Page 9

9

Rome

Salem’s perfect, creamy complexion paled as a myriad of emotions crossed her face. Seeing the sorrow, however, fucking terrified me. I was not going to lose her. Whatever I needed to do in order to make this something she could live with, then I’d do it. She just had to say the word.

“I see,” she said, breaking the silence that Nixie’s announcement had caused.

Everyone in the fucking club knew. Nixie had made sure they did yesterday. But no one had wanted Salem to know. They cared about her. She was fucking impossible not to love.

Salem stepped back away from my touch. She barely glanced at me before turning and walking out of the kitchen. My heart pounded so hard that I could hear it in my ears. I had to fix this. Make her smile again.

I turned back to Nixie. The rage—caused by her careless words, meant to hurt Salem—began to boil at the sight of her standing there, trying to look innocent and confused.

Bitch. She’d done it on purpose.

“I said I’d help pay for the baby. I didn’t say I’d put up with you. If you want me in that child’s life, then you’ll learn to be nice to the woman I love. She’s not going anywhere. I intend to put a ring on her finger.”

She blinked, wide-eyed, as if she were trying to make herself tear up. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Oh, yes, you did, bitch. You meant to,” Nina snapped angrily.

Nixie’s eyes narrowed as she swung them to her. “Don’t call me that.”

Nina cocked her head and looked at her with disgust. “I can call you whatever I want. And what you just did was a bitch move. Don’t fuck with me, Nixie. I’m an ole lady. You’re just a stripper who got knocked up.”

Nixie swung her gaze back to me, as if I was going to defend her.

Turning, I left the kitchen to go find Salem. I had more important things to deal with. I should have told her yesterday, but I couldn’t do it. I was going to do it today, but after going to Strokes with Brick to deal with a fight that had broken out, I’d gotten back to Nixie demanding I talk to her. Micah had gone with us to the library to discuss the pregnancy. I hadn’t wanted to be alone with her without a witness.

Taking the stairs two at a time, I made my way to my room, knowing that was most likely where she had gone. If she wasn’t in there, then I’d panic. Right now, I had to keep a calm head and make sure she understood this changed nothing. She’d listen to me once she was over the shock.

I swung open my door, not sure what to expect when I saw her, but the sight of her standing over by the small window in my room, staring with her arms crossed over her chest, looking almost lost, wasn’t it. I’d thought maybe she’d yell at me or cry. Hell, I didn’t know.

Closing the door, I locked it, not taking my eyes off her. It wasn’t until I was almost across the room to her that she turned her head to look at me. The depth of emotion darkened the cornflower blue.

Fuck, I hated this.

“Angel Face, this changes nothing between us,” I said, and she remained silent. “I swear it. Please don’t look at me like that. You’re killing me.”

“How long have you known?” she asked me.

Dammit. Why hadn’t I told her?

I sighed heavily. “Yesterday. I was going to tell you this morning. I should have yesterday. I just…I couldn’t accept it myself. I wasn’t sure how you’d react, and I was scared.”

She licked her lips and then turned to look out the window again. “She’s young, and she’s going to need you.”

“No, she will need money, and I’ll give her that. She doesn’t need me,” I said, wrapping my fingers around her upper arm and turning her around to pull her against my chest. She didn’t fight me.

Her gaze lifted to meet mine reluctantly.

“You. All I want is you.”

“She will need support. She can’t do that alone. It’s…it would be terrifying.” Her voice broke as she said it.

If she started crying on me, I was going to shatter.

“She will be fine. Let’s not worry about her. It’s us I want to talk about. You are my priority.”

Her eyes began to glisten with unshed tears. “I’m not asking for that. The baby needs to be your priority.”

That was asking something of me I couldn’t do. The baby wasn’t taking Salem’s place in my priorities. No one was.

I cupped her face with both my hands, keeping her eyes on mine. I needed her to see how fucking serious I was.

“The baby will be taken care of, but, Angel Face, I want you. You’re my future. You were meant to be my future from the moment we met. I knew it then, and I fucked it up. I won’t lose you again.”

A tear broke free and rolled down her cheek. I caught it with my thumb.

“Please don’t cry,” I begged. “I’m sorry. If I could go back and never touch Nixie, I would. It would have always just been you.”

She said nothing. I needed reassurance that we were going to be okay. That she’d stay with me through this.

“Don’t shut me out. Love me,” I said.

She let out a small laugh, but there was no humor in it. Instead, it was filled with sadness, and my heart twisted in pain.

“I don’t think I get a choice in that. I’ve loved you most of my life. Even when I didn’t want to.”

That sent a trickle of relief through me, but not enough. She’d also loved me living twenty thousand–plus miles away, married to another man.

“You’ll stay with me?” I pressed. I needed to hear those words.

She nodded. “Yes.”

Bending my head, I took her full lips and licked her lower one, like she had earlier. Her mouth opened for me, and I took the sweetness that was Salem and savored it. The touch of her tongue was a balm that my soul needed. Reminding me that she wanted me too.

I slid my hands down her arms, then around to cup her ass and jerk her closer against me. She grabbed my biceps to steady herself, but broke the kiss and dropped her forehead to my chest.

“I…I need to…I can’t do this right now. I just need to process.”

She had said she loved me. It was going to be okay. This didn’t mean anything was changing. She wasn’t pulling away from me. I’d tie her to me if she tried.

“Okay. Well, process while I hold you,” I said, scooping her up and walking over to the sofa.

“What are you doing?” she asked, frowning.

When I reached it, I sat down and tucked her close to me. “Letting you process,” I told her, then pressed a kiss to her temple. “Process all you need.”

She sighed. “I didn’t mean like this. I need to think. Be alone.”

Not a chance in hell was I letting her be alone to think.

“Pretend I’m not here.”

“Rome,” she said, as if exasperated with me.

I smiled. “Angel Face.”

She rested her head on my shoulder. “How long are you going to hold me?”

I shrugged. “As long as it takes you to process and let me get you naked and back in bed.”

She said nothing, and I breathed her in, pressing my nose close to her head, then kissed her temple again before resting my head on the wall behind me. Minutes went by in silence, and I started to wonder if she’d fallen asleep. I wasn’t sure how long the processing was going to take, but while she needed to think, I needed to sink inside her and reassure myself she was mine.

“She’s having your baby. That’s going to form a bond between you two. You’ll be connected in a way we won’t be.”

My arms tightened around her. “Two people can have a kid and not have a connection or bond with each other. Take my parents, for example. There was no bond there. Besides, my soul has formed the only connection it was made for. That happened when I was nineteen years old,” I said.

She didn’t argue with me, and a few moments passed before she spoke again.

“Have you…did you ever see your dad…after your mom passed?” she asked.

I had, but only because he’d reached out to me.

“He walked into one of our clubs, looking for me, about five years ago. Wanted to talk. We shared a beer. He asked me about my life. Said he was sorry to hear about my mom’s death. Then proceeded to tell me that he had terminal cancer and would most likely be dead in six months’ time.”

Her head shot up off my chest, and she stared up at me, wide-eyed. “Oh, Rome,” she said, sorrow thick in her tone. “I am so sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Angel Face,” I said, grinning at her clear concern over this. I kissed her forehead and then the tip of her nose. “He was a stranger to me. I’d not seen him since I was a little kid. He’d come to make himself feel better about it by apologizing and attempting to get to know me since his time was limited. I had a beer with him. Walked him to the door and said goodbye.”

She wet her lips and still looked upset. “But did you see him again?”

I shook my head. “No. He asked if I’d come to his house for dinner. I said no, that this was his closure, and I hoped it made him feel better, but that was all he’d get from me.”

Her eyes scanned my face, as if she would find some hidden emotion hiding there. I didn’t even have regret. Not where he was concerned.

“You didn’t go to his funeral?”

“No, I didn’t. The man I called Dad had been dead to me for a long time. He wasn’t at Mom’s funeral.”

She remembered that. When he hadn’t come, it had been just one more insult to my mom.

She nodded and laid her head back on my chest. “You’re right. He didn’t,” she said softly.

I ran my fingers through her silky locks, completely satisfied to hold her.

When I had been younger and I thought about having kids one day, I’d always imagined a little girl or boy with Salem’s blue eyes and dark hair. She was the only woman I wanted to have kids with. This wasn’t an ideal situation, but I wouldn’t ignore the baby. And I still wanted the family I’d once thought I would have. Salem would be a wonderful mother and stepmother. We’d discuss it eventually.

Right now, I didn’t want to share her. I had too much lost time to make up.