Tainted Forever (Tainted Knights 5)

Kin, Natalie, and Layla stayed behind with Harris, and I heard a few laughs as the door shut behind me and the two grandfathers. They both seemed shell-shocked, an

d I herded them down the hall to the waiting room.

There wasn’t a free seat in the place, as all of Lucy’s family and friends had filtered in to await the birth of baby Hayat. It looked like a party was taking place in there, and I heard a few of them telling stories about when Lucy and Harris were younger and how hard it was to believe those two babies were having a baby.

Lana stood as soon as she saw Jesse and came over to usher him to a seat between her and Drake, who was holding their newborn son in his arms. Lana patted Jesse on the arm every few minutes, trying to comfort her brother-in-law, but he looked like he didn’t hear a word she or anyone else said to him.

Kassa and Gray were just walking through the door when I pulled a cup of weak-ass coffee from the vending machine. Seeing me, my sister came over to join me.

“How is she?”

I scratched my chin, the lack of sleep starting to make itself known. “She’s pushing right now. Hopefully it won’t be long now.”

Twenty minutes later, Kin walked into the room, and everyone seemed to hold their breath. Beaming, she announced, “She’s here!”

As everyone cheered, Kin went straight over to Jesse and hugged him. “Lucy says you can come back now. She’s all covered up, and she wants to introduce you to your granddaughter.” His throat began to work as her gaze went to Devlin. “You can go back too, Pop-Pop,” she told him with a wink.

If I hadn’t seen how fast the Demon moved to get out of the room, I never would have believed it was possible. He ran out the door, Devlin right behind him.

The entire room watched him with a mixture of amusement and loving concern. Devlin gave Kin a quick hug, thanked her for coming to tell him, and rushed after the other drummer.

Kin looked like she was about to drop, and I moved toward her as Lana and Emmie started throwing questions at her about the delivery. While they talked about Hayat’s weight and length and the mop of dark curls she had come into the world with, I slowly eased in beside Kin and then edged her away from the group.

“Are you hungry?” I asked, steering her toward the door.

“Starving,” she said with a groan, and I heard her stomach growling. “But more than anything, I need coffee.”

I hit the call button for the elevator. “Cafeteria or one of the fast-food places across the street?”

She pressed her lips together in thought before shaking her head. “Cafeteria. I don’t want to go too far. I know Lucy is going to be surrounded by family for the next few hours, but I’m itching to hold Hayat as soon as I get the chance.”

Her face glowed as she spoke about the baby, and I could almost picture her with our kids years down the road. Kin was going to make a great mom, and as soon as I fixed what I’d broken with us, I was going to give her as many babies as she wanted.

As we stepped into the cafeteria a few minutes later, her phone rang, and she pulled it from her back jeans pocket to see who was calling. I glanced at the screen over her shoulder, saw the name Derrick flash across the screen, and instantly went cold inside.

Who the fuck was Derrick?

Jealousy began to eat at me, but it calmed down somewhat when she declined the call and picked up a tray. “I’m glad it’s lunchtime. I don’t think I could stomach hospital eggs right now.”

I picked up a sandwich and added it to her tray as she picked up one for herself. I grabbed us Styrofoam cups and filled them with ice, and poured Diet Coke in one for her before getting myself a Dr. Pepper. Hopefully the soda would be enough of a caffeine kick for both of us because the coffee smelled burned, making Kin’s face scrunch up in disgust as she passed the carafes.

Before she was ready to check out, she grabbed a few desserts and two bags of chips for us. I paid for our quick meal, and she led the way to a table in the back. She was eating her sandwich before I even had time to sit down across from her.

“Harris ordered pizza last night, but Lu was so uncomfortable, we were more worried about trying to ease her pain than feeding ourselves.” She chewed quickly, swallowed, and then took another big bite before I could get my sandwich unwrapped. “I’m so glad this is over and that our goddaughter is here.”

I grinned, watching the excitement fill her tired eyes, brightening them even more. “Me too, babe.”

Her phone rang again. It was lying faceup on the table, and I immediately saw it was Derrick again. “Who the fuck is that?” I growled before I could stop myself, my jealousy churning in my stomach, making the sandwich taste like dust in my mouth.

She wiped her fingers, moving casually, like it was completely normal for her to get random calls from a guy I didn’t even know. Fuck, I wanted to smash her phone in. But first, I wanted to answer it and find out who the hell was calling my girlfriend.

“It’s Derrick,” she said as she declined the call again and picked up her sandwich once more. Like that should have been explanation enough.

It fucking wasn’t.

“And Derrick is?” I snarled.

“My soon-to-be stepuncle,” she answered calmly, as if I wasn’t about to rage out and destroy the entire goddam cafeteria.