Read Online Shift (The Disciples' Daughters #2) by Drew Elyse - Free Book Online Page B

without me. Jasmine had been a godsend in watching Emmy for me, but she’d never done overnight. This was mostly because I never had a need to ask her.
    Emmy didn’t share my hesitation. She was thrilled to have her first sleepover, even if it was with a burly biker and two one-year-olds. Her absolute conviction when telling me it was something she wanted to do had me agreeing. Still, I wasn’t going to be drinking much. If things went south, I wanted to be clearheaded and good to go get her.
    “I’ll go get Emmy,” I told Roadrunner.
    Walking toward Sketch was enough to have my heart pounding, but I tried to keep my face clear. I was just getting my daughter so I could say goodnight. There was no more to it than that.
    “Momma!” Emmy called when I got close.
    “Time to get to your sleepover, baby,” I said, my eyes staying on her. It didn’t matter that Sketch’s face was a foot away from hers. I was laser focused.
    “Yay!” She looked to Sketch. I did not. “I have to go. Me and Roadrunner is having a sleepover.”
    “Are having a sleepover,” I corrected by rote.
    “Right. We are having a sleepover. Jules and Levi too, but they’re babies,” she explained to Sketch.
    “Have fun, princess,” Sketch rumbled. I felt the breath wheeze out of me. Princess?
    I watched in a removed way as he set her down and forced myself to pull it together when she opened her little arms to me.
    “Have a good night, baby,” I said as I knelt down and hugged her. “Be good for Roadrunner. No telling him what to do. He already knows all the rules, including bed time, so don’t try anything.”
    “I’ll be good. I pwomise,” she said. I’d believe that when I saw it.
    “Give Momma some lovin’.” She delivered right away, giving me a sweet little kiss.
    Then, Roadrunner was there. “You ready to go, baby girl?”
    “Yes!”
    “Don’t hesitate to call,” I told Roadrunner.
    “Don’t worry, Ash. We’ve got this under control. Right, Emmy?”
    “Yep!”
    I wasn’t so sure, but I let it go. If Emmy got upset, I knew he would call.
    I watched as they walked away, feeling an unfamiliar unease. Maybe Emmy wasn’t the one who was going to struggle with the overnight separation.
    “I want a paternity test.”
    Wait. What?
    I wheeled around, having completely forgotten Sketch was still standing there.
    “What?”
    He leveled me with a dark stare. “I want a paternity test.”
    Crap.
    “I…”
    Sketch cut in before I could figure out anything to say. “She’s mine. I fucking know it. I want proof, and then I want her to know me as her dad.”
    “I…” I tried again.
    “Make it happen. I’ll pay whatever it costs.”
    With that, he walked away.
    Crap.
    I couldn’t do a paternity test. I couldn’t see those results. I couldn’t know.
    I couldn’t…
    “Ash?”
    Blinking out of the daze of fear, I looked to my left to see Cami there.
    “Huh?”
    “You okay?” she asked.
    “Yeah. Fine.” I turned my eyes back in the direction Sketch left. He’d made it halfway across the yard before finding something new to hold his attention. Namely, a brunette in an unreasonably short dress. The club girls had started showing up a bit ago. That was why Roadrunner had determined it was time for the kids to go.
    Watching the woman cozy up to a willing Sketch hardly penetrated. In the back of my mind, I knew it was something I didn’t want to see. In any other situation, I knew it would make me sick to see it, but after he just demanded a paternity test, a test I couldn’t have done and couldn’t explain the reason why, it was just an ache I could barely identify.
    “Ash, you don’t need to watch that,” Cami said, her tone gentle. She assumed I was upset because Sketch was going to fuck that brunette. Not a bad assumption, so I didn’t correct her.
    “Yeah,” I agreed.
    I was going to let her lead me away like she was trying to with a soft hand on my arm. I was going to bury the emotions and get through