Page 55 of Tuck & Roll

“I’m going to get rid of this trashcan for Kylie and give him a call.” Darren grabbed the trashcan and left the room.

“Sounds good.” Tuck gave him a chin lift, his focus immediately swinging to Kylie. “You got sick?”

“Yeah. It was nothing. I think I have a stomach bug.” She waved it away. She left the secret camera monitor up so Race and the others could look to their hearts’ content at the videos of Chet and who knew how many women. Her stomach couldn’t stomach the idea of watching more.

She got up and went back to the desk to check on the progress of the program downloading on the office computer. “So, um, how did it go at the appointment?” She saw that it was finished and began shutting everything down.

Tuck closed the door and took a seat in front of the desk. He sat with his elbows to his knees, his hands clasped between them. “From what she told me and the doctor and the way she’s measuring, it could be mine.”

She released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She knew better than to get her hopes up.

“The good news is we can get a paternity test done as soon as the baby is delivered and the results will come back in 3-5 days if we send it to a private lab he recommended.”

“And the baby’s due date?”

“Six weeks.”

Six weeks. She could wait that long to find out if the baby was Tuck’s or not, right? She supposed it didn’t really matter whether she could wait that long or not, the baby would come when it was good and ready.

Damn. It would be six more weeks of waiting to find out if Taylor’s life would irrevocably be intertwined with Tuck’s and, by extension, Kylie’s. If she chose to move forward with her and Tuck’s plans to give what was between them a chance, she would forever have Taylor in her face.

The woman would be there for birthdays, holidays, the first day of school and any damn time she wanted Tuck’s attention. Kylie knew Taylor. She didn’t like to be ignored, so it was not out of the realm of possibilities to imagine her showing up at their door unannounced or calling at all hours of the day or night or demanding Tuck come over and deal with the child when it was acting up.

“Kylie? Are you okay?”

The sound of his voice had her eyes flying open to find him staring at her in concern. “Yes. I’m okay.”

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but don’t give up on me, Kylie Jo. Pease.” He appeared to be holding his breath as he waited for her answer. It tore at her heartstrings to see him so unsure and nervous.

She recognized how much it cost him to ask, which made it even harder. She rubbed her forehead and briefly closed her eyes. “Why does it have to be so hard? And why did it have to be Taylor? It would be a hundred times easier if it would have been anyone else.”

Tuck tipped his head to the side. “Why do you dislike her so much?”

“The fact that she could be carrying your child aside, she was mean to me in high school. She loved to rub it in my face every chance she got that you were with her and that you could never go for a geek like me. She’d call me names and harass me just for the hell of it. Thank God it only lasted a year.”

“I had no idea,” he said quietly. “Or I would have dumped her ass.”

“It’s fine,” she waved his concern away.

A knock on the door was the only warning they got before Race opened it and stepped inside. Darren slipped in behind him, leading the way to where the videos were cued up. Jed and Maverick also came in, rounding out the group. Although she couldn’t see the video from where she sat, she could hear when Chet called out her name as he came.

“What the fuck?” Jed’s disgust was clear as day.

“Yeah, that made Kylie throw up,” Darren shared, which had them all turning and looking at her.

She held up a hand. “I’m fine. I just have a stomach bug and I told you he was creepy.”

“You’re done, sweetness. No more digging. We’ve got all we need. The club will take it from here.” Race smiled at her.

“Are you sure? You don’t need anything else on him?” Did she sound a little too hopeful he would say no?

“No, Kylie. We’re good. I’ll have Cutter take you back to Darren’s and stay with you so you can get some rest. You’re not looking so good.” Race turned to the guys. “The rest of us are going back to the clubhouse for church. We need to get everyone up to speed.”

“Come on, Kylie, I’ll walk you out.” Tuck waited for her to grab her things and come around from behind the desk. With a hand at her back, he guided her through the club and to the bar where Race was giving Cutter his orders. The prospect nodded his head and smiled at Kylie.

“Hi, Kylie,” Cutter greeted her with a nod. “I’m ready when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready.” Her stomach was still messing with her and lying down sounded really good right now.

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