43. Hayden

I don"t knowwhat time it is when my phone buzzes on the bedside table, but I snatch it up before it can wake Cassidy. She"s passed out beside me, her breathing deep and even as she snores softly. Because of the sleeping pill I dissolved in her water before she crawled into bed, she doesn't move. I need to know if she"s pregnant and I plan on getting answers tonight.

My phone buzzes again and I don"t even have to look to know it"s my brother. He"s outside in the hall. I can feel it. Still, I look at the message, squinting against the brightness of the screen as I read it.

Sawyer: Come out here

I sigh and run my hand through my hair before carefully sliding out of bed. I pull on a pair of joggers and a t-shirt from the floor before grabbing my phone and slipping out of the room. Sawyer"s leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest like he"s been waiting for hours.

"You good?" he asks when I walk up to him.

"Yeah."

"I heard about the suspension."

I raise an eyebrow. Sawyer was at the hospital all day and I hadn"t had a chance to talk to him about it yet, or ask him about what I need from him tonight.

"Heard it on the local sports talk radio station on my way home." He pushes off the wall and bends down to grab the bag I"m just now noticing at his feet. When he stands to his full height again, eye to eye with me, he"s grinning. He wiggles the bag back and forth a couple of times. "Thought you might want some good news after your shit day."

"What"s in there?" I ask, reaching for it, wondering if he"s already read my mind.

He pulls it back and out of my reach before I can get my hands on it. "It"s not for you." He turns around and starts heading down the hall toward my room.

I follow him, trying not to wake Cassidy up as I follow him inside, stopping a few steps away from the bed. "Are you..."

He kneels beside Cassidy and opens the bag, pulling out all sorts of medical shit. "Drawing her blood to see if you knocked her up? Yep."

"How"d you..."

He gives me a look that can only be interpreted as calling me a fucking moron. I stand over his shoulder while he ties a rubber tube around her upper arm, swabs her inner elbow, and jabs her with the needle. Cassidy doesn"t even flinch, and it"s over in seconds, the answer I"m dying to have held in the blood in my brother"s hand.

He"s gentle as he cleans her up and then I"m following him back out into the hall. I"m gonna have to remember to get that bandage off her arm before I fall asleep so she doesn"t notice anything in the morning.

"I"ll text you as soon as I know," Sawyer tells me with a grin on his face as he walks backward toward the front of the house. I"m assuming he"s going to the hospital now when the staff is lighter and no one will question him running this test himself.

"Thanks, bro."

He nods and then disappears out the door. My heart feels like it"s going to burst out of my chest. I want this more than I ever thought I could want anything. And if Cassidy"s pregnant, I know it"s going to be hard as hell to keep my mouth shut about it until I figure out the best way to tell her.

Considering she doesn"t know I"ve been stealthing the fuck out of her since we met and feeding her fertility drugs in her morning shakes, it needs to be a good plan. One that doesn"t make her hate me for keeping secrets.

One that ensures she won"t be able to run when she finds out everything I"ve done to keep her.

I climb back into bed, making plans as I wrap myself around my girl. I get lost in my head, and it"s a welcome distraction from the clusterfuck that"s my career. I"ve been dodging calls from my agent all day because I"m not ready to face the reality of what my suspension could mean.

I"m so distracted by the time my phone buzzes in my pocket, my muscles ache from being in the same position for so long. I dig it out, surprised that hours have passed. It"s a little after three a.m. and I have a single text from my brother.

Sawyer: Congrats, dad

Hayden: Holy shit

Hayden: you"re sure?

Sawyer: you doubt me?

Hayden: fuck no

Hayden: I"m just in shock it actually worked

Sawyer: it's that Vaughn super sperm ??

Hayden: damn straight

Sawyer: now you gotta tell her lol

Sawyer: RIP your dick when she finds out

Sawyer: ??????

I roll my eyes as my phone continues to vibrate in my hand, tossing it onto the nightstand. Then I blow out a breath and look down at Cassidy who"s still passed out, but her hand"s curled into my shirt like she doesn"t want to let me go even in her sleep.

Fuck, I love this woman so fucking much. I look down at her stomach, and it"s such a mindfuck knowing my baby"s inside of her right now, growing, getting bigger every day. I run my fingers over her skin, imagining what it"ll be like when she starts showing. My dick hardens picturing her stomach swollen with my baby and my mouth waters when I think about all the ways I"m going to enjoy her pregnant body.

And I"m not letting anything or anyone stand in my way, not even her.

Instead of sleeping, I spend the night figuring out how to fix the things I"ve fucked up in Cassidy"s life since I pushed my way into it, and as an idea hits me when the first rays of the new day start to crawl across the ceiling, I grab my phone and fire off a text into the team group chat.

I promised Cassidy I"d fix what I broke, and this idea is step one. Then, I need to figure out how to lock her down so thoroughly that when I tell her about the baby, she won"t want to run.

It"s gonna take a lot of fucking work, but I"ve never shied away from doing whatever it takes to get what I want. And right now, all I want is her.

Forever.