Matt

 

Going to the hospital was a risky idea that was likely to get me arrested. The cops were still looking for me, confirmed by Brett and several others. If they got ahold of me, I could fight my way through the legal bullshit, but if they found anything else—like the drugs we sometimes sold—they could potentially put me away for a long time.

 

Which I definitely didn’t want to happen, but I didn’t have a lot of options. Annie was in some serious pain and I couldn’t help but notice when I picked her up that there was a smear of red between her legs. Blood. She was bleeding and I knew it wasn’t her damn period. There was a very real possibility there was something wrong with the baby—and if there wasn’t, there was just something wrong with Annie.

 

Either way, I couldn’t just wait it out. I had to get her help.

 

Several of my guys offered to take her to the hospital for me, but with the trouble with Mathis, I didn’t trust anyone enough to leave Annie alone with them. Not even my lieutenants.

 

Which isn’t fair, I thought as I carried Annie into the hospital. Buck and William both already adored her.

 

But that didn’t matter when I was hurrying to the hospital. All I could think was I had to get her here and I had to be here when they figured out what was going on. I got her checked in, but realized when I was filling out her paperwork that I only knew her name and her age. And only her first name at that.

 

Shit, I don’t know anything, I realized. I made a promise that when she got out, I’d learn everything there was to know about her.

 

I had no idea that I’d be getting a crash course in her life before she left.

 

It was several hours before I found out anything about Annie. More than that, it took about forty-five minutes to convince them to even let me see her. They said family only, and it wasn’t until I explained that I was the father of the baby that they finally caved and let me see her.

 

Gently, I pushed open the door to her room, aware that she might be sleeping. They said she was resting, but if she were up, she could have visitors. Just not too many and not for too long.

 

I took a full step into the room when I saw that she was sitting up and awake, if a little pale. Her head turned at the sound of the door and her face broke into a tentative smile when she saw me. “Matt. I wasn’t sure you’d be here,” she said softly.

 

I frowned at her, coming to sit in the chair beside her bed. “Of course I’m here. Where else could I be? You had us all worried.”

 

Her smile brightened a little as her hands went to cover her stomach. “They said the baby’s going to be okay. I just have to be more careful. Less stress, no more coffee—” she made a face, clearly not happy with that one, “—and vitamins. I got a long lecture for not taking any yet.”

 

I nodded. “That was stupid. I should have gotten you some as soon as you showed up.”

 

She was silent for a moment, considering me. Her lower lip was caught between her teeth as she worried at it, thinking something over quietly. Finally, she said, “Why, though? We weren’t planning on keeping it.” She said it softly, hesitantly, but the words made my chest hurt just the same.

 

I realized then that I had been hoping that she would keep it. And not just that, but that she’d keep it and stay with me. Maybe that was incredibly stupid to hope for. We just didn’t know each other very well and she was so young, but I couldn’t deny that I felt a strong, fierce connection to her. Like we were just meant to come together somehow. The sex was great, but I was finding that she was more than that to me. There was something about her that brought out the best in me and I liked that.

 

I wanted more of that.

 

Taking a deep breath, I asked her carefully, “What if we changed that plan?”

 

I heard her breath catch. “What are you saying?”

 

I cleared my throat and tried again. “I’m saying, Annie, that maybe we should plan on keeping the baby. Maybe we need to get you those vitamins and schedule doctor’s appointments and make sure you’re taking care of yourself. Maybe we should start thinking of names.”

 

Her eyes had grown wide and her lips were just barely parted. But she didn’t look horrified. And she didn’t look terrified, though I could see she was at least a little bit scared. But not of me. Her hand reached for mine and she said, “Are you sure that’s something you want? If I go through with this, I can’t walk away. You can.”

 

Clutching her hand tightly, I brought it to my chest, placing it just over my heart. “I would never walk away. Not from you, not from the baby. If we do this, I’m in it for the long haul.”

 

It took a while, but when her smile came it was so happy I thought it made the whole room somehow brighter. “You really mean that?”

 

I nodded, feeling my heart hammering wildly in my chest. I can’t believe we’re going to do this, I thought, but it wasn’t filled with apprehension. The thought was filled with wonder. “I do. I absolutely do. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time, Annie. I don’t want to lose that. What do you say?”

 

Her smile, so bright and filled with excitement, remained on her face as she nodded eagerly. “Yes. Let’s do this. We can make it work.”

 

I leaned forward and kissed her, still not quite sure that I could believe this all had happened. Was this real? We kissed for long moments, my tongue sliding along hers, one hand wrapped in her blonde hair while the other continued to clutch her hand over my heart. I felt happy and excited and nervous all at once.

 

Is this what it’s like to find out you’re going to be a father? I wondered.

 

We finally broke apart only when the nurse came into the room. She gave us a glance, a knowing smile on her face, then went to her business. She was filling out a chart as she asked, “Do you need anything, Miss Louis?”

 

I froze.

 

Louis?

 

For a second, it didn’t quite click. There was a moment where I heard her name in a far-off kind of way, like it was in a foreign language being shouted across a river towards me, the water catching and muffling the sound. But slowly, my brain processed it, and I looked over at the beautiful young woman lying in bed.

 

Her expression looked guilty and worried.

 

Louis.

 

My eyes moved over her long blonde hair, her blue eyes. She was nineteen. In my head, I did the quick match. Thirteen, maybe fourteen, I thought, picturing a cute little girl with pudgy cheeks and braces. I’d seen her once at the wedding, walking down the aisle with a bouquet of flowers right before my mother. We hadn’t said a word to each other, and over time, that didn’t change. Later, I saw her only in pictures. My mother had said she liked the girl, though their relationship was strained.

 

What was her name? I found myself wondering as Louis bounced around in my head.

 

Annabelle. Annabelle Louis. She was six or seven years younger than I was, Mayor Louis’s daughter from his first marriage. I was my mother’s son from her first marriage. Which meant the girl lying in that bed in front of me, whose mouth I kissed and whose pussy I devoured, who was carrying my child was my stepsister.

 

“No,” I said, shaking my head a little. “It’s not possible.”

 

But Annie bit her lower lip, tears in her eyes, and nodded her head. “Yes, I know. I should have told you I’m the mayor’s daughter, but I was so scared that you’d kick me out! That you wouldn’t want me anymore and—”

 

I held up a hand to stop her tirade, standing and putting just a little bit of space between us. “Do you know who I am?” I asked carefully.

 

She blinked at me. “I only just found out at the cookout tonight. I had no idea you were the leader of the Reaper’s Thorns. I thought you were just a member.”

 

I shook my head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, do you know who I am?”

 

Before she could answer, the door opened again. The nurse looked up in surprise as a good-looking older man with graying hair and a decent build for someone in a suit marched into the room. Behind him, another woman followed. She was wearing a suit and had her hair up in a bun. She looked frazzled. I recognized them both instantly.

 

The mayor and his secretary.

 

“You!” he bellowed angrily, pointing a shaking finger at me. “What the hell are you doing here? What have you done to my daughter?”

 

“Daddy…” Annie said tearfully, looking strained and paler than she had a second ago.

 

The baby, I thought suddenly, remembering how she was supposed to avoid stress. Which she was definitely not doing right now. I wasn’t sure how to cut back on the stress though, because he was blocking my escape and I didn’t want to leave her anyway, but this was going to get ugly.

 

“Sir, I—” I began, trying to smooth this over and proceed rationally.

 

“Don’t you speak to me!” Mayor Louis roared. “Marrying your mother does not make you my son, you heathen savage!”

 

I saw instantly when recognition washed over Annie. Her eyes went wide and she turned to look at me. I heard her soft voice, small and a little scared, say, “Mateo?”

 

I clenched my eyes shut and when I opened them again, it was just in time to see Mayor Louis throwing a heavy fist at my face. I caught it in the jaw, the force sending me staggering back slightly. The man could throw a punch, I would give him that, though it wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d seen it coming.

 

“Daddy! Stop!” Annie screamed, throwing back the covers to get up.

 

I went to stop her. “Annie, don’t get up. Think of the baby.”

 

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew they were the exact wrong thing to say. Everything in the room seemed to freeze for just a breath and then I saw Mayor Louis pale. He doesn’t know about the baby, I thought, then corrected, Or, at least, he didn’t until I opened my big mouth.

 

“Baby?” he repeated, sounding startled. “What baby? Oh god, Annie, honey. What did you do? Are you pregnant?” He rounded on the nurse who still lingered in the room. “I don’t want you speaking of this to anyone, do you understand?”

 

“Dad—” Annie tried, but he wasn’t listening.

 

“Doctor patient confidentiality, remember? If you breathe a word of this, I’ll have you sued for everything you’re worth.” Not waiting for her to say anything in response, he kept turning so he was facing his secretary. “I want damage control. She was missing because she got lost during a hiking trip or something. She couldn’t find her car. Rescuers finally found her and that’s why she’s in the hospital. Recovering. She’ll continue to recover over the weekend at a private spa where she doesn’t want to be disturbed. She needs her rest. Schedule the abortion there.”

 

All the while the secretary was jotting down fast notes, nodding and muttering “yes, sir” as was her job, but all I heard was the very last bit.

 

Schedule the abortion there.

 

I looked over at Annie, my eyes wide. She met my gaze, her own huge, and she shook her head. Finally, she looked really terrified. Finding out that we were stepsiblings had thrown us both off. Her father coming to the hospital hadn’t helped. But the thought that she was going to have to get an abortion was the thing that, in the end, truly scared her.

 

Turning to face him, I held my ground. “She’s not getting an abortion.”