Jaded Hearts
Chapter 34

Taylor

I was finally able to talk to Morgan after playing a few rounds of phone tag.

She had news; I had news—it was insane. And it made me miss her. I wished I could’ve been there for her when she found out she was a bear.

Even the argument with Kade. I know that her past relationships have made her insecure and closed off. And even though he was able to calm her down before she did anything crazy, I still feel like it’s my job as best friend to have been there for her.

But Matt and I would be heading home soon. We had our first meeting with the Sporazos yesterday, and it went extremely well. They were both charming and really sweet. I couldn’t tell them apart, but one was a complete and total flirt. He reminded me of Alex and made me miss home.

We were sitting in the hotel lobby, waiting for them to pick us up to take us to see a few more possible hotel locations. To be honest, this wasn’t work at all. I was basically being carted around Rome with three handsome men who were spoiling me rotten. It was the best “work” I had ever done.

“Did you bring comfortable shoes today, angel? It’s a lot of walking again.”

“Yes, and I have an extra pair in my bag. I won’t slow you guys down, I promise.”

“You don’t slow us down, baby, I’m just making sure you don’t wear yourself out.”

It’s been two days since we confirmed the pregnancy, and Matt was constantly making me sit down, drink water, or eat. I don’t even want to think about how bad he’ll be when I’m close to giving birth.

“Matt, I’m fine. Besides a little nausea, I wouldn’t even know there was a baby in here. Just relax.”

“I’ll relax when you and our child are safe at home … maybe. Until then, I’m going to make sure you’re alright at all times.”

Gianluca and Giancarlo walked in at that moment and rescued me from the frustrating conversation.

“Ciao bella, how are you today?” one asked while walking right up to me. I looked at him, trying hard to figure out who I was talking to but ultimately gave up. He laughed out loud before leaning down and kissing my cheeks.

“I’m Carlo, beautiful. The good-looking one.”

“Well, good morning, Carlo. I’m having a good day so far. How about you?”

“I get to escort the most gorgeous woman in the world around Rome. I’m spectacular.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. He was old enough to be my father, but he never turned down the charm.

“Alright, that’s enough of that, Carlo. You do understand that Taylor is my mate, my fiancé, and is carrying my child. That makes her mine.”

Carlo turned and smiled at Matt. “True. That doesn’t make her any less gorgeous, though. Are we ready to go?”

“Please excuse him, Taylor. He’s been this way our entire lives. No woman is exempt from him attempting to woo them,” Luca said while walking up to shake Matt’s hand.

“It’s fine. Carlo understands that my heart is already taken. And if Matt ever screws up, there is another flirty little twin back at home who would gladly replace him.”

“Alex will have a long time to wait. Now let’s get out of here and on the road,” Matt said as he helped me to my feet.

We were walking to the brothers’ truck when Luca stepped beside me and handed me a small bag. I looked at it, confused for a moment before he explained. “It’s mint from my wife’s garden. When she was pregnant with our children, she would put some in her water and drink it throughout the day. She said it helped with the nausea.”

They really were the sweetest. “Thank you, Luca. I’ll put some in my bottle now.”

I dropped my voice and whispered, “If I can avoid the nausea altogether today, maybe Matt will actually let me do my job and ‘assist.’ What do you think?”

“Not a chance. But it was a good try.”

He helped me into the back next to Matt before he hopped into the passenger seat, and Carlo took off.

* * *

Matt

I tried to warn Taylor about the walking, but she didn’t want to believe me. Now she was passed out in the back of the truck, and we had two more stops to make before we got back to the hotel. Alaia was exhausted almost from day one with both of her pregnancies, so I didn’t expect Taylor to be any different. She’ll just have the learn her body’s limitations over the next four and a half months.

“Matt, what would you like to do? The lady doesn’t seem like she’s up for any more touring today,” Luca said from the front seat.

“No, she doesn’t. Are there any satellite images of the remainder of the sites you could send me? It’s not as good as seeing them in person, but it will have to do for now.”

Luca pulled out his phone and called his assistant to send the documents to my email right away. At the same time, Carlo changed course and headed back to the hotel to drop us off.

“Tomorrow is all boardroom, so we promise not to wear out Ms. Taylor too much,” Carlo advised after he had stopped and opened the back door for me.

“Thank you. I’ll look over the images tonight and have the final locations picked by the morning. Xander will take part by video call, so we can make the push towards finalizing everything then.”

I walked around to Taylor’s door and gently lifted her from the seat. Carlo passed me her bag, and I was surprised that the thing weighed almost as much as she did.

That was something else we’d have to work on.

It wasn’t until we made it to the elevator that she woke up and looked around, confused. “Matt, where are we? Are we finished already?”

“Yes, we’re finished. Well, you are for now. Go back to sleep, baby. You need your rest.”

“How were the other locations? Did they have what we need?”

I filled her in on what the new plan was for the rest of the day, and she looked sad at hearing it.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened; my eyes refused to stay open.”

“Your body is taking your energy and using it to make an entire person from scratch. That’s what happened, love. It’s alright, anyway. The pictures will be just fine.”

She nodded and snuggled into my chest, putting up no fight at all. When I had her settled into bed, I ordered room service for us, then sat down to look over the pictures Carlo had forwarded to me. They were all incredible sites, with loads of tourist traffic. It really didn’t matter where we chose to put the resorts. Black Enterprises stood to make a ton of money on this deal.

When the food arrived almost an hour later, I woke Taylor up so she could eat. She was pushing herself up in bed when I heard her cry out and grab her belly.

“Taylor? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, but it hurts.”

My heart started racing, and I didn’t know what to do. “Is it the baby?”

She just hugged her stomach and nodded her head. I picked up the phone and called down for the doctor. Thankfully, this hotel had a shifter doctor on staff who was just a few doors down from us. He was an older gray-haired man who looked a lot slower than he actually was. Once he entered the room, he had Taylor on her back and had his kit out in a matter of seconds.

After a few minutes of Taylor silently crying in pain and me pacing a hole in the floor, he stood up and looked over to me. “They are both fine. Her uterus is stretching to accommodate the baby. Since she’s a newborn, she’s just feeling a bit more pain than a natural wolf would. She just needs plenty of water and rest.”

“That’s it? We’re not losing the baby?” I asked, relief flooding through me.

“Oh, no. The little one is perfect in there. Mom’s the only one experiencing any discomfort right now. A good meal, and a couple of Tylenol, and she’ll be fine. A heating pad will help as well, as long as she doesn’t use it for too long and warm herself up too much.”

He dug around in his bag and handed me a small bottle of Tylenol before packing up to leave. “I’ll call down to the front desk to ask them to deliver a heating pad to you. Then give it about an hour, and she’ll be good as new.”

“Thank you. We really appreciate your help.”

After I closed the door, I went to work getting her medicine and dinner together before I lifted her from the bed and placed her at the table.

“I didn’t mean to scare you, Matt. But I’ve never experienced cramps like that. I immediately thought the worst.”

“I’d rather you tell me than to be afraid and suffer in silence. We’re a team, alright? If something doesn’t feel right, I want to know. Now eat your dinner and take your pills. I’m going to go make a few calls, and then I’ll be right back to join you.”

She happily downed the meds and began to eat her food. The little one was already taking a toll on her. I saw it even if she didn’t. It was time to go. I stepped into the bedroom and began making calls to get the plane ready to go tomorrow morning. Taylor needed to be back in the states and safe at home. It couldn’t be comfortable enough all the way out here away from everyone and everything she knew.

When everything was set, I shot a text to Xander, letting him know what was happening. He quickly responded that he’d let Luca and Carlo know of the change as well. After walking back in the dining room, I saw that Taylor had only eaten a few bites of her dinner, and she looked miserable.

“Tesoro, why aren’t you eating?”

“I can’t. I feel like it’s all going to come back up. I’m having to fight to keep the few bites I had down already.”

I handed her a bottle of orange juice from the minibar. “Take a few sips of this. It helped Alaia; maybe it will work for you too.”

She took a big gulp and slumped back in the chair with her eyes closed. I hated seeing her like this, but I doubt any woman has a completely misery-free pregnancy. It just came with the territory.

“Any better?”

She opened her eyes and nodded slowly. “Yes, much better. I’ll make sure to keep a bottle with me tomorrow for the meetings. Thank you.”

“We’re going home tomorrow. I’ll just handle the meeting by Skype while we’re on the plane.”

“Really? But why? Please tell me it’s not because of me.”

“It’s because of all three of us, not just you. You’re exhausted, and you don’t feel well. The baby needs you to rest and eat properly, and I hate seeing you push yourself just for me. So, we’re going home. We don’t need to be face-to-face tomorrow. All the leg work is done.”

“I’m the worst assistant ever!”

“Nah, maybe the second worst, though.”

She slapped at my arm, making me laugh.

“Just consider it one of the perks of marrying the boss and giving him a child. When you’re feeling better, you can pick up where you left off. I promise it’s no big deal.”

“With the way I’m feeling, I’m not going to complain too much. So, what time do we leave?” She picked up her fork and slowly began to eat her dinner, careful not to go too fast and have it all come back up.

We spent the rest of the night going over her favorite parts of the trip and flipping through the hundreds of pictures she had taken on her phone. I knew she was upset that we were leaving early, but she had a great time while we were here, and that’s all that mattered. Now it was time to get back to reality and finish what we had started with Drew.

* * *

Drew

It’s 2:30 p.m. Time to replace out how things are going with my sweet little tramp.

I had to admit, this guy may be a pain in my a*s, but at least he was punctual. The phone rang, and I quickly picked up, eager for my update. “Hello?”

“Hey, so it took a few days, but I found her in Rome like you said. I didn’t really get to talk to her, though. Her guard dog showed up and f****d everything up.”

“Did she agree to meet you when you were both back here?”

“Not yet. I put the suggestion out there. I’ve also got my cousin working on trying to set something up. Either way, I’ll get her alone and off of the Blue Moon turf.”

“Get it done soon. I’m tired of waiting.”

“Don’t rush me on this. I’m doing us both a favor here. If you don’t like the way I’m handling it, do the s**t yourself.”

“Just do what I’m paying you to do! Get her away from the Gamma and make sure you kill him. Be sure of it; I don’t want any mistakes.”

“Then I get Taylor as payment?”

“The terms of your payment have already been agreed upon. She was never part of the deal. She is mine.”

“I’m renegotiating. Originally, you said that you needed me to get rid of a guy she was dating. You didn’t say he was a wolf, and you defiantly didn’t mention that he was a ranked member of Blue Moon. That type of work requires a specialist, and I’m the only one around. So, you either pay me what I want or replace someone else to do the job. I want Taylor. Unharmed.”

Who the f**k did this guy think he was, trying to negotiate with me?! I was running this show, not him. But I’d play along … for now.

“Fine, take her. She’s a w***e anyway.”

“You watch your f*****g mouth, you mutt. I don’t mind putting you on my list as well, so you remember that next time you want to be disrespectful. I’ll let you know when it’s done.”

He hung up the phone, and I roared with rage. I f*****g hated werebears, and now I was working with one. But as long as the murder didn’t link back to me, I’d tolerate his bullshit. And once he was done, I’d kill him too, then claim my flower. Things were moving forward beautifully.

I stood up and walked back to the bed, where I had the young rogue I’d found roaming the woods. He was stripped naked and tied to the posts.

“Soon, all will be right in the world again. So, how about a little celebration?”

Killian’s claws came out and dug into his h**s as I rammed my d**k straight up his a*s without warning. He cried out at the pain, but soon enough, I could tell that he was beginning to enjoy himself.

“You like to be punished? Well, let’s see how much punishment you can handle.”

It was time for a little stress relief, and I was going to start with this wolf that no one would ever even miss.