Chapter Ten

I was suddenly really interested in my club sandwich.

"Lewis." Kody said, in an exhausted tone. "How does King know?" He asked again. This time I could see that he struggled to keep calm.

I kept it simple. Because if I told him the whole story, he would hear about how I was planning on not telling him at all. I didn't want to be throttled any time soon.

"He overheard me on the phone." I said carelessly. Before he could further question me, I questioned him.

"Are you in some kind of gang, Kody?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. Not answering.

I know I blamed a lot of things on the pregnancy. On the baby. But I was never this stupid before I was knocked up.

I quickly backtracked. "I mean not that I think you're in a gang, but it's like a rumor. People are saying...people say things you know."

He sighed looking around the restaurant. "You really want to talk about this right now?"

My hand unconsciously rested on my stomach. "Well, if it's true I think I should know. I think that would be kind of dangerous. I don't-"

"I'm not in a gang, Ezra." He said through clenched teeth.

I sighed. "Yeah, but I sort of saw a gang meeting in your living room. They called you Cap. I think-"

"It's not a gang. " he said, his expression disgusted.

I pursed my lips. I wanted more information, but I didn't want to piss him off further. So instead I nodded, taking another bite out of my sandwich. The food here was impeccable.

"Do you know what it is? Or do we have to find out?"

I raised a brow.

"The baby." Kody whispered. "Is it a girl or a boy?"

I laughed. He was even more misinformed than I was about this whole thing. It made me feel kind of confident.

"We have to wait. About ten more weeks."

He thought about it. "But you're sure it's just one."

Even the thought of carrying two Vincent fetuses made my stomach drop.

"It's just one." I confirmed.

Kody studied me, staring at my face and reading my expression before nodding. "I want to come to the next appointment. I want to see my baby."

His baby.

It was true. It was his baby as much as it was mine. He had every right I had. I nodded.

"I scheduled it for Friday. You can come. It's at one."

He pulled out his phone, typing it into his calendar.

"Can you do something for me?" I asked fiddling with the chips on my plate.

He looked up at me, a confused expression covering his face. "Yeah."

I rolled my eyes. He would agree before he even knew what he was agreeing to.

"I need someone to make me documents saying I went to the doctor. I assume you know someone like that."

Kody was the person to go to when you needed fake IDs or ten page essays. He had mysterious ways.

He nodded. "Yeah, I know a person. How soon do you need them?"

I blushed. "Today. I have to give them to Stella. I told her I was getting birth control."

He chuckled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a couple of bills. "Alright. Come on. Maybe we can catch him before he locks up for the day."

He tossed the bills on the table, quickly rising and pulling me out of my seat. I didn't utter a word as he dragged me across the room and out the door.

When he once again pulled the door open for me, I wondered if he thought I was fragile. Like opening a door would hurt the baby.

It was kind of cute.

He ruined it by driving like a lunatic.

He sped through the light traffic like he was in a race.

We lived in a small town, so nothing was more than twenty minutes away, but Kody drove as if he was trying to make it to the other side of the state.

When he pulled into the parking lot of an old pool hall, my hand had gone white from gripping the seatbelt.

I still hadn't let it go by the time he was out of the car and opening my door.

"Follow my lead in here Lewis." He said, a serious expression on his face.

And then he grabbed my hand, lacing his fingers through mine.

I held my breath. I didn't like it. I didn't like the way holding hands with Kody made me feel. I didn't like the things it made me remember.

Because I remembered exactly what those fingers of his could do.

When we walked inside the building, everybody turned to look at us. More specifically him.

He pretended he didn't notice all of the eyes on him. He walked up to a ragged looking bar and tapped it with his free hand.

The bartender- a pretty middle aged woman with more tattoos than clear skin- smiled at him. "Well, look at this. My baby has returned."

He chuckled, pulling me closer to him. "Hey, Ma. I need to see Nelly."

I tried to compose my face as I studied them. There was no way this woman was Kody's mother.

"He's in the back. Go on." She said with a wink, before wiping down the spot of the bar Kody's hand had been covering.

Once we walked past the bar, Kody visibly relaxed. His hold on me loosened but he didn't release my hand. "Nelly's cool. " he explained.

I just nodded.

Nelly was sitting in a chair, his eyes closed as he mumbled something over and over under his breath.

When he heard our footsteps his eyes shot opened.

"The prodigal son has returned." He said sarcastically and with little enthusiasm.

Kody pulled me into the small office that Nelly was inhabiting.

"Nelly meet Lewis. Vice Versa."

I smiled as Nelly gave me the guy 'what's up' nod.

"What kind of name is Lewis, for a girl?"

I opened my mouth to tell him my real name but Kody cut me off.

"It's the kind of name you get. I need doctors papers."

Nelly stared at us for a bit, before throwing his head back and laughing. He swiveled in his chair typing on his computer.

"I'm gonna need a name for doctor papers Kody Vincent." He said in a teasing tone.

"No you don't. Do the black out method. And how many times do I have to tell you that's not-"

He broke off turning to me. "Just hurry up Nelly."

I looked between the two wondering what he had stopped himself from saying.