What is she talking about?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, crossing my arms.
“He told me you’re pregnant!” she yells. “He told me because he’s disgusted and had nowhere else to turn.”
My heart feels as though it’s been ripped from my chest at her words. Reign told her? Instead of coming to me, he went to her? Pain rips through body as heartbreak takes over. Betrayal is an ugly emotion, and it hurts so damned much.
“Leave my house,” I rasp out, trying to keep my control.
“I won’t warn you again: you will leave this town, leave Reign and never come back. Sort that thing out,” she growls, pointing to my stomach. “And fucking get out of my town.”
“Your town? You have some serious balls, lady,” I laugh brokenly. “And if you truly thought Reign wanted you and there was a chance, you wouldn’t be here threatening me.”
“Reign and I have been together a long time. He loves me.”
“That’s because he’s blinded.”
She steps forward, shoving a finger into my chest. “I won’t ask you again: leave this town.”
I shove her chest. “I said, fucking no!”
Her hand raises and she punches me. Pain radiates through my cheek as I stumble backwards, tripping on the doorframe and landing on my ass with a thump.
“You’ve already tried to ruin my relationship with him by telling him what you heard, now you’re trying to play his emotions by putting a baby in the mix.”
“I didn’t ask for this baby,” I scream. “Now leave my damned house. You’re a filthy, pathetic, lying whore. He will find out what you did to his baby, and he will see that he’s wasted his time believing you’re a good woman.”
“He will never find out what I did to that baby, because if I see you near him again I’ll make it end.”
I hear the sounds of boots crunching, and I see the exact moment Slutena spins around and is faced with Spike, Cade, and Muff. Her eyes widen and she places a hand to her heart, clearly shocked. Spike’s eyes flicker down to me, and the blood sliding down my face from the split under my eye, then he looks back up to her with rage in his gaze.
“You fuckin’ put your hands on this girl?” he barks.
Slutena backs up. “Ah, I . . . I don’t know . . .”
“Did you fuckin’ put your hands to her?” he roars.
She squeaks and starts to cry.
“You think we didn’t hear what you just said?” Muff says, grinning, but it isn’t a nice grin—it’s more a feral baring of his teeth.
“I don’t know who you are, but this is a private conversation.”
They all laugh. I push myself to my feet. Pain shoots through my spine. I take the door handle and hold it, keeping myself upright. My other hand protectively cradles my stomach. Cade steps past Spike and Muff, and his arm goes around my waist. “You hangin’ in there?”
I nod, swallowing. “I think . . . I hurt my back.”
“We’ll get you some help, yeah?”
I nod again and turn my eyes back to Slutena who is staring at Spike and Muff, trying, no doubt, to find a way around them.
“It ain’t a private conversation when you’re layin’ your hands on Reign’s woman.”
“She isn’t Reign’s woman, I am,” she screeches.
Spike laughs. “He been puttin’ his cock in you, sweetheart?”
The way he says sweetheart has me shuddering, because it isn’t nice.
“No, but that’s because of her!”
“Well,” Muff says, his face hard as he steps forward, “he’s been puttin’ it in her, over and over, because he fuckin’ wants her. You’re a pain in the ass who needs to take a fuckin’ hint and leave.”
“She’s a liar,” she cries, crossing her arms. “Now she’s pregnant with his child to trap him. You know nothing.”
Cade looks down at me. “That true?”
“Which part?” I whisper.
“I know you’re not a liar, Tia. About the baby?”
I nod. “But I’m not trapping him, I was trying to avoid all this. I don’t want it in my life.”
He looks sympathetically at me. “You definitely need to see a doctor then, you had a hard fall.”
Spike takes a step towards Slutena, his big hands clenched. “What I know,” he barks, “is that you’re a money-hungry, expensive, skinny piece of ass that clearly can’t accept she’s lost her man. If you didn’t want to lose him, you could have kept your goddamned legs closed. Your time is up; he don’t belong to you anymore.”
“He loves me,” she snaps.
“No.” Spike laughs. “He thinks he loves you. He thinks he loves you because he’s holdin’ on to the fact that you were pregnant with his kid. We all know you took matters into your own hands and killed that baby. He don’t know that because you’re a fuckin’ liar, but he’ll find out. I’ll make sure of it.”
Slutena turns to me, and bellows, “You’re telling the world I had an abortion. You fucking bitch!”
Cade’s arm tightens around my waist and he shoots daggers at her.
“Listen to me, lady,” Spike roars, causing her to flinch and turn back around. “You so much as come near this girl again, I’ll put you six-feet under. You’re a waste of precious air and you’re never going to get your claws into Reign again.”