there was a mistake.” There. I sounded in control. Inside, I might be hyperventilating, but she doesn’t need to know that.

Slow deep breaths.

That’s better.

A mistake.

This has to be a mistake.

But even as I say it to myself, I think back to that night in Las Vegas and know there’s no mistake. If ever there was a man whose sperm could leap tall buildings and blow their way past all hormones in one bound, it would be his.

By the time I knock on the front door of my sister Amelia’s house, reality has begun to set in, but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it. My sister Lenny opens the door with our nephew, Maddox, in her arms and a slightly tense look on her face. “What the hell, Scarlet? Why are you so damn late? We were starting to get worried.”

I push past her into the foyer and run my palm over the black peach fuzz covering Maddox’s little head before we both walk into the kitchen. Amelia is slicing a loaf of warm, homemade bread, and the table is covered with enough meat, cheese, and fruit to feed all nine siblings, not just the three of us. I drop my purse on the chair and turn to face my sisters. “My doctor’s appointment ran a little late because they wanted to do an ultrasound and confirm that I’m pregnant.”

Lenny, who’s been swaying with a sleepy Maddox on her hip, stops abruptly, upsetting the baby. “I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to repeat that,” she all but yells at me.

“You asked me why I’m late, and I’m telling you why.” I pop a green grape into my mouth and point across the table between Lenny and Amelia, whose mouths both appear to be unhinged at the moment as they stand, staring at me in shock. “That’s pretty much what I looked like when I was finally alone in my car for the proper fucking freak-out that was building the entire time I was in the doctor’s office.”

Lenny is younger than me by six years.

We weren’t close growing up. My little sister never met a problem she couldn’t run away from. We couldn’t possibly have been more different. She had a luxury most of my siblings never knew. She grew up with two parents who loved each other and adored Jace and her. She was never a bargaining chip for more alimony like the rest of us were.

She was never part of a transaction.

But once she came back to Philadelphia, we worked through some of our differences.

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