Monroe, Marla - Her Biker Bodyguards [The Dirty Dozen 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

No matter how much she chastised herself, she kept thinking about Dillon and Gavin and wondering what they were doing. Working, of course, but what about at night? Were they already with another woman? The thought of them holding someone else had her chest hurting all over again. She gagged and rushed to the bathroom to throw up. She had done that a lot lately. Every time she thought of them, she got sick.

She cleaned herself up and grabbed her purse and car keys. She would get a
Dallas
paper and look for a place to live and a job. It would keep her mind occupied for a while, anyway.

When she got back, Briana spread the paper out on the bar and circled everything that sounded good. She was sure there would be a lot of duds, but she couldn’t afford to pass anything up that was within her budget.

She managed to find a dozen possible jobs and knew there would be more in Sunday’s paper. She would get one and look at them. In the meantime, she needed to update her résumé. Well, as soon as she got her test results back. Fear overwhelmed her again that she hadn’t passed. She sniffed and felt the tears well up in her eyes.

Bill called to find out how her tests went and to commiserate with her. She knew he meant well, but he only stirred up her emotions again. How did you get over being in love with someone who had dumped you?

When she finally found out she’d passed and with a fairly good grade, she rejoiced, but it was short lived. It meant it was time to move on. And that meant no chance of Gavin and Dillon coming back. Deep down she had harbored a sick hope that they would come back and profess their love of her.

Briana began packing and making plans. She had fifty résumés printed out and ready to send out as soon as she had an address. Since the house had come furnished, she didn’t have much to move. She managed to fit all of it in her car. She left out just what she needed for getting ready the next morning and planned to leave early Monday morning.

It crossed her mind that the men would be leaving in another month themselves. She refused to think of them anymore. All it did was get her to crying until she threw up. She didn’t need to lose any more weight, as her clothes wouldn’t fit her. She couldn’t afford to buy more clothes.

Monday found her antsy at four in the morning. She finally got up and got dressed. She packed the last of her things and grabbed a cup of coffee and sweet roll on the way out of town. She resisted the urge to drive by the hotel where the men were staying to get a glimpse of their bikes. How sick was that? It was time to move on. And that was what she was doing.

* * * *

By the end of the week, she had a place to live and a job. The wonderful thing about her job was that she got to work from home, only going in occasionally for meetings. Never had she expected something that perfect.

Her apartment was cozy and in a fairly nice neighborhood. Certainly better than where she had lived in Round Rock. She found that there was an entire community there complete with a grocery store, bakery, Starbucks, and laundry.

Briana settled in quickly and loved her new job. She still thought of the guys on a regular basis. Especially since she figured out that she was pregnant. Somehow someone’s condom had leaked. It didn’t matter whose baby it was. She would cherish it regardless. Working from home would be perfect for being a single mother.

She struggled with the thought that she needed to inform them. They had a right to know. She finally came to the conclusion that she had to tell them. She had their phone numbers. She tried Dillon first. He didn’t answer. It went to voice mail. She left a message that she needed to talk to them. He didn’t call back. She called Gavin’s number, but he didn’t call back, either. She didn’t have their address. They weren’t listed in the phone book.

What more could she do? She wasn’t going to tell them over the phone that she was pregnant. She just couldn’t. She’d done her due diligence with no results. Her conscious was clear as far as she was concerned.

It didn’t make her feel any better about it. She felt like she was betraying them by not telling them. She tried calling them one more time. This time Dillon called back. He sounded tired.

“Um, if this is a bad time…” she began

“No, what do you want, Briana?”

“I need to see you and Gavin. It’s important, Dillon. Please?”

“No, it’s not a good idea. Gavin is finally doing better. I don’t want to dredge it all up again.”

“It’s important, Dillon. I wouldn’t put myself through this if it wasn’t.”

“I’m hanging up, Briana.” The phone went dead.

Briana sat down crying once again, but that was that. She’d tried.

She concentrated on her job and doing her best. She realized she needed to go to the doctor and get prenatal care, but she hesitated since she didn’t have insurance. How was she going to pay for all of it?

Finally, she set up an appointment with a free clinic for the next Thursday. She was between three and four months the best that she could figure. She’d never been regular. It was another reason she needed to see a doctor. She sighed and wrote in the appointment on her calendar, not that she was likely to forget.

It was nearly quitting time. She’d worked some each weekend to account for any time she spent away from the computer, so she didn’t feel guilty about taking off and hour early today. It was Friday, and the weekend was ahead of her. She’d fill it with shopping and other errands. She wouldn’t give herself time to dwell on what-ifs.

She did the laundry and put it away before calling it a day and heading for bed. She tossed and turned like most nights, but finally settled into sleep. Early the next morning someone was pounding on her door. She frowned. She didn’t know anyone other than the people from work. Why would they be banging on her door on a Saturday morning at only
eight o’clock
?

She slipped a robe on and stepped into her house shoes. When she got to the door, she looked through the peephole and nearly passed out. It was Dillon and Gavin. She leaned her head against the door, trying to get her emotions under control. One of them banged against the door again, hurting her head.

Briana opened the door, and they stood on the threshold looking much like they always had before the breakup.

“What do you want?” she asked in a tight voice.

“You wanted to talk to us.” Gavin said.

“That was before. This is now.”

“We want to apologize. Can we come in?” Dillon asked, sounding contrite.

She let out a deep breath and nodded, stepping aside.

They walked in and looked around at her modest living area that joined into the open kitchen.

“Can we sit down?” Dillon asked.

“Sure. Make yourselves at home. Would you like some coffee?” She couldn’t believe she was being so polite, as if they were guests. They were her ex-lovers, for God’s sake.

“I need to apologize for how I treated you, Briana,” Gavin began.

“It’s okay. It’s water under the bridge. There’s nothing to forgive. You weren’t serious, and I was trying to make it into something it wasn’t.” She so didn’t want to rehash it all now.

“No, it’s not. Because it’s not over,” Dillon said.

Briana panicked. Had they found out she was pregnant? How?

“Please, hear me out,” Gavin said, surprising her.

She merely nodded her head. She couldn’t speak. If they knew, she wasn’t sure what that meant for her.

“I pushed you away because I felt more for you than I had ever felt for another woman. You needed some kind assurance that you meant more to us than an affair, and I used that as an excuse to pick a fight. I’m sorry, Briana.”

“I don’t understand why you’re telling me this now.”

“I’m hoping you’ll give us another chance to show you how much we care about you.” Gavin swallowed and watched her intently. There was something in his eyes that had never been there before. Vulnerability.

“How did you find out?” she finally asked with tears in her eyes.

“Find out what?” Dillon asked.

“Don’t play games with me. You didn’t want anything to do with me a few weeks ago. Now all of a sudden you want to pick up our relationship where we left off? I’m not buying it. Somehow you found out I was pregnant.”

She had to give it to them. They acted shocked well enough. Dillon’s mouth even hung open.

“You’re sure?” Gavin asked in a strained voice.

“Don’t try and make out like you didn’t know. I can’t believe you had a sudden change of heart after all this time.”

“We didn’t know, Briana,” Dillon said in a small voice.

His eyes had lit up, and he looked happy for a while. Then he sighed and dropped his head.

“You don’t believe us. We honestly didn’t know. I swear to you,” he said.

“How far along are you?” Gavin asked.

“I’m not sure. Three or four months.”

“You haven’t been to a doctor yet?” Dillon was appalled.

“I just figured it out when I called you.”

“You should have gone to one immediately to get on prenatal vitamins,” Gavin said.

“I’m taking over-the-counter ones. The pharmacist assures me they are just as good as the prescription ones.” She felt like she had to defend herself.

“It’s okay, baby. Calm down. It can’t be good for the baby,” Dillon said, flashing Gavin a stern look.

“This is even more reason for you to give us a second chance, baby,” Gavin said.

“No, it’s not. You’re just saying that because of the baby,” she said.

He ran a hand through his hair and glared at Dillon. “You say something. Convince her we’re serious.”

Dillon let out a breath. “I can’t convince her if she thinks we already knew about the baby. How were we supposed to know, Briana? You haven’t been to a doctor for us to find out about it. Does anyone know you’re pregnant besides you?”

“Well, no,” she admitted.

“So how could we have known, Briana? Don’t you see? We came to see you because we want a chance to show you we’re serious about a relationship with you. An exclusive relationship.”

“I don’t know. It’s been a long time. I’ve finally gotten past it all and started over. I’m doing well here.” She didn’t know what to do now.

Her heart throbbed nearly out of her chest at the thought of starting over. Why had they changed their minds? What had happened to make Gavin drop his anger at her?

“Please, baby. Give us a chance. We’ll make it up to you. You mean so much to us,” Gavin said.

The emotion in his eyes convinced her it would be a good thing. Besides, there was the baby to consider. He or she deserved to know his or her dads. God, how was she going to explain that to him when he grew up?

“Okay. I’ll give us a chance. I can’t promise anything.”

Both men let out a breath and smiled. Gavin pulled her out of the chair she’d been sitting in and into his arms. Dillon walked around behind her and squeezed her shoulders. Then he put a hand down over her abdomen. She closed her eyes to hide her pain.
Please don’t let this be a cruel joke, God.

Gavin pulled back and kissed her all over her face. Then he stepped back and looked around.

“Where’s the phone book?”

“Why?” she asked confused.

“The first thing we need to do is find a doctor and make an appointment for you.”

“I’ve already done that. I go next Thursday,” she said, a little annoyed at him.

“Good, we’re going with you.”

“Oh no. Definitely not. I go by myself.”

“Not on your life. We want to be a part of our baby’s life. That starts now,” Gavin said, crossing his arms.

“How am I going to explain two men wanting to be in on the exam?”

“Doesn’t matter. There’s nothing he can do or say that’s going to stop us from being a part of this.”

She looked over at Dillon who was usually the voice of reason. He grinned and shook his head.

“I’m with Gavin on this. I want to be there.”

Sighing, she hung her head. Dillon pulled her into his arms and kissed her nose.

“I missed you so much, baby,” he said.

“What am I going to do with the two of you?”

“Well, next thing is we’re going to pack you up and move you to our house,” Gavin said, looking around.

“Oh, no. I’m putting my foot down on that. I’m living here. We are not a family. We’re starting over. That means completely over.” Briana wasn’t budging on this.

“Okay, okay. We’ll work around that for now,” Gavin said.

Briana smothered a smile. He was trying. It was something. The old Gavin had been unbending. This Gavin was trying to compromise. Dillon must have had a very long and serious talk with him.

“We’re taking you out to eat then,” Gavin insisted.

“Um, it’s morning. I don’t eat much breakfast. Think we could try for lunch or dinner instead? I really need to dress.”

Gavin smiled. “I kind of like you like you are, only minus the robe.”

“You would. Go home, you two. I have things to do today and need to get to them if I’m going to let you take me out to dinner tonight.”