Chapter 5

Amelia

I couldn't sleep after Cronos left, my mind was too wired and I was far too angry at him and myself for my mind to shut off and allow me the reprieve of sleep. The fact that his house is nestled in the trees behind a cemetery doesn't exactly set my anxiety at ease. It's creepy but also… so him. I've looked around the entire cabin and found no personal touches of his own, no pictures or photos on the fridge. Instead of hiding out in his bedroom, I decided to light a fire and get comfortable in his recliner while I waited for him to return home.

I have no clue what the fuck I am doing or why I even chose to come to him. I do know without a doubt, if I sought out my family they would protect me and help me but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I have preached for years about not needing anything from them or wanting their type of help. I am many things but I don't want to be labeled as a hypocrite.

I hear Cronos's truck grumble down the gravel drive just as the sun begins to crest, marking the dawn of a new day. I suddenly feel foolish about our earlier disagreement and mortified that I dared to pull a gun on him. I know how to shoot and how to fight but that doesn't make what I did okay. I built a career on saving lives and there I was holding a gun to his chest, mentally prepared to pull the trigger, but emotionally… I could never have harmed him. Not again.

When he enters the cabin his gaze lands on me instantly. I don't know what he sees as he looks at me but his muscles relax and the tension in his shoulders eases at the sight of me. Spending months alone with him in South America as we delivered aid to sick children gave me a chance to get to know him and read him. He never says much to anyone but he never seemed to have that problem with me .

"You're still here." It's not a question, just a fact. Unsure of what to say to that I just nod and drop my gaze to my lap as he ambles over to me lazily. "You're in my seat." Without thought I jump to my feet, prepared to flee to the solitude of the bedroom but when he drops into the chair, he snakes an arm gently around my waist and pulls me into his lap. I tense on instinct. He says nothing as I calm myself. Months of Colson's false kindness has hardened me, I have grown to fear kindness, knowing that from him it was just an act and later on I would pay for his niceness.

"Grizz—"

He cuts me off as he pulls me in closer. He grips my legs with his other arm and pulls them up so I'm sitting across his lap. He then places a throw blanket that was on the back of the seat over me.

"I don't want to talk, Meelz," he says tiredly. I sigh and melt into him, soaking up the feeling of being safe and protected in his arms.

"Okay," I whisper as I rest my head on his shoulders and close my eyes in contentment. It has been a long time since I felt safe and relaxed enough to actually let my mind wonder and let sleep fully consume me. I've always been too fearful that if I fell into a deep sleep it would give Colson a chance to attack me while I was incapacitated. Within seconds my body is relaxed and I feel myself drifting off, but then his hand lands on my bump and panic flares inside me. I snap my eyes open, expecting to see a look of anger on his face but to my utter disbelief, he's fast asleep, his large hand resting protectively across my stomach and my stupid hormones get the better of me. A lump forms in my throat. I close my eyes and will my tears to remain at bay.

I wish more than anything that I could turn back time.

I was a fucking fool, he was right earlier. I was a fucking idiot to not see exactly what was right in front of me.

The scent of biscuits and gravy hits my nose and I slowly blink my eyes open as my stomach protests its need for food. My brows furrow as I register that I'm no longer on Cronos's lap in the living room but instead laying on the bed in his bedroom. I stretch out and still, my heart beats over time as I wait with bated breath to see if I'll feel it again. I squeal in delight when I feel my baby move again. I sit up and place my hands on my belly with the broadest smile. The bedroom door bangs open and I jolt in fright. Cronos stands there in only a pair of jeans. My eyes drink in the sight of his naked inked skin.

"What happened?"

I drag my eyes up his chest and meet his worried look. "Huh?"

"You screamed!" he snaps in annoyance. I frown until I feel the baby move again and smile causing his frown to deepen.

"Come here." He crosses the room and drops down onto the edge of the bed beside me. I grab his hand and place it on my stomach. His muscles coil in anticipation, a flicker of fear flashing in his brown eyes, but the moment he feels the little flutter of a kick against his palm, his eyes widen in wonder. Without being prompted, he knocks my hand away and places his other on my bump staring at it like it's the most fascinating thing he has ever seen in his life.

"Holy shit!" he breathes out when he feels another kick.

"It's the first time I've felt movement, that's why I squealed. Sorry I alarmed you." He doesn't pull his gaze from my belly as he answers.

"Is that normal?"

My brows furrow. "To feel a baby kick at around twenty-two weeks?"

He lifts his eyes to mine and nods. "I don't know shit about kids, Amelia."

My heart warms at his honesty. "Yes, Grizz, it's perfectly normal to feel a baby move and kick inside the womb. It's when they don't move you have to worry."

Alarm clouds his features. "Why the fuck didn't you say anything?" he snaps as he removes his hands and stands, towering over me. I instantly shift away from him in fear.

"W-what do you mean?"

"You just said this is the first time you felt it move!"

It takes me a second to understand why he is so panicked. I rise onto my knees and close the space between us, I tentatively reach out and place my hand flat against his chest.

"The baby was too small to feel anything before. It's the right size now to feel it move and kick. The baby is perfectly fine, Nos."

The unease flees his body as a whoosh of air escapes him. "Yeah, right. Come on, I made food." He pulls away and leaves me here, feeling lost and lonely. Sighing I decide to worry about my fucked up predicament after breakfast. I stumble to a stop in the center of the living room, he has a picnic rug on the floor in front of the fire with an array of food set out in the center.

"Nos…" Words escape me at this amazing act of kindness, no one has ever done something like this for me before.

"What? You don't like the food?" I can hear the apprehension in his tone and I quickly rush forward and drop down onto the blanket so he doesn't storm off.

"I love the food, this was really… nice of you to do." He huffs and grumbles under his breath before sitting opposite me and handing me an empty plate. I smile my thanks and begin loading it sky high with bacon, biscuits, gravy, eggs, sausages and few other meats. I don't wait for him to begin, I can't seem to get enough food into my mouth fast enough. I stop eating like a starved woman long enough to see him sit down and stare at me like I have grown two heads. "What?" I ask around a mouth full of food.

His face contorts in amusement. "You look like a fucking chipmunk, swallow." Heat unfurls inside me at his last word as a memory of me on my knees in front of him with his cock down my throat assaults me—he loved it when I swallowed every drop of his cum and licked his shaft clean. Cronos has a dark side in the bedroom and I never realized how kinky I was until he and I explored it and fuck, sex with him was the hottest thing I have ever experienced in my life. I swallow audibly and don't miss the way his eyes blaze with heat. The air suddenly seems to charge between us, my breaths growing ragged the longer we remain here in silence.

Cronos breaks the moment when he tears his gaze from mine and returns to eating. I scold myself internally, here I am pregnant with another man's child and on the run from said man, hiding from my own family and trying to jump my exes bones—I need serious fucking help!

"You gonna be sticking around for a while?" His question snaps me out of my inner turmoil. Too ashamed to meet his gaze, I keep my own on my plate as I answer.

"I don't know where else to go," I say quietly, feeling like a weak mouse admitting that out loud, but he deserves better than me lying to him. I gasp when he reaches out and grips my chin, forcing my head up. I stare at him in surprise.

"Then don't go." I sense there is a double meaning to his words but I can't decipher what it is.

"I'm not a freeloader, Grizz, you know I earn my own way and always have since I left college."

"Then earn your way."

I reel back and scoff. "That might take some time since I don't think a lot of people want to hire a pregnant chick." I can hear the bitterness in my own voice. Back in Chicago, the hospital would have been elated for me and helped me however they could but because of Colson, I can't go back to the job I love.

"You have a job and will start Monday."

My eyes widen at his response. "Say what now?"

"You'll work Monday to Friday as my receptionist. Becky is leaving and I need someone to take over. It's not a glamorous job like you are used to, but until we can… sort things out it's the best one you're gonna get."

"I'll take it!" I say excitedly. He purses his lips but says nothing else. I feel giddy at the prospect of getting to see him in action at his job. "So, who do you work for?"

He chuckles. "No one. I own the mortuary and I'm also the medical examiner." My jaw unhinges at his response.

"I never knew you wanted to get into that line of work."

He shrugs. "I didn't until I moved here and met a guy who offered me a chance, no one has ever taken the time to teach me anything except Bill." I can hear the respect and love he has for the man in his tone, it's clear he means a lot to him.

"So, you work and live here?"

"Yes, Amelia, was that not clear?"

I shoot him a scathing look. "I was just trying to be polite!"

"You being polite would mean you are not lying to me and telling me the truth as to why you are really here." My face falls but he isn't finished. "We both know you aren't going to spill the truth so let's just pretend we don't have a past. You go about your life while I try to do the same with mine."

"It's not that easy," I bite out.

"It really is. It's like an addict coming off the drugs, you just need to trust the process but you don't, which is why you came here. You knew I'm too fucked up to push you for the truth when I can barely handle living with the truth of my own life."