Page 36 of Menace

My best friend held my hand as stuff went on at my lower end.

And then I heard it.

A loud pissed off howl that had several of the people in the theatre laughing.

“We have a strong angry boy here. Daddy, come over here and hold your boy.”

Rider let go of my hand and I watched as he took the wrapped bundle and held my son against his chest. He traced a gentle finger over his cheek.

“Welcome to the world, little man.” He said softly then pressed a kiss to his head. “Come say hello to your Mamma.”

He brought him to me and gently laid him on my chest. My eyes filled with tears as I looked down at my son, seeing his scrunched up angry face and looking into his dark blue eyes. He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. The most precious and wonderful gift.

“Hello sweet boy, Mamma loves you so, so much.” I whispered and kissed his head before the nurses whisked him away to the other side of the theatre.

“Go with him, please, Rider. Stay with our boy.”

I called him ‘our’ boy because that’s what he was.

He was mine but I was sharing him with my best friend. A friend who never got to hold his own son.

Being able to give him this made my heart happy.

Somewhere in the rest of what was happening I either passed out or fell asleep, I don’t know which. I woke up to a room filled with sunshine with Rider on one side of the bed and Asa on the other, both looking tired.

At that moment in time I didn’t care about them.

All I wanted to know was where my baby was.

Once they assured me he was safe in the NICU and being watched over by Declan and Bollywood I went back to sleep.

Why did I sleep?

I slept because I knew my son and I were safe.

No one would get to us while these men watched over us.

ELEVEN

Asa

Asa sat at his desk staring sightlessly out of the window.

It kept churning through his mind.

He had fucked up Harper’s protection.

He should never have allowed the Irish slut to enter his compound. Should have insisted she stay in a hotel. But with the shit swirling around them and the Salvatore’s he’d caved to her father’s insistence and allowed her to stay at the house.

Right from the start it had been obvious she disliked Harper intensely. They had all noticed it.

When he refused to spend time with her and spent time with Harper instead the dislike turned into hatred. His cleaning ladies had come to him to report what they had overheard while cleaning her rooms. He had taken it up with her father who had accused them of lying. Asa let it go because he had better things to do than fight about a stupid slut.

Even Finn had warned him about her, warned him she had obviously come to SA to snag herself a powerful husband. He kept saying they had to keep eyes on her because she had a reputation for causing trouble. That she was always in some way implicated in accidents happening to women who got in her way. There was never any concrete evidence and she got away with it every single time. He implied that it had been happening since she was a teenager.

The crazy fucking slut had obviously thought Harper and the baby was in her way and took steps to remove them.

Permanently.

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