Chapter 14

“Take her.” William said while passing Leah onto Max’s arms.

“Why? I could open the door for you.”

“Maybe Demon won’t be so aggressive with the rest of you.” He stopped in front of Leah’s door and started to open it.

“What? A Demon?” Theo said, confused.

William opened and entered the apartment. To the left, he heard a growl and looked to see Demon in a guard stance, ready to jump on them.

“Hi, Demon.” The dog looked at him as if he was confused. “I brought your mom. Here she is.”

He grabbed one of her hands and pulled Max and her closer, even though Max was reluctant to do so. Demon didn’t look like he was going to attack them now, but he still looked confused as to who Max and the rest were. William got closer and he started to wiggle his tail when his eyes looked at him so William started to pet him, Demon posing his heavy paws on his chest, making him realize how big he was.

“He is a freaking monster,” Theo muttered grabbing Leo’s arm.

“But why do you grab me?”

“Just in case the dog comes close.”

“So what? Are you going to throw me at it while you run away?”

Leo frowned when Theo looked at him apologetically. William looked at the sleeping Leah in Max's arms and was going to say something when Demon suddenly barked twice, very loudly, making Theo yep and Leah’s eyes snap open. She tried to sit, ignoring she was on someone’s arm, and made Max off balance, dropping her. William tried to grab her but her knees still hit hard on the floor. Demon started to growl and bark aggressively at Max, making him retreat and stand behind Leo with Theo.

“D. Stop,” Leah said raising a hand to get Demon’s attention off the men.

“Are you ok?” William asked helping her to stand up.

“Yeah…” she looked around as if just realizing where she was. “I fell asleep?”

“Yes. Have you checked if that is normal?” she looked at him a little surprised.

“I’ve heard some women get very sleepy while pregnant.”

“Yeah, but you got that symptom way too early in the pregnancy, it seems. I don’t know if that’s normal.” Her face started to show worry so he tried to soften his words. “But there could be exceptions, like you. We just have to ask your aunt.”

“And she’s still very flat to be around three months pregnant,” Max mentioned.

“No. Some women’s belly starts to grow after the fourth month when it’s the first pregnancy.” William said. “You want to sleep more?”

“Not right now. Demon scared the sleep away.”

Demon got closer when he heard his name coming from her, making Theo more nervous, pulling Leo back with him. The tension coming from him made Demon growl at him.

“Forgive him,” Leo said to Leah. “My dog bit him when we were kids and he has not gotten over it.”

Leah looked at Theo who looked at her as if he was about to cry.

“Demon only bites on command. Well…” she petted the dog. “He will attack if necessary, but those are special cases he knows how to recognize.”

“As if we enter your house without permission, like we did now?” Max asked.

“Yeah, but he knows Liam, and I was with you even if not conscious.” She looked at William. “If you enter alone while I’m not at home he might initially not be as welcoming as he always is but he won’t attack you.”

“I have to get you more used to me then, buddy.” He petted the dog who seemed to prefer Leah’s caress more than his, at the moment.

There was an awkward moment of silence where Leah just looked at all of them, then addressed William.

“Didn’t ask why you are all here, before.”

“They wanted to spend time with you.”

“Why?” she asked looking at the rest.

“They said that I frustrated their previous attempt.” Leah looked at him with worry. “I already told them you are not very talkative and that I would shoo them away again if they make you uncomfortable.”

“This is already uncomfortable.” She whispered for him only.

“Do you want something to eat?” Theo asked still behind Leo. “We can cook something for you.”

“Hmm, no, thanks.”

Another awkward silence.

“This is uncomfortable. How do the two of you talk?” asked Leo. “Or are you more action than words?” he wiggled his eyebrows at William.

“We are not in that type of relationship.” He said looking at Leah sideways while she was petting Demon.

They had not had sex since the time she told him she didn’t like kids. They had just hung out and talked even though he was dying to just take her home and tied her to his bed and keep her there every day.

“Yeah, we know,” Max said sarcastically, signaling her belly.

“We just walk around or eat and if something comes up we talk about it. I don’t surround her and demand answers.”

The three of them raised their hands and surrendered and took a step back muttering that that was not what they were doing. Right at that moment, the front door opened and Dr. Allison Keller entered.

“Ally—” Leah started but was stopped by her aunt.

“What happened? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“No. Benjamin called me saying you needed me to come to check you. For you to need me to check you and someone else having to tell me, you must be dying then or losing the baby. Does anything hurt?” she said getting closer.

“Hmm…” Leah moved closer to William and started to hide behind him, subtly. “My lower back hurts a little bit.”

“What? Have you been bleeding?”

“No. I’m pretty sure is just my back, not the pregnancy. I’ve been hunching a lot these last two weeks.”

“Well, I don’t care. Go to your room. You have prohibited to stand unless is to go to the bathroom. And if you start bleeding you have to immediately tell me. Now, move!” she looked at William. “Take her to her room.”

“Ok.” He said putting his hand on Leah’s back and guiding her.

“But I don’t want to go to the room,” Leah said to him while walking.

“Why not?”

“Your friends are here and they came for me. That’s kind of rude.”

“I think they can understand, honey.”

“But still, I’m not planning to risk the baby more. I can lie on the sofa and go to bed at night.”

He stopped in front of her room door and looked at her. She probably didn’t want to be repeating the awkwardness every time she met his friends. He sighed.

“Let’s pick your pillow and head there.”

When they appeared again in the living room, her aunt was about to say something but Leah spoke first.

“I’ll just lie down here. I’m sure I’m not in critical condition, so relax a little.”

“Have you eaten?” Allison asked.

“I vomited a while ago. I don’t have the stomach to eat again.”

“Well, when was the last time you ate before that?”

Leah just sighed and lay down, facing the back of the sofa and giving her back to them.

“I’ll prepare her a soup or something,” William said guessing what the answer was.

“It is what it is.” Allison nodded. “You are still within the first trimester; you have to take care of yourself more now if you want that baby to be born. Lie on your sides whenever you be lying down, and let me know if the pain goes beyond a week from now.” She looked at William. “Try not heavy food but that is still substantial.”

“Are you leaving already?”

“There’s not much I can do at this point. If the pain persists then she will have to go to the hospital, especially if there is bleeding. I got a call from the hospital on my way here, so I’ll go now.” She got closer to William and whispered to his ear before leaving. “Take my phone number from her phone and save it, call me if anything happens. Leah’s not used to being helped, so she doesn’t tend to ask for help until she cannot handle it anymore.”

“We can help you cook something,” Theo said, getting William’s attention after Allison left.

He nodded and walked to Leah, and leaned over her.

“Do you want something specific? The same soup I made the last—” he stopped when he saw a trail of tears escaping her closed eyes and sat on an available space around her waist and leaned closer to her. “Honey. Why are you crying? Does it hurt a lot?”

“It hasn’t even been born and I’m already doing it wrong.” She whispered.

“Don’t say that.”

“It only crossed my mind that I was pregnant every time you message me. But I was still busy, so I said I was going to eat and rest a little after finishing that batch, but time would pass me by, and by the time I looked around half of the day would be gone already. I hadn’t told anyone at the company yet so they would just leave me alone when I told them I would eat later because they know I don’t like to be interrupted while mixing ingredients.” She pressed her lips together and took a deep breath. “I’m used to putting the company above myself sometimes and, even though I said I wouldn’t do the same with the baby and I still did it so easily.”

William hugged her and kissed her cheek a few times trying to console her. He knew what it was to be in the office concentrated on something and losing track of time, a whole day feeling like 10mins.

“What is done is done, honey. I should have also checked on you every now and then instead of assuming you were mad at me. Don’t think about it and move on. You’ll learn from this and do better, right?” she nodded and he kissed her cheek again. “So, you want something specific to eat?”

She shook her head softly so he went to the kitchen. The other guys were there trying to find their way through the place.