Page 17 of Room Twenty: Owning Their Angel

Her eyes flick over him and land on where his patch is on his cut. “Scope,” she whispers, and her eyes fill with tears. She turns back to Gray, and a small smile graces her face. “Viper.” She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly and nods her head once. “They’re fitting. Congratulations.”

Viper reaches out and tucks a few strands of her hair behind her ear. “I’m going to tell you a secret, Cherub.” He doesn’t wait for her response and continues to plow ahead. “I had been looking forward to earning my cut, but it didn’t mean a damn thing when you weren’t there to celebrate it with me. I’m glad I have it, don’t get me wrong, but without you it felt hollow.”

“It was the same way for me,” Scope whispers.

A few tears slip down over Heather’s cheeks, but we’re right there to wipe them away. “I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I just didn’t want to put this on you, any of you. I didn’t want there to be any problems. I thought leaving would be easier. We never promised each other forever. We never,” her voice gets lost as a sob escapes her lips and I pull her even tighter against my chest, hating that we did this to her because we didn’t give her the reassurance we should have.

Scope and Viper press in closer, their hands running over her, trying to soothe her, trying to give her comfort. She sobs into my chest, her tears soaking my t-shirt. I’m both devastated we didn’t do right by our woman but elated to have her back in my arms.

“Heather?” All our heads snap toward the woman’s tentative voice calling our woman’s name. She lets the door to the real estate office close and takes a few steps closer as she eyes us warily. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Heather gets out before taking a few deep breaths. She turns in my arms and my hands immediately drop to her belly. “These hormones are no joke,” she tries to lighten the mood, but she’s not buying it if the slight frown on the woman’s face is any indication. “Really, I’m fine, Taylor,” our woman insists.

I give Taylor a chin lift in acknowledgement. “You’re our woman’s boss,” Heather stops fucking breathing in my arms, and I know it’s because I just called her ours, something none of us have done before. My voice is sincere, “Thank you for taking care of her while we couldn’t.”

Taylor’s eyes soften as she looks between us and Heather. I brace myself for disgust since I called her ours, but it’s nowhere to be found.

“Damn,” Taylor fans her face and winks at Heather, “I should have asked more questions and gotten these details.”

The most beautiful sound fills the space around us—Heather’s laughter—and my shoulders relax a little bit more. The last three months have been hard for me. Everyday without our woman has left me feeling empty while slipping farther away from the person I was and closer to a cold asshole my parents tried to turn me into. I never want to be that guy, it’s who my brothers are and they’re nowhere near role models for anyone.

Taylor looks between us again before looking at Heather. “If you need to take the rest of the day off, I can manage without you,” she offers gently.

I want to jump all over the offer, but Heather shakes her head quickly. “No, I want to finish out the day.” She looks over her shoulder at me and whispers, “I need a little time to process the three of you showing up here.”

It kills me, but I force myself to nod and kiss her forehead. When she steps out of my arms, I feel the loss instantly. My brain scrambles for anything, for a plan, something I can hold onto.

Viper blurts out, “Can we have dinner with you?” Heather tilts her head to the side like she’s considering his words, and he tacks on, “We can cook.”

Heather smiles softly at him, her hazel eyes sparkling for the first time since she turned around and saw us standing in front of her. I wonder if it’s been a lot longer than that.

She digs around in her purse and pulls out a set of keys, unclips part of them and holds them out to Viper. “These are my house keys.” She bites her lip, pulling my focus to the action while my cock thickens behind the fly of my jeans. “I’m renting a house. I can write down the address.”

“We have it,” my voice is husky and Heather’s eyes snap to mine.

Her brows furrow together before they smooth out and she surmises, “Hacker.” I nod and she looks at me, so many questions in her eyes. “You knew where I was this whole time?”

“Not the whole time,” Scope deflects slightly, “but damn close. We were waiting for this,” he tugs on the edge of his cut, “so we could do this right.”

She nods slowly as her eyes roam over the three of us and her hand smooths over her belly. I want to touch her again. My hands itch with the need to hold her belly, talk to the little life she’s carrying, and promise them we won’t ever leave them or their momma alone again.

I barely hold myself back from falling to my knees and doing just that.

“I’ll be home around 5:30?”

Her considering the house she’s renting her home kills me, but that’s exactly what it’s been for the last three months. I’m not going to argue about it, even though the reality of it has my heart dripping blood at her feet.

“We’ll be there with dinner ready, Cherub,” Viper’s voice is soft.

We stand there frozen as Heather turns toward Taylor who loops their arms together as they walk back to the office and slip inside. It’s hard to look away let alone walk away.

“I was not expecting that,” Viper’s voice is filled with awe and all I can do is nod my agreement.

We decide to go by Heather’s place first, drop off our bags and bikes, and then ride to the grocery store together to get whatever we need to make dinner. Being able to climb on my bike and feel the wind against my face gives me a few minutes to think, which is exactly what I need.

I could be pissed, and I am a little bit, but I also understand why Heather made the choices she did. Being mad at the months we lost, even though it feels like a knife in the gut, isn’t going to give us the future we want. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t need to know finding out she’s pregnant with our baby hurts.

The house she’s renting is cute and looks perfect for a family. I instantly hate it. From the looks on the faces of Scope and Viper, they’re right there with me.

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