Twice the Malone by Laylah Roberts

21

As Maddox lifted her into Beau’s rental truck, he still couldn’t believe that they were having twins.

Twins.

Fuck. What did he know about twins? Well, beyond being one himself. Was it more dangerous to carry multiples?

Regent’s friend had managed to get them another appointment. So, they’d quickly gotten dressed and packed up their stuff. Well, he and Beau had. He’d made Scarlett sit and rest, much to her annoyance. She’d griped over it but eventually quieted down.

The next argument had come when he’d gone to pay for the hotel room. For some damn reason she thought she was going to go halves on that shit.

Like hell.

Seemed like that was something they’d have to address if she kept it up. Money wasn’t something she needed to be concerned about. They had enough to worry about.

He also needed to talk to Beau about appropriate food for a pregnant woman. He’d let her eat a donut this morning because they were in a rush, but donuts were a treat. Not breakfast.

He’d already sent Alec the information from the flash drive, he was just waiting for him to look through it and get back to him. They pulled up outside the clinic.

“Do we really have to do this?” Scarlett groaned as Maddox opened her door. “It’s pointless. We’ve come here twice already. All of these extra ultrasounds aren’t covered by Medicaid. It’s a waste of money.”

“You’re having one because I want to see our babies,” Maddox told her. He studied her, this was something more than the money issue.

“Is that the only problem?”

After giving her a moment to respond, he placed a hand on her leg, which was jiggling up and down.

“Scarlett? When I ask a question, I expect an answer.”

She let out a sigh. “I hate anything to do with doctors. When my parents were in that crash, my mom didn’t die immediately. She was brought into the hospital and kept on life support. My grandparents would come in every day to sit with her. I didn’t understand what was going on. Why she wouldn’t wake up. My grandparents were so upset. I think now that the hospital wanted to take her off life support, but they refused. I was just so confused about what was going on. And then, one day everyone was more upset than usual. I think . . . I think that was the day they decided to take her off the machines.”

Shit. He looked over at Beau who’d come to stand next to him.

“Oh, little one. I’m so sorry that happened to you. They should never have taken you into the hospital. What were they thinking?”

“I guess they didn’t have anyone else to watch me. But now I have this fear of hospitals. So can we skip the appointment?”

He cupped her face. “I get this is hard. But we’ll be with you the whole time. If you need one of us to constantly hold your hand, we will. Okay?”

She bit her lip and his insides knotted. Shit.

“If you really can’t do this, we won’t.” He was aware of the shocked look Beau sent him. “I’ll call your doctor instead and talk to her about your care or go in now by myself. You and Beau can wait out here.”

“But you wanted to see the babies on the ultrasound.”

“I can wait until the next one. Although this doesn’t mean you’re getting out of other appointments. You’ll do what is necessary for your health.”

He waited and then she shook her head. “No, I want you to see them. I got this. I can do it. Both of you will stay with me all the time?”

“Absolutely.” He kissed her gently and lifted her down then Beau hugged her.

“Fuck man, she has you wrapped around her little finger,” Beau muttered to him while she wasn’t paying attention.

“We can never let her know, or she’s going to rule us.”

Beau snorted. “Like that won’t happen anyway.”

* * *

When they leftthe clinic again, she felt like a weight had lifted off her.

The doctor, to her credit, hadn’t blinked over doing a third ultrasound. Or the fact that she had an extra man with her. But Scarlett felt like she’d blushed enough for the both of them.

Then Maddox had started in with his questions. Oh, Lord, she thought Beau had asked every embarrassing question possible.

Not so.

Hopefully, once they were back in Haven, she wouldn’t have to worry about holding both of their hands at once or kissing one then the other in public. It had been surprisingly hard to remember not to do that, despite the fact they hadn’t even been together long.

Truthfully, she was looking forward to getting to Haven. Away from all this trouble with Richard. Although she was a bit nervous about meeting their family.

“Beau, do you see that car parked two rows back from our truck,” Maddox said suddenly, as they reached the truck.

“Yep, pretty sure it’s the same one that followed us here.”

“What? Are you sure?” she asked, turning to look.

Maddox crowded her against the truck. “No looking, little one.”

“But what are we going to do? Do you think it’s someone else that Richard hired?”

“I think so,” Maddox replied. “Let’s get out of here.”

She reached for her door handle and Maddox brushed her hand away with a growl. “Nope. That’s not happening.”

She huffed out a breath but let him open her door. He lifted her in and pulled the seat belt over her. Then he ran around to the driver’s side while Beau got in.

“You gonna try to lose him?” he asked Maddox as he pulled out.

“Yeah, but if Stanson knows we’re with her now, then he knows where we’re headed.”

“You think we shouldn’t go to Haven?” Beau asked.

“Call Alec and see what he says,” Maddox said. “Little one, I want you to brace yourself, all right? You feeling okay? Not sick?”

“I’m scared.”

“I know,” he told her calmly as Beau spoke quietly into his phone. “But we’re going to take care of you, all right?”

“O-okay.” She didn’t feel all that reassured, though. Someone was following them. “Why didn’t he confront us?”

“My guess is there were too many witnesses. And he wouldn’t have been able to get to us in the hotel because we were on a private floor. Right, ready?”

She let out a gasp as they took the corner swiftly.

“Got it, Alec, bye.” Beau turned to Maddox. “Alec is arranging a new truck for us. Be best for us to lose this ass first, though. He’ll text me the details.”

He took another corner fast and she cried out as she was thrown against the door.

“Fuck, Beau, you need to get in the back and hold her. I don’t like her swinging all around the place.”

He then undid his belt and climbed over with her.

“Beau, be careful!” she cried.

“I’m all right, Snow.” He sat next to her, tucking her into his side and bracing himself.

“You need to put on your seatbelt,” she ordered as Maddox took another turn.

Oh, Lord, she’d never been one for roller coaster rides or bumper cars. Sure, Margo liked to drive fast but even she drove less erratically than this.

“I’m fine, Snow. I need to be able to move quickly.”

What did that mean?

“Beau, please. I don’t want anything happening to you.”

“I’m gonna hit the highway soon,” Maddox told them as Beau gave in and put his belt on. His arm went across her as Maddox had to brake suddenly. She barely moved with his weight against her, but she still let out a small cry.

“Scarlett? You okay? Beau? Is she all right?”

“Snow?” Beau turned to her, his face frantic.

“I’m okay. I’m okay. I just feel a bit sick, and I got a fright.” Her stomach rolled nauseously.

Maddox took off again. “Beau, is there something she can be sick in if she needs to?”

“Here, baby.” Beau plucked up Maddox’s jacket off the back seat, placing it in front of her. Yeah, she wasn’t puking in Maddox’s jacket.

“Poor Snow, it’s all right. We can stop soon. She probably needs food. She hasn’t eaten much today.”

“Shit, we need to start carrying some crackers or something around,” Maddox replied.

“Please stop talking about food,” she told them both.

“Shit. Fuck, I’m sorry, little one.”

“I’m all right. I’m okay,” she reassured Maddox.

Beau’s phone buzzed. “Got the details. We’ll need to swap vehicles quickly. Someone will be waiting to take this truck. They’ll pick up the tail again while we head out. Alec said to drive home rather than fly. Reckons the airport is too risky and that the dick will know for sure that we’ve gone home then.”

“Does he want us to go to Haven or somewhere else?” Maddox asked as he started weaving through the highway traffic.

There went her stomach again. She took shallow breaths.

Don’t be sick. Don’t be sick.

“He said to head home. Hopefully, his contact will have the dick’s ass in jail before we even arrive in Haven. But to be on high alert. Don’t use ID or cards. There will be some money put in the glove box of the new truck for us.”

“Good. Where am I going?” Maddox asked.

Beau put the address into the Maps app on his phone then called out directions.

“Okay, I’m going to get as far ahead as I can then take the exit quickly, so it could get a bit scary. Beau, grab what we need so we can get out of here as soon as we stop.”

“What do you want?” Beau asked.

“I’ve got my wallet and phone. Scar, get your handbag. Beau, grab the laptop bag and her anti-nausea tablets and vitamins.”

The laptop bag was on the backseat, but the vitamins and tablets were packed in her duffel bag.

Beau undid his belt and turned to grab them, just as Maddox weaved again through traffic.

“Beau, stop! We don’t need the tablets and vitamins.”

“Beau, get them,” Maddox commanded. “Scarlett, you’re to do everything Beau and I say without questions, understand me?”

“But we can get more tablets. It doesn’t matter if I go without them for a day.”

“Yes, it does, you’ll get sick.”

Beau sat down and stuffed everything in the laptop bag just as Maddox exited off. Around them, tires screeched, and horns sounded. She let out a small scream before Beau drew her close again, holding her.

“Right, that bought us a few minutes.” He screeched to a stop next to a large, black truck. Quickly, Maddox was out of the truck, talking to someone. Beau undid her belt then dragged her across the seat. He climbed out, holding the laptop bag in one hand. He lifted her out and straight into the back seat of the other truck. Once she was belted up, they both jumped in and were off.

“Do you see him?” Maddox asked.

“Nope.”

She turned to see the truck they had been driving taking off in another direction.

“I think we lost him,” Beau stated.

“Thank fuck,” Maddox said.

Beau let out a whoop. “Nothing like a bit of a car chase to make you feel alive, huh, Snow?”

“Alive? Alive! You think that made me feel alive? I’m terrified, I feel sick and the last thing . . . the last thing . . . I feel is alive!”

“Shit. Fuck. I’m sorry, baby,” Beau told her. “Here, I’m coming over again.”

“No! Stay where you are. We’ll crash, and you’ll go through the windshield and die and just . . . I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” Maddox said. “You’re scared and tired and stressed. We need to do a better job of taking care of you. Let’s just get out of the city, okay? We can find a mall. Get some food, buy you some new stuff. All right?”

More stuff. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t even gotten to wear any of the nice things that Beau bought her yesterday.

“Okay.” She sat back and tried to calm down. Maddox stopped briefly at a gas station and Beau jumped out to grab supplies. He came back with pretty much one of everything in the shop. From chocolate to potato chips. She sipped slowly at the water and ate some crackers to keep her nausea under control. Maddox spent a good ten minutes grumbling about how unhealthy most of it was.

Beau’s phone rang when they set off again.

“Hello . . . really . . . good . . . he say why? Someone hired him?” Beau turned to look at Maddox who was driving.

“Do we need to come in? Good . . . no, we’re headed out of town . . . yep, this number. Thanks.”

He finished the call. “That was the cops assigned to Scarlett’s mugging and robbery case.”

“They found the guy?” Maddox asked.

“Yeah.” He turned to look at her. “They got him on camera going in and out of the building. He admitted to mugging you and trashing your place.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” That made her feel so much better. “So, it had nothing to do with Richard then? It was random?”

“Not exactly. This guy claims someone hired him, but the name he gave the cops is a false identity. He said he was paid to grab you, but when he failed his contact told him to go to your place and search for your laptop. But make it look like a robbery.”

“So Stanson likely hired him,” Maddox said.

“How did he even know I have the information?”

“Were their cameras in the office?” Maddox asked.

“Yes, but the video is deleted after forty-eight hours, and I searched his office at the same time the guard goes for a cigarette break.”

“Somehow, he knew. Maybe you left something in his office, or he discovered that the file had been opened,” Maddox guessed.

“Shoot. Why didn’t I think of that?”

Maddox’s phone rang next and she kind of tuned him out, thinking about how stupid she’d been to go searching for that information. Sure, it was useful to have, and it gave them a chance to take him down. But she’d put herself at such risk.

Even worse, she'd put her babies at risk.

“Little one, are you all right? Scarlett?”

“I put the babies at risk.”

“What? Snow? What’s wrong?”

“Hmm?” She looked up to find both men watching her worriedly. Beau had turned around in his seat, while Maddox was watching her through the rearview mirror.

“What’s wrong?”

“You zoned out on us,” Maddox told her.

“Then you started talking about putting the babies at risk,” Beau added. “She’s doing that thing where she goes into her head again.”

“Just thinking about how foolish I was to go after that information. I never thought he’d know what I’d done, and now I’ve put our babies at risk and both of you. He could hurt you.”

“Whoa, nothing like that is going to happen,” Maddox told her.

She shook her head. She felt so damn stupid.

“Damn it, we need somewhere to stop,” Maddox muttered.

“Up there. Mall.”

She didn’t pay too much attention to them, lost in her own thoughts. It wasn’t until the truck stopped that she looked around. They were parked out the back of an open-air mall. There weren’t many other vehicles this far back, most people wanting to park closer.

The back doors opened, and then her seatbelt was undone. She found herself lifted onto Maddox’s lap while Beau swung her legs over his.

“Listen to me, little one. I want you to pay attention.” He cupped her chin, tilting her face. “You are not to worry about any of this.”

“How can I not? I’ve put us all in danger.”

“This is that asshole’s fault, not yours, Snow,” Beau told her, pulling off her shoes to massage her feet.

Oh, that felt so good. But she didn’t deserve them to be kind to her right now.

“That’s right,” Maddox added. “So, I want you to put him out of your head.”

“I can’t just forget about him.”

“It’s our job to protect you. We’ll deal with Stanson. It’s your job to stay calm and look after our babies, okay? You heard what the doctor said. You’re supposed to steer clear of stress.”

“That’s kind of impossible when some maniac is after me.”

“I want you to try. Because if you keep stressing out about this then you’re going to end up in the hospital. And then I’ll be really upset.”

“You don’t want Maddy to get upset,” Beau added. “Cries like a girl.”

Maddox shot his brother a look.Really? But to his surprise, their girl giggled. Okay, so maybe he’d let Beau make jokes at his expense if it took the fear from her eyes.

“I’m so sorry for putting the babies at risk.”

“Hush, it’s done now. You just didn’t think it through. Now, stop worrying,” Maddox told her firmly.

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“Then I guess we’ll just have to find a way to distract you, won’t we, Beau?”

“Hmm, I wonder how we could possibly distract her from her worries?” Beau mused even as his hand started creeping up the inside of her thigh. Yeah, they were totally on the same page. As Maddox took her mouth with his, he knew his brother would be teasing her mound and tits. Fuck, he’d missed this. Missed her.

When he pulled back, her eyes were glazed, and her hips were rising up and down. He glanced down but her sweatshirt was in the way, and he couldn’t see what Beau was doing.

Hmm, but he didn’t have to see, did he?

“What’s he doing to you, little one?” he whispered.

“Make him stop. Someone might see.”

Maddox glanced around. He didn’t want anyone to see their girl while she was like this. “Nobody’s around. What’s Beau doing to you?”

She stared up at him, her lips parted, her cheeks flushed. This is how he liked her. Relaxed and happy. He was worried about how much weight she’d lost. When he’d brought it up with the doctor, she’d been concerned too over the fast weight loss. But Scarlett had brushed it off, saying she’d been sick a lot and had trouble eating that’s why she’d lost the weight.

The doctor thought she’d be fine with the anti-nausea tablets, but he was still going to keep an eye on her. She was his to take care of. In all ways.

“Tell me, Scarlett. Or I’m going to have him stop so I can smack your ass.”

She gaped up at him. “You can’t spank me here!”

“No? Well, I’m sure we could find an empty changing room inside the mall where I could have you strip off your jeans and panties, so I could smack your little butt.”

“Fuck, that idea is so hot. Let’s do that,” Beau said eagerly.

“No! We can’t do that!”

“Please,” Beau begged. “Snow has been very naughty lately. She needs a good spanking.”

Yeah, of that he had no doubt. Although he’d need to be careful now that she was pregnant. He couldn’t stress her out too much.

“Tell me what he’s doing to you, Scarlett, or that’s what’s going to happen.”

“He undid my jeans, then he pushed aside my panties and now he’s . . . oh, God . . . he has his finger . . .”

“Yes? Where’s his finger?”

“Inside me! He’s pushing it in and out of me! Please! Please!”

“Do you need to come, little one?”

“Yes! Yes!”

“Do you need me to touch your clit so you can come?” he asked.

“Ohhh. Yes.”

“Yes, what?” he said in a dark voice.

“Yes, Sir! Please, Sir.”

He moved her top out of the way while Beau dragged her jeans down under her ass. Then he played with her clit while Beau continued to thrust his fingers inside her until she exploded in their arms, her hips going up and down with each wave of her orgasm.

“Fuck, that was pretty.” Beau drew his fingers and held them up. “Look how wet she is.”

“Beau,” she groaned.

“What? It’s a good thing. Wouldn’t be doing my job right if you weren’t wet, now, would I?” He sucked his fingers into his mouth. “Damn, delicious.”

“Fuck, I miss the taste of you. Tonight, I’m eating that pussy,” Maddox told her.

She covered her face with her hands as Beau pulled up her jeans, doing them up for her.

“I can’t believe you just got me off in the back of the truck in a parking lot. What if someone had seen?”

“The windows are tinted, and the truck didn’t rock too much,” Beau said. “I’d say we’re safe.” He winked at her, and she groaned.

“I’ll drive us closer,” Maddox told them. “Might as well go get the stuff we need.” Shopping wasn’t his favorite thing, but they couldn’t travel for fifteen hours straight with a pregnant woman. They’d need to stop for at least one night, which meant they’d need a change of clothes and toiletries. Plus, he wanted to get her a few things.

Their girl needed spoiling.

Hmm, this shopping trip might actually be fun.