Page 211 of Unravelling The Beast

She beams at me and rests her hand on my thigh, and I return with a small smile. When she turns around to see what her parents are doing, my dark eyes wander down her body, and the thought of her sitting there without panties on pushes all my damn buttons, through no thought of my own, but now I desire to frustrate her tonight.

I watch them bring over the food and set the dishes down in front of us. When they take their seats opposite us, Phillip sits opposite me while Hazel is across from Wren, and I stare as she pops open a bottle of vintage red wine.

Wren decides to speak up first.

“So, is Lil with Jasper?”

Hazel responds to her, still smiling.

“That’s right.”

She then moves her eyes to mine.

“She’s quite fond of your brother, Arlo.”

I give her a small nod as I stay in the same laid back position before speaking coldly.

“He’s the good one of us two.”

My blunt honesty causes Hazel’s eyes to widen a little, and I can feel Wren’s frantic eyes on me. After some uncomfortable silence, I choose to give Hazel a small smile to ease her worry, which causes her eyes to slightly soften before I speak.

“He’ll look after her.”

Wren pulls her eyes away from me and looks between her parents.

“Have you guys met him yet?”

“I have, but Phillip is yet to meet him, but Lily keeps asking him.”

When Hazel says that, Wren looks at her dad.

“You should, dad; he is a great guy.”

Phillip sighs and rests back before responding.

“I hardly find any time to do anything lately, but I plan to.”

My focus shifts to Hazel as she pours each of us a glass of wine, and as she aims for Wren’s glass, on possessive instinct, I swiftly reach out and place my hand over it, stopping her.

Hazle quickly pulls back, giving me a confused look, and I throw my gaze over at Wren beside me, who is now as white as a sheet of paper.

She stammers as she attempts to speak, not making eye contact with either of them.

“I… I don’t feel like drinking tonight.”

Hazel scrunches her face up in confusion.

“And why not? We always have wine together when we see each other.”

I sigh as I look away, realizing what I’ve done without even thinking it over. We never even discussed whether we were going to tell them about the pregnancytonight.

I turn to look at Wren and notice she is nervous, and the silence grows brutally loud. In an attempt to settle her nerves, I place my palm on her thigh beneath the table before giving it a gentle squeeze, and she looks at me with wide eyes.

I give her a small reassuring smile, and a nod, and when she gives me one back, I glance between her parents before sitting forward.

“We’re having a baby.”

Hazel’s mouth drops open so wide, I can see her fucking tonsils, and Philip remains expressionless as his eyes shift from mine to Wren’s.

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