Kelly

There was a sudden knock at her door.

She jumped, startled by the noise. With a flick of the remote she paused the television, glad for advances in technology that allowed her to deal with such interruptions to a good show.

The power went out while she was halfway to the door, killing the television and her paused show.

“Really?” she asked, looking at the sky. “Was that really necessary? What did I do?”

The power came back on. Her television show did not.

With a defeated sigh she reached the door and pulled it open. It was later than normal, but Gray hadn’t told her he was going to stop by today either, so she hadn’t been expecting him. It didn’t matter; she was happy to see him at almost any time, as long as she wasn’t sleeping. Then he would be in a lot of trouble. A big smile on her face, she pulled open the door.

It wasn’t Gray. The smile died as Jacen walked inside, rain droplets falling from his shirt to splatter on the floor.

“Uh, hi,” he said lamely. “Can I come in? It’s raining.”

“I guess I don’t have much choice in the matter,” she said, stepping back out of the way so he could close the door.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, stepping back and giving him a long look.

After he’d arrived the first time, Kelly had let him use her shower and had washed his clothing for him. It looked like he hadn’t done a thing to keep clean since. Dirt was everywhere, and his lungs were rising and falling rapidly.

“Yeah, sorry about the unexpected arrival,” he said sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to just dump it on you. But I was nearby and thought I’d stop in to see how you were, how the baby is, things like that.”

“It’s been nearly a week. No change,” she said, making plain her unhappiness at the late, unplanned arrival. “The next big change will be when I give birth. That’s still a few months away.”

Jacen nodded. “Okay.” He looked around, afraid to meet her eyes.

“What else?” she asked, her patience already wearing thin.

Kelly hadn’t expected to see Jacen again so soon. She’d barely had time to truly think about what his being alive meant, and his request to be involved with the baby’s life once it was born. It had all come on so suddenly, she was still processing the fact that he was alive.

She wanted to seek a second opinion on her thoughts on the issue before telling him her answer. Mainly, she wanted Erika’s opinion. But her best friend had been too busy to sit down and have the serious chat necessary. They’d planned to get together in a few days, after a flurry of work was finished on the house she and Harden were building together. Erika had been so busy, Kelly hadn’t even told her what it was she needed to talk about.

Nor had she told Gray. Things had been going well with him, and she wanted to keep it that way. But it was still so new, she had no idea how he was going to react to hearing that the biological father to her child was still alive, and now wanted to be involved in raising the child. Hopefully he was happy and supportive of whatever she chose, but Kelly wasn’t sure. Things like that can bring out the darker nature of people. She’d seen it before. The last thing Kelly wanted to do was to unleash the darkness she’d seen lurking in Gray. Not until she better understood what it was.

“I was wondering, if, uh, if you’d had time to think,” he said at last, interrupting her thoughts on the subject.

“Not enough to come to a decision,” she said bluntly. “It’s not something I ever expected to have happen, and I want to make sure I come to the right decision.”

Jacen nodded. “I understand. I was gone for so long, it’s tough to just bring me back into your life. You weren’t ready for that, and I kind of surprised you by showing up out of the blue.”

Kelly nodded, but there was something in the way he was speaking that set her at ease. Something she was missing. It was like they were talking about two different subjects, yet using the same words. He hadn’t ever really been “there,” in the sense that he would be coming “back” into her life. Back at the facility where she’d conceived the child, once it was confirmed she was pregnant, Jacen had sort of faded away, into the background. She’d seen him here or there, and they’d exchange words and pleasantries, but that was about it. There was no lingering connection between them.

“But I’m here now,” he said, gaining confidence somehow.

Perhaps he was misinterpreting her nod as confirmation of something. Kelly wasn’t sure. What she did know was that she needed to put a stop to things, before he got a crazy idea in his head.

“Now we can be together, and raise the child properly.” Jacen smiled. “Maybe we can even give them some brothers or sisters.”

Like that.

“Whoa,” she said, holding up both hands. “Full-stop, Jacen. Emergency brake time. Back right up. I never said anything about us being together. All we talked about was you being involved in the child’s life. Not mine.”

He looked flustered. Kelly hadn’t told him about Gray when he’d shown up, because she hadn’t wanted to deal with it. Now though, she was regretting not telling anyone. There is no way it could have been any worse than this. At least if she’d told him from the start she was seeing someone, he wouldn’t have gotten the crazy idea into his brain that she should be with him!

Then again, if Jacen were delusional, telling him that she had a…whatever she and Gray were, might not be the best idea either. For all she knew Jacen might overreact in any number of ways. Things could go very poorly if he found out about Gray in the wrong manner. Perhaps then it was best to keep Gray hidden and deal with this herself.

“Look, Jacen. I understand that we were paired up at the Institute facility. That we had sex several times. I’ll even stroke your ego and tell you it wasn’t terrible. But there was no connection between us. Nothing like that. You practically disappeared after I was confirmed to be pregnant!”

“I didn’t want to,” he protested. “They made me.”

Kelly saw the truth etched in his gaunt features. “Be that as it may,” she said. “I still wasn’t what I would call romantically interested in you.”

“But for the child,” he said immediately, the line coming so fast it could only be rehearsed.

She sighed and prepared to let him down as gently as she could. But before that could happen, the door shuddered slightly as someone knocked on it.

Jacen’s eyes grew hooded and narrow as his faced closed down. “Who is that, Kelly?”

Shit.

It was Gray. It could only be Gray. Nobody besides him—and Jacen, apparently—would come calling this late into the evening.

“Uh.” It was as lame as she knew it sounded.

“Why is someone knocking on your door this late?”

The sound came again, followed by a muffled voice. “Kelly?”

It was Gray.

Jacen, looming large and angry, waited between her and the door. He made no move to allow her to get back, and something about her body language told her she shouldn’t try it either.

“Open the door,” she said quietly, resigning herself to the inevitable. It was going to happen, whether she wanted it to or not it seemed.

“Who is it?”

“I said open the door.” In no mood to play games, Kelly glared at him.

Jacen shook his head. “Who is at your door at this hour?”

Gray knocked again.

“Open it.”

“No.”

Something inside her snapped. Anger at Jacen’s presumptiveness, angry pregnancy hormones, or maybe just the sheer rage at the two men and the power for interrupting her television. Whatever it was, it coalesced into a ball of pure fury that she hurled at Jacen.

“I SAID OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!” she screamed, feeling herself shaking as she unleashed on him.

The door opened from the inside and from the outside at almost the same instant. Gray stumbled forward while Jacen took a step back. Then the two of them came to a halt. Jacen stared daggers at Gray, his body language indicating he wished to try and rip the other man apart.

Gray’s eyes flicked back and forth between the two of them, and while she’d thought the anger was bad enough, what blossomed there was even worse. Betrayal ripped through Gray’s features as he erroneously put two and two together, assuming that she was also with Jacen, a fact that was just blatantly untrue.

“Gray, Jacen. Jacen, Gray,” she said, making the introductions.

“Who the fuck are you?” Jacen asked, inhaling deeply as he stood up to his full height.

Gray, not intimidated, stood still. “You first.” His lip curled up in a sneer. “This ought to be good.”

“It doesn’t matter who I am,” Jacen returned. “You need to go now. Kelly and I were having a talk.”

“You know what,” Gray said conversationally, as if he wasn’t confronting a huge pile of angry muscle that happened to be a shifter. “No. I think I’m going to stay. I’d love to hear this explanation from Kelly. It ought to be fantastic. Amazing, really. Hilarious, perhaps. I don’t really know. But I think I’m going to hear it.”

Kelly began to talk, but Jacen’s outstretched hand in her face silenced her. Not because she was doing as he’d commanded, but out of sheer shock that he would even try to do such a thing.

“Go away,” Jacen said, leaning toward Gray slightly.

Kelly, despite her fury at Jacen, just sighed. It was coming, she couldn’t deny it. Why bother, really? There was nothing she could do. They were going to do whatever they wanted regardless of her.

“No,” Gray replied. “I think you need to step outside. Kelly looks distressed.”

“I do, do I?” she muttered to herself. Then, deciding to give it one more try, she spoke up louder. “Can you two knock it off so I can talk?”

Jacen shook his head. “He needs to leave. Now.”

“Make me,” Gray said petulantly, obviously not afraid or willing to give in.

Jacen snarled and his hands went for Gray’s throat. The two of them tumbled backward until Gray got a knee between them and flicked Jacen backward off the steps to her upper level unit.

Kelly screamed in frustration, but there was nothing she could do. Gray went after Jacen, leaping over the railing while she yelled at them to stop.

It didn’t help.