Jerking upright, I gasped for air as I threw my arm out. The beige walls came into focus, but I wasn’t seeing the walls. I didn’t feel the bed under my naked skin or Seth beside me.
Part of me was still back at the warehouse, outside in the almost empty parking lot. There was something there—something I saw, something I needed to see again.
“Josie.” Seth was sitting up, holding onto my arm. “You okay?”
I still saw the thick trees ahead of me. I could feel the hot sun beating down on my skin, the beads of sweat running down my face. I sucked in a shrill breath as pressure filled my chest and expanded. “I had a . . . I had a nightmare. I was back at the warehouse.”
“Babe.” He scooted behind me as he wrapped an arm around my waist, hauling me back against his chest. The other circled me, and I was in his arms, far away from that place of hell. “You’re safe.” He kissed my temple. “You’re never going to have to experience anything like that again.”
Leaning into him, I closed my eyes. “There was something I saw while there. I know it. Something outside—” I saw the woods again, the tall, never-ending trees. The needles on the ground. The cracked pavement and the box truck . . .”Oh my gods.”
“Josie?”
Pulling away from him, I twisted around. I climbed onto my knees, grasping his shoulders. I didn’t even care that I was naked. “I remember something!”
“What?” His gaze dropped to my chest, because, well, he was Seth.
“Pay attention.” I shook him.
A playful grin appeared. “Sorry. You’re fucking gorgeous and I really—”
“Focus.” I smacked his shoulders. “I saw something outside the warehouse. I can’t believe I didn’t remember it until now. But there was some kind of truck outside—a box or delivery truck. It had a name written on the side of it. MILLS AND SONS. If the truck belonged to that warehouse . . .”
Understanding flashed across Seth’s face. “Then we have a way to find the warehouse.”
Chapter 32
Seth
As Josie took a shower, I changed into a pair of tactical pants that had been left behind and pulled on a shirt. Walking away from the bathroom and not joining her literally took every ounce of free will I had in me.
I wanted nothing more than a round three and four and ten with her, but I needed to fill Aiden in on what Josie had remembered, and she needed to get some food in her. So I had done the responsible thing, showered first and left Josie to hers.
Hair still wet, I pushed it back out of my face and walked into the small sitting room. Halfway through, I came to a complete stop as my stomach did a drop, like it hit my feet.
Josie was pregnant.
Lifting my gaze to the ceiling, I was rooted to the floor. Ever since she’d told me, those three words floated in and out of my thoughts on an endless cycle, and each time it was like the first time hearing it.
There was a rush of emotions—the happiness blew my mind. Like I’d said to Josie, I’d never even thought about having kids, to be honest, so it wasn’t like I didn’t want them. It just wasn’t a thing. Never in a hundred years would I have thought I’d actually be happy about that, but I was. I was fucking thrilled.
I was fucking blessed.
But gods, what I felt almost knocked me on my ass again. Closing my eyes, I exhaled roughly as I leaned over, pressing my palms into my thighs.
I was never a praying man.
I didn’t believe the gods answered prayers. Knew for a fucking fact that they didn’t care enough to do so, but in that moment, I wanted to pray. I want to pray that this was real, that this was really happening.
It seemed too good, too beautiful.
Gods, it didn’t seem like I’d deserve not only Josie but a child as well.
And that was terrifying for a whole shit-ton of reasons.
Because there was fear. Fear that something would happen to her, happen to the baby—to both of them. Fear that I would somehow fuck up, because I had no idea how to do the whole parenting thing.
Not to mention I was seriously probably the last person on this earth anyone would trust a small child with. Less than an hour before I found out I was going to be a father, I sort of melted a guy from the inside out, so . . .
But that was my baby, in my girl.
That changed everything in a manner of seconds.
Straightening, I let out a shaky laugh and found myself smiling at . . . at fucking nothing.
I need to get my shit together.
One way to avoid fucking this up was making the world safe for Josie and for our child.
Walking out of the room, I looked down the hall, and a totally different smile appeared. Sensing out Aiden, I zeroed in on his presence. A heartbeat later, I was in another sitting area, in a room several doors down.
“Hello,” I said.
Aiden flew up from where he was sitting on the couch.
“Dammit!” Alex shrieked as she nearly slid off the arm of the couch. “Oh my gods! Now you’re going to do that too?”
“Not cool.” Aiden’s eyes were like thunderclouds. “Not cool.”
“I thought it was pretty cool.”
Alex gaped at me, and then she spun around, picked up a small throw pillow, and threw it at me.
I snatched the pillow out of the air and tossed it back to the couch. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting.”
“We were just talking,” Alex answered, glaring at me. “If not, you’d be missing two eyeballs.”
“That’s not the only thing he’d be missing,” Aiden muttered.
I winked at him. “I’m actually here with some important news. Josie remembered something about the warehouse.”
“And here I thought you were just popping in because you missed us.” Alex sat back down on the couch. “What did she remember?”
“She saw a delivery truck of some sort outside the warehouse where she was kept,” I told them. “She remembered that the truck had writing on it. MILLS AND SON.”
“Hell. That’s big. If that truck belonged to the warehouse, we should be able to look it up.” Aiden glanced around the room, frowning. “I’ll grab Deacon’s laptop and see what I can find.”
“Let me know.”
“If it turns out to be the place, are you leaving right away?” he asked.
Odd question. “Gods know if Josie finds out, she’s going to want all of us to go there, but I need to get some food in her and . . . and yeah. We’ll see what happens from there.”
Aiden eyed me as he nodded. “Sounds good.”
I started to say something, but my gaze slid to Alex. She was staring at the wall over my shoulder, her lips pressed together and her cheeks expanded like a puffer fish. My eyes narrowed. Her gaze flickered to me and then quickly darted away.
Sighing heavily, I folded my arms. “Something you want to say, Alex?”
Oddly mute, she shook her head.
“Really?”
Gaze still trained on the wall, she nodded.
I looked over at Aiden. What was the likelihood of her not saying something to him? Probably somewhere around next to impossible.
Aiden dropped his gaze, and then I saw it—the twitch of his lips as if he was trying not to smile.
“You told him,” I stated.
The air Alex was holding in her mouth popped out as her gaze swung around to mine. “I didn’t mean to! I just sort of blurted it out, but it’s Aiden. I had to tell Aiden.”