“You want to see me hold him?” I deadpanned.
“Yeah. The way you hold yourself whenever he moves or you're thinking about him, makes me fall in love with you that much more. It's tender, and full of love even though he isn't here yet. So I can't wait to see you actually hold him.”
“Oh.” And that right there made me fall in love with you more. I turned so I could face him and pressed a quick kiss to his neck, “You're going to be an amazing father Brandon. Your dad would be so proud of who you are.”
“I hope so.”
“I know he would.”
He shrugged but was smiling at me, “I don't think he wanted me to fight for a living. He was a business man, I always thought I'd do that too.”
“Do you want to? Someday, I mean.”
“I'm really not sure. I should probably figure that out soon. I can't fight forever.”
Thank God for that. “We have time, we have enough money to last us for a long time. I want you to just be with me for the first few months, I don't want you to worry about a career yet, okay?”
“Not likely, but thank you. I will stay home with you as much as possible for a while, but I've already been worrying about a career for some time now, I just don't know what I want to get into.”
“We'll figure it out.”
“Yes we will.” He kissed me thoroughly before turning me so my back was pressed against his chest again.
We stayed out there until after the sun went down and were now both lying on the blanket. My shirt was still rolled over my stomach and we each had a hand on it while our cramped baby tried to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in.
“It's getting late sweetheart, let's get some Pinkberry and get you home.”
“Thank you for taking me here, even if I was still laying down for most of it, it was nice to be outside near the water.” I let him pull me up and helped him fold the blanket back up.
We went to Pinkberry and my mouth was watering, Brandon thought my sugar cravings over the last few months were adorable, but I swear I turned into a crazed animal whenever I knew I was about to have some. Only problem was, if there were choices, I could never decide, which is why he usually went alone and picked for me. I stood there looking at everything and Brandon remained patient, he knew we'd be here a while. He wrapped his arms around my belly and planted his chin on top of my head, every now and then bringing his face down to kiss behind my ear and whisper how much he loved me and Liam. Then he'd start a trail of kisses down my neck and I'd have to start the decision making process all over.
“You're not helping babe.” I reached my hand up to run my fingers over the back of his buzzed head, I knew that would keep him from distracting me for a while. I glanced to the right and saw two female workers sigh with a dopey-eyed look. Looking over my shoulder to see that the wall was the only thing next to us, I glanced again and saw they were indeed watching us. “Jeez, no matter what you do, women drool over you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You fight in only a pair of shorts, and women practically climb over each other to get to you. You walk around at school or a store, and they trip over themselves to keep watching you. You talk or laugh, and their jaws drop and they get goose bumps. Then you do something as sweet as wrap your arms around your very pregnant fiancée and whisper sweet nothings in her ear, and they start swooning.”
His body tensed and I could practically feel his eyes looking everywhere, without moving his head, “That's kind of creepy. Wait, how do you notice this stuff?”
A quick glance to make sure they were still sighing and watching us together and I whispered, “I notice because I know what it's like to look at you, and I do the same thing. They’re at our three o’clock, by the way.”
“Does that bother you?” He teased, and when he shot a quick glance to our right he chuckled softly.
“Not at all, you're mine. It makes me laugh, knowing how much everyone else wants my man.”
“I'm giving you fair warning, I'm about to show them how much I am yours.”
I giggled, “Oh really now?”
“Hey if they want to watch, might as well give them a show.” He turned me around and captured my mouth with his, moving his lips against mine.
I put a hand on either side of his neck so my thumbs could trace his jaw, knowing they could see my humongous ring and almost burst out laughing at how stupid I was being. Not that they had any doubt before, but they for sure knew we were together now. I pulled away and smiled at him, “That was ridiculous.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the wall of yogurts.
“That was hilarious.” He corrected.
“Yeah, except now they're going to fantasize about you kissing them. Good job honey, I'm pretty sure they're goners now.”
His deep laugh made me shudder and bite my lip, “I'm not going to lie, that was fun. I make sure guys know that you're mine all the time, it was fun to let girls know I'm taken.”
“You do not.” I smacked his chest playfully.
“I do. I thought guys stared at you too much when we first started dating, you should see it now. It's frustrating the hungry looks in their eyes when they look at you.”
“Liar.”
“Harper,” he turned my chin so I was looking at his green eyes and talked soft and low, “Maybe me telling you you're beautiful isn't helping, so let me try another way. I know you think you look bad, but you're sexy as hell. Pregnancy looks damn good on you. Trust me. It takes everything in me not to rip your clothes off and finally make you mine despite what the Doctor says. And when other guys look at you, I see that look on their faces, they're fantasizing about the exact same thing.”
I rolled my eyes but planted a quick kiss to his lips anyway. After filling up my cup with frozen yogurt, I leaned into him and whispered, “It was a little fun. I flashed my ring their way when you kissed me.”
Brandon's next laugh bounced off the walls, “That's my girl.”
A male employee helped put the toppings on and took our cups to the register, there were now three girls huddled around it staring at Brandon. Brandon huffed a light laugh and shook his head as he wrapped an arm around me to pull me outside. We ate our Pinkberry in his Jeep in the parking lot and he had just turned the car back on when his phone rang. It was Scarecrow, Brandon put it on speaker.
“Man you gotta be there, this could make us more than we've ever got before. I already have a few bets and they're high.”
“I'll be there, where is it?”
Scarecrow gave him an address and Brandon cursed, “I can't I have Harper with me, we're already ten minutes away, I wouldn't be able to get back in time if I took her home.”
“Come on man, don't do this to me. The bets are only going to be this high if you're the opponent. I need you.”
Brandon looked at me and took a deep breath in and out of his nose, “Fine. But you keep an eye on her, if anything happens to her, my next fight will be against you. Got it?”
“HELL YEAH! I knew my boy wouldn’t let me down. See you in a bit.” He hung up before Brandon could say anything else.
“I'm sorry sweetheart, but I have to take you. If you don't want me to go tonight, just tell me and I'll call him back.”
“Well I don't, I never want you to go. But I know this means a lot to you.”
He brushed his knuckles along my jaw, “Thank you. I love you.”
“I love you too. Call your guys, I'll call Konrad and Jeremy.”
By the time I was up on the platform with Crow; Breanna, Konrad, Jeremy and one of his friends were arriving and making their way towards us. They were surprised to see me at such a big fight, but after explaining our date and how he wouldn't have made it back they understood and the boys made a loose circle around Bree and I. I had accidentally been elbowed in the stomach pretty hard not too long ago, and that had been the last big fight Brandon took me to, ever since then I get boxed in whenever I'm allowed to come.
Scarecrow was jumping up and down and couldn't stop laughing and smiling. He finally leaned in and told me if Brandon won, he would be bringing home at least forty-five hundred. I blanched, that could only mean the guy he was fighting was really good. The most Brandon had ever made was three thousand. He introduced them, and the fight began along with my uncontrollable shaking. Bree held my hand, she knew how much I hated this. The fight seemed to go on forever, both fighters equally getting in good punches and kicks. Brandon finally got him on the ground and almost choked him out before the other guy, who went by the name “Demon”, tapped out.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief, and Bree and I laughed shakily and hugged. Scarecrow hugged us hard and started out to the ring. I looked back at my fiancé who was riling up the crowd on the opposite side of the basement we were in. I saw Demon push someone away that had been yelling at him and charge toward Brandon, just as Brandon turned back around, Demon punched him so hard Brandon's body went stiff and fell to the ground. Demon sat on top of him and began punching him again and again until Scarecrow and some other guys pulled him off. Scarecrow rushed back over to Brandon but he wasn't getting up and he wasn't moving. I was screaming and trying to run to him, but there were multiple pairs of hands holding me where I stood. I kept getting flashes of Chase's limp body on the stretcher, his lifeless hand in mine. Bree's hand was gripping my arm so hard, I had no doubt she was seeing the same thing. A few guys helped Scarecrow pick up his body to carry him out of the room, and I broke away from whoever was holding me to get to Brandon. He was breathing, but he wasn't opening his eyes or responding to anything.
It probably wasn't the brightest idea, but there was a hospital less than a mile away so the guys carried him up the stairs and put him in the back of his Jeep. Jeremy jumped in with me so he could drive after tossing his keys to his friend. Konrad said he'd follow us there. Jeremy jumped out and ran into the E.R., when he came out he was followed closely by nurses with a stretcher. They took Brandon back to an exam room but made us stay in the waiting room. I collapsed into Jeremy's side and bawled my eyes out. I'd seen Brandon knock guys unconscious, but after a minute or smelling salts, they always woke up. Brandon didn't. There was no way this was happening.