Page 69 of Tuck & Roll

“You’ve been looking at my boobs?” Kylie felt her cheeks heat.

“You can’t help but notice them. You had nice boobs to begin with, but they’re bigger now. Your shirts are tighter across your chest.” If Darren was embarrassed discussing this with her, she couldn’t tell due to his beard.

“It still doesn’t mean I’m pregnant.” She sat back and crossed her arms over her chest defiantly, then immediately dropped her arms when she realized they were bigger.

“You need to see a doctor.” Darren moved closer to the table. He set his hands on the back of the chair across from her, leaning his weight into them. “I’ll even go with you if you want.”

“You’d only be going with me because someone has to babysit me all the time,” she grumbled, hating that she still wasn’t able to move about freely yet. She knew the club was doing its best to find Chet, but so far they’d had no luck.

“I would go with you even if there wasn’t a threat against you.” She knew Darren was being sincere. The more time she spent with him the more she liked him. He was a big teddy bear at heart. She’d never say that to his face or in front of his brothers, but the man did make her feel safe and cared for. Why couldn’t she have fallen for him instead of Tuck?

“Fine. I’ll make an appointment, but you’re going to see I’m right. I’m not pregnant.”

She’d gotten lucky. Her family doctor had a cancellation and worked her in. As it turned out, Darren had been right. The doctor returned with the results of her urine test announcing she was pregnant. And she knew exactly when it happened. The night she’d had sex with Tuck after running into him at Big Shots, nearly ten weeks ago. The night Tuck had no memory of.

It still hadn’t fully sunk in that she was going to be a mom in about seven and a half months. Holy. Shit. Tuck was going to be a father, possibly of a second child. How could she tell him she was pregnant? She’d probably send him over the deep end with the news. Plus, there were really great odds that he wouldn’t believe her if she told him the baby was his. He’d think she was doing like Taylor said and trying to trap him. What hurt the most was he currently believed that the baby was Darren’s. It also hurt when he stood back and allowed Taylor to say all the nasty things she’d said to her. He didn’t once try to defend her to that crazy woman.

She rubbed her eyes, the day’s events taking their toll. Did he honestly believe she was the kind of person that would cheat or that Darren was capable of doing something like that to a fellow club brother? She knew the right thing to do was to tell him. He had a right to know. But how? When? He’d looked so angry when he’d confronted her outside the doctors’ office.

Kylie was sitting on Darren’s back deck in the shade of a tree while Darren was down in the yard watering his plants. Who’d have thought he had a green thumb?

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, her heart still racing the same way it did when the doctor told her she was pregnant. She almost threw up on the poor man. He’d congratulated her and Darren, thinking he was the father. He’d instructed her to get an appointment set up with one of the OB/GYNs in the office, then the doctor stepped out and Darren did his best to keep her from falling apart.

He’d squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. “It’s going to be okay. Everything will get straightened out.”

“How?” For the life of her, she couldn’t see any way that this would turn out good for her.

“You need to tell Tuck.”

“I know, but when? When would be a good time, because I don’t see one. After Taylor’s baby gets here and he finds out whether or not the baby is his? Or after I have the baby and give him the results of a paternity test he’ll no doubt want?”

They’d stopped at the front desk and set up her first visit with the baby doctor. Darren paid for the visit, handing over his debit card. The woman on the other side of the counter handed him some papers, which he handed off to her. “Your next appointment is on here.”

“I could have paid for that,” she told him as he guided her out of the office. She was a little aggravated that he assumed she didn’t have enough money to cover her office visit.

“I know you can, but you’d been staring off into space while the poor lady was patiently waiting.”

“Oh. Sorry.” She felt like an idiot. “Thanks for taking care of that. I’ll pay you back.”

He stopped at the elevator and turned to face her after he pushed the down button. “Are you trying to insult me?”

Her eyes rounded. “Um, no.”

“Then don’t tell me you’re going to pay me back.” He cupped her elbow and guided her onto the elevator, hitting the button for the first floor. “Do you have insurance?”

“Um. No.” His innocent question sent her into a tailspin. What was she going to do? Having a baby was going to be expensive. She had a little money in her savings, but that wouldn’t last forever. The medical bills would wipe it out in no time. She needed to work harder at getting her security program sold. And she needed to get a car and a car seat and baby things. “Oh my God. I’ve gotta find a house,” she announced in a panic as the elevator doors opened and Darren led the way through the lobby.

“Don’t worry about it. You can stay with me as long as you need. And now that you work for the club, they need to put you on our insurance.”

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. I don’t think I can breathe.” Was she having a panic attack?

Darren stopped her on the sidewalk, turning her to face him, his hands on her arms holding her in place. “Hey. Kylie. Calm down. Everything is going to be fine. Just breathe.”

She took a deep breath and nodded as she slowly let it out. Darren started to lead the way again only to come up short.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Tuck was blocking their path, a tightness around his eyes and his lips in a flat line. What was he doing here? Why was the universe doing this to her? What were the odds that he’d be here at the same exact moment that she was finding out she was pregnant? Why did he look so mad?

He shook his head, his hands on his hips. “Gotta say, Kylie Jo. Never took you as a cheating bitch.” His lip curled like he’d tasted something bad.

---