Duncan (The Protectors #3)(53)

“Listen, I don’t know Tessa real well, but I don’t think it’s Jared.” Figuring they had no clue what she meant since they were staring at her with vacant eyes, she tried to explain a woman’s thought process. “A few times she’s mentioned her weight in different ways. I’ve seen her pulling her shirts down or pulling them out from her body. I also noticed she dresses down, wearing large shirts and things to hide herself.”

“But she’s a gorgeous woman,” Sid replied looking confused.

Pam pushed her half-eaten piece of toast away. “We women are more self-conscious than men. It’s a fact, and it sucks, but that’s the way it is. We will never be happy with our looks. We will either be too large, too thin, too short…you get the picture?”

“None of that matters to us.” Duncan rolled his eyes. “Maybe human men, but not Warriors. We see what we want, and we go after it. It doesn’t matter what size or shape the woman is if we love her.”

“But it matters to her.” Pam sighed. “I haven’t seen the picture, but if I had, and it was me, I would probably be upset, just like any of you would if there was a picture of your woman and another man.”

Both their eyes narrowed. “Good thing there would be a picture,” Duncan replied with a growl.

“Yeah, need something to remember the dead son of a bitch by,” Sid finished with a sneer.

Pam rolled her eyes at their macho mumbling. “What other pictures were there?” Pam asked, even knowing there were probably tons of her with her big belly.

Sid and Duncan shared a glance. “Sloan had the pictures Kenny had of us analyzed.” Duncan looked at her. “They were faked.”

Pam’s forehead wrinkled in confusion until her eyes narrowed in anger. “Fake?” Her expression changed to anger as soon as what that meant sunk in. She stood up knocking her stool over. “You mean I went through hell to keep you safe over fake pictures.”

“Calm down, babe.” Duncan stood, picking up the stool so she wouldn’t fall over it.

“That son of a bitch.” Pam didn’t hear anything, just kept stomping around cursing. “That goddamn bastard son of a bitch.” Pam grabbed a knife throwing it.

Both Sid and Duncan watched as the knife stuck in the wall, the handle vibrating.

“Damn.” Sid glanced at Pam then back to the knife. “Impressive.”

“Pam.” Duncan walked toward her still looking at the knife, also impressed as hell and actually turned on. How f*cked up was that.

She reached for another knife, but Duncan stopped her. Her eyes flared up at him. “How could I have been so stupid?”

“You had no way of knowing they were fake.” Duncan reassured her.

Sid walked over pulling the knife out of the wall. “The pictures were of high quality. We couldn’t even tell. That’s why we sent them out to have them analyzed.”

Pam pulled away from Duncan, walking to the hole the knife left. “Oh my God,” she cringed. “I’m sorry.” She put her finger in the hole.

“Actually, I’m pretty damn impressed.” Duncan smiled. “A little putty and paint will fix that right up.”

Pam looked from the hole back to Duncan. “I can’t believe I did that.” She took two steps back toward the island but stopped suddenly. Grabbing her stomach, her eyes widened, and a splashing noise on tile filled the room. “I think my water just broke.”

Chapter 21

“You think your what just broke?” Sid eyed her funny.

“My water.” Pam looked down with a grimace, still holding her stomach. “It just broke all over your floor.”

“Our floor.” Duncan automatically corrected her then snapped out of his stunned state. “Shit!” He ran up to her, slipping in the wetness on the floor.

“Get me something to clean this up.” Pam looked at the mess horrified. “I’m here for a day, and I’m already tearing your house up.”

Sid went for the paper towels, but stopped when Duncan yelled.

“Fuck the floor,” Duncan growled. “We need to get her to the hospital,” he yelled at Sid.

“We can’t leave this on the floor.” Pam looked a little panicky. “I’m fine. Get something, Sid.”

Sid started to go for the paper towels again, but stopped when he heard a God awful moan.

“Oh shit. Not again,” Sid moaned right along with her. “I’m having flashbacks from before.”

Feeling an uncomfortable ache start in her lower back, Pam frowned. Within seconds, the ache radiated into a full-blown pain, spreading around to her stomach. A surprised scream poured from her mouth.

“Sid, come here, dammit,” Duncan yelled. Picking up Pam, he rushed to the living room and put her on the couch. “I have to call Slade. Do not leave her side.”

Running over, Sid stood next to Pam, who held her stomach. “Okay, we’ve been through this before,” Sid assured her, but his eyes were wide with panic. “Just hold that thing in until help arrives. Aren’t you supposed to be breathing funny or something to help with the pain?” Sid started breathing like he had seen in a movie of a woman giving birth.

Pam glanced at him and started breathing along with him. Then after a few minutes, stopped. “Okay, I think I’m hyperventilating,” Pam panted, sweat beading her face. Her eyes finding Duncan, who only stood a few feet away from her on the phone, talking frantically, but his eyes never left her.