“The fuck you say to me?” I spit.
Axel’s eyes narrow on mine. “You told me this morning that she was nothing special. That this baby wasn’t changing you, that you weren’t cut out for father shit.”
I hiss out of my nose. “Fuck you.”
“Man. The. Fuck. Up. You want Eve. Be with her,” he yells and Dewey slinks back. “You knocked her up. Your kid deserves a dad.” He gets in my face. “Stop lying to yourself. It’s fucking disgraceful. You’ll be lucky if Eve will even let you near her or your kid.”
That’s it. I literally see red as I charge him. He’s ready and goes straight for my stomach, but rage is a powerful thing. I don’t feel the hit in my jaw. In fact it makes me smile as we both beat the shit out of each other. The room is silent even as we tumble on chairs and knock over glasses.
“Jesus Christ, what the hell?” Edge yells.
I shake my head as I grit out, “Fuck.” Edge and Ryder pull me off of Axel. I look down at Axel, his face a bloody mess, but he has a big-ass smile.
“You’re my brother.” He sits up and spits blood on the floor. “But you are completely addicted to this girl, and if you don’t acknowledge it, it’s going to destroy you.” Dewey tries to help him up, but he knocks away his hand.
“Motherfucker.” I go toward him, but Ryder is stronger.
“Prez. It’s gonna be okay, man. I told you my dream. Why are you fighting it?”
I jerk out of his grasp and ignore his fucking comment. My eyes zero in on Dewey. “Did you take her home?” I spit it out as I take small breaths in.
He shakes his head. “No, she wanted to stay the night with her father. We were having the party, and I thought that would be nice since you were going to be occupied.”
I hear Axel snort and mumble, “That’s a joke. His dick is owned.”
I straighten and hear my neck and shoulder crack. I wipe my mouth as I taste blood.
“Give me the keys to the Tahoe,” I demand.
“Prez, why don’t we all calm down. You’ve been drinking and both you and Axel are bleeding.”
“Are you my fucking mother?” I turn to Ox. “Do I need your permission? No.” I turn back to Dewey. “Give them to me.”
“I’ll take you.” Edge announces and holds out his hand for the keys. Dewey reluctantly hands them over. Nodding, I’m too tired and pissed to argue. As I walk by Axel, I stop to inspect the damage: his right eye is split and already swollen shut.
“You feel better?” He holds his ribs with one hand and reaches for a bottle of tequila with the other.
I nod not bothering to answer. My throat is raw and I grind out, “I’ll be back in the morning.”
No one says anything as we walk to the Tahoe. Either they’re too fucked up to care or my face says it all as I throw open the door and get into the passenger seat.
Edge stays quiet most of the way to the nursing home. It’s not until he puts the Tahoe in park that he turns toward me.
“You going to be okay in there? The last thing she needs is you going crazy, Prez.” He rubs his hands on his face.
“Edge, you have no clue what’s going on. Dewey heard my baby’s heartbeat.”
I must sound insane because he frowns and says, “What?”
“My baby. He got to hear its heartbeat before me.”
“Why?”
I look over at him and say nothing because what am I going to say? I think I’m in love with Eve and that scares me? So I made Dewey go with her?
He glances over at me and opens the door. “It’s hard to be king.”
“Well, I am.” I grunt as I move my sore jaw around. “I need to work this shit out.”
I barge into the lobby. The poor woman behind the counter is so stunned she stares with her mouth open.
“We’re here to see James Smith.” Edge sighs as he signs us in.
She nods. “Um… is he, are you okay?”
I turn as we start walking toward James’s room. “Never better, why?” She stares again and I throw open the door to James’s room not even bothering to knock.
Eve sits with her dad at the round table. They must have recently finished dinner because the room reeks of mashed potatoes and garlic. They both glance over surprised, and for a man who is dying, he doesn’t look any worse. If anything, he looks better than the last time I saw him. At least his eyes are alive. I grin because he looks like he wants to kill me. Not that I blame him.
“Let’s go,” I demand. Her nose goes up and her eyes take in my face and shift down to my ripped-up hands.