She wasn’t downstairs when I got back to the house. I had checked the time. It was past seven so she should have been home by then. I called her name, checking the kitchen and downstairs bathroom. Nothing. I called her name again, going up the stairs. I tried calling for Mimi and heard nothing then as well. Had she left? She wasn’t supposed to leave until I came back. I walked into my room and found Dana sitting on the bed. She had her computer in her lap and her glasses on. She didn’t look up when I walked in, and she wasn’t listening to anything. She just didn’t want to answer when I had called to her earlier.

Fair, I guess. I did leave without a word. She didn’t owe me anything. How many times would I be able to pull that shit before she left for good?

“Mimi left. She had to pick up a couple of things she left at Anthony’s house,” she said shortly. Fuck. She wasn’t happy. She wasn’t even going to tell me off.

“I asked her to stay with you until I came back,” I said.

“I don’t know Adam. She had things to do. You can’t keep asking people to wait for you. Maybe they can’t. Maybe they don’t want to.” Her shots were on target tonight. She was using me for target practice. I walked up to the bed, stripping my jacket off.

“She shouldn’t have left you here alone,” I said.

“I asked her to. You can’t keep leaving like this Adam.”

“I know,” I said. I leaned down and kissed her forehead. She took her glasses off and shut her computer.

“Where did you go?”

“I had to talk to some people,” I said vaguely. I couldn’t tell her. I could see in her face that it made her mad, but I couldn’t tell her. She told me that I could, but I didn’t want to test it.

“Adam… you don’t have to tell me who, or why. I just don’t want you doing anything that will get you into trouble.”

“You don’t have to worry about me, Doll. That’s my job.”

I held her face and kissed her lips. She kissed back. Halfheartedly but at least it wasn’t a dead fish. I sat on the bed and reached for her. I just wanted to get my arms around her. I wanted her to know that I was back. That I wasn’t leaving her, and I wasn’t mad, even if she was. I was surprised she hadn’t brought it up already. I didn’t know a lot of guys with kids. If they did have them, they lived with their mothers, and they had the luxury of being a parent only when they felt like it. Like my dad did—only he never practiced parenting at all. At least not with me.

“Please don’t ask me to get rid of it Adam,” she whispered. She sounded like she was crying. I looked down at her.

“Get rid of it? Get rid of what?”

“The baby. I know we didn’t plan it, and I know a child is a huge responsibility but I can’t… you can’t ask me to do it. We can talk about it, but that is completely off the table.”

I didn’t know if I was mad or just stunned. I deserved every blow she had delivered since I got back but that one hurt. That one cut deep. I didn’t know if I should just walk away because I had no idea what to say. I didn’t want to just sit and listen to her talk about aborting our baby. I squeezed her, tight. It might have hurt a little, but she didn’t say if it did. That scared me. It scared me to death. The baby, it wasn’t even a baby yet. It was probably a tiny little ET looking thing with nothing but a heartbeat since it was so soon but shit… it was mine. It was ours. It… he or she was going to be the literal manifestation of our… our what? Our love? Passion? Our unsafe sex?

“Dana… I would never do that to you. To us,” I choked out. She wriggled out of my grasp and looked at me.

“You really want to be a dad?”

Want to? Did I have a choice? Fuck, she sounded so hopeful. She wouldn’t need me for this. Women raised kids alone all the time. My mom raised me on her own. And then she spent years getting beat on by her piece of shit boyfriend who then got her only child sent to juvenile hall. She had chosen him over her own flesh and blood. What the hell kind of guy did that? Why would you hit a woman? Why not hit someone whose punches were as hard as yours? That was more impressive.

The thought of Dana ending up like my mother felt like a vice around my throat. The thought of another man in my place made me want to break something. Another guy? Raising my kid? Being with Dana? If anger was something you felt in your body, it felt like the way a tattoo machine sounded. I couldn’t leave her. I wasn’t going to. This was where we were, and we were going to get through it. She didn’t need me, but I needed her.

“You’re already pregnant, Doll,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound defeatist.

“If you aren’t sure, we could give the baby up for adoption once they’ve been born,” she said quietly.

“You want to give my kid away?”

“I want to raise the baby, Adam. I love you, but I’m not going to ask you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“Dana, stop it. I know I’m nobody’s Cliff Huxtable, but that’s our kid. I’m not going to make you do it alone.”

“Are you ready to be a dad?”

“Fuck no. I didn’t have one growing up. I don’t know the first thing about fatherhood. My pops left my mother before I was born and never came to visit.”

“Did he know you were alive?”

“Mom got a check in the mail every month. Not much. Usually one or two hundred dollars, but they were always from the same person; Gerard Holloway. That must have been his name. He knew. He just didn’t care.”

“I’m so sorry babe,” she said.

“Don’t apologize; it wasn’t your fault,” I told her.

“I’m sorry that this had to happen. I should have gotten on the pill or something.”

I sighed. It was too late to wish for that now. The damage was done. Well, not the damage but the fertilization was done. The baby was coming.

“I didn’t want to use rubbers. Not with you.”

Condoms were fine. They were a necessary evil, and it wasn’t like you couldn’t feel anything. I just wanted to feel everything. Maybe I should have used them after all. Maybe I should have asked her whether she was on the pill. She never said that she was, so it was probably wrong to assume it. All of that didn’t matter.

She… we were pregnant.

The first Holloway child would be born out of wedlock, just like his or her daddy. It would be what, eight, nine months till the kid was born? I rested my chin on Dana’s head. I could smell her hair. That was eight more months that I could have her all to myself.

I kissed her. I felt her wrap her arms around my neck. The feel of her skin, the scent of her hair, her mouth on mine, everything about her made me rock hard. I stretched out over her. She was in her sleeping shorts and a sweater that hung on her, making her look smaller than she was. Pulling the sweater off she revealed that she had nothing on underneath.

There were so many ways I wanted to have her. I wanted to bind her wrists so she couldn’t move as I pounded her. I wanted to spank her till she was dripping wet, all down the insides of her thighs. I wanted to know every inch of her. The thought of the baby scared me. Was it different with pregnant girls? Could I hurt her? Was there already milk in her tits?

“What’s the matter?” she asked, bringing me back. She was laying there. Her long, golden hair was fanned out on the bed. I wanted to suck and nip at her smooth, perfect skin till it blossomed red.

“Nothing…” I assured her. I pulled my shirt off and started on my pants. She watched me with a small, satisfied smile on her face. “Like what you see?”

“Mm-hmm.” I helped her pull her shorts off and kissed her roughly. I covered her body with mine and grabbed one of her tits. “Ow, careful,” she protested. I let go and sat up.

“Did I hurt you?”

“It’s okay; they’re just a little more sensitive than usual. Just be gentle,” she said. Gentle? I tried again, sucking her nipple into my mouth this time. She pushed her chest up towards my mouth.

“Harder than that,” she said breathily. I obliged, using my teeth to graze the nub as well. She let out a throaty moan. That was new. I took the other nipple between my fingers and gently ran the pad of one finger over its tip. “Adam...” she moaned. If this was what pregnancy did to her, we’d have to go bareback more often.

“I want you, Adam. Fuck me.”

She didn’t have to tell me twice. She was already pregnant. I was giving her every last drop. Running my cock along her slit a couple of times, I slid on home. Her back lifted off the bed, and her hands grabbed at me. She was shameless; hands in my hair, all over my back, grabbing my ass. I braced my weight against the headboard on one arm and pounded in and out of her. Pulling her knees up, she cried out as I got in deeper, hitting her spot. She was so fucking tight.

“Look at me,” I told her. She opened her eyes. Her green eyes were bright like she was going to cry. I pressed down on her and kissed her hard. She was perfect, and I loved her. I didn’t care what was in the future as long as we were together. I wasn’t mad about the kid. I was going to show her. All the words in the world weren’t enough. Her walls closed tighter around me, and I felt her shudder. A couple more thrusts and I joined her, pumping every last bit of come deep inside her core. I eased out and rolled onto my back. She moved into her usual spot, resting on my chest.

This was all I wanted. Her. Mine to protect, to love, to fuck. The baby too. Her soft hand held my face, and she kissed me.

“Are you okay?”

“I love you,” I said. The look on her face when I said it was priceless. I smoothed her hair away from her face where it stuck to her skin.

“I love you,” she said, tearing up. I brushed a tear away with my thumb.

“Why are you crying—that’s a good thing,” I joked. She sniffed and smiled down at me. God. This was perfect. I never thought I’d be in a position like that, but she had gotten me. I was done. I could grow a beer gut and be happy. There was nothing else I needed.

Like it knew we were having a moment, the sound of the doorbell rang through the house. I put a hand over my face and groaned. Dana giggled and sat up.

“I’ll get it,” she said, reaching for the sweater she had been wearing.

“No. Stay here. I’ll get it,” I told her. I pulled my jeans on and walked to the door, opening it. Mimi was standing there as stunned to see me as I was surprised to see her.

“When did you get back?” she asked me.

“Thanks for staying with Dana for me,” I said sarcastically. She rested her weight on one hip and looked at me.

“Where the hell were you? You just left her after she told you that she was pregnant with your baby?”

“Whoa, who’s pregnant?”

Lawson was standing behind Mimi with a look on his face like he had just seen a ghost. Just what the fuck I needed. Lawson was like the embarrassing middle child you had who was a disappointment, so you never talked about them with company. Why the hell was he here anyway?

“Is she here?” Mimi pushed past me into the house.

“Adam… what’s she talking about? You got someone pregnant? Blondie?”

I rolled my eyes.

“Go home, Lawson. This isn’t a good time.”

“Not a good time for what?”

Dana came down the stairs in the sweater she had had on before and her pajama shorts. She looked from Mimi to Lawson, and then to me, clearly looking for an explanation.

“Congratulations on the baby, Blondie!” Lawson said to her. Her eyes widened, and she looked at me.

“You told him?” she asked.

“No, he overheard Mimi and me talking. And he was just leaving. Lawson, get out.”

“Mimi, how did it go with Anthony?” Dana asked her.

“Mimi?” Lawson said. I could see the cogs turning in his head. I walked up to him and grabbed his arm, hauling him out the door.

“What the hell, man. That’s her. That’s the girl I was telling you about. What the hell is she doing at your house?”

“The girl who’s dating your brother? I need you to leave… why are you here anyway?”

“Gareth called me. He said he’s been trying to reach you, but you weren’t picking up.”

“It can’t wait?”

“Not if you wanted to know about Henry. He told me to tell you, and you weren’t picking your phone up so I—”

“Ah, shit,” I sighed. I had just gotten back. Just gotten to see Dana again and this had to happen. Why was Martin so efficient?

“Why are you talking to them again? Are you doing more fights?”

“Just… just go back in the house. I need to take care of something.”

I walked into the house and saw the women on the couch. They were talking, something about seeing whether Mimi could move back into the house to be away from Anthony. There was no time to listen in. I hurried up the stairs and found my phone. Missed calls, messages, all from Lawson and Gareth Martin. It looked like they had found Henry. Excellent.

I trudged back down the stairs. Lawson had fit himself between the girls and had his arms on the back of the sofa, a girl on each arm like a pimp. I leaned down and kissed Dana, cupping her face so she looked at me.

“I have to go.”

“Where?”

I wasn’t hiding it from her. Not again.

“I told you I was going to keep you safe. There are some guys who are going to help me get rid of Henry.”

“Get rid of him? I don’t want you to. Don’t leave.”

“I have to, Doll.”

“He’s dangerous.”

“Yeah, well, he hasn’t met me yet. I’ll be back tomorrow. The next day at the latest. I’ll call you. Mimi can stay here with you while I’m gone.” I held her hand and kissed it. Her eyes became shiny again like she was going to cry.

“Hurry back,” she whispered.

All I had to do was not get caught. And not get killed. That was it. I had been shot before. He terrorized women for something to do. He was going down.

Henry Neal was about to be history.