Mika

 

 

I’m not working, not moving, not doing a damn thing to risk this pregnancy, and it’s driving me crazy. It’s now officially the third month, and I’m optimistic that it’s going to pan out for me.

I moved in with Hawk as soon as he asked me to marry him, because the man was either going to stop working and move in with me or I could be here with Teeny just next door and Lynx to keep an eye on me when he goes off to work.

“Oh my God, I love that kid, but I look forward to nap time,” Teeny huffs, coming out onto the porch and flopping down.

I laugh because I love Tammy too but she’s a spitfire with the energy of three kids. Three very naughty kids, I think, leaning back to enjoy the silence now that she’s crashed.

“You okay? You surprised us all when Hawk convinced you to stop working, and I know Lynx is losing his mind with that new woman he hired. She actually showed up late yesterday and tried to fudge her times.”

I laugh because after the system I set up to manage it all, there is no way in hell that’s possible.

“I’m good. Hawk’s schedule is so weird, and he leaves and comes back at such strange times that I get why he wants me here. If I’m working, I won’t hardly see him.”

Which is true and not a complete lie. He didn’t want me working, it’s true, but mostly the decision was mine. I want this to work, one hundred percent, and to do that, I have to commit myself to sacrificing now, when it counts.

Anyway, it’s not like I’d continue if…when the baby comes, so I’m sorta preparing for it in advance, I tell myself, giving Teeny a smile.

“Look, I’m going to shoot straight with you here because I love you and you’re like one of my best friends. I know you’re pregnant, and I wanted to say that I know it’s a scary thing for you right now. No, wait, just hear me out. I won’t tell a soul, not even Lynx, because I get that this is a miracle and you’re in a dangerous, scary place now. I want you to know that I’m here. If you need me, if you just want to talk and tell me stuff you can’t tell your overprotective man, I’ll listen and it stays with me,” she says.

My eyes get wet, and I bite my lips through a smile, gratitude making it hard to speak.

“Thanks, Teeny, and…it’s not that I don’t want to tell. I do. I just don’t want everyone to get all excited and then…ya know.”

I may not want to think about it, but I’m keeping it real, and real is possibilities. Good and bad. For now, I’m feeling good but…

“I get it. Trust me. Lynx and I are still using the pill because Tam is just such a handful, and I thought Rain was gonna shit a brick. He told her to mind her own business and leave me alone so I have breathing room, but you…she’ll invade,” Teeny says in a scary voice, chuckling when I snort.

“Tell me about it. She’s already planning the wedding, and we’re not even close to getting there yet. I want to just run down to the courthouse, and Hawk could care less as long as his ring stays on this finger.”

My phone rings just as she’s laughing about how I’d be killed at my own wedding, and I feel my heart beat hard when the silence comes, the heavy breathing the only sound I hear.

I haven’t had a call like this in weeks, and I’d put it out of my mind until now because Hawk would lose his mind, but honestly, this is just getting creepy now.

“Hello? Listen, man, this is weird, and I don’t like it, so you stop calling me and freaking me out or I’ll tell my guy and his brothers!” I yell, disconnecting with a curse.

“Mika?”

“Dammit! This fucking guy,” I growl, explaining when she gives me a look.

“Shit, Mika, this isn’t good. Come on! Get your ass inside,” she says, jumping up to tug me into the house and slam the door to lock it.

“Teeny—”

“I’m calling Lynx. Honest to God, how could you not tell anyone about this?” she yells, making me blink and take a step back to escape her anger.

“It’s just some idiot trying to freak me out. Prank calls. I don’t even pay it any mind, if you want the truth,” I say, trying to calm her when she starts pacing and grabs her phone, clutching it to her chest.

“Mika, prank calls are not weeks’ worth of this weird stuff. This is a bonafide stalker type thing, and it’s dangerous. We’re alone here, you, me, and Tam, when Hawk leaves and Lynx goes to work. Whoever this is could get to us without a problem since that wall isn’t up yet. Come on, Mika. You know these things. The guys talk about safety all the time.”

“I didn’t want to scare Hawk. He’s already so nervous about leaving as it is.”

Teeny throws me a scowl and doesn’t budge when I beg her not to call her husband. She tells him everything, and I hear cursing and some slamming before she ends the call and stands against the counter, sighing tiredly.

“It’s not just you now, Mika. It’s me, Tammy, and that little baby inside you.”

I feel awful, and I nod, closing my eyes as her words sink in.

“I know and I’m sorry.”

Teeny just huffs and rechecks the doors, her face set in stone, which I get because if anyone should know what happens when a psycho is watching, it’s her.

She almost died and Tammy could have been seriously hurt when she tried to run with Tammy and her sister and some asshole named Xavier cornered her out in the woods. If Hawk hadn’t seen her from his kitchen window, Tammy would be gone and Teeny would be dead right now.

So, yeah, she gets it because they watched her for weeks before they came at her and it was brutal. She only survived it because the Wylders are paranoid, observant, and obsessive about the safety of their women.

Hawk was not supposed to even be home that day, but Lynx wasn’t happy leaving Teeny and Tammy at home alone with her acting so weird, and now I get it.

I’m about to apologize again when the sound of breaking glass from somewhere upstairs has us both glancing up and looking at each other fearfully.

“Tammy.”

I don’t wait for Teeny, just take off running for the stairs and the child when we hear more breaking and then silence.

Oh Jesus. I get to Tammy’s room, winded, having barely touched the stairs I just flew up, and snatch her to me, running back out just as Teeny reaches the door.

“Basement,” I hiss, following her down and back to the kitchen where she pulls the pantry door open and shoves us in.

There’s no key, but I feel a little better when she pulls open a panel in the pantry to reveal a tiny room.

“The basement is open and leads to the game room Lynx was working on.”

There isn’t enough space for us all, and Tammy’s waking from being jostled.

“Get in. Take Tammy and don’t come out,” I whisper.

“Mika, no.”

“Do it, Teeny! This is my fault, and I’m not telling Lynx you and his kid got hurt because of my stupidity. Get in. I’ve taken self-defense classes, and Hawk lectures me all the time. I’ll be okay until Lynx gets here,” I whisper. “Promise.”

She obeys because I shove her in before she can argue and gently ease the panel closed, blocking the soft sniffles of Tammy’s possible screams. I’m all alone now, and man, I am terrified as I creep toward the door and lean down to look through the keyhole.

I almost fall and scream my head off when I see an eye peering back at me right before the door is ripped open.

“Harlan?”

He doesn’t say a word, just leans down and grabs my hair, pulling so hard I bounce before scrambling to my knees to stop from getting dragged across the floor.

Oh God, I think when he throws me into the living room where I hit and bounce straight off the couch. The baby.

It’s all I get to before he’s on me, tearing at my blouse, his hands harsh and brutal while I try and fail to buck him off.

“You’re getting married? To him!” he yells, tearing my shirt apart with a yank while I slap at his hands and scoot down to get his weight off my belly. “I was patient, and I waited, and you’re marrying him?”

Honestly, I’m too panicked to make sense of anything he’s saying, but I do get that the man is loco when he starts pawing at my bra and mutters, “I’ll make you want me, and then I won’t have to wait.”

Make?

I do scream when he gets my bra off and whimper when he slaps me, my head ringing as it bounces against the cushions.

He’s going to rape me, I think, my body going weak at the thought of being brutalized. Not for me but for the baby who I need to protect. My breasts are bare now, and he’s going for my pants when Hawk’s voice yells at me in my head.

Balls.

I stop going for his hands and trying to overpower him, my mind focused on one thing only as I curl my hand around my other fist and bring it down.

Harlan screams when I make contact and goes limp enough for me to throw him off and dive over the back of the couch. I’m gonna have to run and pray that Lynx gets here because I don’t want to leave Teeny and Tammy with this freak and I would die if they got hurt because of me.

I make it no more than four steps when an arm comes around my neck from behind and my body leaves the floor, the pressure when he tightens his hold cutting off my air supply. I remember this though, remember the classes and everything Hawk’s taught me, so I can get free, I think, panicking when I reach back only to scream when he grabs my hand and bends my arm up, the pain so rapid I feel woozy before I can blink it away.

“Stop fighting me. You’ll want it soon. I know you will. We’re perfect together.”

“Stop it!”

I gasp and splutter, clawing at his arm with one hand, my legs kicking back at his shins. I make contact, but he doesn’t seem to notice, pulling me closer as I flail and try to break free.

“You will want me!” he yells, tossing me back to the couch and throwing himself at me.

His weight is immense, and I struggle to breathe, but I haven’t quit yet, and dammit, I won’t. Breathing, I wait just until he lowers his head, and then I strike, sinking my teeth into his arm, biting down hard and not letting go, even when he rears back and tries to punch me.

That error is my opening, and I pull my legs back and kick, hitting him in the chest with enough force to shoot him back, the sound of glass and wood splintering ringing out as the front door bangs open and Lynx barrels in with Lyon.

“Christ!”

Let me just say…holy shit.

“Cleaned his clock,” I mumble, covering my chest while Lyon drags his shirt off and pulls it over me, his eyes taking in Harlan and the spike of wood sticking out of his neck.

“Hawk is gonna be so pissed, Mika.”

I smile because they don’t know him at all, I think, rushing to Teeny when she comes in behind Lynx, her face filled with fear while she tries to calm Tammy and look me over at the same time.

“Oh my God! I thought…”

“I’m okay.”

And I really, really am, because see that corpse on the floor? It isn’t me.

 

 

Hawk

 

“How could you keep that from me?” I rail, not knowing whether I want to throttle Mika or high-five her for making minced meat of the asshole I should have killed months ago.

Mika just throws me a look and huffs, rolling her eyes as if she is not bothered by my anger.

“Mika!”

“What! Look, man, I took care of business, and you should be happy that I’m not some weak loser who’d have cried in a corner and waited for some freak to kill her. I’m okay. Teeny and Tam are okay, and the baby…is perfect. In fact, you know, I feel better about the baby now because, trust me, Hawk, if he’s still in there after that freak came at me, then he’s sticking.”

I take comfort in her yelling because it beats the hell out of the crying woman I rushed home to, my heart almost beating out of my chest when Bear called me and told me to get my ass home. In the time it took to fly home, I learned that Harlan had been calling Mika for weeks and creeping her out as well as skulking around her yard when she was alone.

For that, I yelled at her for a solid ten minutes, and you know what the woman did? She flipped me the bird and asked me to feed her because being Rambo is hungry work.

Now I just don’t know what to do with myself, but I pull her to me anyway and tremble when I feel her body against mine, safe, unharmed, and, according to Dr. Forbes, still pregnant and in no danger of miscarrying.

“You crazy woman. I love you. Don’t you scare me that way again,” I say hoarsely, hugging her tighter when she quivers and kisses me back.

“I’m sorry, baby. I just didn’t think.”

“No, but that all stops now. Lynx is putting walls up around both properties, and you won’t move without my say-so for the next six months at least.”

She sighs, and I feel her surrender when she throws her arms around my neck and smiles up at me.

“Admit it. I kicked his ass.”

I laugh then because she’s so full of herself she reminds me of…me.

“Don’t ever leave me, Mika.”

“Never.”