“I took her bareback once. You had her in your bed for weeks. Condoms fail.” Hammer shrugged. “Yours. Mine. I don’t give a shit either way. The baby is ours, like Raine is.”
“Exactly. So let’s work this out. Did you know she’s worried you don’t love her anymore?”
“What?” He scowled. “If I had any way of falling out of love with Raine, I would have done it years ago.”
“Then reassure her. How else do you expect her to feel like the precious you call her?”
Hammer snatched up the bottle and guzzled another third of the booze. “Why hasn’t she said a word about this to me?”
“You’re never here, so how is she supposed to pour her heart out to you?” Liam rolled his eyes. “Instead, she blames herself for driving you away. And she cries herself to sleep at night. Why don’t you man the fuck up?”
Hammer looked stricken, as if Liam had punched him in the gut.
“Did I finally say enough to pull your head out of your ass?”
He hung his head. “Yeah.”
“Then listen to me. Raine is reeling now. Counseling has helped her cope, and her nightmares have eased, but she’s still struggling to accept that Bill killed her mother and sister. For years, she thought they’d abandoned her, and it almost destroyed her. Now you’ve all but left her, too.”
He grimaced in guilt. “Hasn’t finding their bodies brought her any closure?”
“Some. She still has no idea if her brother is dead or he simply walked out on her, so that’s eating at her.”
Hammer raked a hand through damp hair. “I was hoping Seth would have found River by now. It’s been months.”
“He was a Green Beret, trained for unconventional warfare. He can vanish with the wind.”
“I know,” Hammer growled. “But his disappearance makes me want to hit something.”
“How do you think Raine feels? She’s processing all this while she’s hormonal. I’ve done my best to keep her happy but…”
“Oh, giving her all those orgasms must be a real hardship for you.”
“Not in the least. You’re clearly bitter you’ve been missing out, but you’ve done nothing to change that.”
Hammer slammed the bottle on the counter, jaw clenched. He said nothing…but remorse tightened his face.
Liam lowered his voice. “When was the last time you made love to Raine?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t file it in my day planner.”
“It was more than two weeks ago.”
“You’re keeping track?” Hammer raised a brow.
“We sleep in the same bed, so I know when you climb on top of her and fuck her like you haven’t had her in decades.”
“I want her and I’m a Dominant. Have you looked in the mirror lately? You’re as perverted as I am.”
“But I don’t roll away from her two seconds after my orgasm and flee as if my ass is on fire.” Liam sneered at Macen. “You’re bloody using her as impersonally as your hand.”
“I’m done with this little chat. Really. Fuck you.” Hammer turned away.
Liam grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “You haven’t made love properly to Raine since that morning, which was also the last time you slowed down enough so we could take her together.”
Hammer shook off his grip. “What the hell do you want from me?”
“For you to park your ass and tell me what’s troubling you.” He sat at the kitchen table. “I’m your best friend. You can tell me anything.” Hammer hesitated, and Liam lost his temper. “We haven’t been through months of hell for you to fuck this up. Sit and talk. Or I can’t guarantee she’ll stay.”
Sucking in an incredulous breath, Hammer sank into the nearest chair. “Are you serious? You think she’d leave?” He blinked. “Holy shit. Why would she run away without talking to me? She has to know I love her more than anything. More than my own life.”
“How do you expect her to know that?” Liam challenged. “By reading your mind? We sent you that picture over three hours ago. She tried to tell you she was thinking of you. She wanted to please you. But you couldn’t fucking be bothered.” He shook his head. “I fear it was the last straw.”
Hammer hung his head in his hands. “I’m just…out of sorts. I needed some time at the gym to work off stress.”
“So you took your frustration out on a Stairmaster? She would have been more than happy to let you ease some of that between her thighs. And you could have given her some orgasms, too.”
Hunger flared in Hammer’s eyes before he doused it. “I would have been too rough on her.”
Is that what he thought? “You’re bloody clueless about pregnant women and their hormones. She’s so insatiable now she might even scare you a bit.”
Macen looked somewhere between stunned and confused. “Really?”
“Absolutely.” Liam paused. “She’s fourteen weeks pregnant, so her body is changing. She’s worried you’ve noticed and you don’t find her attractive anymore.”