Page 46 of Dark Seduction

“Maybe he’ll finally find someone that treats him right,” Delilah says softly. “From what I hear, his wife wasn’t very nice to him.”

Blair just shakes her head. “He doesn’t want another woman.”

I watch the group of burly men across the room and smile. “Sometimes we don’t know what we want. It has to just happen, and then we’re left wondering how we managed without it.”

BURNT

NINE MONTHS LATER

We’d decided earlyin the pregnancy that we needed a place to put down roots. That place ended up being where all of this began. Mack’s apartment. The club had pitched in, helping us renovate the place to get it ready for our new arrival. A few months of work, and we had a space big enough for the three of us. We’d taken down the wall between the primary bedroom and spare bedroom to add more space for a California King size bed.

The other bedroom was updated for the nursery. The only space we hadn’t touched yet was the garage below, but Mack insisted that the only person deciding about that space would be here, so we left it alone... for now.

“I think my water broke,” Mack whispers as she wakes me up from the couch of our shared apartment.

I sat up, startled, as I looked over at Mack. She was clutching at her stomach; her face twisted in a grimace of pain. “Are you sure?” I asked, my voice rising with concern.

Mack nodded, biting down hard on her bottom lip as another wave of pain hit her.

“Okay, okay,” I said, jumping up from the couch and pulling her into my arms. “Let’s get you to the car. V! It’s go time.”

He emerges from the primary bedroom, three bags already in hand. “Already ahead of you. You help her down the stairs. I got the bags and the door.”

Before I can turn around, Mack is already halfway down the stairs on her own. She’d have made it all the way down except for the contraction that had clearly hit her hard.

“Fucccck!” she bellows from below me.

“Hang on. I’m coming.” I take the stairs two at a time. V hot on my heels with the bags. “Fuck the keys.”

“I got them,” V coolly replies.

We make it outside. Mack waddles to the driver’s seat and opens the door before I stop her.

“You’re not driving.”

“It’s my car,” she argues. “No one drives my car.”

Another contraction hits, doubling her over in the middle as she tries to breathe through it. “Tell me again that you can drive.”

“Fine,” she hisses through clenched teeth. I help her to the passenger side of the car, but instead of going into the front seat, V directs us both into the backseat.

“I’m driving,” he declares before jogging around to the driver’s side. He slips into the driver’s seat, turning the key into the ignition. Mack looks at me, breathing in and out as the contraction keeps rolling through her body.

“Don’t wreck my car.”

“Not planning it on it,” V answers back before he peels out of the garage. Mack and I sliding into her other with the motion. “Shit, sorry. Hang on. Hospital, here we come.”

“Where did you learn how to drive?” Mack yells at him.

“Nascar,” he smiles. I chuckle, but Mack punches me in the arm before she screams in my face. V’s face goes serious in the rearview mirror.

“How long do you think that was from the last one?”

“A couple of minutes. Why?”

“Dammit, Mack,” V hisses. “How long have you been in labor?”

“I don’t know, a few hours maybe?” Mack grits out, her hand tightening around mine. “I’m sorry, okay? I thought it was just false labor for the longest time.”

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