Page 86 of The Wild Man

Lord fucking help me from over-protective men.

Moving fast before he can stop me, I duck under his arm and force my way in front of him. I push my back against him, which knocks him slightly off balance. His arm goes around my waist, and I know he’s getting ready to toss me behind him again.

“Stop!” I scream so loudly that I wouldn’t be surprised if the windows rattled. I feel the heat of Wild Man’s glower on the back of my head, but shockingly, he doesn’t try to shield me again. He just wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me back against him so tightly, a whoosh of air leaves my lungs.

Joe’s moved his arm to the side so the gun isn’t pointed at me. With his closed mouth and the slightly uncomfortable expression on his face, it reminds me that I’m butt naked. I grab the robe at the end of my bed and hold it up in front of me.

“You can’t kill him, Joe,” I tell him.

“The hell I can’t. He needs to pay for what he put you through. If I don’t do it, one of the others will and you know that.”

“And do you know what happens if you or they do?” I ask.

“What?” he grates out.

I put my hand on my lower stomach, just under Wild Man’s arm. “You kill the father of my unborn child.”

* * *

I’m dressed in a pair of black leggings and an oversized t-shirt. My long mass of hair is tossed up haphazardly on top of my head. Wild Man wears a pair of jeans and a dark-blue t-shirt. It’s weird seeing him in clothes, but not in a bad way. I’m obsessed with his naked body, but he looks just as sexy in ratty jeans that hug his lean hips and sculpted ass.

I didn’t want him to find out about the baby the way he did, but I knew, if anything would get through to Joe, it would be the knowledge that I’m carrying Wild Man’s child. And I was right. As soon as the words left my mouth, Joe’s jaw went slack and the hand holding the gun fell to his side, like the deadly metal became too heavy for him to carry.

Moments after that, Spencer, who must have been the one stationed outside to keep watch and heard the ruckus, came rushing into the house. Joe shoved him away when he tried to come into my room and gently pushed Rika out behind him. Before the door was slammed shut, he shot me a glare over his shoulder. “Get dressed.”

When Wild Man and I were once again alone, I wanted to talk to him, but I couldn’t find the words I wanted to say. My head was all over the place, but mainly focused on the fact that he was actually here. I still couldn’t wrap my head around it. I watched him as we dressed, while his gaze stayed pinned on my stomach. The look in his eyes was possessive. I wanted to go to him and fall into his arms, then never let him go. Now that he’s here, the ramifications of what could have been his fate hit me hard. I almost lost him for good.

The proof of that is on his face. One of his eyes is still bruised, the color a nasty yellow mixed with spots of black. There’s a cut on his eyebrow and another on his forehead that looks almost healed. The bruises on his chest and ribs had the muscles around my heart tightening. I wanted to sucker punch Dad and my brothers for leaving a single mark on him. It hurts too much to imagine the condition he was in eleven days ago.

I was leading him into the living room which was once again filled with testosterone when Wild Man saw all the men. His arm snapped around my middle, stopping me just inside the room, and I was dragged against his side with his big protective hand on my stomach. He shot each one a glare. I could only imagine the ways he was killing them inside his head. The looks Dad and my brothers gave him were no less hostile.

I peeled his arm from around me and took him to the couch. He sat on one end and when I tried sitting beside him, he took my hips and pulled me down on his lap sideways. His legs fall apart, and I position mine between them. I don’t think the intimate position was a good idea in front of so many pissed off faces, but I stayed in place anyway. I wanted to be in Wild Man’s arms, and from the way he held me with his hand over my stomach, as if protecting the small life growing inside me, he needed me there as well.

“Jesus, Ever,” Dad mutters, pacing a hole in my carpet as he drags his hand through his hair. “You’re fucking pregnant?” He stops and his eyes swing to mine, then flicker to Wild Man, before he resumes his walk to the window only to turn around again.

He’s no more surprised than I was when I took the pregnancy test I had Rika get for me a week ago. I thought for sure having my period meant I wasn’t pregnant, but I guess I’m one of those people who bleeds during a pregnancy. Or maybe it was the stress of the situation that brought on the spotting. Rika got a multi-pack, and I took all three. Each one came back positive, the double pink lines showing almost immediately. I decided to take the tests on a whim. It was just a feeling I had.

Until thirty minutes ago, Rika didn’t know I took the tests. Of course, since she’s the one who bought them for me, she asked me every day if I took them, but I always told her no. I wasn’t ready for anyone to know yet. I wanted to find Wild Man first. He was the first person who should know he was going to be a father.

So much for that plan.

I look at Dad, watching the agitation in his body. “Yes.”

“How long have you known?” he asks without looking at me.

“Does it really matter?”

His narrowed gaze meets mine. “How long, Ever.”

“Since the third day I was back.”

A twinge of guilt hits me. Not for keeping this from Dad, but from the hurt look on Rika’s face. I’ll explain later why I hadn’t told her. I know she’ll understand.

“Fuck,” Dad mutters. “I assume you’ll want to keep the baby?”

My fingers dig into Wild Man’s arm at Dad’s hurtful question. “Don’t make me hate you,” I tell him. “Because I’m really damn close.”

Remorse flickers in his gaze before he moves them to Wild Man. “What about you? How do you feel about being a father?”