She balanced the tray on her legs and cocked her head to the side. “You know what—I think you’re on to something. You’re not so bad when your moods aren’t all over the place.”
I kissed her. I didn’t have a choice. I had to wipe that sassy smile off her face. “Watch out.”
“Or what?” she mumbled against my lips.
“Or I’ll spend the rest of the day punishing you.”
“Hm.” She leaned against the headboard. “That sounds promising, but let me enjoy my food first. Then you can get to work summoning your inner asshole.”
Chuckling, I averted my gaze. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the plastic bag I’d left on the nightstand last night. My mood dropped instantly. I didn’t want to ruin her morning, but we couldn’t avoid reality forever.
“Ryker,” she said as she squeezed my hand. “You know I was kidding, right?”
“Yeah.” With a forced smile, I grabbed the plastic bag and sat down on the edge of the bed.
Hattie took a sip of her coffee. “What’s that?”
I slipped the box out of the bag and placed it on the tray.
Her lip pressed into a firm line. “A pregnancy test? I already took one a couple weeks ago, remember?”
I swallowed and shifted on the bed. “I know, but I think you should try again. Just to be sure.”
“I feel fine.” She picked up the box and squinted at the small text on the back. “I’m not nauseous, tired, or whatever.”
“That’s good.”
She held out the box to me. “Save it for me, and if I still haven’t started my period in a week, I’ll take the test.”
I grabbed it out of her hand. “You’re procrastinating.”
Ignoring me, she took a few bites of her toast. “I took a test already.”
“I know, but you may have taken it too early.”
She frowned. “How do you figure?”
“You’d only been home for two weeks. That’s fourteen days.”
“I know how long two weeks is,” she muttered.
I held out the box. “Right, so you agree it might’ve been too early to take the test.”
She tugged on the hem of her shirt. “I’m not ready to know. I’m still trying to put my life back together.”
“Negative or positive, it won’t change anything.” I placed the box in her lap.
“You’re wrong.” She swallowed hard. “It will change everything. What would I do with a baby? I haven’t finished school. I don’t have a job anymore. My family barely talks to me. They think I’m crazy. I’m living off my savings and the money my dad deposits in my bank account every month to assuage his guilt for being a shitty parent.” She rubbed her hand over her face. “I’m a fucking mess.”
I moved the tray from her lap and wrapped my arms around her. “No, you’re not, and you have me. I already told you. We’re in this together.”
“And you won’t be mad if I am…” Her voice lowered until it faded away entirely. Tears bloomed in the corners of her eyes. She looked fragile, like she’d shatter any second. Her eyes were haunted; her golden skin stretched tight over the delicate bones of her face.
“No,” I answered before she could finish the thought.
I hadn’t planned to have a family, but I wouldn’t be mad. I’d spent my life being my dad’s dirty secret and my mom’s life changing mistake. My dad already had a wife and a kid. My mom’s modeling career crashed and burned after she had me. Both of them loved me in their own way, but I always suspected they believed they’d be better off without me. I didn’t want my child to feel that way. If Hattie were pregnant, I’d make damn sure she and my child were happy and had everything they needed.
“Are you sure? Because even if I’m pregnant, I could—”
I pressed my fingers to her lips. “We’re not having this discussion.”
She yanked my fingers away from her face. “What do you mean?”
“After you’ve taken the test, and we know for sure, we’ll talk and we’ll decide what we want to do together.”
“Okay.” She picked up the box from her lap and tapped it against her leg. “Let’s do this.”
I stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet. We walked to the bathroom, with our hands intertwined.
She stopped outside the door. “You can wait out here. I don’t need your help to pee on a stick.”
“Whatever you need.”
When she closed the door, I slid down the wall and pulled my phone out of my pocket. It had been vibrating in my pocket all morning. I’d successfully ignored all the calls, but someone really wanted to get in touch with me.
I scrolled through my missed calls. All ten of them were from Ignacio. I hesitated for a moment. Then, I snuck away to the bedroom and called him back. I only had a few minutes, but maybe that’d be enough time to figure out what he wanted.
“Is this Ryker?”
“Yes,” I answered, not recognizing the voice.
“This is Emanuel Rodriquez. I don’t think we’ve met, but I work for you dad.”
“I know who you are.” Ignacio hadn’t introduced us, but he mentioned him often. Sometimes I wondered why he didn’t groom Emanuel to be his successor instead of Rever. Emanuel was dedicated to the Vargas Cartel like Rever and I would never be. He didn’t have a problem dealing with the ugly side of the business.
“I tried to call Rever last night, but he hasn’t answered his phone.”
“If you called from Ignacio’s phone, he won’t answer. They aren’t speaking.”
“Right,” he said. “I forgot.”
“Can I help you with something?”
He sighed. “I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’ll just come out and say it. Ignacio was shot last night.”
My vision blurred, and my breath stagnated in my throat. “What? How?”
“I don’t know the details, but from what little I’ve been told by his security team, it sounded like a paid hit.”
My throat closed and I clutched my phone harder. Ignacio and I weren’t always on the best of terms. He was a hard and sometimes unforgiving man, but he was my dad, and I loved him. “Is he going to be okay?” My voice cracked.
“He’s in the intensive care unit. He was shot in the chest. He has a collapsed lung, and he’s lost a lot of blood.”
“Fuck,” I mumbled in a daze. “What does the doctor think?”
“He made it through surgery and they were able to repair his lung. They’re going to take him off the ventilator tomorrow. We’ll know more then.”
I tunneled my hands in my hair. “Okay. Thanks for calling.”
Emanuel didn’t respond for a moment and the phone crackled with silence. “I think you and Rever should come, just in case…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but I understood what he meant. Ignacio wasn’t a young man, and even if he were, recovering from a gunshot wound wasn’t a sure thing.
“I have to make some arrangements, but we’ll be there as soon as possible.” Details tumbled through my mind. I didn’t think Rever could get on a commercial flight without being arrested. I could try to get him a counterfeit passport from one of my contacts, but it’d take a couple of days. “Maybe three days,” I clarified.