Page 11 of Cold Foot Croc (Wreck’s Mountains #3)

Why wasn’t Garret messaging her back? Maybe something was wrong. What if he’d accidentally Changed at work, or he had slid off the side of the road on one of those mountain passes or something?

Why did she have this feeling that something was wrong?

“Are you okay?” Katrina asked from the driver’s seat.

Raynah forced her attention away from the dimming screen of her phone. “Oh, I’m great.”

“Mmm, that’s a lie.”

“What’s up?” Cash asked from the back seat. He gripped the passenger’s seat, where Raynah was sitting, and flooded the console area with his annoying presence. “Boy problems?”

“Why are you so interested in my love life, creepo?”

“Do you have a crush on Raynah?” Kade asked from the seat beside Cash.

“Nope. Pregnant ladies aren’t my kink.”

“Truth,” Katrina said blandly.

“I know, I can hear truth and lies too,” Raynah groused, crossing her arms over her chest. Everyone in this truck was annoying as hell.

“I mean…” Cash said around a mouthful of cheese crackers. “You’re hot and all…”

“Oh my God, please don’t give me pity compliments—”

“Tits are nice—”

“I’m going to kill you first when I can Change again.”

“Truth,” Katrina announced again.

“We know,” Raynah, Cash, and Kade all said together.

“Why are we moving the baby shower spot to a bar again?” Kade asked. “I mean, no complaints, because it’s been a long week and I could use four to seven shots, but I’ve never been to a baby shower in a bar.”

“When did you ever go to a baby shower?” Cash asked.

“I saw one on TV, and it was in someone’s backyard, and everyone was dressed up,” Kade uttered distractedly. He was scrolling on his phone.

She could barely see Kade on account of Cash taking up the space between her and Katrina’s seats, so she shoved him back hard. “Quit crowding me.”

“Okay, I’m changing my answer,” Cash said from where he was relaxing back into his seat. “I have a crush on Raynah now. I like my women toxic.”

“I’m not toxic!”

“You ate a dude,” Cash said from around another bite of crackers.

“Shut up!” Raynah demanded.

“Like, you digested him?” Kade asked, and now he was interested enough to put his phone down.

“Yeah, and the both of you are next if you don’t quit annoying the fuck out of me.”

There was blissful silence, so she sat back and huffed a sigh of relief.

“It’s probably the hormones,” Cash whispered.

“Cash!”

“We’re here,” Katrina announced, biting back a smile.

“They’re not funny,” Raynah admonished her former cellmate. “Don’t encourage them.”

Katrina parked in front of the 406 Saloon, right on the street with a clear shot to the door.

“Boys, can you help bring presents in?”

“We were already going to,” Kade grumbled, shoving his door open to get out. “What do you think we’re doing? You act like we have no manners.”

“Dude, you’ve been in Cold Foot Prison. How the hell would I know if you retained manners?”

“Well, we did,” Kade griped as he shoved the door open and got out.

Cash started getting onto Katrina for assuming they didn’t have manners, which was rude, and she was actually the one without manners, and blah, blah, blah. Raynah wasn’t really interested in listening to dumb arguments. She was texting Garret again.

Hey, just pulled up to the baby shower. I kind of wanted to say hi before I go in. Don’t know how long it will last. Wish you were here. Send.

When she shoved her phone in her purse and looked over at Katrina, she was just watching Raynah with this sympathetic look on her face. “You don’t seem very excited.”

“It’s not that,” Raynah said softly. “I’m so appreciative that you and the Crew planned this. I just feel…I don’t even know. Like getting presents and preparing for the baby will jinx something.”

Katrina reached over and squeezed her hand firmly. “This isn’t like last time.”

Raynah pursed her lips. Katrina had seen some big parts of what had happened. She’d seen her right after the first baby. She came into that cell for the first time when Raynah was completely shattered. She’d seen the aftermath and the heartache, and the fear when Raynah went back into the breeder program and got pregnant again. She didn’t have to say anything. The emotion in Katrina’s eyes said she understood as much as she could understand.

“You deserve this, and so does this sweet baby.”

Raynah nodded, but ducked her gaze so Katrina wouldn’t see how emotional this all made her feel. “I met a boy, and I wish he was here. I think this would all be easier.”

“Invite him,” Katrina said easily.

Raynah shrugged up one shoulder. “I did. He is steering clear of the Crew. He has his reasons.”

“I bet they are fair reasons.” Katrina was always wise with advice now that she’d settled into the Crew and wasn’t all posted up, ready to fight all the time.

She was right. Garret had his reasons, and that was that. Raynah had to respect them.

She would want the same consideration if she drew a boundary for him. That was probably why he wasn’t messaging her back. She was probably being way too needy right now.

In all the history of the universe, a creature had never been less graceful than Raynah as she shimmied out of the truck and onto the wooden deck in front of the 406. Cash’s stupid, baiting laugh dragged one middle finger up into the air from her, and then she waddled through the front door after the others. She was so sore and uncomfortable today. Her hips felt like they were splitting apart from the pressure of the baby. He had been sitting so low since she’d come home from camping.

Katrina hooked her arm in Raynah’s and led her to the left, to a room that was all decorated in blues and greens.

She paused at the door, stunned, taking it all in.

There was an enormous sign taped to the back wall that read Congratulations! Raynah has a wiener.

“Cash, are you serious?” Katrina growled. “That’s the sign you picked? You had one job!”

“What?” Cash asked innocently. “Technically Raynah does have a wiener right now.”

Katrina shoved his head hard, and Cash was cackling laughter as Raynah giggled. Cash had commissioned an eggplant emoji at the end of the sign, and as she looked around at the long table by a stone fireplace, she saw that there were little eggplant figurines everywhere. Even the cake in the corner had one on it.

She laughed harder. These boys were so stupid.

“Sorry,” Timber called from where she and Sasha were setting plasticware by plates on the long table. “We gave them simple directions.”

“Yeah, and we achieved them,” Kade said, eating a baby carrot off a veggie tray.

“I’ve got the baby-bottle shots,” King announced from behind them, and when Raynah turned around, King was taking up the entire double-door area with his massive shoulders. He held a tray of plastic baby bottles full of what looked suspiciously like whiskey.

That part made her laugh, but then something caught her eye and the smile fell slowly from her lips at the shock.

As King came into the room, another giant followed him in. A teal-eyed, slow-smiling man who hadn’t been texting her back much today. Behind Garret was Wreck, looking hella comfortable. His eyes weren’t even bright or fiery.

King held the tray of drinks one-handed, and patted Raynah on the head. “You look pregnant today.”

“Thanks,” she muttered.

Wreck moved around Garret and gave her a side-hug, then winked. “He’s all right.” And then the Alpha of the Cold Foot Crew meandered off toward the others, who were clearly giving her and Garret some space to say hello. Katrina’s eyes were all full again, and Timber and Sasha were watching her with these matching soft smiles painted on their lips.

This baby shower took on a whole new meaning in an instant.

These people were telling her it was okay to have Garret here with them. They had planned this wacky, funny, baby-shower adventure, and were surprising her with Garret.

The baby moved in her stomach as she melted into Garret’s arms and buried her face against his chest.

“Hey, pretty girl,” he rumbled against her temple. His arms were so strong around her.

“Best surprise ever,” she told him.

“Yeah?”

She eased back, looked up at him, and nodded. “Hell yeah.”

And then right there, in front of her entire Crew, he leaned down like it was nothing and kissed her right on the lips.

“You didn’t text me back all day. I was afraid something was wrong.”

“Mmm. I had to pick up an order of eggplant balloons from Missoula, and then I was afraid if I called you I would give away the surprise.”

“Oh my gosh, you were involved in decorating this place?” she asked through a laugh.

He looked down at her belly and rested his hand there, right over the movement. “You’re wearing the dress I like from Murdoch’s.”

“I bought it this morning. I was going to take a bunch of selfies in it for you, but I feel like a heifer today.”

“You’re beautiful. Favorite dress ever.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I’m going to need those selfies later. I can take them, though.”

Her cheeks heated, and she had to compose herself for a few seconds as he patted her gently on the butt and led her toward the others. “Come on. Let’s go celebrate little Billy-Jack.”

She laughed and shook her head. “You and that name.”

“You’ll pick another one when you’re ready.” Such confidence filled his words.

Little Billy-Jack moved again. She rested one hand on the swell of her belly, and slipped her other one into Garret’s. His enormous hand encompassed hers completely, and she had that feeling again—that safe feeling.

It was addictive.

He pulled out a chair for her and she sat down, sighing in relief. Her belly felt so tight right now. It felt good to just sit.

When she glimpsed the food that was stretched across the long table, she laughed in shock. There was fish, and a plate full of T-bone steaks. Snack-sized bowls of chocolate-covered raisins were peppered between bowls of different kinds of potato chips. And in the middle of the table was a plate piled high with peanut-butter-banana sandwiches, and there were saltine crackers around the edge, just waiting to be crunched up on top of them. On each of the paper plates around the table, there were tin cans of clams that someone had heated up in an oven, with parmesan cheese on top.

“Oh my gosh,” she uttered, stunned. She lifted her wide-eyed gaze to Garret as he sat in the seat beside her. “These are all the cravings I told you I’ve been having.”

“He was really helpful with the last-minute menu planning,” Wreck said softly from across the table, where he sat beside his mate, Timber, his arm draped loosely across the back of her chair.

“I am so excited right now.”

“That’s the biggest smile I’ve seen on your face ever,” King pointed out. “You just needed all your weird foods.”

“Hey, don’t knock it until you try it,” she encouraged them, scooping up a heaping helping of clams with her plastic spoon.

“I already tried it, and it doesn’t suck,” Cash announced around a mouth full of food. His can was already empty, and he was scraping the juice out noisily with his plastic spoon. “You gonna eat that?” he asked Kade, who was sitting next to him.

“Am I going to eat my clams?” Kade muttered, a smirk on his face. “I will always eat the clams.”

She did not care at all about the boys’ back and forth, unless one of them was willing to give her their food. Right now she was lost on a roller coaster of delightful flavors, and nothing could harsh her buzz.

Garret, God bless that man, saw her eating her clams like an animal, and he automatically put his tin onto her plate and began gathering other food for her.

She couldn’t fit too much in her stomach right now, for a couple of reasons. One, Billy-Jack felt like he was the size of a small horse, and there was no room for food, and two, her belly was doing that tightening-up thing again that was so annoying and just uncomfortable.

Two hours flew by quick. There were games—mostly drinking games for the non-pregnant members of the group—and the guys were hilarious during them. Even just chatting around the table was easier than it ever had been before. As Raynah looked around, everyone just seemed good. The chaos of escaping prison and making the Crew, and moving here to Montana, settling in, and figuring out which way was up seemed to have lifted for this one evening. Or perhaps the tension in the Crew had been easing up for a while now, and she was just now starting to notice. The baby had taken up so much of her attention and worry, she hadn’t been paying attention to the others as much. They seemed happy. Even the ones who weren’t paired up, like Kade and Cash, just seemed at ease.

“Are you happy?” Garret asked from beside her.

He was looking down at her lips, and she took stock of her expression. She was smiling. She hadn’t even realized.

“I think so—oof.” She inhaled sharply and pressed her hand against the tight spot low on her belly.

Garret leaned forward in his chair and looked worried. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve been having those Brax-thingies for a couple of days.”

“Braxton-Hicks?” Sasha asked from where she was watching Raynah across the table.

“Yeah, my stomach gets tight sometimes, but it’ll go away.”

“Mmm. Does it hurt?”

Raynah shook her head. “Not really. Just feels weird and tight.”

Sasha nodded. “Probably just Braxton-Hicks then. You know, we can always go do some measurements up at the hospital. I know you’ve been kind of putting it off, but I bet I could pinpoint a pretty accurate due date with an ultrasound.”

A few days ago, Raynah’s answer would’ve been an immediate no. She’d been walking this earth scared to death of something going wrong, or finding out something was wrong. But now, after the talks she’d had with Garret, she felt more hopeful. Stronger, perhaps.

“When do you work next?” she asked.

“Tomorrow. I don’t work in that part of the hospital, but I can pull some strings and get you in quick.”

“Can you be there in the room for it?”

“Of course. You can have whoever you want in the room. We can get you set up with a doctor who can deliver the baby too, if you want.”

She huffed a nervous laugh. “That’s probably important.”

“Sooner rather than later,” Cash said. “Her belly button’s poking out of her dress like one of those timers telling us when a turkey is fully cooked.”

“Oh my gah, turkey sounds so good right now,” Kade said.

“Speaking of turkeys,” Cash said, standing. “I wrote a poem for you, Raynah, lovely mother-to-be.”

“Oh God,” Raynah muttered under her breath.

Cash cleared his throat and looked solemnly at a piece of notebook paper that he’d pulled from his back pocket and unfolded. “Raynah. Your derriere, it is shaped like a pear—”

“Wait, is this entire poem going to be about Raynah’s ass?” King asked. “Garret, kill him.”

“I kind of want to hear it,” Garret told him.

Cash lifted his chin higher into the air and began again. “Your derriere, it is shaped like a pear. Sometimes I have found, that it is round—”

“Booo,” Raynah called out. She wanted to throw something at him, but the only thing not breakable near her was the sparkly confetti on the table. Someone had custom-ordered eggplants.

Wreck told Cash, “Sit down, no one wants to hear this.”

Cash scoffed. “My talents are wasted on you Neanderthals. This is art,” he said primly, wadding up the poem.

He threw it across the table at Raynah, who unfolded it to find the page was completely blank. “Were you just freestyling a poem about my butt?”

“Yeah. I told you all I can rap, but no one believes me.”

Garret raised his hand. “I believe you.” He started beatboxing a beat.

Cash picked up the rhythm. “Her tushy is squishy and a little bit mushy, and when she says peep, her granny panties get—”

“Cash, for the love of God, stop. That’s an order,” Wreck told him.

Silence descended over the group.

Raynah pursed her lips against a laugh, because Cash looked like he was about to explode with unsaid lyrics. In a high-pitched voice, she said, “Peep.”

“Pushy!” Cash finished the rhyme.

“That doesn’t even make any sense,” Katrina pointed out. “Her granny panties get pushy?”

“And when her booty goes plop—”

Garret picked up beatboxing again.

“When she’s trying to mop—”

“I’ve never mopped in my life,” Raynah pointed out.

“And she’s in a crop top—”

“I will pay you a hundred dollars to shut up,” Reed told him.

“Okay,” Cash said, and immediately sat down.

Raynah’s shoulders were shaking with her laughter. “That was atrocious.”

“And weird,” Timber added.

“Thank you,” Cash said as he held his hand out for the hundred-dollar bill Reed was pulling from his wallet.

“Do you want to open presents?” Sasha asked, gesturing toward a table piled high with wrapped gifts.

“You guys did way too much.”

“This is the first Crew baby,” Timber pointed out. “You can hand this stuff down to the next babies when yours is older, if you want to look at it that way.”

“Yeah, we’re basically buying stuff for our kids eventually,” Cash said.

“Boy, you don’t even have a girlfriend. Who is going to have a baby with you?” King asked.

“Boy, maybe I’m on bangaboarlander-dot-com and looking for a love match. Mind your business. I bet I’ll have more babies than all of you.”

“Mmm,” Timber said. “At ten-ten tonight I’m going to make a wish that Cash does not, in fact, populate these mountains with a bunch of miniature hims.”

“I’ve already picked out their names,” Cash told her. “Dash. Smash. Lash. Flash. Crash. Stephanie. Mash. Slash—”

Wreck was leaned back in his chair, and flickered a flame to life just above his palm.

“I will play the quiet game,” Cash whispered.

“Good idea,” Wreck murmured.

It took awhile to open all the presents, and Raynah was absolutely blown away. Apparently Timber had built a registry at a local store, and the Cold Foot Crew had gotten anything and everything she could even imagine for the baby. This wasn’t a jinx, right? It wasn’t going to be bad luck.

Her stomach tightened again. Maybe this was stress.

When the time came to pack up and clean up the room the Crew had rented, Garret made sure she stayed seated and comfortable while he helped the others load everything into the trucks outside.

“Do you want me to help unload everything at your place?” he asked carefully. “I can take you home if you want. Or you can ride with Katrina again.”

“You…you would be okay with coming up to the Crew territory?”

“He’s already been there,” Wreck uttered as he walked by with a stack of presents in his arms.

“What?” she asked, stunned.

Garret offered her a handsome, crooked smile. “I went and had a beer with Wreck, and asked if I could come here today for you.”

The burning sensation that filled her eyes was immediate. After he’d been open with not wanting anything to do with the Cold Foot Crew, he’d gone up there alone just to ask the Alpha if he could be here for her today?

“Fuck,” she whispered.

His chuckle reverberated right through her as he knelt in front of her knees. “If you don’t want me around your den, it’s okay.”

“Nest,” she said in a small voice.

“You call it a nest?”

“I filled it with plants. I made a nest.”

His smile got bigger. “That’s fuckin’ adorable. Want to show me your plants? It’s okay if not.”

“I like how you don’t put pressure on me or the animal.”

He puffed air out of his cheeks and shook his head. “Do you know how hard it is for me to stop from asking to go to your ultrasound and see the pictures of the baby with you?”

“Oh.” She frowned. “You can come to that. I thought you would be working in the morning.”

“I’ll get someone to cover my shift. If you want.” He held up his hands in surrender. “Only if you want. Don’t eat me.”

The last part was a joke, and she shoved him playfully in the shoulder. “Stupid,” she said around a laugh as she wiped under her eyes to make sure none of the earlier tears had escaped. “Why do you like me?” she asked suddenly.

“What?” Garret sounded baffled.

“Why do you like me? Is it because of the baby? Or is it some kind of hero-syndrome? Like you think I need help because my baby’s father isn’t here? Because if so, you are off the hook, you know? I don’t want you to pity me, or…”

“Is this you pushing me away?” he asked, standing. He put his hands on his hips and cocked his head, looking troubled.

“I don’t know. I just don’t want to do all this with you, and then you decide you don’t really like me when I’m different, after I have the baby. I mean, you haven’t even seen me Change yet. And this is all happening so fast—”

“You’re getting worked up,” he said softly.

“I am not. I’m asking important questions.”

“You know me better than that—”

“No I don’t.” What was she doing? What in the ever-loving-hell was she doing? She couldn’t stop talking, and coming up with problems. “I’m just worried when all the glitz and glamour of my pre-baby life is done, you will bounce. I don’t want to get too attached if you decide to do that.”

He wouldn’t look her in the eye right now. He stood there with his hands gripping his hips, eyes on the table, shoulders heaving slowly with his deep breathing. His jaw was clenched. “I get you panicking—”

“I’m not panicking. I’m fine.”

“I get you panicking,” he repeated, dragging his bright-teal gaze to hers. “But I don’t like it. I haven’t given you a reason to panic on me. I didn’t do anything wrong. Not on this one.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, and wished so badly that she could keep the next words inside of her. She couldn’t though. Something possessed her to say, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be around my nest until I work some stuff out.”

Garret stood there frozen for a couple of seconds before he nodded. “Okay. Let me know when you get it worked out.” It was a simple response, and clipped, and she could tell he was angry. Or hurt, perhaps. She could feel it, and it made her sick to her stomach.

What had even triggered this? It wasn’t even logical. She’d had a great day, and then she’d questioned him. Why?

“Hey,” she said, standing.

“I think I need to Change, and you know…figure things out,” he said low. He walked out the exit, shaking his head.

Raynah puffed air out of her cheeks and watched him walk out.

“Nice job, psychopath,” Cash said from where he was packing the leftover food into containers.

“Mind your own business,” she grumbled.

“You know, I did a background check on him. He’s clean. He seems like a good, genuine dude.”

“You did a background check on him?” she asked. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” Cash said, eyes fiery. “I did one on all of you. If I am shacking up with a bunch of strangers, I want to know what I’m into. He’s clean.” Cash pointed at her. “You’re not.”

“What are you saying?”

“He took off work today to be here. Talked to your Alpha out of respect. Is willing to put up with this pregnancy shitshow for a baby who isn’t even his—”

“Cash, shut up!”

He slammed down the food container and strode for her, jammed a finger at her. “You shouldn’t shit on people who are better than you. He’s fucking stooping for you, Raynah. He’s better than all of us.” The disgust in his voice was so apparent as he walked away and yelled over his shoulder, “You owe him an apology.”

This was the part she hated. This was the part that she’d been afraid of. Crews were close-knit, like friends or built-in family, but what if a Crew didn’t mesh well? But as she watched Cash disappear out the way Garret had gone, that didn’t feel right. They’d all gotten along so well today, and probably had been for a while now, unbeknownst to her while she was dealing with all of these overwhelming feelings.

She was the one who didn’t belong.

The tightening in her belly drew her attention down and she sighed, feeling absolutely miserable. There were reasons she wasn’t bonding to her home, or to Wreck’s Mountains, or to the people who were supposed to be friends or built-in family.

She was still distant, still defensive, still defiant, still…different.

If Cash, or any of the Crew, was going to give their opinion every time she and Garret got into an argument, she wasn’t interested. Cash had his own issues, and didn’t need to be judging hers.

She was doing the best she could. Right? This was the best she could do?

Raynah inhaled deeply as Cash’s words echoed through her mind. You owe him an apology.

Right now she hated Cash. Hated him because he’d seen her in a moment that made no sense and embarrassed her. Hated him for the call-out. Hated that he thought he knew her. Hated him for choosing a side when neither she or Garret had asked him to.

She was always wrong, always the one with the reactions that didn’t make sense, always the bad guy. Eternal villain.

You owe him an apology.

She did. She hated that Cash was right.

Raynah steeled herself, and made her way outside just in time to see Garret’s truck accelerating down the road. The engine roared and smoke plumed out of the exhaust.

Stupid argument over nothing, and it really was on her.

“Shhhit,” she whispered, pulling her phone out. I’m sorry. You really didn’t do anything wrong. Send.

“He’ll be fine,” Reed said from right behind Raynah. She startled hard. She hadn’t noticed the Komodo dragon shifter sneak up behind her. He was way too damn quiet. “Sometimes we just have to blow off some steam. He’ll come back patient.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you aren’t the only one figuring out how to navigate this.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m the bad guy.”

“Hell no you aren’t.” Reed cocked an eyebrow and looked her right in her eye. “Ain’t no bad guys here. We’re all just trying to figure our shit out.”

“Everyone else is making it look smooth.”

“Ha. Smoke and mirrors then. I feel like I make mistakes every day, without fail. The point is to keep trying, and to learn. A year from now, we will all be in a better place.”

“You believe that?”

“A few months ago we were rotting in prison with no future, Raynah. Look at your life now. Really look at it. You would’ve never met Garret if you were still there, and this baby? What future would he have?”

Chills rippled up her spine just thinking about it.

“It’s okay to let yourself be happy.”

Happy. There it was. There was the reason her brain had gone off on its own. Garret had asked her if she was happy, and she’d admitted she was, and then she’d panicked because it still felt like happiness shouldn’t belong to someone like her.

There it was. There it was.

“You know, you’re not as stupid as you look,” she muttered.

Reed belted out a laugh, and left her standing by the door to go help the guys rearrange the presents in the back of King’s truck.

Garret would come back patient? God, she hoped Reed was right. The text-apology was one thing, but she would make it up to him and explain what had happened, and as Reed said…she was going to learn.