Play With Fire (The Men of Fire 1)

Amelia pulls back to look me in the eyes. “It’s okay,” she says. “Just promise me, the next time her place floods, she’ll be staying in a hotel.”

“Trust me, I’m way ahead of you on that one.”

And just like that, with my woman in my arms, I feel like I can handle whatever comes our way. As long as I have her, I know it’s all going to be alright.

With that, I pick us both up off the floor and lead her down to her bedroom to truly make it up to her for all the shit I’ve put her through this past week, and an hour later, I can confidently say that’s exactly what I did … twice.CHAPTER 18BULLWhat a fucking shit day.

It’s Thursday night, and while the past five days since clearing the air with Amelia have been incredible, today has really sucked.

Amelia had come with me to the doctor’s appointment with Jessa as a way to send a message that no matter what, from now on, we’re solid. Jessa instantly hated it, and honestly, I couldn’t give a fuck. Amelia is my girl, and I have absolutely no intention of trying to cater to Jessa’s delusions just because she’s carrying my child. In fact, now’s the time to prove to Jessa that she doesn’t stand a chance and that she needs to refrain from attempting to drive a wedge between us.

Everything at the doctor’s appointment was fine, apart from Jessa throwing a tantrum and demanding that Amelia wait outside. There really wasn’t anything I could do about it as Jessa’s the patient, and it’s her body. Truth be told, I think Amelia was relieved that she didn’t have to be in a confined space with her.

The doctor kept it quick. We looked at an ultrasound, made sure the baby was doing alright, and I even got to hear the little guy’s heartbeat. It was kind of incredible, but I’ve tried not to allow it to have an effect on me. After all, the main purpose of the appointment was to take the paternity test.

Which brings me to today. The results came in and wiped any doubt from my mind, meaning my afternoon has been a flood of ‘I told you so’ texts from Jessa.

It’s my baby.

My emotions have been a fucking mess since the second I looked over the results. Panicked. Fearful. Nervous. Excitement. Regret.

Every emotion under the sun ran through me. One part of me is excited about this new step in my life, but the other part has me terrified that I’m not ready for this. I know I love Amelia’s girls with everything that I have, but will I love this child just as much knowing that it’s also Jessa’s?

How could I be such a goddamn fool to attach myself to Jessa for the rest of my life like that? I can just see it now; she’s going to make mine and Amelia’s lives a living hell, but as long as I have Amelia by my side, we can make it through anything.

Amelia has been my rock over this past week. She’s officially my woman, and I hate that I’ve dumped all this bullshit on her like that, but I’m one lucky bastard that she was able to see through all of that and forgive me.

Something tells me Amelia is going to make a great addition to my child’s life. I don’t exactly know how all of that is going to work. It’s not like I expect her to act as a mother figure for this baby or have anything to do with it for that matter, but I know she’s going to love him or her just as much as I do, purely because it’s my child.

Amelia is just that kind of person. She sees through all the bullshit. She doesn’t care what kind of person this child’s mother is as long as this baby is shown kindness and love, she’s happy.

My gut is telling me that Jessa is going to make it really difficult, though. We’ve got a life’s worth of fighting ahead of us, but it’s nothing new for Amelia. She already has to put up with that bullshit from Bryce, so by the time this baby shows his or her face in another seven and a half months, Amelia would be able to show me the ropes.

The boys and I just got off shift and have spent the last hour at the Black Widows bar that my stepdad had built with his MC across from Zoey’s store. The boys are here to have a good time and relax, whereas my motto for the night is more about drowning my sorrows and trying to forget that I managed to knock up a crazy chick.

I find the bottom of my beer and promptly order myself and the boys another round. On top of finding out that I’m Jessa’s baby daddy, it was also a shitty shift. There were three major call-outs; a three-car pile-up on the highway, a kitchen fire in a residential home, and a bush fire started by a bunch of teenagers fucking around.