Chapter Forty-Five
Corey
A little over two weeks later
Corey loved the way her engagement ring caught the light when she tilted her hand back and forth. The nearly two-carat pear-shaped bezel-set diamond was a dream come true. Dominic’s proposal hadn’t necessarily been a shock, but it had been insanely romantic. He’d taken her out to the baseball field one evening’ the whole varsity team was there along with her friend Molly and all the other coaches. They had played a laid-back version of home run derby, adults versus players. Toward the end of the game Dom had convinced her to pitch for them. She went up on the pitching mound and Dom threw her a little black velvet box instead of a ball. When she had looked up to question him, she’d found him in front of her, down on one knee.
“I knew that you were mine from the first moment I met you. The universe brought me my forever when I was least expecting it. You are kind, funny, compassionate, sarcastic, tough, sexy, stubborn… You are everything and I am the luckiest man in this whole damn world. You know that in my eyes we are already bonded. Already entwined so tightly that I can’t tell where I stop and you start. But I would do just about anything to see that gorgeous smile on your face. What my girl wants, my girl gets. So. Will you marry me, baby?”
She could barely get out “yes!” through her tears. Now, she and Dominic had been engaged for exactly one week. And she was already keeping secrets from him. She had known days ago that she was most likely pregnant. Not surprising considering all that claiming sex they’d had when they first got together. She had a doctor’s appointment in three days to get on birth control. She called and canceled it this afternoon. She hadn’t told Dom yet, because she wanted to be sure. The pregnancy test she was holding confirmed her suspicions. No matter which way she tilted or angled the stick, the second pink line stayed visible. She was going to have a baby. She and Dominic, her amazing shifter of a fiancé, were going to have a baby.
Corey had been doing deep breathing exercises all day to keep the anxiety at bay. Dominic hadn’t met her parents; he hadn’t asked her father for her hand in marriage. What would her family say? Asking permission to marry someone’s daughter was a big deal where she was from, and her dad wouldn’t take lightly that not only had Dom not asked, he’d also knocked her up before they could make it down the aisle. She took yet another deep calming breath and smiled despite her fears. Dom was going to be thrilled about the baby. The engagement and wedding ceremony were more for her benefit, and she was okay with that. In his eyes, they were already married.
Well, wolf married.
Corey heard the front door open and she couldn’t stop herself from running into the living room, positive test in hand. “Dom. Oh my god, babe, guess—”
“Hey, Ms. Cooper, sorry, it’s just me.” Riley walked past her and into her kitchen like he owned the place. He was here all the time. Since the attack on them a couple weeks ago, he’d basically been her shadow. “Coach Hardy and Coach Byrne had to stay late at practice because one of the sophomores dislocated his shoulder.” He took two bottles of water out of the fridge, holding one up to her. “Thirsty?”
Corey smiled as she grabbed the water and drank a few sips down. For some reason Riley had also been the water warden lately, making a big deal out of all of them staying hydrated. He’d even calculated how much water everyone should consume in one day and kept running tabs. He gave her a gold star sticker the first day she made her goal. She’d asked if she could trade it for a candy bar, but he’d said no. “Is he going to be okay? The sophomore? Should they take him to the hospital?” She put the lid back on, ignoring Riley’s frown when she sat her water to the side. “And I’ve told you a million times, you don’t have to call me Ms. Cooper when we are here at home. Just Corey.”
Riley was checking his cell phone. He was always on that dang thing, his thumbs flying faster than her eyes could move. “Yeah, he’ll be fine. They are popping it back into place themselves. It just takes two, one to pop and one to hold him down.” He finally pulled himself from the device in his hand, focusing all his attention on her for the first time.
Right about the moment Corey became aware that she was still holding a stick saturated in her urine. She looked down at it and then back up at Riley. “I, uh, I’m—”
His eyes got wide. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Do you think it’s a pregnancy test?”
“Yes.”
She nodded once. “Then yes.”
“Oh thank fuck.” He clapped his hands once and then did this little fist pump motion into the air.
“Don’t say fuck.”
He ignored her reprimand completely. “I am so glad you finally took a test. I have been holding this in for, like, two weeks now. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve wanted to shout, you’re pregnant? And I swear Coach Hardy has almost let it slip like, every day. Damn, took you long enough.” The look of relief on his face slipped as she took a menacing step closer to him.
“What’s that now?” Corey narrowed her gaze. “You knew?”
“Well, yeah. I’ve known since the night Bull attacked us. No, wait, actually, I figured it out the next morning. So did Baze, I mean Coach Carter. Then the next day, Coach Hardy figured it out, after I had to all but spell it out for him.” He rolled his eyes like Dom was such a moron for not being able to know immediately like he did. “And then Coach Hardy told Coach Smith and Coach Byrne. Anyways, we have been waiting for you to figure it out for what seems like ever. So glad all the secrets are over. What’s for dinner?” Riley opened the fridge again, searching for leftovers.
She cocked her head to one side, seconds away from losing her calm pregnancy glow. “You’re telling me that all of you, whom I see literally all day every day, knew I was pregnant weeks ago and never told me?”
“I wanted to tell you the minute my—what do you call them?—‘supernatural werewolf powers’ sensed it. But Baze, I mean Coach Carter, told me it wasn’t my place and that you and Coach Hardy would figure it out soon enough. But then you two gave me such a hard time about staying in wolf form that next day to watch over you and the baby that I had to at least tell him so he didn’t think I was losing my mind.”
“You sons of bitches. I can’t believe no one told me I was fucking pregnant.” Corey shook her head. She was pissed. Everyone knew but the person who was actually growing the child. What the hell kind of sense did that make?
“Me? Am I in that group of sons of bitches? Because I totally wanted to tell you. They wouldn’t let me.” He was almost whining. “I got overruled by my four baseball coaches. The four men in charge of my life here at St. Leasing.”
Corey let out a little sigh. She really couldn’t be mad at Riley; he was low man on the pack totem pole. If he’d been overruled, there was nothing he could have done about it. “No. Not you. You have been so sweet these last couple of weeks. Overbearing, but sweet nonetheless. I’m guessing the baby is why you keep bringing me breakfast. And why you are cutting our afternoon runs short.”
“Well yeah. You don’t usually eat breakfast, but the baby needs it.” He shrugged in his aw-shucks kind of way that she found adorable. “And I read that you are supposed to drink tons of water when you’re pregnant, so that’s why I keep shoving water in your hand. And running? Well, I didn’t know the rule there, but I figured you shouldn’t overdo it until we know.”
“You are my favorite person in the whole world.” Corey felt her eyes fill with tears as she wrapped Riley into a big hug. Really, hormones? Already?
Riley laughed. “Don’t let Coach Hardy hear you say that, he’ll make me run extra laps. He likes being your favorite person. Besides, it’s no big deal, I was just looking out for two of my favorite girls.”
“What? It’s a girl?” Those tears she’d been trying to hold back started to stream down her face.
“Aw crap. I totally didn’t mean to say that. Please don’t tell Coach, he wanted to tell you himself.” Riley winced, his hands together palm to palm pleading with her.
She wiped at her eyes. “How do you know it’s a girl?”
He shrugged again, this time like a lazy teenager. “I’m not sure. Coach Carter says there is no way I should be able to tell the baby’s gender, especially this early. But from the moment I realized she was in there,” he gestured to Corey’s stomach, “I just knew she was a girl. It’s not a guess, it just is.”
Wow, Riley’s supernatural werewolf powers were even better than Baze’s. Bet that ruffled Baze’s feathers. Or his fur. Corey heard a truck door close, followed by another. Dom and Keller must be home. They all spent more time in her and Dom’s house than they did in their own. Between the four men and Riley, it was rare that Corey was ever alone, whether at school or there. It was a miracle she’d found a spare second to even purchase a pregnancy test, let alone take one.
“Honey, I’m home. And I brought Chinese.” Dom walked into the kitchen and sat three massive bags of food on the bar.
Corey shoved the pregnancy test in her back pocket. Glaring at Riley to make sure he kept his mouth shut for now. “Hey, babe. How’s that sophomore’s shoulder?”
“It’s fine.” He came over and kissed her, rubbing his hands up and down her back. “You hungry? Was Chinese a good choice?”
“Starving and it smells delicious.” The food really did smell great. She hoped she didn’t start throwing up everything she ate now that she was pregnant. She loved food, and wasting it would be such a crying shame.
Seconds later Baze and Linc walked in through the back door. No one bothered to knock anymore. Although they really should; she and Dom got it on all over the damn house.
Everyone loaded their plates with food and sat down at the dining room table. Corey shoveled orange chicken into her mouth as all the males in her life talked about baseball. The season was in full swing and St. Leasing was undefeated. When Corey saw Dom get up and head to the kitchen, she suddenly had a fun idea. One that, if it wasn’t happening to him, he’d think was hilarious. “Hey, babe? Would you mind getting me a glass of wine while you’re up?” When everyone at the table abruptly stopped talking, she hid her grin behind her chopsticks. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Riley squirming uncomfortably in his chair.
Dom opened and closed his mouth a few times before he answered her. “Oh uh, you know what? Keller and I drank all the wine last night while we were going over notes for tomorrow’s game. I’m sorry, baby, I’ll go to the store this weekend and get you some more.”
She made a face. “You and Keller drank a whole bottle of chardonnay last night going over game notes? Why? There was beer in the fridge from that microbrewery y’all love.”
He glanced from her to Keller, clearly trying to come up with a good excuse. “Yeah, uh, I don’t know. We just felt like drinking some wine, I guess.”
Linc coughed pussies behind his hand, clearly having as much fun with this as she was.
“Okay, no big deal. Could you grab me a beer then?” She picked up her phone, nonchalantly replying to a text from Molly. Man, this was the most fun she’d had in a while.
“Uh, I don’t think you’d like it. It’s really stout.” Dom looked everywhere but directly at her. Avoiding eye contact was the only way to lie apparently.
“Babe, I am really craving a beer. Will you please just grab me one? What’s the big deal? If I don’t like it, one of you can finish it.” Corey switched to checking her email. She knew if she made eye contact she’d smile and Dom would know she knew that he knew she was pregnant, which would ruin her good time. “Okay, so I want y’all’s opinion. I have been thinking about getting a tattoo. What do you think?” Riley groaned and dropped his head on the table.
“Really? Tattoos are forever, and I mean, uh, you know what you should do? Draw what you want where you want it every day for a year and if you still want it then you can get it.” Keller was smiling at himself, like he was a damn genius.
“Yeah, totally. Wait a year, or nine months at least.” Linc grinned with a mouth full of noodles.
Corey turned her full attention to Baze, who was covered in tattoos and had been the one to keep Riley from telling her about the baby in the first place. “What do you think, Baze? Do you know someone around here I could go to?”
Baze leaned back in his chair as cool and calm as ever. “Yeah. I’ll give you his number and you can make an appointment.”
Corey narrowed her eyes. He was on to her. She turned toward the kitchen where her mate was standing holding the beer she’d requested, still as a statue. He looked like a scared deer. “Babe, can I have my beer? What’s wrong? Is it the tattoo? You don’t want me to get one?”
“I, uh, yeah. I mean…”
She just shook her head and started to laugh. She might as well put him out of his misery before he swallowed his tongue. She took the pregnancy test out of her back pocket and tossed it to him like he had tossed her the ring box a week ago. He caught it easily.
Dom’s face broke out into a massive beaming smile. “You’re pregnant.”
She shook her head, eyes narrowed. “Don’t even try to act like you didn’t know. Shame on all of you.” She pointed at the rest of the males around her kitchen table, sans Riley. “I can’t believe you all knew I was pregnant and didn’t want to say anything. Y’all, I love alcohol. What if I had decided to go get plastered with Molly? Or what if I had taken a bunch of medicine I wasn’t supposed to, or eaten sushi? Please tell me you would have stopped me.”
Dominic came over to her side and wrapped his arms around her, whispering in her ear, “I would never let anything bad happen to either one of you. I promise I would have said something before anything like that could have happened. I love you both so freaking much.”
Corey relaxed into his embrace. This was one of the happiest moments of her life. Sharing the love for this tiny baby with the man she adored, it was surreal.
“Riley, you are such a brown-noser. I told you guys he would end up ratting us all out and tell Corey we’ve all known about the baby.” Linc headed into the kitchen and grabbed the beer Dominic had poured.
“I’m not a brown-noser. When I came in, she was holding the test in her hand like it was a sword or something. Hell, I was relieved she finally figured it out.” Riley went into the freezer and pulled out the tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream that he and she ate almost nightly. He got two spoons from the drawer and went and sat next to her.
“See? You are so stuck up her butt it’s unreal.” Linc pointed at the gallon of ice cream between them.
“Dude. Don’t talk about one of my players being up my girl’s butt. Not cool. And for the record, Riley, you are a suck-up when it comes to Corey.” Dom retrieved what was left of the six-pack out of the fridge and sat it in the middle of the dining room table.
“All of you stop it. He is not a suck-up. He is just a sweetie pie with a heart of gold. And y’all leave him alone.” Corey dug her spoon into the ice cream. She was going to gain a hundred pounds. And at that moment, she didn’t really care.
Baze reached for a beer, popping the top with his college ring and, per usual, snapping the cap at Linc’s head. “Yeah, we need to talk about that actually.”
“Talk about what?” Corey rubbed her temples. She had taken way too big of a spoonful of ice cream and now she had a brain freeze. Would the baby get a brain freeze too? Did the baby have a brain yet? She needed to get one of those pregnancy apps for her phone. She dug her spoon back into the carton; she’d power through.
Baze took a pull of his bottle and swallowed before answering her. “We need to talk about how Riley can sense so many details about the baby this early.”
Linc snickered. “Why, Baze, are you jealous of young Mr. Riley’s talents?”
“No, I’m not jealous, you ass hat. I’m curious as to how and why Riley and the baby are so connected. The second he realized Corey was pregnant, he knew it was a girl. It would normally take months for me, or any other shifter like us, to figure that out.”
Dom hit the table. “Dude. I wanted to tell her it was a girl.”
Corey glanced over at Riley; he looked scared to death. “It’s a girl? Aww that’s so perfect.” She put her hand on Dom’s, letting her eyes fill with tears once again. “We need more girls around here.” She waited until Dom bent to kiss her palm then she winked at Riley. There, now Baze was in trouble with Dom, and Riley was in the clear.
Riley rubbed the back of his neck, like he was nervous to speak. “Uh, well, that’s not all.” He stopped talking. Uh-oh. He had more to share with the group but seemed really nervous about their reaction. Maybe he was starting to feel like a human baby monitor.
“Spit it out, kiddo.” Corey smiled at him.
He took a deep breath and glanced over at Baze. “I can sense her. Like I can feel her growing stronger. It’s like her presence gets louder every day.”
Corey whispered, “Can you hear her thoughts?” She put her hand to her still-flat stomach.
“Holy crap, Corey, for the last time, this isn’t Twilight. None of us can read minds.” Keller rolled his eyes. He hated it when they were compared in any way to that franchise. He told her all the time, which was why she did it all the time.
“No, I can’t hear her thoughts. It’s almost like this hum, right here.” He pointed to his heart. “And every day I feel the humming more. Louder maybe. I don’t know. It’s hard to put into words.” Riley looked down at the tub of ice cream, no longer meeting anyone’s eyes.
Dominic finally spoke up. “Look, let’s just leave it be. It’s great that Riley can feel her growing stronger. It’s reassuring knowing that every day she is getting bigger. Doesn’t matter why or how. Let’s count it as a blessing, okay?”
Everyone grumbled half-hearted responses, which was basically wolf-speak for yeah we’re not going to let it go. Personally, Corey was glad that Riley could sense her baby growing stronger. The moment that pee stick said positive, she’d been terrified that something would go wrong. But this way, it was like she had a human baby pulse oximeter that would always know if everything was okay in there. She hated that Riley seemed so embarrassed about the whole thing.
“I’m going to head back to the dorm. I have that English paper due tomorrow.” Riley got up to put his spoon in the sink and then grabbed his backpack and headed toward the living room.
“Hey, don’t stay up too late. You also have a game tomorrow night. If you can’t finish the paper by eleven, shoot me a text and I’ll get an extension for you.”
“Dom. You can’t do that for him. He should have finished that paper days ago. I helped him with the outline and everything. Riley, you finish that paper. No excuses.” Corey grabbed her keys off the table and tossed them to him. “Here, take my car so you can get back faster and get started. No going by to hang with Jace and Jasper, and no social media. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.” Riley shut the front door behind him.
“You guys act like he’s your kid.” Keller drained his beer and stood up.
“Well, he kind of is. He’s here almost every day. Corey helps him with his homework, and he’s always eating all our food and borrowing the car.” Dom gathered up the paper plates and empty food cartons. “But I like that he’s here with Corey when I can’t be now that she’s pregnant. It’s like having an extra bodyguard around.”
“For the last flippin’ time, I do not need a babysitter.” Corey rolled her eyes. “But truth be told, it’s nice having Riley here. He makes me laugh and he doesn’t mind watching crappy reality TV with me.” She shoveled another bite of ice cream into her mouth. She’d let Dom clean up alone.
Linc spoke with his head in the fridge. “Excuse me? You’ve run out into the woods at all hours of the night, you got attacked, almost raped, and then you shot a guy’s balls off. You absolutely need a sitter.”
“What are you looking for?” Dom playfully kicked the back of his leg, causing his knee to buckle.
“Dessert. I don’t want any of that germ-filled ice cream that Corey and Riley are always eating on. Don’t you have anything else?”
Corey cringed. She hated to give away her best-kept secret, but she needed to stop eating so poorly. “There’s a stash of frozen Twinkies in the freezer. Look toward the back behind the veggies.”
“We have frozen Twinkies? How long have those been back there? You little food-hoarder.” Dom shook his head, an incredulous look on his handsome face.
“I’m not a hoarder.” She was a clever snack keeper. “I put the Twinkies in there a while ago and forgot about them.” She covered her mouth to simultaneously stifle a yawn and hide a lie. “I am getting really tired. I’m going to bed. I’ll see y’all in the morning.” Corey kissed each guy on the top of the head and then had a mini make-out session with her mate, causing everyone else to gag loudly.
“All right, we’re finished. And just because I’m leaving the room doesn’t mean you can talk about the investigation while I’m gone.” Corey had put a strict policy in place last week. She was so tired of discussing Henderson and Franklin, the murder and the investigation that was now days away from coming to St. Leasing. She knew once the feds got here and started probing Henderson’s allegations that shifters were in fact real, it would be all anyone could think about, and she had demanded a couple weeks of peace.