“You might like fuckin’ other brother’s girls, but don’t touch mine,” he growls. There are those demons we haven’t seen in a long time.
“Now ain’t the time, brother,” I add, nodding toward her. He slowly calms, taking deep breaths before looking at her. Loralai stands there in tears when Silla runs toward her.
“She needs to get to the hospital, you idiots!”
“Grave, get your woman,” Preacher warns. He’s been on edge lately too.
“Fuck you. She’s right,” he adds.
“Just call an ambulance,” Silla adds, shoving her phone into Grave’s hands. She wraps her arm around Loralai and leads her to a chair to sit down when Psycho storms from the room. I follow him outside and find him punching the side of the building until his knuckles bleed.
“Hey! Calm the fuck down, brother. She needs you right now.”
“It’s too early! I knew it, brother. I knew I would fuck this up somehow!” he roars, taking another swing.
“You can’t control this shit, Psycho. You didn’t do this,” I remind him.
“I’m fucked up, Freak. I always knew that shit would come back to haunt me but with my old lady and little girl?” I see the fear in his eyes as he looks at me, and I hate that shit.
“She’s gonna be fine. They both will. You need to breathe and lock those motherfuckin’ demons back in their cage because Loralai needs you. She needs Bryce.” His eyes stay locked on mine until he slowly nods his head.
“Yeah. She needs me. My girls need me,” he repeats, nodding his head.
“Yeah. Come on. Let’s get your girl to the hospital, yeah?” Psycho nods once more and my chest slowly deflates. I wasn’t sure he was going to be able to calm down after that one.
9
Katrina
“This is bul—” Before I can finish that sentence, I throw up again. Abby sits next to me with the damn bucket held to my face. This isn’t how I thought my day would go.
“That’s nasty,” she adds when I finish and drop back against the bed.
“Thanks. I was aiming for beauty.” Rolling my head, my everything hurts. I can’t believe the stupid pill made me sick. Now I sit in the emergency room because I haven’t been able to hold anything in for the last five hours. The doctor has already been in and ran all the little tests and here he comes again.
“Good news is you are only borderline dehydrated which we can fix with some fluids. I will also run some anti-nausea medication too. That lump on your head where you fell is probably causing the headache.”
“What about the stupid pill?” Abby asks, knowing that was my main concern.
“You said she threw up the first time about three hours after taking it so I think you should be fine. We are only concerned if it was within the first two hours,” he adds, and I let out the breath I’d been holding. Thank God that worked. “I do want you to consider some form of birth control though. You are obviously not handling the pill well and it shouldn’t be used as a form of birth control.” I nod my head but ignore the idiot. I already planned on getting on something, but I just can’t let Ash find out. If he does, he will lose it and I’m sure the next time won’t be as pretty as this time.
“The nurse will be in to run the fluids soon. Once that’s done and you’re feeling a little better, I’ll let you go.” Nodding once more, I watch him walk away, leaving the curtain open. Ambulance sirens can be heard approaching and with nothing better to do, I watch the people as they run around.
“That doesn’t look good,” Abby mumbles before pulling her phone out and playing a game. The nurse comes in and sets up the IV as I keep watching the scene. A woman is wheeled in screaming and crying, holding her stomach. They move her quickly onto the other side of our curtain wall. I hear the doctor’s barking out orders but none of them make sense until I hear OB. Abby and I share a glance before my heart breaks a little for the girl. I listen as they talk to her, trying to calm her but she’s hysterical.
“It’s too early! This can’t be happening. You have to stop it,” she screams through her tears. My heart aches knowing what may be happening next to me.
“We can’t stop, honey. The baby is coming, and we don’t have time to move you to the floor. We’re going to have to do this here.” The nurse talks sweetly to her. The woman cries out in pain as the doctors talk about contractions and shit.
“Fuck that has to hurt,” Abby whispers, her eyes wide. I nod my head. Judging from the sounds coming from over there, she is right.
“Where is she?” I hear a man roar. His voice thunders through the whole room. I hear someone talking to him in a hushed tone before I see boots under the curtain.
“Bryce, I can’t do this,” the woman cries. God, this is killing me, and I don’t even know her.
“Yeah, you can, darlin’. You can do this. That little girl needs you to do this,” he pleads with her. Abby grabs my hand and squeezes as we listen to the most intense conversation.
“You need to push,” someone says. I try to drown out her screams, his growls, and the doctor’s words but it doesn’t work. It doesn’t take long when I hear the doctor announce it’s a girl. I smile at first, happy for them but then I realize I didn’t hear the baby cry.
“We’re taking her to the NICU.”
“What the fuck is that?” a man roars.
“She needs help to breathe. We’ll let you know something as soon as we can.” The woman cries, and the man curses under his breath, then all hell breaks loose.
“You can’t go back there! Sir!”
“Hey, fuck you, lady! That’s my family in there!” Oh, shit’s about to get real. Abby and I share another glance when my curtain is ripped back. The man’s face in front of me is angry. He looks up and cocks his head to the side.
“You,” he whispers, and I get a good look at him. Oh shit.
“I… I, uh, think you are looking for them,” I say, pointing to the curtain. He stares at me, his eyes moving from mine to my head and back. Something flashes in his eyes, but he shakes his head and walks away. I let out another breath, laying my head back and letting the medicine work its magic on my stomach.
“What the hell was that?” Abby whispers.
“Don’t ask.”
“Fuck, Loralai. I’m sorry, darlin’. She’s gonna be just fine though. Look at who her momma is. You’re a fighter and so she is.” I can hear him talking to her and my chest warms at his words.
“I’m going for a smoke,” Abby announces, shoving out of her chair. I nod and watch her leave, letting the medicine slowly pull my eyes closed. My stomach isn’t churning like it was so it must be working. Thinking I’ve only had my eyes closed for a second, I open them to find him staring at me, his fingers caressing the knot on my head.
“What the hell?” I ask groggily.
“What happened to your head?” What is he doing in here? Why is he here?
“I fell.” His eyes flash with anger once again.
“No you didn’t. Ash do this?” Shit. How does he know that? Did I mention Ash that night? Fuck, I was so drunk I don’t remember saying his name, but I must have.