Sweet Retribution (Rydeville High Elite #3)(23)

I don’t know how Drew has managed to hold on to himself in the midst of all that carnage he’s grown up with, but he’s certainly fared better than Charlie and that douche Trent, both of whom seem corrupted by the excesses of the world they inhabit.

I bite the inside of my mouth to stifle my painful moan, as I climb slowly and awkwardly to my feet. “Come lie down with me.” I want to feel my baby in my arms, but my ribs are fucking throbbing like a bitch, and I need to be prostrate.

We clamber into the bed, and I pull her up tight alongside me, ignoring the stab of pain that shoots through my side with the motion. “Talk to me, baby. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.” Her protest is too quick and too practiced to be real.

I tilt her stunning face up and drown in the depths of her gorgeous brown eyes.

Abigail Anderson is the most beautiful woman to walk the face of the Earth. Her natural beauty clings to her like a visible aura, and I’m in awe of her lack of awareness as much as I’m in awe of her inner strength.

But my girl is hurting.

Oh, she’s hiding it well. But I see behind the mask, and she’s in a world of pain. “Baby, it’s me. You don’t have to hide. I know it’s killing you because it’s killing me, and I—”

“Stop.” She stiffens in my arms, and panic washes over her face. “Please don’t go there, Kai. Please don’t say it.” Tears pool in her eyes, and her lower lip wobbles. I feel utterly helpless as I watch her struggle against her emotions.

Overwhelming pain shears a line right through my heart, and the physical pain of my injuries pales in comparison. My wife is in agony, and I’m fucking injured and can’t do anything to help. I can’t even fuck her to take her mind off it.

I dust kisses all over her face, holding her close, offering silent words of comfort, because the truth is, this is a minefield and I’m terrified of stepping in the wrong place. I don’t know what to say. I can’t force her to talk about it. I won’t. Even though I want to talk about it. Because it impacts me too. But she comes first.

Always.

And I will always put her needs above my own.

“I love you, firecracker.” I press a tender kiss to her lips, and I’m reminded of the first moment we met. When she was a broken, beautiful stranger prepared to end it all on a beach. She brought out a side of me I didn’t know existed that night. And I need to reveal that side right now.

What I wouldn’t give to be able to make love to her now like I did that night. But I’m physically incapable of it, and I won’t do anything to jeopardize my recovery, because I need to be firing on all cylinders. I can’t work behind the scenes to protect her if I’m only operating at half capacity.

“I love you too, caveman.” She sniffles, burying her face in my shirt. I smooth a hand up and down her back, dotting kisses all over her hair, trying to ignore the fact she’s bottling her grief inside, and just enjoy the feel of her in my arms, because I know she has to leave soon, and I don’t know when I’ll get to hold her like this again.

After a few minutes, she lifts her head. “I know we need to talk about it at some point,” she whispers. “And I know it impacts you too, but I can’t talk about it now, Kai, because I will self-destruct. And I can’t lose this battle. I can’t lose you.”

“I’m worried about you.” I brush hair back off her face. “You’re so fucking strong, Abby. But you’re human too. And you can’t shut off your emotions forever.”

“I know that.” She plants her hand on my chest, and I feel her touch in every part of my body even through my shirt. “When we have dealt with our fathers, then we can deal with that.”

I take a risk. “Can I just ask you one thing?” Rick put this idea in my head earlier. “What if it’s not real? What if he just said that to mess with your head? What if—”

“It’s true,” she blurts, and I mentally kick myself in the butt when more tears appear in her eyes. “Apart from a little bleeding after the abortion, I haven’t had a period.” Her face pales, and I want to take a gun to Michael Hearst right this fucking second and end him for putting that anguished look on her face. “I should have had one. I … I stupidly thought that…” She shakes her head before burying her face in my shirt again.

“What, babe? You thought what?”

“That I might still be pregnant,” she sobs. My eyes pop wide. Could she be? My brief euphoria dies as fast as it appears.

There’s no way she could be.

Her father wouldn’t allow it to happen because the vote is too important to him.

But hang on.

My heart thumps painfully behind my sore rib cage. What if Abby is right? What if she is still pregnant? What if Michael thought they could pass the baby off as Charlie’s? He would also be guaranteeing himself her shares because he’d have stopped her from marrying her baby daddy.

Except we are married, and he’s not getting his hands on those shares either way.

But that’s of little consolation given our current situation.

“Rick says he can organize an ultrasound. That will—”

“No!” She jerks out of my arms, bolting upright, shaking her head vigorously. Panicked eyes latch on mine. “No tests.”