Page 8 of Hold ‘Em Tight (Solidarity Academy #4)

Helping me out of my clothes until I’m naked, he takes a step back, biting his knuckle.

“Fuck.”

“What?” I blink.

“The sight of my cum leaking out of you has me hard again.” He grimaces. “But, I also left quite a few marks on you.”

I stand as he steps to the side, letting me see myself in the mirror. I bite my lower lip and smile, running my fingertips along the bite marks and hickeys. “I don’t even care.” I laugh softly. “I love how much you want me. I love when you guys mark me as your own.”

“Careful, Cherry,” he growls, ridding himself of his clothes to join me in the shower. “I might just start doing it more.”

“Oh no. The horror,” I mock, earning myself another growl as he starts to tickle me.

“Brat.”

We shower together, and Donny is so damn sweet, making sure to get every inch of me clean. He even washes my hair.

The whole time, it’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him about the baby.

But just because we’re having this one good moment, it doesn’t mean everything else has disappeared.

I need more time alone with them, to feel out the situation and see what everyone's mindset is.

It’s still early. I’m not even far enough along to get an ultrasound, at just shy of eight weeks. At least I don’t think I am.

But the blood test confirmed I am indeed pregnant.

The reality of it still hasn’t sunk in yet. Maybe I’m partly in denial because I don’t want to get excited without the guys.

I’m aware enough to know I want this, to take care of myself and the baby, but I’m holding off on letting all of the feelings take hold until I can enjoy the moment with my guys.

After we’re done showering, Donny insists on helping me get dressed. I laugh, rolling my eyes, but let him. He slaps my ass and tells me to get packing, before exiting the room in only a towel, to go grab some clean clothes.

Smiling, I shake my head as I go over to my closet to grab my bag. Peaches lets out a soft meow, jumping up onto the bed.

“Oh, my God,” I gasp, my eyes widening. “I totally forgot you were in here.” I scoop her up. “Mommy is so sorry.” I groan. “What your tiny little eyes must have seen.”

There’s a chuckle behind me. I spin around to see Trevor standing in the doorway.

“She’s a cat. She has no idea what just went down in here.”

Biting my lip, I smile. “I’m guessing you do?”

“Oh, the whole house can guess what happened.” He chuckles.

“You know what, I'm not even sorry.” I laugh, letting the cat jump from my arms onto the bed.

“Don’t be.” Trevor makes his way across the room, pulling me into his arms. “You needed it. I’m just happy to see you smiling again.”

“Me too.” I let him hold me for a moment before he pulls back.

“I hear you're going on a trip?”

I raise a brow. “I think you mean ‘we’. You think we’d leave you behind?” I scoff. “Nope, you're part of this group of misfits. You're one of us now. So, get that sexy ass home and pack a bag.”

“Yeah?” He smiles.

“Hell yeah.” I mean it. “You really are crazy if you think you're not just as important to me as the others. There’s no side, Trevor. You’re my boyfriend. I love you. And the guys like you too, even if they don’t always show it.”

“Speaking of the guys, are you going to tell them?” he asks, his eyes lowering to look at my belly.

My smile slips. Turning around, I start to shove things into the bag. “No. Not yet.”

“Rylee, they deserve to know.”

“I know,” I snap, spinning around to glare at him. “I know. Okay. But you saw Mateo the other day. They’re not ready for this. They have so much shit to work on before I add more to their plate.”

“They’re stronger than you're giving them credit for, baby.”

“You don’t know them like I do.” I sigh. “They might put on a good front for everyone around them, but I know it’s all an act. Just give me the summer, okay? I’ll tell them after we get away for a bit. We can relax, enjoy some drama free time together, and then I’ll tell them.”

I know I can’t wait until life is perfect, because it never will be. And I don’t know what the timeline on the guys getting their shit together will be. It could be months. Hell, it could be years. I know this. Yet, I keep lying to myself about why I’m not telling them.

The real reason is, I’m scared. They say they won’t ever leave me, but didn’t Lennox say the same thing? And look where we are now.

If I tell them about the baby, it makes it real. What if it’s too much for them? What if they can’t handle it?

We’ve never really talked about kids. Sure, we mentioned it in passing when talking about the future, but we’re still in college. We have years before we graduate.

“Okay.” Trevor nods, cupping my face as he leans down to kiss me. “We do this your way.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you need any help?”

I shake my head. “No. Go pack. Sooner we’re ready, quicker we can get out of here.”

The flight was too long for my liking. From the moment we took off, I felt nauseous. I thought my morning sickness was over, but it seems to hit me at random times.

Colton was concerned, constantly making sure I was okay. I told him it was just motion sickness, and it very well could have been.

After I was done puking, he lifted up the armrest and pulled me into his arms, where I slept the rest of the way.

As we walk off the plane, I feel like death. All I want to do is curl up into a ball and sleep for a million years.

But when we pull up to the hotel, Mateo’s mom and mine are waiting for us with big smiles on their faces.

This is exactly what I need.

I’m out of the car and into my mom’s open arms in seconds. “Mama.” I choke on a sob.

“My Rylee girl.” She sniffs. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you too.”

As she holds me tight, I feel like a little girl again. The girl who needed her mom because she was her hero, the one who protected her from all the bad in the world.

More than anything, I wish she was able to do that again.

But I’m not a kid anymore, and this isn’t something she can fix for me.

For now, I’ll take what I can get though.