Chapter 34
Later that night, Mack leaned against Viola's kitchen counter, still in his black tactical gear, jaw tight from the day. His phone buzzed. He answered without looking.
"Yeah?"
A pause. Then a nervous laugh.
"Uh… Mack? It's me," Sam's voice chirped through the line.
Mack frowned. "Sam. Why are you calling me? Shouldn't you be harassing Vi instead?"
Viola, curled up on the couch with her laptop, froze. She glanced over her screen, eyes widening. Sam hadn't. Oh god—Sam had.
"Mack," Sam said cautiously, "don't freak out, but… I might be pregnant."
Mack blinked, expression blank for a beat. Then his eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"
Sam rushed on, "It's not a big deal—well, it is a big deal, but like, not that big a deal. I just thought you should know before anyone else tells you. Because, um… it's with your best friend."
The silence was brutal. You could have heard a pin drop.
"Mack?" Sam squeaked.
Viola covered her mouth, half horrified, half hysterical.
Finally, Mack spoke, voice low and dangerous. "My best friend?"
"Don't kill him," Sam blurted quickly. "Please. It wasn't like that—it's just—things happened."
"Things happened?" Mack repeated, his tone sharp enough to cut steel.
Viola sprang from the couch, hurrying over before this ended in someone's funeral. She mouthed at the phone: Don't. Poke. The. Bear.
Mack's jaw flexed, his hand gripping the phone tighter. "So let me get this straight. My best friend, the same idiot who swore up and down he'd never settle down, might have knocked up my woman's best friend?"
Sam coughed. "When you say it like that it sounds… bad."
Viola grabbed the phone before Mack exploded. "Sam, I'll call you back!" she said in a rush and hung up.
When she turned, Mack was staring at her like a storm barely held at bay.
"Vi," he said tightly, "if he thinks he's walking into this like nothing happened—he's wrong. I'm going to kill him."
Viola pressed her palms to his chest, forcing him back a step. "No, you're not. You're going to breathe. Sam doesn't need you scaring the hell out of him right now. She needs support."
Mack growled, the sound low, feral, but Vi held firm.
Finally, he muttered, "He better marry her if it's true."
Viola blinked, then smirked despite herself. "Wow. You just went from homicide to wedding planner in five seconds."
Mack's lips twitched. "Don't push me, baby."
The next evening, Mack's best friend—Liam—showed up at Vi's apartment after Mack demanded he "get his ass over, now."
Viola sat on the couch, knees drawn up, trying not to chew through her lip. Sam was beside her, wringing her hands like she was waiting for her own trial.
The front door opened. Heavy boots crossed the floor. Mack's broad frame filled the doorway, his expression carved in stone. Liam followed behind him, clearly already regretting every life choice that had led him here.
Mack didn't waste time. He shoved Liam against the wall with one arm across his chest.
"You've got five seconds to explain," Mack growled, voice lethal calm. "Because the way I see it—you screwed my best friend status the second you touched her." He jerked his chin toward Sam.
"Mack, wait—" Liam tried, but Mack pressed harder.
"Five seconds. Go."
"Okay, okay!" Liam lifted both hands in surrender. "It wasn't planned! It just… happened. We were drunk after the team party, we talked, one thing led to another—"
"Led to another?" Mack cut in, eyes burning. "Led to you putting a baby in her?"
Liam winced. "I don't even know if she's pregnant for sure yet."
"Yet?" Mack's voice dropped lower. "Liam, I've taken bullets with you. I've trusted you to have my back. And this is how you repay me?"
"Mack, stop!" Sam jumped up, moving between them. "This isn't about you! It's about me. I wasn't forced. I knew what I was doing."
"Sam—" Mack started.
"No!" she snapped. "You don't get to decide who I sleep with. And if I am pregnant, then Liam and I will figure it out together. Not you."
Mack's jaw clenched. His fists tightened at his sides. Viola could see him fighting his instincts—his need to protect, to control.
Viola stood then, crossing the room and laying her hand on Mack's arm. Her voice was soft, steady. "This isn't your battlefield, Mack. It's theirs. Let them fight it out."
His chest rose and fell in heavy breaths. Finally, he dropped his arm from Liam, stepping back but not before delivering one last, razor-sharp warning:
"If you hurt her, if you so much as make her cry, I don't care if we've bled together—I'll put you in the ground."
Liam swallowed hard, nodding. "Understood."
Sam blew out a shaky breath. Viola tugged Mack back toward the couch, keeping him from pacing a hole in the floor.
"Wedding planner," Viola whispered just loud enough for him to hear, teasing to break the tension.
Mack shot her a dark look, but the corner of his mouth twitched. "Don't tempt me, baby."