Ryder had kept a suitable distance; our meetings were still strained but we were making progress at least. He’d wanted to show Laura and me around the club in Brighton and I’d found no reason to say no. I had been staying with my sister, in the house she shared with Lucca, for the weekend. I hadn’t been able to find it in myself to come back down to the flat. I was trying to make an effort without jumping all in again. Slow but sure steps were in order for me, and thankfully, I was getting there.

The PI Lucca and Ryder used had proven much of the documents Alexa Carter had sent me, were fakes, forgeries. Many of the pictures, doctored, particularly in the date department. Not one single Polaroid of them together intimately was less than six years old. Yet, I was still sullen and suspicious, distrusting despite Ryder proving to me it was all a crock of shit. I was still grieving the loss of my mother, which was the hardest of it all. My smiles were less frequent, but I wasn’t bitchy enough to deny I was still smiling because of Ryder at times.

I hadn’t been interested in the club, why he’d bought it I didn’t understand entirely, but there we were, standing in a huge room, casting an eye over what Ryder had achieved in a few short weeks. The place looked almost ready to go. Mirrors and disco lights bounced colours through the dark space, showcasing a classy environment that eased my doubts. The club smelled new and fresh, didn’t look too upmarket but wasn’t a dive either. Its location meant the club would do well; thrive.

I was incredibly proud of his hard work and told him so, holding back the hug I would have normally bestowed upon him for a job well done. I was trying, I was. The hugs could come later.

“I could do with a cup of coffee,” Laura hollered from the back end of the room. “Point the way, Ryder.” Her jolly demeanour had cut the stifled atmosphere between myself and Ryder, I understood now why he’d extended the invite to us both.

Ryder placed his hand on the small of my back, a slight nudge indicating a move toward the bar. “There’s a great place down the street,” he said. “I can finish off a few things here if you ladies wanna go grab coffee. Although...” he shucked his thumb under my chin, “...decaf for you. Or tea.”

He kissed me sweetly and I made the effort to return it. “Tea.” I stated.

Laura and I left the club, making our way down the street to the café Ryder had mentioned. Once inside the coffee shop we found a seat with relative ease, after ordering more than hot drinks. Cake had always been my weakness but when I’d spied the plethora of frosted cupcakes behind the glass counter, I knew one wouldn’t be enough.

Within five minutes I was sipping on English Breakfast tea and licking toffee fudge icing from my fingers, all too aware I was beginning to balloon in weight. I didn’t care, it wasn’t all me - I was eating for two.

“Where’d you put it all?” Laura teased, tucking into an almond slice that looked like it would barely satisfy her hunger.

Patting my tummy, I grinned.

“When are you coming home? Don’t you think it’s been long enough?”

I cringed at her words, she was right. It had been long enough. I didn’t want to go back to the flat. It was too small, we couldn’t bring up a baby there. I didn’t want to get comfortable in a shoe box and then have to move again. I saw no point in returning, not to the flat anyway.

“Ryder’s house hunting.” I threw out the lame excuse.

“Oh, I know. Him and Lucca have been talking a lot with the guy down the street. He’s apparently selling.”

I knew that, Ryder had been keeping me up to date, had driven me past the house on an occasion or two, even parked outside and asked for my opinion. I loved the house in question, was secretly hoping the old man would make his mind up quick and sell.

“Yes, he is. He’s taking his time though.”

“He’d best not take too long.” Laura pointed to my belly that seemed to get bigger with each passing day. “Little sprog will be here before long.”

Laura had cried initially. When I’d grudgingly told her I was pregnant, she’d burst into tears and cried. I was anxious, didn’t know how to react to her. Was she joyful? Unhappy? She’d hugged me so close and whispered she was ecstatic in my ear, that there was nothing more in the world she wanted. There was, but we’d never voiced it. She was my sister, my best friend, and I’d finally settled against her as she had reassured me again. She had carried a spark of sadness, a longing in those gorgeous eyes of hers when she’d looked at me for a few weeks afterwards. I let her have it, she was entitled. The sorrow eventually dimmed to the point I no longer saw anything but pure joy when she looked at me, looked at my fast-growing tummy.

“Very true. Not too close for you, hhmm?”

Glaring at me, she took another bite of her slice, swallowing before she answered. “You’re for real?”

I nodded. “We’ve been in each other’s pockets for a long time, Laura. I don’t know if you want space, our lives are very different now.”

“You’re so stupid at times,” she huffed, placing her pastry fork on the dainty, flowered cake plate. “Dad’s house is too far away. You need to come home. Like now. We have room until that daft old man sells his gorgeous house to my equally gorgeous sister and her fella. Beaufort is home, Taylor. Ryder is home.”

I didn’t say anything, couldn’t over the lump that had appeared in my throat that wasn’t the result of shoving cake in my gob. My decision had been made, had been for a few days. Finishing my tea in silence, I signalled to the ladies’ room. The bugger loved dancing on my bladder at any opportunity.

“Again?”

“Ugh...yeah.” I moaned. The non-perks of being pregnant.

“You want anything else?”

“No. Just a pee, then I wanna go get Ryder and go home.”

Laura’s smile lit up the whole room. “There’s my girl.”

Winking, I shuffled from the booth and made my way to the back of the coffee shop, heading for the bathroom. My mood was far lighter than it had been that morning. I was ready to do this, to come home and begin my life proper with Ryder. The man I unequivocally loved, and I could see no other future past him. It was all I wanted, all I needed.

Good Lord, I didn’t think I was going to stop peeing. When I finally did, I heaved a satisfied sigh and quickly wiped then pulled up extremely unattractive granny knickers, then righted my clothes. Stepping from the cubicle, I washed and dried my hands, wanting to text Ryder before I left the bathroom.

I’d shoved my phone in my pocket, rarely went anywhere without it on my person as I was so paranoid of being caught out without a phone should anything happen, or the baby wanted to come early. I searched for Ryder’s contact, thinking of what I could say to make him smile. He didn’t do it enough these days.

Me: My granny pants need to be lying on your floor tonight.

I sent it, wondering if he could read between the lines. We’d not spent a night together since my mother’s funeral. Surely it was hint enough?

Ryder: Where exactly would that floor be?

Okay, so he was kinda getting...my phone was snatched from my hand and a heavy weight came around my neck from behind, another hand clamping over my mouth, a body pushing me forward into the counter.

“Cute...”

I didn’t need to see her to know who it was. Looking into the mirror, the reflection showed Alexa holding onto me, her grip fierce. Thank God she was around my neck and not my belly.

Her black fingernails dug into my cheek painfully. I refused to panic, refused to let this woman put me down on my knees again. I should have been scared, instead I sucked in as much breath through my nose as I could, sucked in all my courage, and fed off the fear. This would be finished by the time I left the bathroom, no two ways about it, this woman was not dictating our lives a second longer.

“You having fun playing happy families with my man, Taylor?”

The bitch was stupid, she had her hand over my mouth, how did she think I would answer her? I’d gripped the edge of the vanity, so I could keep my balance, I wanted to clock her one and go home but that wasn’t an option with her arm around my neck.

My phone chimed from wherever Alexa had thrown it, she glared at me through the mirror. Mumbling under her hand, she let go and slung her arm around my chest, keeping me close to her body, while her black nails dug into my jugular. The red half crescent welts on my cheek dripped blood.

“What do you want, Alexa?” I asked sweetly.

Although a stunning looking woman, her smile was callous and sent shivers down my back. “You have my life. What do you think I want?”

Couldn’t anyone just answer the question these days? The dramatics were getting old. Yanking me from the vanity sink, I found myself face first into the grimy tiled wall next to the cubicles. Alexa’s weight pinning me in place, my stomach mashed against the wall uncomfortably.

That was my cue to panic proper. I could survive the loss of Ryder, if she succeeded in taking him from me. I’d go on, but if she took away the life I carried, I knew I’d never survive it. Never. I wasn’t as strong as my sister, losing it would destroy me.

“Get the fuck off me.” I screamed at the top of my voice, hoping the sound would carry and alert someone outside. I knew Laura would come eventually, maybe even Ryder, but time was fast running out. What if they came too late? I had to deal with this crazy woman myself, which would have been no problem if I had only been worrying over my own safety.

My head was jerked back, it felt like my scalp was on fire from the pull, the pain intensifying as Alexa kept hold of a fistful. “You,” she sneered, “you, Taylor, have been a thorn in my side for far too long.”

I grunted, the pain in my head overwhelming. The motion had somewhat pulled me away from the wall, so my stomach had room, some relief. I hadn’t been watching where her other hand had gone and that was a mistake. The tip of something sharp, not fingernails, dug into my neck and I felt blood trickle down the side of my throat, down my clavicle.

“What are you doing?” I half whispered, trying to figure out my next move. “You think hurting me is going to make Ryder happy? Lord, you’re delusional, you know that?”

“With you out of the picture, he’s gonna turn to me for comfort. He always does. The amount of times he runs back to me, Taylor. Years,” she snickered into my ear, “years. While you left him, he was running to me. You hear that? ME!” Her words repeated, like she didn’t even know what she was saying anymore.

“You’re not even married!”

“Oh, I know, darling. Not yet anyway. Soon enough.”

“Who hit you?” I tried a different tactic, she’d told me Ryder had beat her. Perhaps if I played on that thread, I’d snatch an opportunity.

“You thought it was him, huh?”

The implement dug further into my flesh, making me wince at the pain. All the lurid photographs flooded my mind when I squeezed my eyes shut, gritting my teeth.

Ryder was mine. Standing there in that bathroom I knew with certainty he was. That I was his. There was no way Alexa Carter was taking him away from me. Not now, not ever. I twisted in her hold, having been scared for my life two seconds before, the alternative didn’t bear thinking on. I wanted a life with the man I loved, the baby growing inside me. No one was getting in my way.

“He doesn’t love you. Never did.” Dangerous words to say to a mad woman, didn’t make them any less true. I had to make it clear, make her see sense before she did something neither of us could take back. “You don’t need to do this. You can walk away, forget all of this.”

Shaking her head wildly, Alexa’s grip loosened, and I took my chance, planting my feet and pushing out my hip, knocking her off balance. It wasn’t much but was enough to dislodge her hold on me, so I could pirouette away from her.

I had nothing to defend myself with, nothing in the bathroom I could pick up and throw, so I thrust myself toward the door, grabbing at the handle to make my escape. It was as far as I got before I was tugged back by my hair and put on my arse.

Alexa towered over me in ridiculously high heels and manic eyes searing into me. “He’s mine!”

Her voice was eerily sedate, but her manner gave her away, she was close to snapping. I didn’t want to be around when that happened. I crabbed backwards, hitting the tiled wall, the floor damp and cold beneath me. “Walk away,” I pleaded one last time.

Shouting came from beyond the closed door, banging against the wood, the lock engaged preventing anyone from coming in and saving my day. Alexa’s moves became frantic as she looked from the door to me then launched herself on top of me. My head whipped back with the force of her body connecting with mine and black stars dazed me momentarily. My teeth sank down into my bottom lip, blood filling my mouth and spilling down my chin.

When her weight landed on my belly, I flipped, I saw red. I clawed at her, gouging her face and kicking out my legs in an effort to catapult her from me. Jabbing my fingers anywhere they would connect, I went mad, screaming, trying to buck her from me. She may have been bigger than me, but I had more to lose and it wasn’t going to be on the floor of some random ladies’ room.

Grabbing for her hair, I pulled with all my might, her head now to my side. Trying to roll to get her under me, the traction to do so elusive, her weight too much. I stared into her eyes, she stared back, bellowing the word bitch at me over and over. Blood dripped from the corner of her eye and I grinned in satisfaction it wouldn’t just be me with flesh wounds. The moment was short lived as she banged my head against the wall again, black seeping into the corners of my vision, a sick feeling washing over me.

Then the weight was gone and instead of staring into dark, malicious eyes, Ryder’s scared ones washed over me as he hauled me into his arms. I cried out at the sudden movement, my head throbbing.

“Baby...” he murmured, “...baby.”

My sigh of relief was immense. I collapsed into his strong arms when they wrapped around me, ignoring the raised voices over his back, concentrating on the love I felt for this man. My man. His breath puffing through my hair was a comfort which didn’t last long.

Ryder drew away from me. “I need to let go, just for a second. I’ll be right back, I promise.”

Without waiting for an answer, he clambered across the floor, away from me, toward the commotion happening in the middle of the small room. My sister was straddling Alexa, pinning the woman’s arms above her head and shouting into her face. The sight was ugly, Laura livid, a side I’d never seen from her before.

I watched as Ryder towed Laura from Alexa, hands under her armpits as he lifted her, then held her so she couldn’t continue to attack Alexa on the floor. If he’d let her go, I wouldn’t have been too upset, but I understood his actions, he was trying to make things less difficult for my sister and I, not his ex-girlfriend. His concern was not for Alexa, not with the way he eyeballed her below him with utter contempt.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he hissed at her.