Page 30 of From Angel to Rogue (Four Foxes #6)

KATY

“You’re smiling.” Lily eyed me as she spooned the bone broth her husband insisted she have.

We girls were all sprawled in Emmie’s TV room, having a picnic on the floor while a random romcom played in the background. The room was big enough to host us all and more, with soft carpets, dark walls, comfortable couches, and a fully equipped TV system that could count as a small cinema.

“Maybe.” My fingers touched my lips. Was I? I was just thinking of ways to get back at Lan.

“And?” She raised a brow.

“And nothing,” I mumbled.

She sighed, finishing the last of her soup by drinking it straight from the bowl.

Evy groaned, twisting her back as she tried to find a comfortable position on the couch.

“Everything okay, E?” I asked while Sierra frowned at her.

“Ah.” Her brown eyes dashed to us, and she flushed. “Yeah.”

I grinned. I knew immediately what or who made her back ache. “Did Emmie go a little hard on you last night, Evy?”

Evy’s entire face matched the color of her blush-pink pajamas. “No, Jay and I slept like normal people last night.” It was a blatant lie.

Her Jay definitely did her last night.

She was the only person who called Emmie, Jay, but damn, did he love it.

“Katy, please,” Lily whined. “That’s my brother we are talking about.”

“But Li, Evy is in pain. I wonder what position it was. Maybe Lan and I could try it,” I teased. Not like Lan and I were currently doing any of that.

Evy threw a pillow in my face while Sierra burst out laughing.

Lily, on the other hand, glared at me before a sinister smirk curled her pink lips. “Sierra,” she drawled sweetly. “Did you and Matty have hot, steamy, sexy sex last night?”

That shut up Sierra’s giggles, and now it was her face that turned red. “Uhm,” she gaped. “Maybe.”

They definitely did.

And my stomach twisted, regretting ever starting this conversation.

“Thank you, Li.” Evy slid her a grateful smile.

“Was it any good?” Lily grinned, not letting it go. “I imagine the good old Matty Evans would be sweet in bed?”

“Quite the opposite actually,” Sierra mumbled, the red on her cheeks spreading to the tops of her chest. “He has a very dirty mouth, and he gets very creative and also…” She licked her lips.

“Also?” Evy and Lily leaned closer, holding their breaths.

“He’s pierced down there,” she said shyly. “He’s thinking of getting another one.”

Evy and Lily’s jaws fell to the floor.

My stomach only twisted further, and I groaned, not ever wanting to ever know that detail about my fucking twin.

“Holy fuck, good for you girl.” Lily blew out a breath. “At least all of you are getting sex. I miss sex.” She pouted. “Mikey wouldn’t touch me.”

“That’s because you’re not well, Li,” Evy said softly. “In four weeks, you can.”

“I can’t fucking wait,” she muttered before her brows furrowed. “Umm, K, I think you have a little situation down there.” She wiggled a finger.

Frowning, my eyes followed her finger and I stilled.

“Don’t worry, I have pads and you can change into one of my pj’s,” Evy said. “I’ll go get it for you.”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t answer her.

All I could do was stare at the tiny red spots on my yellow dress as the worst memories of my past flashed through my mind like the loud shutter of a camera.

Suddenly, I could feel it all, the stickiness between my thighs, the sound of my heart sinking to my guts, and the low cramp in my stomach that I didn’t even notice.

I could feel it all.

Fuck no, it wasn’t happening again, was it? My heart and soul couldn’t fucking take it once again.

But how? How the fuck could it be possible?

My ears muffled to the sound of my friends asking me if I was okay, but everything turned into a blur and I felt as if someone had sucked all the air out of my fucking lungs.

I couldn’t hear.

I couldn’t see.

I couldn’t breathe.

God, please no.

Not again.

The edges of my vision turned pitch black and darkness consumed me.

Completely.

LAN

“Mikey, stop fucking around,” I deadpanned, but that fucker didn’t listen and kept deliberately messing up his bass riff with a proud grin.

Our next album was coming along a lot faster than anticipated. Now that we were all together under the same building that also had our own studio, we worked every spare hour we could find.

Honestly, it didn’t even feel like work because we kept messing up and trying new things. This was the first record that sounded more like us than any of our other works.

Emmie didn’t even bother with Mikey as he continued to fix the melody to his lyrics. I usually helped him with the songwriting process, but this album was completely written by him. And he did it in mere weeks.

Maybe being back with his girl sparked all his creative juices.

I came into the process last because I was busy following a certain angel on the streets, but I had already produced the rhythm, and Matty had tweaked everything into shape.

It was just the four of us and a few of our closest friends working on this, and we liked that our sounds shined more loudly that way. It was raw, yet the sounds merged perfectly in sync.

Suddenly, everyone’s phone went off at the same time, except for mine.

And all of us stilled, exchanging worried glances.

The last notes of our instruments hung in the air as it laced with the slithering tension growing in the room.

“It’s Sierra,” Matty whispered, and they all mumbled it was their girl, and I just knew that something was wrong with her .

I jumped to my feet, a cold hand gripping my heart as I rushed out of the studio. I was tunnel-visioned as I ran up one story to Emmie’s apartment.

I thumbed the code and headed straight to the TV room, where I knew she was hanging out with the girls.

“Katy,” Evy’s soft voice beckoned while a concerned Sierra and Lily hovered over a cold, unmoving figure on the floor.

Katy.

My Katy.

Fuck.

“Angel,” I gasped, pushing them away as I took her in my lap, fear choking me alive.

She looked so pale, but her pulse was loud and strong. “Katy,” I said softly, gliding my finger along her cheek while I pressed soft kisses along the path. “Wake up, baby.”

A second passed and then another before a low groan ripped out of her throat. “Lan,” she moaned, nuzzling her nose to my chest. “Lan, is that you?”

“Yes, angel.” I forced a smile. “You’re okay. Give me those beautiful eyes.”

Her nose scrunched before her eyes slowly blinked open. “Lan?” Some of the ice around my heart cracked at the sight of those pale green eyes speckled with golden hues.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I think so,” she mumbled. “Why…” A daze filled her eyes as they darted around the room to meet the worried eyes of our friends.

In seconds, her confusion dropped as a blank look covered her eyes. It was like it was all coming back to her.

“K, are you feeling alright?” Her twin’s eyes were brimming with dread.

“Yeah, Matty.” A tight smile tugged her lips. “Can I… can I have some time alone with Lan?”

Everyone nodded as they quietly left the room.

Katy scrambled off my lap and pulled herself to a seat beside me, hugging her knees as her forehead dropped to her thigh.

“Katy?” I swallowed. “Is everything okay?”

“No.” Her chin turned toward me and she gave me the saddest smile. “At least, I don’t know.”

Confused, I started to shake my head but stopped when she dropped her knees to the floor. Her shaky fingers took hold of the fabric between her thighs, stained with red dots, and tugged it higher.

The trail led to lines of crimson streaked along her inner thighs, marring the lace of her pale panties.

“I…I..” She blinked rapidly, her lips wobbling. “I don’t know what that is. I hope,” she hiccuped. “It’s just my period and not something else.”

Everything in me broke at the sound of her voice. “Whatever it is, it will be fine.” My helpless hands tugged her to my chest.

“I can’t do it again, Lan,” she said quietly, broken. “I can’t go through that again.”

“You won’t be alone.” That was the only thing I could say as I held her tight like that for what seemed like forever before gently prodding her that we must see a doctor.

In a complete blur, we made it to the private clinic, and they took Katy’s blood and pee and asked us to wait, and it had been an hour since.

Katy changed into a fresh pair of clothes and was sitting beside me with her head on my shoulder, clutching her belly protectively. Only Matty tagged along with us, and his eyes didn’t blink away from his sister even for a second.

“Ms. Evans,” A young woman in nurse scrubs called out to us, holding a notepad.

I nodded, gripping Katy’s hand as we followed the nurse to the room at the end of the hallway. “You can go on in. Dr. Morris is waiting for you.”

I mumbled a thanks before I led Katy into the room.

A tall brunette with kind eyes and confident posture sat behind a fully equipped glass table.

“Hello, Ms. Evans, Mr. Greige. I’m Dr. Cindy Morris.” She greeted Katy and me with a brisk shake of hands which we both returned stiffly.

“Please take a seat.” She gestured to the pistachio-colored chairs in front of her desk.

The entire office was expansive and modern, but I could hardly pay any attention to that as Dr. Morris regarded Katy with a warm smile and asked Katy a few questions.

Katy answered Dr. Morris like a robot, like she was a broken doll that someone else was controlling.

My back was stiff as a board as I listened to them, clutching Katy’s hand tightly.

Halfway through the questioning, the nurse walked in with a blue file.

“The lab results are here, Dr. Morris.”

“Thanks, Nisha.”

She gave Dr. Morris a nod of acknowledgment before quietly slipping out of the room.

Dr. Morris frowned as she assessed those papers, and terror pulsed through my brain. But that soon vanished when a smile replaced her frown instead.

“Everything looks fine, Katy.” Her eyes fixed on us.

Thank fuck God.

“In fact, it’s more than good.” Dr. Morris’s smile widened. “Congratulations, you’re going to be parents. It turns out you’re actually pregnant. What you experienced is normal spotting, nothing to worry.”

Only the sound of Katy’s gasp echoed the shock that filled the room and I froze. That was the last thing I expected to come out of her mouth.

“I…I’m pregnant?” Katy asked in disbelief.

“Yes.” Dr. Morris said. “Looks like you were diagnosed with POI following a period of no bleeding. It is sometimes common to misdiagnose hypothalamic amenorrhea as POI. It’s a condition where intense stress or heavy diets temporarily collapse your reproductive system.

Without lifestyle changes, it can continue for years, unnoticed.

But the good news is, you can still fall pregnant if you were ovulating but not bleeding, which I believe is what happened in your case. ”

My eyes darted to Katy, who looked shell-shocked. I knew what was going on inside her head. All these years she spent chasing perfection had ruined her body a lot more than she had thought. And the weight of it never felt so heavy than it did at this moment.

“It’s okay,” I whispered in her ear. “It’s fine now. You’re going to be a mom, angel.”

A swallow worked through her throat, and her glimmering eyes flew to me. “I’m going to be a mom,” she repeated like she couldn’t believe it.

“Why don’t we take an ultrasound to see how the little one is doing?” Dr. Morris suggested with a smile.

“We can?” I asked in a hesitant tone.

“Of course. That way we can confirm and see how far along you are.”

Soon, Katy changed into a thin, plasticky gown and lay on the thin bed with her belly exposed, which only had a small curve that showed no evidence of her being pregnant.

The doctor spread cold jelly on her stomach, and Katy clutched my hand, a hint of fear shining in her eyes.

“I’m scared,” she mumbled.

“It’s going to be fine,” I assured, placing a kiss on her cheek.

“Okay, let’s see.” The doctor moved the wand up and down and then right and left over her lower belly. “Oh my, you’re almost five months pregnant.”

The fuck?

“You have a slight retrograde uterus, so it could take a while for you to show. But the babies are completely healthy.”

I blinked while Katy stared at her, stunned.

Dr. Morris smiled widely. “Congratulations, you’re having twins.”

The fuck, fuck?

This morning, I dropped my one kid off at that school, and now I was going to be a father not just to another one but two more?

Katy dashed her wide eyes to mine. “I’m a mother to three babies, Lan.” Her tone trembled with disbelief.

“Yes, angel.”

“Let’s hear the heartbeat now, and then I’ll leave you two to some privacy,” Dr. Morris said softly. Seconds later, the muffled thud of two loud heartbeats swallowed the room.

“Strong and good.” Dr. Morris nodded to us with a small smile before she quietly drew back the curtains and slipped away.

“Lan, we’re going to be parents,” Katy said in a shocked whisper. “I’m going to be a mom, and you’re going to be a dad.”

I chuckled. “I think that’s what being a parent is called, angel,” I said softly, brushing away the golden strands stuck to her face.

“I don’t know how it’s possible.”

“It is.”

“How stupid was I Lan? I did this to myself….”

“Katy.” I ran a soft thumb over her cheek. “Don’t blame yourself, what happened, happened and now we get to focus on our future.”

She nodded slowly before a flicker of fear flashed in her eyes. “Lan, the timing, five months means that night…”

“Shush.” I placed a finger to her lips. “It doesn’t matter; those babies are mine.”

Things still weren’t clear about that night. I would be lying if I said it didn’t bother me because it did. But I would worry about that another day.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she cradled my cheeks. “I know this is something that I’ve always wanted, but are you okay with it? You will soon have three children and a very whiny woman who might want a lot of chocolate milkshakes.”

I laughed. “I happen to love her, and I would buy her all the chocolate milkshakes in the world. But no matter how many babies we make, she is always my number one.”

Her entire face melted, her eyes wide and glimmering with love. For me. “I love you, Lan.” She smiled a smile that made my heart ache, and I just had to kiss her sweet lips.

We stayed in the room, listening to the heartbeat for a couple more minutes.

I eyed the monitor, a blur of black and white that displayed my children. My babies were growing inside the woman I loved—babies we created.

Fuck, I didn’t know how to feel about that.

Not caring about the stickiness, I splayed my palms over her belly, and I felt something snap in my chest; it was loud and thundering, consuming me entirely.

It was the same protective need I felt when I met Luka.

The need to wrap all my babies and my girl in my arms and keep them safe.

Forever.