Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Julian brushed his thumb over my cheek. “You will always be our priority, baby. Stop doubting it and learn to settle into that spot in our lives. My goddess, his fighter. Don’t ever forget that.”
Axel hooked his index finger under my chin, turning my eyes to his dark ones. “What colors do you bleed, sweet girl?”
A small smile tilted my lips. “Brown and blue.”
He smiled. “Remember that. You bleed us. You keep trying to cut me out, and you’ll only feel half alive, sweet girl.”
I nodded. He leaned down to kiss me, but we were interrupted when the doorbell rang.
“What the fuck?” Julian asked. Axel tightened his hands on my hips as Julian walked to the front door. He flung it open, only to reveal Vincent standing outside, snowflakes falling around him. His cheeks were pale, his eyes bloodshot. “What the fuck are you doing here?” Julian demanded.
Vincent burst into tears. “She fucking left me,” he cried.
My eyes widened in shock. “Fuck,” Julian swore.
46
Julian led Vincent inside. I leaned up and pressed a kiss to Axel’s cheek. “I’ll go make a pot of coffee. He looks pretty drunk. God only knows how he made it here alive.” I nodded my head in the direction where Julian was leading Vincent over to the couch. “He needs you guys.”
Axel sighed before he pressed a kiss to my forehead and walked over to the couch where Vincent plopped down at. I rushed into the kitchen, listening to the guys as I put together a pot of coffee.
“What’s going on, Vince?” Julian demanded.
“I walked in on Desiree getting fucked by another man—on our fucking bed,” Vincent drunkenly slurred.
Rage flashed hot through my veins for the girl that had once been as close to a girl best friend as I could get. “And you came here why?” Axel asked, not sounding compassionate at all, which surprised me. Axel wasn’t one to hold onto a grudge.
“She was pregnant. I was hoping I could get her to stay. We even did a DNA test to confirm it was my baby, but she aborted it two days ago—a day after we got the results back.” He drew in a shaky breath. “Shit fucking hurts. Everything fucking hurts.”
Was it wrong of me to not feel all that bad that he got cheated on, that he lost his baby? Even though I had told Axel to be there for him, I still couldn’t bring myself to feel all that bad for him.
In fact, a part of me was angry he had the audacity to come here for someone to console him.
Shaking my head, I quickly poured him a cup of coffee and left it black with no cream or sugar, remembering that he had always preferred it that way after a drunken night of partying.
I walked into the living room and set the coffee in his hands. His eyes zeroed in my stomach. “Woah,” he breathed. “You’re pregnant.”
I nodded once, resting my hand on my belly. I took a seat on the coffee table. “Yeah,” I told him shortly.
“Is it . . .”
“Julian’s or Axel’s?” I snapped, suddenly aggravated. “It’s Julian’s. And, unlike you, I was able to know whose baby it was without a fucking DNA test,” I retorted. He flinched. I knew it was a low blow, but I was suddenly so angry with him. “Maybe you should have been more concerned with your slut of a fiancée than me being with two men.”
“Woah, baby girl,” Julian said. He quickly grabbed me by my hips and settled me on his lap on the couch. “Easy. Sheathe the claws, baby.”
Axel rolled his lips into his mouth, but he shot me a wink before he turned his attention back to Vincent. Vincent was staring at the ground, not able to look at any of us. Julian rubbed my belly with one hand and linked his fingers with mine in the other, keeping me calm and collected so I wouldn’t randomly explode again.
“How did you get here?” Axel asked him. “And how the fuck did you know where we lived?”
“This was the only house I remember Julian looking at when he was looking to buy up here, so I took a wild guess.” He blew out a harsh breath. “As for getting here, I drove. Didn’t get hammered until I went to a bar because I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing anymore. So, I came here when I was tired of drinking.”
“And put innocent lives in danger because of your recklessness,” I snapped at him.
“Easy.” Julian lightly played with my fingers and rubbed my belly.
“Finally got some fight in you, huh?” Vincent asked me.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m pissed with you,” I snapped. He flinched. “After everything you said to me and about me, you expected me to just welcome you with open arms?” I asked him incredulously. “You really thought that was how this was going to work? I don’t feel bad for you, Vincent. You shit on four years of friendship. You protected me for almost four whole damn years for no fucking reason. You saw me trying to be happy, be content, grow out of my fucking pain and misery, and you shit all over that. You couldn’t even try to fake being happy for me. So, yeah, I have some fight in me, and I’m not sorry that Desiree cheated on you. You probably deserved it.” He flinched again. “And as for the baby, I’m only sorry for the child because it got stuck with a careless, selfish mother who never gave it a chance to grow and live, and because if it had been born, it would have had a shitty, careless, selfish father to rely on.”