19

Emily woke up to breakfast in bed. Kian brought a bed tray with a bowl of soup, a glass of water and saltine crackers on it and set it on the nightstand. 

“What’s the special occasion?” Emily chuckled sitting up slowly. Her head pounded and her stomach churned from the smell of the food. 

“Have to take care of my girl,” Kian smiled. 

“I’ll be okay. You don’t have to do all this.” He responded with a frown. 

“Not an option. Never will be, sweetheart. As long as you’re alive, I will be by your side. So get used to it,” he winked. She could only laugh at his flattering words and sweetness. Her stomach seemed to approve as well because it settled. 

“Well, thank you, Mr. Nordin. I do appreciate your kindness,” she replied in a Southern Belle accent. He laughed and shook his head.

“Miss Freeman, you, my dear, are up to no good. Aren’t you?” Emily shook her head.

“For once, I’m not.” He gave her a side eye that caused her to laugh. “Kian, I promise. I’m up to nothing besides about to eat what I hope is amazing soup.” 

“It is my special soup,” he bragged.

“Special soup?” She questioned staring at the bowl then back at him.

“It is my special ‘Emily, my love, is sick and needs the best soup ever’ soup.” Emily busted out laughing. 

“Kian, you sure know how to flatter the ladies,” she mused. Kian’s body stiffened at the word ladies. “Oh. Kian. That’s not what I meant. I just meant that...” Her words were stuck in her throat as her stomach felt like it was ready to erupt. She placed her hand on her stomach.

Please, settle for me. Pretty please, she thought to herself as she rubbed her stomach under the covers.

“I know what you’re trying to say, sweetheart. I just feel horrible for my past,” Kian whispered running a hand through his hair. 

“The past is the past, Kian.” She took one of her hands off of her stomach and placed it on the side of Kian’s face. He closed his eyes and leaned into it.

Emily meant what she said. She didn’t care about Kian’s past anymore. His past was just that his past. She only cared about the future. As long as his past stayed where it was, then she could accept him for him. She wanted to look ahead of them; not behind them. 

“How did I get so lucky to have you cross my path,” he asked with his eyes still closed. Emily laughed and shook her head.

“We’re both lucky. And we can thank being trapped in Camden for us,” she teased. Kian didn’t laugh. His eyes opened slowly. 

“I need to go see, Nikki, sweetheart.” 

“Oh,” she breathed. They were just having an intimate conversation. Now he was ready to zoom off to Nikki. 

“It’s not what you think. Promise.” He gave her a smile and ran his hand down the side of her face. “I just don’t want any secrets between us. I want you to know everything. It isn’t fair for you to tell me everything and me to hold this back from you.”

His words echoed in her mind don’t want any secrets between us. Internally she growled and kicked herself in the ass. Part of her wanted to come clean and tell him what she suspected. However, the other part of her wanted confirmation before she even opened her mouth. 

“Once you finish eating, I’ll go run and see Nikki. If that’s okay?” he asked looking uneasy. 

“That’s fine,” Emily replied trying to hide her nervousness from him. Kian smiled at her response then set the tray on the bed beside her. 

He fed her the entire time; even though she assured him she was capable of feeding herself. He would just laugh off her pouting then go back to feeding her. A huge smile was plastered on his face the entire time. Emily could see it in his facial expression and body language he liked taking care of her. She could also hear it in his voice. 

After breakfast in bed, Kian helped her to the bathroom and insisted on coming in the bathroom with her.

“Kian, I promise I will be okay. If I need you, I will call for you,” she pleaded. He stood in front of her with his arms crossed. “Kian. Please!”

“What if you fall,” he huffed at her.

“Kian,” she whined. “You will hear me and then you can come in.”

“Okay,” he groaned. “But keep the door unlocked so I don’t have to kick it down.” Emily laughed at the thought of Kian kicking down the bathroom door. 

“Yes, sir,” she giggled throwing him a salute. He laughed and shook his head. 

“Please, keep...”

“I know. I know,” she said ushering him out the door by pushing his arm. “Keep the door unlocked. I got it.” 

“Emily,” he laughed as she finally got him out the bathroom. “For my sanity, please, keep the door unlocked.” She sighed then nodded. 

“Fine, but don’t come in while I’m using the bathroom,” she warned waving a finger at him. He smiled and made a cross outline on his chest. 

“I promise... unless I think you’re hurt.” Emily groaned loudly before taking a step back and closing the door in Kian’s face. She heard him laughing. “I mean it, sweetheart.”

“Yeah. Yeah. I got it. Now go somewhere so I can use the bathroom.” 

“Okay,” he chuckled making his way away from the door. Emily let out a breath of fresh air. If this is how he was acting when she was sick, she could only imagine how he would act if she was pregnant.

Emily placed her hand on her stomach. She couldn’t help but smile at the thought of there being a little Kian running around. Or a feisty mini version of her causing hell in the world. Having a child was yet another thing on her list of things she would never do. The thought of bringing a child into the world has always terrified her. Her parents’ words always echoed in her mind whenever she tried to picture herself settling down and starting a family. ‘No one will ever love you.’ Their words were the foundation to her sky-high wall. The wall had been rising higher and higher as the years went by. 

Now, here she stood in a bathroom of a man she had only met a short while ago; her hand on her possibly pregnant stomach, and thoughts of having a family dancing in her mind. She wasn’t the same woman she was when her and Selma had driven into Camden. Nothing made sense. Everything was confusing, yet, it all made sense. She felt at home with Kian. She felt there were no worries in the world as long as he was by her side. 

“Emily,” she said looking in the mirror. “You, my friend, have lost your mind.” She gave herself a firm nod before going about her business in the bathroom. 

While she was in the shower, Kian had knocked checking on her. After the fifth knock, she finally told him to come in the bathroom. She kept the shower curtain half way open to ease his mind. He looked a nervous wreck. He sat on the closed-lid toilet, his hands running through his hair and his teeth nipping at his bottom lip. 

“Kian, relax,” Emily said giving him a reassuring smile. “I’m fine.” 

“I’m just worried because you keep getting sick. It could be from the car accident. I will kill Casper if it is from the accident,” he growled.

“Kian,” she sighed. “Casper isn’t to blame for the accident. The dog as you all keep calling it is to blame.” Kian’s hands dropped to his lap. His body tensed. 

“It was a dog, sweetheart,” he replied softly. 

“Kian, is the dog part of the Nikki secret?” He was no longer looking at her. His eyes were looking down at the floor and his shoulders were slumped. 

“As soon as you are done showering, fed, and back in bed, I need to go find Nikki,” he sighed with his eyes looking everywhere but at Emily. 

“Yes. You do, because your twenty-four hours is almost up.”

“I know.”

“Kian, go now. I want this secret out of the way.” He was finally looking at her. 

“I don’t want to leave you...”

“Kian. Please? Go take care of the Nikki thing. If I need you, I will...” Camden and its modern day technology were almost non-existent. “Send up smoke signals or shout for help.” She shrugged sticking her head under the warm water. 

“Okay. But I will wait until you are out of the shower. I don’t want you to fall.” Emily rolled her eyes. 

“Yes, dad,” she grumbled.

“Emily, I just care about you, sweetheart.” 

She wanted to be annoyed by his hovering but no matter how hard she tried, her heart wouldn’t let her. It was a strange feeling for her to have someone wanting to take care of her. To have someone who didn’t want to leave her side. Growing up she didn’t have anyone who took care or wanted to take care of her. By the age of six, she was able to pour the proper amount of cough medicine into the medicine cup, all by herself.

While Kian sat watching her like a hawk — a nervous hawk — Emily washed her hair and finished up. She barely had the water turned off before he was by her side with a towel. 

“Kian...” she sighed. 

“Please, just give this to me. I’ll feel a lot better.” His words were a cross between a plea and a statement. Looking at his face, Emily knew it was more of a plea. He looked exhausted, worried, and anxious. 

“Thank you,” she smiled. He returned her smile then wrapped his arm around her waist. 

Once she was out of the shower, he went into mother hen mode, as Emily liked to call it. He dried her off, made her brush her teeth, and brushed her hair while she brushed her teeth. It was all new to her. She couldn’t remember the last time someone else was in the bathroom with her. 

Every time she glanced in the mirror, she would see the happiness on Kian’s face as he stroked the brush through her hair. His happiness filled her with the same amount of happiness. The man was making her fall for him. It was a fall she didn’t think she’d be able to avoid. 

“What are you thinking about?” Kian grinned setting the brush down on the bathroom counter.

“How happy you make me.” Her words came out sweet and flowed out of her mouth like a song. She clapped a hand over her mouth. She meant what she said, but it wasn’t meant for him to hear. 

“You make me happy too, sweetheart.” He spun her around to where they were facing each other. “When you’re ready to open up to me about all of your feelings, I’ll be here.” He kissed her forehead swiftly then lifted her off the ground.

“Kian,” she laughed. “I can walk!”

“Yeah, but not on my watch,” he chuckled. Instead of insisting that he put her down, Emily wrapped her arms around his neck and held on as he carried her down the hallway and to the bedroom. The warm bed was welcoming to her cooling skin. After he set her down on the bed, he looked down laughing while she snuggled up in the covers. 

“So warm,” she smiled. 

“You look like an angel,” Kian said huskily. “Good enough to eat.” Emily gasped for air at his seductive words.

“Kian,” she pleaded. “If we fuck,” he frowned at her word choice, “right now, you’ll never go find your bestie, Nikki.”

“She’s far from my bestie,” he grumbled. Emily removed her towel underneath the covers then tossed it at Kian. He was quick to dodge it. “Hey,” he laughed. 

“Get going, lover boy. The sooner you return... the better,” she said wantonly. Kian smirked and took a step towards her. She held up her hand towards him, stopping him from coming any closer to her. “First you need to go take care of the Nikki thing.”

Kian sighed heavily. “Ugh. Between Nikki and you, I’m going to die at an early age.” Emily tossed a pillow at him full force. “Hey!” 

“Don’t you compare me to that witch,” she growled. 

Nikki was the last person on the planet that Emily wanted to be categorized with. To Emily, her and Nikki had nothing in common other than them both being women. Outside of that, she saw no common denominator. 

“I promise she isn’t as bad as you think, sweetheart.”

“What about her having the whole town keep a secret from Selma and me?” Emily retorted as she sat up on her elbows. Her eyes focused on Kian with a frown on her face. He didn’t reply right away. He ran his hands through his hair several times. A few times he opened his mouth to speak but closed it. “Well?”

“It isn’t a secret against the two of you,” he finally whispered. “Nikki is just protecting the town.” 

“Protecting the town?” Emily rolled her eyes. How were two women a threat to an entire town? It didn’t make sense to her. Her and Selma didn’t even have cars to leave the town so if anyone was a threat, it was the town to her and Selma. 

“It doesn’t make sense now. But I promise when I get back that it will. Okay?” he gave a hesitant smile. Emily wanted to be upset with him but seeing his nervous, boyish smile made her lose all of her angry emotions.

“I hate you,” she giggled. Kian smiled brightly then jumped onto the bed. His legs straddled on each side of her. “Kian,” she laughed. 

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He kissed her lips. “If you need help, shout for help, Casper will hear you. Trust me.”

“He will?” She asked with an eyebrow raised. Kian’s smile began to disappear but reappeared just as quickly.

“He has great hearing. Plus he always seems to know when a damsel is in distress,” he joked. With one more kiss, he climbed off the bed. “You stay put. I don’t want you to be that damsel in distress. Especially, a damsel in distress, who is naked. If anyone sees you naked...” His voice started off playful. However, by the time he reached his words ‘anyone sees you naked’, he was growling.

“Relax. I’ll stay put so you don’t have to go Chuck Norris on anyone.” Emily was only teasing, but Kian was staring at her with a confused expression. His lack of modern life was something he’d need to be caught up to speed with if they were to stay together.

“Chuck Norris,” he repeated questioningly. 

“Fine. Forget Chuck Norris. How about Bruce Li?” His confused look never let up. Emily shook her head, rolled her eyes and sighed. “I have my work cut out for me,” she mumbled under her breath. 

“Who are Chuck Morris and Bruce Li?” 

“Chuck Morris?” Emily busted out laughing. “Hurry and go get permission from your fairy godmother to tell me the secret.” She was still laughing; however, he wasn’t. “Kian, relax. Please? For the love of God. Relax.”

He gave her a half smile. “Sorry, sweetheart. Just a lot on my mind. I will be back to myself once everything is out in the open between us.” 

It was Emily’s turn to go placid. She still had her own secret. Well, suspicion. As soon as he left, she needed to go to the store and get a test. Would this small town even have an EPT? They probably just wait it out until a baby pops out, she groaned internally. 

“Me too,” she said softly. 

“Okay then. Let me hurry,” he smiled. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Okay,” she said timidly. She was still dwelling on her own secret. 

“Emily,” Kian said pulling her from her thoughts. “Everything will be okay. We’ll get through all of this... together.” He gave her his award-winning smile. 

“Together,” she nodded her head firmly. 

“That’s my girl.” He smiled again and began making his way down the hallway. The front door opened, “I’ll hurry back!”

“Okay,” she shouted back at him. The front door shut, and the apartment fell silent. It was the first time she had been in his apartment and not in a foul mood. Granted, her mood wasn’t a delightful one, but she wasn’t amped up with jealousy like the last time. 

The sound of silence was nice. Silence meant that she could focus on her thoughts and nothing else. However, she knew she needed to think fast, because Kian was on a mission. A fast mission. Emily knew it wouldn’t take long for him to find Nikki then be on his way back to share the secret. The secret that was needed to protect the town. Now she had her own secret. One that she wouldn’t reveal until she was absolutely positive. Telling a man you were pregnant with his child wasn’t just something you could retract if down the road you learned otherwise. Emily didn’t want to play with Kian’s emotions. 

Taking a deep breath for courage, she made her way off the bed. She was on a mission of her own. A mission to get to the store and back before Kian noticed she was gone.

***

Once dressed and outside the apartment building, Emily looked around for someone. Anyone. She needed a ride. She wouldn’t care if Kian learned of her disappearing once she knew the test result. 

Looking around, she saw no one. Not even a stray animal. The apartment complex was eerily quiet. It was almost like a ghost town. A well-kept ghost town. 

“Where is everyone?” Emily asked walking around the complex hoping to find someone on their way to town. No matter where she looked, there wasn’t a person to found or a sound to be heard. “This is the creepiest place on the planet.” 

The walk back to the apartment building was a pity walk for Emily. She didn’t know what she was going to do now. Kian’s return would leave her with no chance to go to the store by herself. If she asked to go to the store alone, he would most likely question her reasoning for going. She could give the excuse of feminine products. With his old school behavior, he would surely respect her desire to go alone.

“Ah! Ha,” she called out clapping her hands together. A victory smile was across her face. That would solve her problem. 

Her victory was just beginning. Because out of the woods stalking towards Selma’s apartment building was a very large animal. It was the dog as the others called it. The werewolf as she liked to call it. With everything going on in her life, she somehow had let the werewolf slip her mind. Not now. Now she couldn’t let it slip her mind because she was seeing it from its head down to its furry toes. 

Emily fell in shock when she saw it carrying a bag in its mouth. Emily, you see a fucking werewolf in person and you’re more shocked by the damn doggy bag in its mouth, she yelled at herself. 

She stood still and watched the animal carefully as it made its way closer to Selma’s apartment building. When it was one building away, it transformed. Its fur shifted into skin. Its bones went from four legs to two. When it was all said and done, there stood... Casper. 

“Son of a bitch,” she smirked. “Caught you, dog boy.”