Pure Temptation (Priceless)

“Captain, if you think I’m not—”

My heart drops when I see my brother standing there with a man holding a gun to his head. What the hell is going on? Are we being robbed? Where is Captain? A million questions race through my mind. Fear like I’ve never felt before rushes through me.

“Pink, run!” Carter shouts at me.

“I’ll shoot him if you move.” The man presses his gun harder into my brother's temple. I lift my hands, showing him I’m not going anywhere. The man's eyes rake up and down my body. I know I’ve never seen him before. He is tall and lanky with tattoos covering his entire neck. “And who do we have here?”

“I’m his sister.”

“Step in and shut the door,” he orders.

“Don’t do it, sis. Get the hell out of here. I’m already dead.” The man pulls the gun away from Carter’s head to aim it at me. My stomach drops when a loud bang goes off.

I close my eyes, praying that this isn’t the end for me or my brother. It’s crazy how many things rush through your mind in a matter of seconds.

Memories of my dad and Carter when we were younger laughing and playing. Kane telling me I’m his world as he makes love to me.

There are so many things I still need to tell him. Things that are yet to come in our lives together. It’s too soon to lose it all. I’ve only just found it. Another shot fires, and my knees give out. My eyes flutter open when an arm wraps around my waist, catching me.

“Addilyn.” Kane pulls me to him. Of course he caught me. He always does.

“I’m pregnant,” I whisper before my eyes fall closed again.

17

Kane

The hospital is flooded with people. As much as I want to tell everyone to go the fuck home and leave Addilyn and me alone, I want her to see everyone too. I think too often Addilyn doesn’t realize how many people love and care about her. I think the whole Ravens club has been here at some point to check in on her.

The plus side was at least I knew someone was always with her. I never would have been able to leave her side if someone I trusted wasn’t there. Even so, it still took everything I had to pull myself away from her bedside to go down to the station at one point and give a report. I went ahead and turned in my badge after they took my gun into evidence. I don’t need it anymore. I was already contemplating retirement, but with Addilyn’s admission that we are expecting a baby, I knew the time had come.

The picture of that motherfucker Flex Kilduff pointing a gun at Addilyn may never leave my mind. The fear I felt in that moment was unlike anything I could have ever imagined. I reacted without a second thought. I laid two shots into the asshole, killing him. Good riddance.

Addilyn sits in the hospital bed as people come and go. We ended up staying overnight. The doctor wanted to do a few tests. With her being so early in pregnancy, they’re being extra careful. I might have pushed the issue too. I needed to make sure that she and the baby were okay. It has been a traumatic few days for all of us.

Plus, it was giving us time to get her apartment cleared out too. By the time we check out of the hospital, everything will be moved out of her old place. She won’t have a reason to ever go back there. It hadn’t taken long to get it all handled with everyone showing up to do whatever they could for Addilyn.

I’ve never been so scared in my fucking life. When I’d gotten to the apartment I knew something was up when I saw the front door cracked open. I went around to the small deck area to creep my way into the house.

When I saw Addilyn open that front door, fear unlike any I’d ever felt before rushed through me. I knew what I had to do. Kilduff was as good as dead when he tried to turn that gun on her.

“You okay?” Ben asks, glancing into the hospital room.

I’m standing in the doorway as Ollie and Vee sit on the bed with Addilyn, talking about baby showers and weddings. They can plan a wedding all they want, but Addilyn and I are making it official tomorrow down at the courthouse. I’ve already put a baby in her belly, so the only thing left is a ring on her finger to make her officially mine. Forever.

It’s not sitting well with me that when it came to Addilyn, I didn’t have much pull when we’d shown up to the hospital because we weren’t married. If people didn’t know us in this town, I would have been shit out of luck as far as them sharing information with me. Every time they said I wasn’t family, it was like someone pushing a knife into my heart.