Page 19 of Room Twenty: Owning Their Angel

As I sit in front of the adorable house I’ve been trying to make into a home, without a whole lot of luck because it’s far too empty without my men there, I can admit I’m scared. What am I going to find inside? Are the men who I gave my heart to without really thinking about the consequences or the possibility I would need to walk away going to be mad at me?

They would be within their rights to be pissed. I left without warning. It might have been hard for me to walk away, nearly impossible, but I still did it. Then I didn’t look back except for late at night when I could cry myself to sleep while nursing the ache in my chest that I was so sure would never go away.

Now they’re here, in Sweetwater Valley, with determination wafting off them so strong I swear I can feel it even as I sit in my car.

Hell, even Taylor could feel it and she had no problem letting me know. The moment we got inside of the office, she whirled around and plastered her face to the glass of the door trying to get another look at them. I giggled behind her because she was doing exactly what I wanted to do.

When she turned toward me, she amusedly demanded, “Talk.”

So, I did. I didn’t tell her about being an angel, but I said I worked for the club, which was only a mild lie. It’s not like I was a proper angel considering I was never with anyone other than the men I considered mine, even if they weren’t. I told her about how going from a prospect to a member worked and how we kept it quiet and casual between us.

Her eyes filled with tears when I told her about how I dreamed about the future even though we never talked about it. My voice broke a few times as emotions tried to pull me under, but it also felt good to get everything off my chest.

When I finished by telling her about finding out I was pregnant and not wanting to bring drama into their lives or being accused of something like trapping them, her face became furious. I knew it wasn’t directed at me from the way she kept glancing at the door like she was going to march back out to the sidewalk and give the three men she just met a piece of her mind.

I assured her, “I don’t think the problems would have come from them, but that doesn’t mean there wouldn’t have been problems.” I shrugged and admitted, “I was scared, and I ran without really thinking everything through. I probably made it out worse in my head than it would have been.”

Taylor hugged me and swayed me slightly, giving me comfort I didn’t even realize I needed or knew how to ask for. Honestly? Best fucking boss ever.

“I can’t say that I understand why you ran, but I do know that those men out there looked at you like you are their reason for breathing,” she assured me gently.

I nodded because that’s always how they made me feel when I was with them. But then there wasn’t any talk about tomorrow or next week or next year. Doubts would start to creep in, ones planted there because of my past no matter how much I wanted to forget it.

I didn’t tell Taylor that, though, it felt too big and too personal.

“Give them a chance,” she said gently. She pulled back and looked at me, pain flashing in her eyes for a moment before it was gone so fast that I wasn’t sure if I saw it at all. “They might be worth it.”

Give them a chance.

They might be worth it.

Those words have been circling my head over and over the rest of the day. The thing is, I know they’re worth it. I know it down to the depths of my soul.

I just don’t know if they want what I want and not knowing, not trusting they’ll always be at my side, is scary as hell. While they didn’t give me the impression that they came here to get me because of the club, seeing me pregnant probably threw them completely from their original mission. I don’t want them just because I’m pregnant either.

I’ve spent the last three months resigned to going on this whole parenting journey alone. I’ve come to terms with it.

I can’t believe they just showed up today. I almost didn’t believe it at first, but the longer I stood in front of them, their wide eyes fixed on me and my pregnant belly, the realer it became.

They came for me.

I’ve been going back and forth between being relieved and happy, and annoyed and sad. I understand what Zach, I mean Scope, was saying about waiting for him to get his cut, but it’s hard to hear at the same time.

I’m all over the place and I know I need to just go inside and face it head on.

I don’t even get to the front door before it swings open to reveal Zach, I mean Scope, his eyes a darker gray than normal, as he looks me over. “I was a little worried you weren’t going to come in,” he admits with a sheepish smile. His eyes soften as he reaches for me and pulls me into the house and against his chest. “You don’t need to be afraid of us, Cherub. We’ll never hurt you.”

“But I hurtyou,” I whisper after burying my face in his chest.

He sighs, his fingers running through my hair in the way I’ve loved from the first time he did it. “I think I lied just now because we hurt you too, even though we didn’t do it intentionally. We should have been more upfront with you about a lot of things, but that changes now.”

“Because I’m pregnant,” I surmise and feel my cheeks heat a little with the implied accusation.

“No,” he snarls, “because you’re ours and we should have made it known from the start instead of trying to hold you at arm’s length while hiding behind a misguided attempt at protecting you. We made assumptions and decisions we shouldn’t have. It hurt you and it didn’t allow you to trust us when you should have been able to.”

“We fucked up,” Gray, I mean Viper, says from right next to me.

I jump almost out of my fucking skin because I had no idea he was right there. I hit the top of my head against Scopes chin so hard it causes him to stumble back a few steps, and my hand immediately flies to the top of my head.

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