“Lexi.”
My eyes wander down to her stomach where her hand is sitting protectively. I must have heard her right… this can’t—I don’t—
“I bet they sweat terribly… can you—” She cuts herself off and my eyes lift back up to hers, misting over and making it so that she’s blurry.
“You’re pregnant?” I ask, just to be sure that I have this right.
“Yes.” She pauses for a beat. “It’s yours.”
I never doubted that one bit, but when I think back to the last time we slept together, there’s no way that she could be pregnant from that because it was a week ago… but before that… the night at the community center...
I stand stock still, watching her as my mind pieces it all together. I never wanted to have kids, it was never something that I allowed myself to even imagine. But as I stand here now and stare at the woman that I love, the woman who came into my life and turned my whole world upside down; I know that there isn’t any other person that I would want to be the mother to my child.
Peace washes over me as I realize that this is it; this is what the feeling is like to love someone so completely. My eyes snap back down to her stomach again and back up to her eyes as I watch a tear streak down her swollen cheek.
“I didn’t mean to tell you like that,” she chokes out. “I wanted to lead you into it, but… well…” She smiles. “You know what I’m like.”
I snort, stepping forward before a thought occurs to me. “Is the baby… is it… okay?” She nods and then I’m taking another step and clasping the sides of her face before leaning down. “I love you, Lex. I love you more than anything.”
Her chest deflates at the feel of my hands on her. “I love you, too.”
“Her uncle was the DA He didn’t have grounds to try her as an adult, but from what we can gather, he had all of the judges in his pocket. This guy is dirty… Dirtier than dirt.”
I clench my jaw at what Charlie is saying. The warehouse is packed with everyone who cares about Lexi and trying to help her get out of the prison that she’s been transferred to.
Pop fought hard to get her into a different facility, and as the closest one is four hours away, it means that she’s not as close as she was, but she’s safer there. It’s been four days since she was transferred, and ten since she was admitted to the hospital. For five days, I had sat by her bedside, not moving at all. We talked… about everything. I told her every single thing about my past, about what I do for work, leaving nothing unsaid. All the while she told me all about her. I know her inside out now, the good, the bad, and the ugly; and I love her even more for it.
We’re all flawed, no one is perfect, but it’s those imperfections that make you love harder.
“So we need to get her off on the original
charge: that’s the best way to do this,” Pop says from behind me.
Charlie’s whole team is here along with me, Luke, Ty, Kay, Kitty, Dean, West, Seb, Pop, Dad, and even Livvy. There isn’t a person here who doesn’t want to help Lexi.
“How do we do that?” Dad asks.
“We expose him,” Ty answers, standing up. “That way any case he dealt with gets brought into question.” He widens his stance. “And as soon as that happens, we jump on it and bring Lexi’s case forward.” He stares at me for a beat before flicking his gaze to Pop. “Have everything ready to go.” Pop nods his head at him.
I pull my laptop open, already starting to line up all of my contacts.
“Evan—”
“Already on it,” I say, cutting him off.
“Good. Charlie, do you have enough evidence to bring him down?”
I hear his grunt before he answers. “No… we only have enough to raise suspicion.”
An atmosphere blankets the warehouse at his words. We need to find something solid—even with the connections that we all have, it won’t mean anything unless we can stop him altogether. I type away, already making a list of connections before something pings, an alert coming up on the screen.
I click on it, turning up the audio as I raise my hand to silence everyone. “Shhh.”
All murmuring comes to a stop as I strain to hear what’s being said on the line that I tapped as soon as we figured out what her uncle was doing. I don’t care that it’s illegal, I’ll do whatever the hell I can to help my girl.
“You said this would be easy,” her uncle sneers over the line. “You asked me to arrange this and I did. Alexis was put back in prison and even the hospital. I want my payment.”
“Tsk tsk.” My back straightens at the sound of Darrell’s voice and my head snaps up. My eyes flash as they meet Seb’s and then Ty’s. “You may have distracted them for a little while, but what about when they get her out? Evan will be onto me again.”