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Jaron chuckled.

For someone who didn’t want a relationship or a family of his own, my brother had a big heart. He had spent years building up walls around himself and it would take a strong woman to break them down.

“Not at the moment.” Piper went up to Sammy and grabbed his hand. “But he’s kicking.”

“He?” Sammy and I asked at the same time.

“We don’t know. We want to be surprised, but something’s telling us it’s a boy. Either way, I don’t care.” Jaron clapped my shoulder.

“Here.” Piper placed Sammy’s hand on her swollen stomach. “Feel that?”

Sammy nodded, staring at her abdomen. “Jaron, I’m not going to have to sleep with one eye open for touching your girl’s stomach, am I?”

“No.” Jaron laughed. “I know whose cock Piper’s riding at night.”

“Just at night?” Piper threw at him.

“Touché.” Jaron went back to the kitchen and joined me a moment later. “Here,” he said, handing me another beer.

I clinked it against his before taking a long swig. “You happy?”

“Fucking finally,” he muttered, pulling back his beer.

I only grunted because what the hell could I say? Jaron and Piper had struggled in the beginning. Hard. He asked us to protect her after he was thrown in jail for saving her from a monster. That monster was dead and gone, but the fucker got off too easy if you asked me.

Add to the fact that Jaron and Piper almost lost their daughter in the process. None of it was fair.

“Listen, I never thanked you.”

My back stiffened. “Thank me,” I repeated. “For what?”

“For protecting her.” He nodded toward Piper and Sammy. “For taking care of her and our daughter.”

My chest tightened. “You don’t have to thank us for that shit, Jaron. You’re family, which automatically makes her family as well.”

“That’s the truth,” Sammy chimed in.

“Either way.” Jaron went up to Piper and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her head before looking at both of us. “We almost lost our daughter. I can’t...we can’t thank you enough for helping us through that.”

“Fuck,” Sammy muttered.

The air in the room suddenly became thick. It was suffocating as the mood went from light and humorous, to heavy as hell.

“You don’t have to thank us,” I insisted. “For anything.”

While Piper got supper ready, we had laughs, talked, and laughed some more. It was needed after all of the months of heartache Piper and Jaron endured. Even though he wasn’t there in the beginning to witness it all, he knew about it. Because both Sammy and I made sure to tell him. There wasn’t a day that went by where we didn’t tell him. He needed to know that Piper, his girl and the mother of his daughter, needed him. She lived. For him. He had to be strong to get back to them. The love they shared was something I strived for. Something I needed. Ever since I was a little boy, I never believed that girls had cooties. I wanted what my parents had. I wanted that unconditional love I knew I could get with the right person. I just had to find her.

While the rest of the night ended up in a blur, I couldn’t help but think back to Ainsley and Piper’s warning of her. It made me wonder what that was about or if Ainsley had trouble with the law back in the day and was trying to make a better name for herself. Either way, I didn’t care. I just knew from the moment we met, there was something in each other that both of us needed. What it was, I couldn’t be sure, but I hoped, no, I damn near prayed, we would find out.

Some way or another.

Ainsley

Iwas being followed.

I wasn’t sure by who, but I had spent months looking over my shoulder, so I knew the tells. It also wasn’t the first time I had been followed either. While it happened more times than I cared to admit, there was always something familiar about the person too, but I could never figure out what exactly. I was always able to outrun them and find a public hiding place, but a part of me wondered if it was what they wanted. I had a feeling this person made it so I felt like I could always escape them. They were taunting me, letting me think I was in control when really, I never had been. I knew that one day eventually, they would catch up with me.

Hairs tingled on the back of my neck. They stood up straight, almost as if they were giving their silent little warning.