Lyric wrapped his arms around me, anchoring me against his body. “Baby? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
The dizziness began to fade, and I blinked up at his worried face, his eyes swirling so quickly I couldn’t keep up with the color change. He touched unsteady fingers to my forehead. “You’re sweating. Are you sick?”
“I’m pregnant,” I whispered.
Chapter 13
Lyric
As pissed as she was at me only moments ago, I was certain she’d only blurted out that announcement to freak me out. See how far she could push me.
But I’d been half holding my breath waiting for her to tell me if she was or not ever since I’d woken up the morning after our amazing night together and found that unopened condom on the sitting area floor of my hotel room. Part of me had been hoping she was, that even if for some reason she didn’t want to be with me, we’d still be eternally connected through the baby we made that night.
Another part had been silently freaking out, I could admit that, but it was a hell of a lot smaller than my hope. Having spent all summer thinking about the moment she would confirm or deny we were going to be parents, the freak-out had only lasted a few weeks before the hope gave me ideas and I’d started making plans for if she was pregnant.
Finding her this sick, however, wasn’t something I planned or even imagined. She was so weak, I was the only thing holding her up. Her brow and upper lip were dotted with sweat, and her body trembled slightly from the effort of keeping her eyes open. She looked sick and miserable, and that scared the absolute hell out of me.
I’d been calm and cool all day in the face of her father and his MC. I’d almost won over the sheriff’s wife and dealt with a woman I didn’t even know was part of my childhood, who wanted me gone just as badly as everyone else. None of them had scared me, even though they’d tried to do just that.
But faced with the realization that something was wrong with my Mila?
It made me shake with terror.
I swept her up into my arms and headed for the back exit where I’d parked my SUV after lunch. I didn’t know where the hospital was, but in this small-ass town, it couldn’t be too hard to find.
“Wait,” Mila complained when she realized I was headed for my vehicle. “What are you doing?”
“Taking you to the emergency room. You’re obviously ill. Fuck, woman, you nearly passed out back there.”
I opened the front passenger door and placed her carefully in the seat before fastening her belt. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was so sick or if she was in shock, but she stared at me in bewilderment for a moment before finally snapping out of it enough to protest.
“I don’t need to go to the hospital. I just got dizzy. My blood pressure has been weird lately.” She blew a few strands of hair out of her face, but they fell right back, and I carefully tucked them behind her ear before it could frustrate her further. “My mom had the same issues when she was pregnant with my brother, sister, and me.”
“Don’t care. You scared the hell out of me just now, and I’m not going to calm down until we get you checked out.” I started to step back to close the door, but she grasped my arm with surprising strength.
“We can’t go to the hospital.” Her gray eyes had a wildness to them, and she glanced around quickly as if making sure no one could see us. “Doc will be there, and if he finds out why I’m there, he’s going to tell my dad. I haven’t told him yet.”
“You’ve been this sick, and your parents don’t know you’re pregnant?” I demanded loudly.
“Shh,” she hissed, glancing around frantically again. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“Your parents don’t know?” I repeated.
She released a tired exhale. “I haven’t told them. I haven’t been brave enough yet. But I know Mom’s guessed and is just waiting for me to confide in her.” She touched her free hand to her forehead, pressing the palm into the center and groaning. “These damn headaches are the worst. I’ve been so foggy lately. And clumsy. I can’t hold on to anything, it seems, and I’ve nearly fallen I don’t know how many times.” She dropped her hand and met my gaze, her eyes welling up with sudden tears. “I dropped my phone earlier and broke the screen, and then I sliced my thumb open on a shard I didn’t see sticking up.”
“Baby, don’t cry,” I begged. Taking her hand, I lifted it and kissed the injured thumb. “I’m here now. I’ll take care of you. You don’t have to worry about anything else ever again.”
“No!” she screamed, then pressed her lips together and shook her head adamantly. “You can’t be here. Lyric, my dad will kill you. Please, I’m begging you. Just go back to New York. Live your life and forget about me.”
“You think I would just pack up and abandon you and our baby?” I cupped the side of her face, stroking my thumb over her tears. “I have been losing my mind without you. The only thing that got me through this hellish summer was knowing I was going to be with you again soon.”
Right before my eyes, her emotions changed. The tears stopped with a flutter of her lashes, her entire beautiful face turning cold. “Or was it all the girls who were warming your bed every night that got you through?”
I pushed down my frustration, knowing she was probably just trying to get a reaction out of me. “You just said you’ve been foggy, and after seeing my sister’s hormones make her act insane, I’m going to ignore that question. How could you possibly think I would want anyone after having the perfection of you?”
“Wow,” she whispered, a humorless grin tilting her lips. “If I didn’t know any better, I would have actually believed you were sincere just now.”
“What’s that mean?”