Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
We just manage to get her into Thorin’s bed before she passes out with a mumbled goodnight despite it being the afternoon. Once she’s out, the three of us lounge around Thorin’s bed, content to watch her sleep for a while like the obsessive creeps she accused us of being.
“We shouldn’t have let her drink today,” Thorin says as he holds her.
I cringe from the other side of the bed when I realize the risk we’d taken today, but fuck it. Aurelia needed it, and we’d sworn to take care of her—to never make her want for anything or regret for even a moment choosing us. I eye Thorin over Aurelia. “You really think she’s pregnant?”
He shakes his head as his eyes trace the delicate lines of her face. “I don’t know. That’s why we need to get her to take that fucking test. Until then, we’re flying blind.”
Rubbing my beard, I watch Aurelia’s chest rise and fall, and I swear my own breathing slows to match her rhythm. “Aurelia’s stubborn.”
“Aurelia’s not in charge,” Thorin reminds me. “She’s taking that fucking test.”
“And if she is knocked up? She won’t be happy about it. You know that, right?”
Thorin shrugs like an asshole. “Too fucking bad. She’ll get over it.”
“I think a baby will be cool,” Seth decides from the foot of the bed where he’s lying on his side, picking the threads in the bedspread. “Maybe one that looks like Sunshine.”
My gaze flicks to him. “They require a lot of attention, Seth. A baby will take up all of her time.”
“Oh. Well, then, never mind.”
When my attention returns to Thorin, I catch him rubbing her belly like he tried to do at the hot springs before she shut down. “And you need to figure out if you really want a baby or if you’re just hellbent on trapping her, Thor. Really consider it and decide—preferably before one of us does actually knock her up, and it’s too fucking late to take it back.”
He glowers at me but doesn’t argue because he knows I’m fucking right. Aurelia doesn’t deserve to be saddled with that baggage because he’s insecure.
“She wants us, Thor. She wants to stay. She’s keeping us. You don’t need to make it so that she can’t ever change her mind. You just need to trust her. Do you?”
Thor stares down at Aurelia sleeping in his arms, and when he finally answers, his voice is thick with all of the things left unsaid between them. “Yes.”
“Good.” I exhale my relief as I stretch, feeling my own exhaustion creeping in. “Then chill the fuck out, bro. She’ll give us a baby when she’s ready. It should be her choice anyway.”
I don’t realize I’ve fallen asleep until I’m jarred awake a few hours later by a relentless pounding. At first, I think it’s my brain knocking against my skull since I couldn’t seem to turn it off even while asleep. When I lift my aching head and look around the room, I realize it’s just Thorin, Seth, and me in the bed.
Aurelia’s gone.
Seth wakes up next when the knocking continues, and then Thor.
“What the fuck is that?” Thorin asks in a groggy tone.
“I think someone’s at the door,” Seth answers as he rubs his eyes.
I stand from the bed, wondering if Aurelia stepped outside for a moment and got locked out, but when I step out of Thorin’s room, I see her standing a few feet from the front door. She has a towel wrapped around her while her wet, curly hair hangs around her shoulders in perfect golden ringlets. Her dark roots are already starting to show, and in a few more months, her hair will be more brown than gold.
She must have been in the shower when whoever the fuck is on the other side of our door interrupted.
Aurelia’s watching it now with a weird expression—like she doesn’t quite know what to do, and I guess not, seeing as she obviously can’t answer it.
“Goldilocks.”
“It’s the sheriff,” she says. “I spotted him through the window. I thought he’d go away if no one answered, but he just keeps knocking.” Finally, she looks at me when I say nothing. “He’s not alone, Khalil.”
“Fuck.”
“Do you think he’s here for me?”
“I don’t know, baby.”
“What are we going to do?”
“About what?” Thorin asks as he and Seth step out of his room. He frowns at the door when the knocking persists, and then his expression becomes blank when he remembers that only one person comes this far up. “Is that who I think it is?”
“Sheriff Kelly,” I confirm.
“Boys, you home?” the sheriff calls out. “Open up!”
“I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t think we should open it.”
Aurelia nods while tightening her robe. “I have to agree with Seth. Answering it seems like a bad idea.”