Page 26 of The Sinner’s Touch (Manwhore #2)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Rain.
How dare it threaten on her wedding day? Angel stomped her foot as she watched the weatherman. The dark clouds outside mocked her. Why did it have to rain on her wedding? It had to be a bad omen.
Not that it was anything special. There would be no big church wedding, much to Peter’s disgust. It was more of a visit to the Justice of the Peace with Jasmine and her brother as witnesses.
Kade said his family wouldn’t be able to make it on such short notice, as they all lived in Russia.
Peter wanted Father Joe to perform the ceremony, but he gave in when Kade put his foot down.
Peter wanted her married, and he’d do what was necessary to get the job done.
Pregnant and married at the age of nineteen.
Well, she’d be twenty in less than a week.
It wasn’t what she’d planned. Not by any means.
Her hand went to her stomach. The nugget didn’t care about that, though.
Not his fault, either. The longer she had to get used to the idea of a baby, the calmer she became.
And she was pretty sure it was a boy. Just a feeling, but she knew she was right.
She’d call him Matthew, after her dad. It was a good, strong name, but until she was sure it was a boy, she’d keep calling him Nugget.
Despite Kade’s reassurances this morning, she knew they were only getting married because he’d knocked her up.
Not to say that in a year they wouldn’t have ended up at the altar.
She wouldn’t be waking up to doubts on her wedding day if they’d waited and the relationship evolved naturally.
Would the marriage last like this, though?
They were so young. She was headstrong, stubborn, but so was Kade.
Her wedding dress mocked her from where it hung on her closet door.
A simple white dress that no more resembled a wedding dress than her stripping gear did.
It certainly wasn’t the wedding dress she’d dreamed of.
She’d had her wedding mapped out since she was five.
Big church ceremony, her dad walking her down the aisle, the dress causing everyone to ohh and ahh.
Not what she got, though.
Her hand rubbed her belly reassuringly. It would be fine.
It might not be everything her dreams were made of, but Kade was.
A smile tugged at her lips. He was kind, sweet, sexy as all get out.
He’d been so solicitous since he found out she was pregnant, daring her to lift anything more than five pounds.
He loved her. The idea was still so new, so surprising.
It warmed her from the inside out. Kade might only be marrying her because of the baby, but she didn’t doubt his word.
He’d never lied to her. If he said he loved her, then he did, and she wanted to laugh out loud, to express all the bubbly joy bathing her heart.
Angel knew five days into their relationship she loved him.
Girls always knew before the guy did, though.
They didn’t wrestle with the idea. They just understood they loved the big brute.
The flip side of that? Murphy’s law of relationships —women were always the last to know when things headed south.
She wasn’t going to worry about that; she was going to bask in the glow of the fact that Kade loved her.
Peter surprised them both last night, stating that Kade could move in. The rat trap he called an apartment wasn’t a place he was willing to let his sister live. He said they could stay until they could afford a nice place.
Angel frowned. She didn’t really know what Kade did for a living.
She’d asked a few times, but he’d skirted it, and Peter only laughed.
She was pretty sure he worked for the same guys Peter did.
Maybe she could talk Kade into finding a different job.
She was fairly certain whatever they did wasn’t legal.
Her job might not be the most prestigious, but at least it was honest.
Not that she’d have a job much longer, she grouched.
It was the only thing Kade asked of her.
He didn’t like her stripping. Never had.
Oh, he liked his own personal shows, but the thought of other men ogling her didn’t sit well with him.
She understood to a certain degree. She hated other women ogling him just as much, especially when she was right there. If looks could maim, she’d be lethal.
She should just give in gracefully to Kade’s request. Her figure would soon be expanding.
Men did not pay to see women sporting a baby bump.
Hers wasn’t showing yet, but her OBGYN assured her it would appear soon enough.
Most women didn’t even notice their slowly expanding abdomen until they woke up one day and saw it. Weird.
She jumped off the bed and went to the bathroom.
Pulling her shirt up, she examined her stomach.
It didn’t really look all that big. It wasn’t flat, but it wasn’t large, either.
The only thing she’d noticed was some of her jeans had gotten a little tighter over the last few weeks.
She could still fit in them; she just had to pop the buttons after she ate.
That was how it started, Dr. Mills had told her kindly.
A goofy grin settled on her face as she imagined the nugget. Babies were wrinkly when they were born. They’d always reminded her of old people. Her granny told her she wasn’t wrong. A cycle, she said. They went out of the world the same way they came in, all wrinkly.
How wrinkly would her nugget be? Would he have her green eyes or his daddy’s black eyes? Her red hair or his dark as night raven locks? God, she hoped if it was a boy he wouldn’t inherit her red hair. The poor kid would be teased unmercifully.
“Don’t you worry, Nugget. Mama will make sure no one messes with her baby. I’ll teach you to whale on them same as Uncle Peter taught me.”
The shiny glint in the mirror pulled her gaze down to the simple engagement ring Kade had presented her with. The diamond was so tiny—only a blip, really. She doubted it was real, but it had been the thought that counted. She didn’t need flashy or big.
“Your daddy is a good man, Nugget. I can’t wait for you to meet him. He’s going to love you as much as I do.”
Her breath caught when the words left her mouth.
She loved him. Already. How was that possible? She’d only found out about the baby less than a month ago, but in that time, something changed. She loved this tiny little nugget growing inside her.
The realization staggered Angel. She sat on the toilet seat, overcome not with panic so much as joy.
She loved her baby. It was her and Kade’s own little piece of heaven.
That was what her mom had always called kids.
A gift. Your own little piece of heaven on Earth.
She hadn’t even held the baby or seen a sonogram yet, but he was real.
She was always aware of him, conscious of everything she did, everything she ate.
She was already taking care of her nugget and keeping him safe.
Because she loved him.
Her hand, the engagement ring glinting against the harsh, yellow bathroom light, rested on her belly. Whether this marriage lasted or not, one truth remained.
The nugget.
As long as she had him, there would always be a reason to get up, to do better, to be better. For the nugget.
She didn’t matter. Kade didn’t matter. Only the nugget mattered. Keeping him happy and safe and surrounded by love was what mattered.
The nugget’s daddy was freaked out in a bad way, same as she had been when she’d seen those double lines on that stick. Sometimes she woke up in a cold sweat, afraid of the future, her hand clutching her stomach. They were both afraid. Of so many things.
But it would work out. It had to. For the nugget.
If only it had worked out. Angel sighed and snuggled deeper into the blanket, missing Kade’s warmth. She despised herself for being weak, for needing him. For loving him.
Things would be so much simpler if she didn’t love Kade. It was a truth she’d admitted as he’d held her during her tear-fest. Which only caused her to cry even harder. Despite all she’d lost, she loved him.
A crash downstairs made her shoot up in the bed.
What was that? Her eyes darted around the dark room.
Kade was downstairs. He’d probably dropped something or stumbled against a table, knocking a lamp off.
It wasn’t like her friendly neighborhood serial killer could get into the apartment.
Not with all the security measures they had in place.
Could he?
No, she assured herself. There was no way.
But he’d gotten into her apartment. He’d evaded police for months.
What if it was him? What if he’d hurt Kade and was on his way up here right now?
Shit. She needed to go see what was going on.
Sitting here freaking out wasn’t helping, but then again, the person who went to check out the strange noises in horror movies always died first.
This wasn’t a movie, however. She wasn’t some made-up character meant to do the stupid thing just to be murdered off for the sake of a scare. Getting up, she found her shoes then cracked open the door, listening. Silence. Surely, if Kade were down there, she’d hear him moving around.
Maybe it was the serial killer and he’d knocked Kade out or something.
Kade was a big guy; he could take care of himself.
She’d seen him and Peter in a bar fight one night against a few other guys.
Two against five. Kade was a brawler. He wasn’t up against an ordinary person, though.
He was up against a serial killer with serious skills. What if he’d caught Kade unawares?