Atonement (Angel's Halo MC 5)

For the next ten minutes, I stayed with her. When it seemed like she was finally done, I carried her back into her bedroom and tucked her under her covers. She curled onto her side, burying her face in one of the pillows.

“Feeling any better?”

She shrugged one shoulder, staying quiet as the tears once again flowed down her cheeks like twin rivers.

“I’m going to call Raven.” I picked up her phone since mine was still in Kelli’s room and started to hit my sister’s number.

“Don’t bother,” Quinn croaked in a voice that was painful from all the vomiting she had done.

“You’re sick, Quinnie. Maybe she can recommend something to help soothe your stomach.”

“I’m not sick,” she whispered, the tears flowing faster.

“Are you mental?” She was still deathly pale, her lips were dry and cracked, colorless. She looked like she was miserable and would need to bolt to the bathroom again at any time. “You have a stomach bug or something, honey. If Raven can’t help, then I’ll call Doc. He can stop by and check you over.”

She shook her head. “No. This isn’t a bug. I’ll be fine in a little while. It usually passes by noon.”

“Usually?” I parroted, my concern for her escalating. “You’ve been sick like this recently?”

Another shrug. “For about a week or so now.”

“For fuck’s sake, Quinnie. You have got to see Doc.” I was already dialing his number with her phone, but before I could hit connect, she reached out and took it from me. “You need medicine. And tests. It’s not normal for someone to be this sick for so long.” Fear for her was starting to choke me.

Christ, I had faced down bullets flying past my head with no fear. Had gone toe-to-toe with men twice my size, twice as mean, yet the thought of something happening to this female terrified me like nothing else. I couldn’t lose her. She was my anchor, the proof that there was actually still some good in the world.

“I’m not sick, Colt,” she snapped, growing agitated. “I know what’s wrong with me. Like I said, it will pass in a little while. Then I have to get ready for work.”

I scrubbed my hands over my face, exasperated with her. “If you aren’t sick, then what the hell is going on? People don’t just puke up their fucking guts like you just did, and then go about their day. That shit just ain’t normal.”

“Morning sickness isn’t a life or death kind of thing,” she muttered so low that I thought I had heard her wrong.

Morning sickness.

She was right; Raven’s morning sickness had been pretty bad. The first three months or so of her pregnancy with Max hadn’t been fun for her …

Morning sickness?

Every muscle in my body tensed. No. No way. She couldn’t have been. It wasn’t possible. She …

She had admitted she wasn’t a virgin any longer the night before. We hadn’t talked about it because I had been too busy dealing with Kelli. And then there had been Raider—

No. Fucking. Way.

“Are you telling me that you’re pregnant, Quinn?”

“Yes.” I saw her lips move, but her voice was so low I couldn’t actually hear her.

Her tears started flowing faster, but she didn’t turn away from me. Instead, she looked up at me with something close to defiance in her baby blues.

The reality of what she was saying hit me in the face like a hundred-pound weight. I sucked in a deep breath, blew it out. I scrubbed my hands over my face, ran my fingers through my hair. Tried to stay calm. I wasn’t going to kill anyone. It was too fucking early for that shit. And … Fuck. And if this was all because of my brother, I really needed to think about how I was going to deal with this.

I couldn’t kill him.

Even if I wanted to.

Fucking hell, I wanted to, though.

First, I had to take care of Quinn. She had just been ill. I wasn’t going to scream at her. I wouldn’t yell.