Dakota

T hree weeks without Crew felt like three years. Every day that he didn’t come home broke her heart a little bit more. She could tell that it was taking a toll on Zane too. He was quiet and reserved, making her worry about him. She was sure that all this worry was the reason that she hadn’t gotten her period yet. was sure that it would come any day, but every day that passed without it made her more nervous.

She decided to take matters into her own hands and find out if her fears were even a possibility and on her way home, she grabbed a few pregnancy tests. When she got home before Zane, she was actually relieved. The last thing she wanted to do was make him worry without just cause.

ran up to the master bedroom and took all the tests that she had purchased, not wanting to take any chances of an incorrect test result. And when she realized that they were all pregnant, she sat on the side of the tub, holding her head. “How did you allow this to happen?” she asked herself. She knew the answer to that question—she was swept up in all her feelings for the two men who had stolen her heart. She should have been more careful, but she wasn’t, and that was on her.

“Here you are,” Zane said, stepping into the bathroom. hadn’t even heard him come in and she quickly stood and tried to clean up the pregnancy tests off the vanity, but it was too late. She could tell from his expression that he had seen them—all of them.

“Are they positive?” he asked. She looked at the tests in her hands and back at him, dropping them back onto the bathroom vanity.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry, Zane. This is all my fault,” she insisted. “I wasn’t careful enough.”

“No,” he said, pulling her into his arms, “We weren’t careful enough. There were three of us involved in you being pregnant. No one person is to blame,” he insisted.

“But I’m the one who forgot to take my birth control for a few days. I guess I just got caught up in being with you both. I’m sorry,” she repeated.

“Hey,” Zane whispered, “I’m not upset about the baby. In fact, I’m thrilled. I love you and a baby is just the next step.” She could tell that he was trying, really trying, but the sadness in his eyes told her otherwise. He knew that without Crew, having a baby together would always feel as though they were missing an integral part of their family.

“You miss him too, don’t you?” she whispered. His arms tightened around her, and she could feel his nod. “I do too,” she admitted. “What are we going to do?”

“I got a text from Crew this morning, letting me know that my father and Johnny were arrested yesterday afternoon. I’m not surprised that my father didn’t reach out to me for help. Instead, he called his lawyer and when Crew found out, he called me to tell me what was going on.”

“Well, that was kind of him,” she said. “Did he say anything else—you know, about coming home?” She knew that she was hoping against hope for the three of them to be a family again, but she just couldn’t help herself.

“No,” he admitted. “I didn’t talk to him personally. When I saw that it was Crew calling, I acted like an idiot and sent the call to voicemail. He left a message and that was all he said.”

“How did he sound?” she asked, not sure if she actually wanted to know.

“He sounded worn out,” Zane admitted. “He sounded as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and didn’t know how to handle it.”

“We could help him handle it, if he’d let us, Zane,” she insisted. “But you have to forgive him before he’ll want to come back to us. Can you do that?”

He looked as though he might not have an answer to give her. When he finally nodded his head, she let out a breath that she didn’t know she had been holding. “I think that I can,” he admitted. “I’ve been thinking about what he said when we saw him in that shitty motel a few weeks ago. He said that he was trying to prove my innocence, and I believe him. He had to walk away from us both in order to prove that he wasn’t trying to fuck up the case that his boss was building against my father and me. I might have walked out of there angry at Crew, but that anger faded with time.”

“Oh, thank God,” she said. “I don’t think that we’ll be able to have this baby on our own. I love you both, and I want you both to be our baby’s fathers,” she admitted.

“I want that too, baby,” he agreed. “So, any bright ideas about how we get him back?” he asked.

“I think that you should go over and talk to him—just the two of you,” she insisted. “He probably needs your forgiveness and that’s between the two of you.”

“Agreed,” Zane said.

“Good,” she breathed, “then, I’ll go over later on to tell him that we both want him back and to tell him that I’m pregnant. We can’t fuck this up,” she said to Zane. “I need you both.”

“Right, I’ll do my best, baby. Let me grab a quick shower and I’ll head over to his motel room,” Zane said.

“Tonight?” she asked. “It’s getting pretty late.”

“There’s no time like the present. If he’s not at the motel, I’ll probably find him at the office. I’m betting that he’s keeping himself busy with work and looking for his next case to try to take his mind off us.” Zane was right. had witnessed firsthand how hard Crew worked. He was a damn good detective, and it was because he threw himself into his job.

“Are you sure that you want to divide and conquer?” he asked her.

“I am. If you can’t convince Crew to come home, I’ll try to persuade him with the pregnancy,” she said.

“So, you’re going to play dirty?” Zane asked.

“Oh, Zane,” she chided, “you’ve known me my whole life, what do you think?” she giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I plan on playing as dirty as I can.”

“I believe you, honey,” he said, “and poor Crew won’t know what even hit him.”

Zane came home later that night looking like someone had kicked his puppy. “I take it that it didn’t go well?” asked.

“I’m afraid that it didn’t go well,” he grumbled. “Crew was too busy being an ass to listen to reason. I thought that I was the one who should be upset that he accused me of murder.”

“Accessory to murder,” corrected. Zane shot her a look and she could tell that he wasn’t amused. “So, what exactly happened?” she asked.

He sat down on the bed next to her and kicked off his shoes, laying back on the mattress and groaning. “God, that feels good,” he said. She looked at the alarm clock and realized that it was almost midnight.

“You must be exhausted,” she said.

“I guess,” he grumbled. “I think that I’m more tired of going through all this shit,” he admitted. “I just want things to go back to normal—like it was when you first came home with us. I want the three of us back together,” he said.

“I want that too,” she admitted. “You still haven’t told me what happened. Where did you find him?” she asked.

“At that shitty motel he’s staying at,” Zane said.

“Well, he doesn’t have anywhere else to stay. I mean Crew and I both gave up our homes to move in here with you,” she reminded.

“I haven’t forgotten,” he mumbled. “I just can’t believe that he’d rather stay at that run-down shit hole than here with us.” She couldn’t believe that either, but she did know how stubborn Crew could be. “So, you found him at his motel,” she said, trying to get him to pick up the story where he had left off.

“Yes, and he didn’t answer at first. I banged on his door until the office manager came over and let me in. I found that stubborn asshole in his bed, trying to sleep through all that fucking noise.” She wasn’t sure if her baby had ears yet, but she was hoping that he or she didn’t. made a mental note to tell the guys that they have to cut out the cussing—her too. She didn’t want her baby’s first word to be “Fuck”.

“I told him to get the fuck up; that we needed to talk, and he told me to fuck off. He didn’t want to talk to me and then he said something ridiculous about the two of us moving on without him. I told him that wasn’t going to happen, and he shouted something about me being too hardheaded for my own good.”

“Yeah—you’re two peas in a pod,” she teased. Both of her guys were hardheaded and short tempered. But they were also two of the most loving, caring men that she had ever met.

“Not funny,” he said with no real heat. “Anyway, I told him that we both love him and want him to come home and Crew said that would never happen.”

“Ever?” she asked.

“Ever,” he said. “Crew said that you and I should just give up and just get married, and I told him that wasn’t going to happen without him. That’s when he tossed me out of his motel room and told me never to come back.”

“Shit,” she said, forgetting her new rule about no cursing around the baby. “None of that sounds good, Zane.” He shook his head and pulled her into his body. “So, what’s next?” she asked.

“What if I asked you to marry me?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” she questioned. She wasn’t sure if he was asking how she felt about the prospect of marrying him or if she’d say yes or no.

“Would you agree to marry me?” he asked. thought about his question for a few seconds before deciding on her answer.

“No,” she breathed. “I don’t think that I can marry you without Crew being a part of that. I’m not really sure how that would look, legally, but I’m in love with both of you, and marrying one of you without the other, doesn’t feel right to me.”

“I get that,” he breathed, “but, what if he never comes home. What happens to the two of us then?” he asked.

“I can’t accept that he might not ever come home to us, Zane,” she said. was feeling angrier with every passing minute. “I think it’s my turn to talk to Crew,” she insisted.

“You’re going over there now?” he asked.

“As you told me earlier when I asked you that same question, there’s no time like the present,” she said.

“There’s no way that I’m letting you go out in that neighborhood by yourself,” he insisted.

didn’t hide her giggle. “You do remember that I’m a cop, right, Zane?” she asked.

“I don’t give a fuck what you do for a living,” he insisted. “I’m going with you, and that’s final.”

She rolled her eyes and agreed to let him go with her, but he needed to let her do all the talking. Zane agreed, but she wasn’t sure if he’d be able to stand by silently for very long, and hopefully, he wouldn’t have to. She just hoped that Crew played nicely because right now, her hormones were raging, and she would welcome a fight—even with one of her baby’s fathers.