Obligation (Underground Kings 2)

“Tammy!” I call out when I see my lawyer—or, I guess, ex-lawyer—walking across the street.

Her head turns, she looks between Kai and me, and I see something in her eyes, but from the distance between us, I can’t make it out.

“Myla.” She smiles, schooling her face and walking towards us.

I look up at Kai to see if he noticed anything strange. His jaw is clenching, and the vein I have occasionally seen pop out of his neck when he’s mad is displayed above the collar of his white shirt.

“How are you, Myla?”

I swing my head to Tammy and smile, stepping away from Kai to embrace her. “Good. How are you?” I question, stepping back.

Her eyes go from me to Kai, and she swallows then smiles. “Really good. I’m seeing someone,” she says then looks up at Kai before bringing her eyes back to me.

“Sorry for being so rude. This is my husband, Kai. Kai, this is Tammy,” I say.

Tammy smiles, but Kai doesn’t say anything.

“So, you’re seeing someone? That’s nice.” I smile awkwardly and feel Kai move slightly behind me.

“Sorry, makamae, but we need to hurry,” Kai says.

I look up at him and nod before looking at Tammy once again. “Sorry. We have a doctor’s appointment today to find out what we’re having. He’s a little anxious.” I grin, setting a hand on my stomach.

You have to look close to see that I’m pregnant, but there is a roundness that wasn’t there before, and today, we just hit our fifteenth week, so we will finally know for sure what we are having. Though Kai swears that it’s a boy.

“You’re pregnant,” Tammy whispers, looking at Kai, me, and then my belly.

“That’s why you didn’t follow through with the divorce,” she says, and I feel myself turn red. Her hand covers her mouth. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

My gut clenches and my stomach is starting to feel sick. “We didn’t know at that time.” I shake my head, feeling like I need to make it clear that we had agreed to be together before we found out we were having a baby.

“I gotta go,” she says, and I watch her leave in a hurry.

I turn to face Kai and search his face for a moment before letting my eyes drop to the ground. “That’s your ex-girlfriend, isn’t it?” I whisper, feeling like a complete idiot. And a bitch—an idiotic bitch.

“She is,” he confirms, making me feel worse.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, watching as my tears fall to the concrete at my feet.

“You have nothing to be sorry about, Myla.” He tilts my head back to meet his eyes. “We were over long before you came into the picture.”

“She still loves you,” I tell him, but he shakes his head.

“She liked the idea of being with someone more than the actual part about having a relationship.”

“What?” I ask, feeling my brow crease.

“She is one of the only lawyers in town. She has an important job, and that was always more important to her than building a relationship with me. I accepted that, and I also accepted that she wasn’t my future. She’s a sweet, beautiful woman, but she is married to her practice.”

“You loved her.”

“No, makamae.” He runs his finger down the bridge of my nose. “I cared for her. She’s a good person, but I never loved her. Love is an obsession that, no matter how hard you try, you can’t fight. I love you.”

“I hope that she finds that,” I tell him.

His face goes soft and his fingers skim along the underside of my jaw. “I hope so too.”

He takes my hand again and leads me down the street to the doctor’s office. Once inside, we head straight to reception, where we’re given a form to fill out before being taken back to one of the exam rooms. As soon as I’m settled on the table, the doctor comes in with a smile on her face. She’s short, about five one, with jet-black hair that sits at the edge of her jaw, making her already striking Asian features stand out even more.

“Myla.” She pats my leg then looks at Kai and mutters, “Hi.”

Did I mention that she hates my husband? Okay, hate is a strong word; she strongly dislikes him. During my first visit, Kai freaked out when I started spotting after the internal exam. He threatened to have the clinic shut down. That did not go over well at all. I swear I thought the small woman was going to murder him. It took ten full minutes to get Kai calm enough to listen that I was okay and it was normal.

“How are you?” I ask her.

She smiles then looks at Kai and glares. “I’ve been good.”

“That’s good,” I mutter, squeezing Kai’s hand hard enough that I see his skin turn a shade lighter in color.

“Let me get stuff set up for the ultrasound,” she says quietly, walking over to the sink to wash her hands.

“Sounds great.” I put on my cheerful voice, and her face softens some, but then it goes hard when Kai moves and reminds her that he’s still in the room with us.

When she comes back, she feels around on my belly for a moment then squirts the clear gel onto my skin and begins moving the device that looks like a remote control around on my stomach. The swoosh, swoosh sound comes before the rhythm of a quick heartbeat fills the room.

Kai’s hand tightens around mine. This isn’t the first time he has heard our baby’s heartbeat, but even now, I can see the look of wonder in his expression as he searches the screen in front of the doctor.

I was scared when I realized I was late for my period, but the more I thought about it, and the more I thought about who the father of my child is, the more excited I became. I knew that Kai and I still have a lot to learn about each other, but I also knew there was no one else I would want to have a family with. I knew that Kai would always do everything within his power to protect me and any children we have together, and really, when you’re looking for someone to be the father of your child, I think that is the most important quality there is.

“I need you to sit up a little for me,” she says.

My back comes slightly off the table. Her hand presses around on my stomach before helping me lie back down.

“Let’s see if that helped.” She begins rolling the device around on my stomach again before looking up at me and smiling. “There you go.” She gets a strange smile o

n her face then looks at Kai. “You’re having a boy.”

“I know,” Kai tells her.

She narrows her eyes then looks at me like, What the hell are you doing with a jerk like him? All I can do is shrug, ‘cause the way I see how Kai comes across to everyone else is not at all how he is to me. I can count on one hand the amount of times he’s even slightly raised his voice at me.

“He’s been saying for weeks that it’s a boy.” I smile, looking up at him.

His eyes come to me and his face lowers as he presses a kiss to my lips before he stands to his full height again.

“Would you like some pictures to take home with you?” she questions, ignoring my last comment.

“Yes, please,” I whisper.

She begins clicking away on the screen as I try to see more. Once she’s done, she prints off a few of the pictures and hands them to me before making her way out of the room without even saying goodbye.

“I think we’re going to have to find a new doctor, or you’re going to have to find a way to apologize to her somehow so that she doesn’t make it uncomfortable for me to be here.”

“You’re uncomfortable?” he asks.

I look up at him and wonder if he’s oblivious to what just happened. “Yes, I’m uncomfortable! It’s awkward to be in the same room with you two.”

“I’ll apologize,” he promises, taking the towel I was using to clean the gel off my stomach away from me and cleaning me up.

“I didn’t even get to enjoy the moment,” I pout. When his eyes change slightly, I immediately regret saying anything.

“Do you want her to come back and to do it again?”

“No.” I shake my head frantically. “Just apologize to her.”

“Told you I would,” he mutters, but I can see it in his eyes that he doesn’t want to.

“Good.” I slip off the table and fix my pants, my mind finally focused on what the doctor said. “We’re having a boy,” I breathe, adjusting my clothes. “You’re really not surprised that we’re having a boy, are you?”

“No. I knew.” He kisses the top of my head and opens the door.

“How?” I ask, pausing in the hall to search his face.