Battle Tested

Steve’s eyes narrowed. “Why? To tell me about the baby? Why did you run when I saw you at the bar?”

He fired off the questions faster than she could answer them. Not that she knew how to answer them anyway.

She hadn’t expected to see Steve. She’d been about to cross the street into the police station, knowing her sister was dead and the Watcher had found her again.

She was six months pregnant, alone, frightened and grieving. She’d pushed back the terror, so her only thought had been identifying her sister so Lindsey could have a proper burial.

Then Steve had walked out the door. He’d looked so strong. So capable of handling anything life threw at him.

Rosalyn had gotten in her car and followed him without even meaning to. When she saw he was going to the same hotel and then the same bar where they’d met, she’d felt a little hope inside.

Maybe he didn’t hate her.

Maybe she could tell him about the baby.

Maybe she could tell him about the Watcher and everything that had happened.

She needed help.

But when his eyes had flown to her at the bar, obviously suspecting trouble, she’d panicked. She’d run—well, run as fast as her body would let her—to get away.

But she hadn’t gotten away. He’d caught her and said—

He was law enforcement?

“You’re a cop?”

He took a step closer, obviously trying to use his size to intimidate her. “You didn’t answer my questions.”

She couldn’t get into the entire story now. They were too out in the open. “I will answer your questions, but not out here. You told me you were in management before.”

Steve shrugged. “I never said what sort of management I was in. And I want answers to my questions before I arrest you.”

“Arrest me for what?”

“How about the theft of nearly $200 six months ago?”

Rosalyn’s face heated. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t have any other choice. I was desperate. My whole time with you I was pretty desperate.”

That wasn’t the right word, or at least she should’ve phrased it differently, she realized when he stiffened and stepped back. She hadn’t meant that she’d spent time with him because she was desperate, but he’d obviously taken it that way.

“I guess your little souvenir from our time together—” he gestured at her belly “—wasn’t what you wanted, then. Is the baby even mine?”

“Yes.” She took a step toward him without even meaning to. “I know you probably don’t believe me, but you’re the only man I’ve been with for a long time.” The only man she’d allowed herself to trust in a long time.

“Yeah, well, once the kid is born, there are paternity tests that are probably in our best interests to complete.”

Rosalyn knew she shouldn’t be hurt given what had happened between them but she couldn’t help it. “Of course. I don’t expect you to just believe me.”

Now that the Watcher had found her again, she needed Steve’s help whether he believed her or not. She had more than just herself to look out for. Steve didn’t know the entire situation but at least she knew she could trust him.

Steve ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I’m not trying to be an ass. You’ve caught me off guard on multiple levels here. But I need some answers.”

“Okay. I have a room at a hotel a few miles from here. Let’s go there.”

* * *

ROSALYN WAS ALIVE.

Rosalyn was alive and pregnant. Steve could hardly get his head around the first part, much less the second.

She was sitting right in front of him in a pretty scary run-down hotel room they’d driven to in her car, eating a packet of crackers. He was sitting in the desk chair that he’d pulled over and placed right in front of the bed just watching her. Like her eating crackers was the most interesting thing he’d ever seen.

Did she need more food than that? Was she taking care of herself? Had she been seeing a doctor throughout her pregnancy to make sure everything was okay?

Was the baby honestly his? They had used protection. But he knew accidents still happened.

He wanted to believe her when she’d said yes. She’d taken off her jacket and he could more clearly see the outline of her stomach under the T-shirt she wore. There was very definitely a baby bump. Not one that had her waddling or anything like that, but very definitely pregnant. Someone as petite as Rosalyn couldn’t hide it.

He wanted to ask her all sorts of questions about her pregnancy but had so many other questions to ask that those got pushed to the back burner.

Steve sorted through important information for a living, made decisions on where Omega’s Critical Response team would go and what they would do, based on his reading of a situation. Knowing what questions to ask to get the information he needed was his job. And lives depended on his ability to do it well.

But damned if he knew where to start with Rosalyn.

The dead body seemed the most reasonable place.

“So the woman I identified in the morgue—”

“Like I said, my identical twin, Lindsey Rose Mellinger. My mom—in a fit of soberness—thought it was quite clever.”

Rosalyn and Lindsey Rose. “The reversal of each other. Well, almost.”

She nodded. “Yeah. And it ended up being true in just about everything. We were twins, but we were complete opposites. Very different from each other except for how we looked.”

“When was the last time you saw your sister alive?”

Tears came to Rosalyn’s eyes, but she brushed them away. “At least a year and a half ago. We’ve never been close but grew even further apart as adults. Lindsey was in and out of drug rehab all the time. She still lived in Mobile.”

“And that’s where you’re from?” Steve already knew the answer to that but wondered if she would lie.

“Yes, but I haven’t lived there for nearly a year.”

Steve wondered where she’d been for the past six months, but he’d get to that.

“Do you know anything about your sister’s death?”

She shook her head. “No, but she was murdered, wasn’t she?”