"I think something's wrong with Vanessa." I'd left her in the window seat and headed back to the living room with the others. "What do you mean, is she sick?" Gaby stopped halfway to her seat. We were just sitting around cooling our heals since the men had pretty much forbidden us to do anything more than sit and look at the four walls. Connor was being even more of a tyrant than usual and I despaired of having a moment's peace for the next few months until the baby came. I've never seen such a strong man lose it over a pregnancy before in my life. It's like we were transported back to the seventeenth century when conditions were tentative at best and the birth rate was a lot sketchier. As much as I tried convincing him that everything would work out fine, he wasn't having it. And now with this new development things were going to be a lot worst. Now we were cooped up in the house under strict orders to stay put, with two relative strangers. I liked Vanessa, s
It felt like she'd been hiding from me all day. Every time I came within breathing distance she found somewhere else to be. I was getting pretty fucking tired of that shit and was looking for her to set her ass straight when I came up on her and Logan in some sort of secret meet, they were standing way too fucking close. I stopped short and took it in, willing myself not to go off kilter, which is usually my first response. There was a strange vehicle parked just inside the gate, which I totally ignored because the scene looked all fucking wrong to me. Cool it Zak; fuck that. "What the fuck are you doing?" I started moving again with purpose. Now rationally, I knew there was nothing going on. I knew that Lo would never poach on my shit, and since she didn't have a death wish she wouldn't play me false. But irrationally, I didn't like anyone that fucking close to her and they all knew it. So far everyone had respected my boundaries, but with the way she'd been acting an
"You fucked up royally, I don't even know what to say to you and she isn't mine. You shoulda known he was gonna go ape shit." I was sitting in Logan and Gaby's kitchen trying to come to terms with the scene that had just unfolded outside. Yes I had expected Zak to be pissed, but I hadn't expected the look of unbridled hatred in his eyes. I wasn't sure I would ever overcome that, and now he had my daughter, and had locked himself away in his house. I felt the disappointment from the men around me, even as Gaby, Dani and even little Susie hung close and tried to offer me comfort. "I know you're all mad at me, but try to understand, I didn't do this to hurt him..." "This is a conversation you're gonna have to have with him. We're not gonna go against him on this and you know that. I don't know your reasons for doing what you did, but I do know my brother, and right now, you're fucked." My body jerked at his words. "Hey, there's no point in me sugar coatin
"You've got to do something." I knew she was going to follow me outside; that's why I did it. I was proud of her for holding her tongue in front of the others, not showing her displeasure or her fear, but I wanted her to come to me always. "This is not for you little Susie. There are things going on here that you know nothing about." I stayed away from her, okay like a few feet. But that was a lot considering I wanted to reach out and take her in my arms and...no Cord not yet, remember who you're dealing with. Even before the suspicion that she might be the old man's daughter, I knew I had to take it slow. She was like a dainty little bird, one wrong move and I'd bruise her wing; I could never have that. "It doesn't matter, that's her baby, it's not right." She's so fucking young, and even with all that mouth of hers, so na飗e in some ways. I'd seen the fear in her back there when my brothers were telling Vanessa how things really were. For someone who
We sat watching each other for a good five minutes. She was studying me, and I was studying her, and wondering what the fuck? She couldn't talk yet but the baby sounds she made as she pointed at my face or patted my cheek were music to my ears. I'd already checked her over to make sure she was okay, that she had all her fingers and toes, and I wasn't sure what the fuck she was looking for, but she was looking me over pretty hard herself, and babbling away. "I'm your daddy." Those words sounded foreign and I had to clear my throat after saying them. She patted my cheek and grinned with about six teeth showing. How the fuck do babies do that shit? I didn't even know her, but already she was everything. Just like her fuck of a mother. I'm not thinking about that female, not now, I just wanted to concentrate on my daughter. Shit, I needed shit, didn't babies need food and shit, and clothes she needed clothes. I picked up the phone in a near panic just as t
My kid started to fret so I took her from Dev, who had been in the middle of cooing at her. She stuffed her hand in her mouth and looked at her daddy all miserable and shit and I forgot everything else. "What's wrong with her?" I looked at the others who were all stumped. I was tempted to call one of the females but I didn't trust their asses right now. "I think that means she needs changing." Quinn tried sniffing her. "Get the fuck away from her." I moved her out of the way. "Fuck is wrong with you?" "Language." Lo studied her like he knew what the fuck he was talking about. When she started eating my shirt I think we all knew what was going on. "She's hungry, what the fuck am I supposed to feed her? I don't have anything in the house." I was about to go into total panic as my brothers threw around ideas. "How about asking her mother?" I gave Con the death glare and headed for the fridge. I showed her an apple but she just kicked her legs and fussed even hard
"Are you fucking kidding me? You're gonna tell me what my kid needs when you kept her away from me all this time? You had my kid out in the fucking world and I didn't even know she existed. I move across the globe, putting my life in danger to make the world a better place for other people's kids, and never knew that I had one of my own to safeguard, to protect. You can get the fuck outta my face now before this shit gets ugly." I didn't care about her slumped shoulders or the tears that were gathering in her eyes. She fucking gutted me. Only someone who had no fucking regard for me could've done something like this to me; fuck her. How was it possible to hate and want someone at the same time? This whole thing was so confusing. I hadn't really had time to take it all in yet, to put things in their right perspective. All I knew right now is that I was a dad. I had a little life that was a part of me to take care of for the rest of my life. That was go
Did she really hate me this fucking much? The fuck I care. Oh you care. Shut...the fuck...up. "Is it, are you sure about that brother? Do you remember where we were two days after you two split? We went off the grid for four and a half months." Logan had a point but still, there were a million ways she could've got word to me, especially afterwards when we'd been back on domestic soil. "I don't buy that shit, she had ample time, two fucking years and she doesn't say a word. That's part of me in there, the best fucking part and I wouldn't have known about her if you hadn't called that..." "Hey!" They all got in my damn face. "Fine, had you not needed that she devil's help I wouldn't know I have a daughter. I don't care what any of you say, she was fucking wrong and I never did anything to her to deserve this shit. My fucking kid spent a whole fucking year on this earth without me there to look out for her." Each time I thought of it I wanted to wring her