I blinked innocently. “All three of us are here now. We can go to the shooting range. I even have my gun in my purse.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Please, enlighten me how you’d get it out and use it if your life was in danger?”
I pulled my purse open only to have it snatched from me. “Hey!”
He glared. “And that’s exactly what would happen if someone saw you go for your purse during a time when one might need a gun.”
I sighed. “I was just joking.”
I lifted my shirt to show him the gun that was strapped to the waistband of my jeans. “I had to resort to using the sticky holster that you bought me. I can’t button my pants anymore since I’m pregnant.”
Dad snorted. “At least you’re admitting it now, I guess.”
He handed my purse back to me and grinned.
“Are you excited to be a grandpa?” Phoebe teased.
My father winced. “I’m too young to be a grandfather.”
“I’m old enough to get pregnant, so I’m fairly sure that you’re old enough to be a grandfather,” I pointed out.
“I’d rather not think about you being pregnant, if that’s okay,” he said. “At least how you got that way, anyway.”
I snickered. “What’s wrong, Dad? You were the one to have the birds and the bees talk with us.”
Piper and Phoebe burst out laughing.
My mother had talked with us about it herself, but my father felt it prudent to inform us if we ever made him a grandfather before he was ready, he’d kill us. And, at the age of fifteen and fourteen, it’d been the greatest of feelings to act like we were clueless as to what it was he was trying to say to us about safe sex.
Now, looking back, I realized it was kind of mean to make him think we didn’t understand what he was trying to say. Yet it was still hilarious.
My dad gave us a fierce scowl. “Let’s go to the range. Then I’ll take you out to eat.”
We all converged on my father at once, wrapping him up like we’d done since we were babies.
Dad wrapped his arms around all three of us and gave each of us a kiss. “Miss you girls.”
I felt tears sting my nose once again.
Hoax would be a good daddy, too.
I just knew it.
Chapter 18
I would tell a joke about pizza, but it’s cheesy.
-Text from Pru to Hoax
Pru
Three weeks and four days later
There was no denying that I was pregnant anymore.
With the daddy of my unborn babies aware that I was pregnant, there was no reason to wear excessively baggy clothing to work anymore—even though at times it was nice to have extra-large pockets to stuff things inside.
I was also rocking the cute, pregnant belly.
At least, I was when I was first starting out work.
Now, twelve hours and thirty minutes after I arrived at the hospital, I was tired.
So tired, in fact, that I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings at first.
My mother, who was stopped one too many times by an employee wanting to ask questions, I’d left behind two minutes ago.
I kept walking. I was tired, my feet hurt, and I’d had a really bad day.
That really bad day had centered around a certain asshole who’d walked into the ER this morning thinking he owned the place.
His father, the CEO, had been at his side. Likely, the only reason he’d been allowed to come into our domain in the first place was due to his father being there.
Kelley had sneered and snapped at me the entire morning, and my good mood and day had slowly swirled around the drain until it’d plunged to the point of no return when he commented about me being pregnant.
The comment had specifically been ‘if you can’t do this job while you’re pregnant, maybe you need to find something easier and more suited for your condition.’
I’d wanted to punch him, but I’d held my cool and gone about my work, even though we were a nurse and a physician’s assistant short thanks to the stomach bug that’d been going around.
Being five months pregnant with twins didn’t allow me the same luxuries—such as holding my pee for eight hours—as it had before. Meaning I’d been forced to take many potty breaks despite being busier than hell.
Needless to say, the very last person I wanted to see when I walked out of the doors to the hospital was Kelley—likely standing there waiting for me.
Luckily, I could see my father, who’d been very cautious lately with my mother and me, waiting in the spot he usually occupied since Mr. M had lost his life.
Now, he waited every single day for us to get out, and he’d walk me to my car and my mom to hers. If for some reason he wasn’t there, Bayou or one of the other guys from the Bear Bottom Guardians were. And, if one of them couldn’t make it, one of my pseudo-uncles were.
I was literally never left alone.
Though, I had a feeling it’d be a common occurrence until I gave birth to the two babies that were currently occupying my body.
“Ms. Mackenzie,” Kelley sneered, falling into step next to me.
I felt my heart rate start to pick up. “Yes, Kelley?”
I managed to keep the sneer out of my voice, but barely.
The fact that he was here, still working at the hospital after the shit he’d pulled in the break room, was a slap in the face. The worse part was that he wasn’t even reprimanded. After explaining his actions as ‘innocent,’ he’d continued on as if nothing had changed.
Meanwhile, I’d been freaked way the hell out and could barely be around him or in the same vicinity as he was without having a minor freak out that he’d pull the same shit and this time Hoax wouldn’t be there to save my ass.
I was almost to my dad’s bike when he spoke next, and I knew that he’d said what he said for my dad’s benefit, enabling him to hear just so he could get a rise out of him.
“I was wondering,” he said, sounding proud of himself. “Are you planning on making that child legitimate, or are you going to let it be born a bastard?”
I felt something inside of me chill at the man’s words.
Of course, my father wouldn’t leave something that vile, said by a man that was supposed to be my superior, go untouched.
“Listen here, Kelley.” My dad’s body was strung taut as he came to stand beside me. “I don’t think my daughter’s marital status, or her physical state, is any of your business. And even if you for some reason thought it was in your delusional, oversized head, it’s not.”
Kelley’s lips tilted up slightly, and his eyes lit with amusement.
Kelley’s eyes returned to my father. “I don’t think I asked your permission. If her performance at work is suffering, then it’s our business, because she’s made it our business.”
“I’m not quite sure you understand how this whole ‘business’ works, but I could enlighten you,” my father offered.
Kelley’s smile was mean. “Oh, please do. You’ve just started to dig your daughter’s grave deeper. Soon, you’ll have only to cover her up with the dirt you’ve already dug out.”
Dad’s arms crossed over his large chest, and he looked at Kelley like he was a bug he was about to use to bait a line with.
“Why are you here again?” Dad asked. “I’m not quite sure that it’s appropriate to confront an employee of yours in front of the ER parking lot where anyone can walk up and hear you carrying on.”
“If I see my employee acting in an unsavory way, which’ll reflect on our business, I have no problem with confronting her in a public place,” he countered.
“Go away,” Dad ordered.
My eyes flicked back and forth between the two men, and I barely noticed that we’d drawn a crowd because I was too worried about what my father was about to do.
“And,” Kelley ignored my dad’s jibe. “Saying that, if she didn’t want her personal matters splashed all over the community, maybe she should first start with not posting disgusting comments about her personal life on Facebook. I haven’t said anything that she hasn’t said over the last three weeks.”
My dad moved until he was standing beside me. Once he was at my side, his hand raised and he squeezed my neck, urging me to calm down. Outside, he appeared calm, cool and collected.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Please, enlighten me how you’d get it out and use it if your life was in danger?”
I pulled my purse open only to have it snatched from me. “Hey!”
He glared. “And that’s exactly what would happen if someone saw you go for your purse during a time when one might need a gun.”
I sighed. “I was just joking.”
I lifted my shirt to show him the gun that was strapped to the waistband of my jeans. “I had to resort to using the sticky holster that you bought me. I can’t button my pants anymore since I’m pregnant.”
Dad snorted. “At least you’re admitting it now, I guess.”
He handed my purse back to me and grinned.
“Are you excited to be a grandpa?” Phoebe teased.
My father winced. “I’m too young to be a grandfather.”
“I’m old enough to get pregnant, so I’m fairly sure that you’re old enough to be a grandfather,” I pointed out.
“I’d rather not think about you being pregnant, if that’s okay,” he said. “At least how you got that way, anyway.”
I snickered. “What’s wrong, Dad? You were the one to have the birds and the bees talk with us.”
Piper and Phoebe burst out laughing.
My mother had talked with us about it herself, but my father felt it prudent to inform us if we ever made him a grandfather before he was ready, he’d kill us. And, at the age of fifteen and fourteen, it’d been the greatest of feelings to act like we were clueless as to what it was he was trying to say to us about safe sex.
Now, looking back, I realized it was kind of mean to make him think we didn’t understand what he was trying to say. Yet it was still hilarious.
My dad gave us a fierce scowl. “Let’s go to the range. Then I’ll take you out to eat.”
We all converged on my father at once, wrapping him up like we’d done since we were babies.
Dad wrapped his arms around all three of us and gave each of us a kiss. “Miss you girls.”
I felt tears sting my nose once again.
Hoax would be a good daddy, too.
I just knew it.
Chapter 18
I would tell a joke about pizza, but it’s cheesy.
-Text from Pru to Hoax
Pru
Three weeks and four days later
There was no denying that I was pregnant anymore.
With the daddy of my unborn babies aware that I was pregnant, there was no reason to wear excessively baggy clothing to work anymore—even though at times it was nice to have extra-large pockets to stuff things inside.
I was also rocking the cute, pregnant belly.
At least, I was when I was first starting out work.
Now, twelve hours and thirty minutes after I arrived at the hospital, I was tired.
So tired, in fact, that I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings at first.
My mother, who was stopped one too many times by an employee wanting to ask questions, I’d left behind two minutes ago.
I kept walking. I was tired, my feet hurt, and I’d had a really bad day.
That really bad day had centered around a certain asshole who’d walked into the ER this morning thinking he owned the place.
His father, the CEO, had been at his side. Likely, the only reason he’d been allowed to come into our domain in the first place was due to his father being there.
Kelley had sneered and snapped at me the entire morning, and my good mood and day had slowly swirled around the drain until it’d plunged to the point of no return when he commented about me being pregnant.
The comment had specifically been ‘if you can’t do this job while you’re pregnant, maybe you need to find something easier and more suited for your condition.’
I’d wanted to punch him, but I’d held my cool and gone about my work, even though we were a nurse and a physician’s assistant short thanks to the stomach bug that’d been going around.
Being five months pregnant with twins didn’t allow me the same luxuries—such as holding my pee for eight hours—as it had before. Meaning I’d been forced to take many potty breaks despite being busier than hell.
Needless to say, the very last person I wanted to see when I walked out of the doors to the hospital was Kelley—likely standing there waiting for me.
Luckily, I could see my father, who’d been very cautious lately with my mother and me, waiting in the spot he usually occupied since Mr. M had lost his life.
Now, he waited every single day for us to get out, and he’d walk me to my car and my mom to hers. If for some reason he wasn’t there, Bayou or one of the other guys from the Bear Bottom Guardians were. And, if one of them couldn’t make it, one of my pseudo-uncles were.
I was literally never left alone.
Though, I had a feeling it’d be a common occurrence until I gave birth to the two babies that were currently occupying my body.
“Ms. Mackenzie,” Kelley sneered, falling into step next to me.
I felt my heart rate start to pick up. “Yes, Kelley?”
I managed to keep the sneer out of my voice, but barely.
The fact that he was here, still working at the hospital after the shit he’d pulled in the break room, was a slap in the face. The worse part was that he wasn’t even reprimanded. After explaining his actions as ‘innocent,’ he’d continued on as if nothing had changed.
Meanwhile, I’d been freaked way the hell out and could barely be around him or in the same vicinity as he was without having a minor freak out that he’d pull the same shit and this time Hoax wouldn’t be there to save my ass.
I was almost to my dad’s bike when he spoke next, and I knew that he’d said what he said for my dad’s benefit, enabling him to hear just so he could get a rise out of him.
“I was wondering,” he said, sounding proud of himself. “Are you planning on making that child legitimate, or are you going to let it be born a bastard?”
I felt something inside of me chill at the man’s words.
Of course, my father wouldn’t leave something that vile, said by a man that was supposed to be my superior, go untouched.
“Listen here, Kelley.” My dad’s body was strung taut as he came to stand beside me. “I don’t think my daughter’s marital status, or her physical state, is any of your business. And even if you for some reason thought it was in your delusional, oversized head, it’s not.”
Kelley’s lips tilted up slightly, and his eyes lit with amusement.
Kelley’s eyes returned to my father. “I don’t think I asked your permission. If her performance at work is suffering, then it’s our business, because she’s made it our business.”
“I’m not quite sure you understand how this whole ‘business’ works, but I could enlighten you,” my father offered.
Kelley’s smile was mean. “Oh, please do. You’ve just started to dig your daughter’s grave deeper. Soon, you’ll have only to cover her up with the dirt you’ve already dug out.”
Dad’s arms crossed over his large chest, and he looked at Kelley like he was a bug he was about to use to bait a line with.
“Why are you here again?” Dad asked. “I’m not quite sure that it’s appropriate to confront an employee of yours in front of the ER parking lot where anyone can walk up and hear you carrying on.”
“If I see my employee acting in an unsavory way, which’ll reflect on our business, I have no problem with confronting her in a public place,” he countered.
“Go away,” Dad ordered.
My eyes flicked back and forth between the two men, and I barely noticed that we’d drawn a crowd because I was too worried about what my father was about to do.
“And,” Kelley ignored my dad’s jibe. “Saying that, if she didn’t want her personal matters splashed all over the community, maybe she should first start with not posting disgusting comments about her personal life on Facebook. I haven’t said anything that she hasn’t said over the last three weeks.”
My dad moved until he was standing beside me. Once he was at my side, his hand raised and he squeezed my neck, urging me to calm down. Outside, he appeared calm, cool and collected.
