by JA Low
Three months later
“Evan, I think my water just broke,” Sienna calls from the bathroom.
Looking at the clock radio it’s 3:47am, I’m totally disorientated.
“Evan!” She calls again, I can hear the urgency in her voice.
“Coming darlin’,” I respond, as I jump out of bed and rush into the bathroom, that’s when I see the large puddle on the floor. “Shit, Sienna, are you, okay?” I look at her not sure what to do, as she wipes herself down with a towel.
“Um, I think we should maybe go to the hospital.” Her voice is calm.
“Right, yeah, hospital. Good idea, we need your hospital bag.” I run out of the bathroom and rush around the bedroom in the dark, hitting my shin on the edge of the bed, “Motherfucker,” I cry out as I hobble around the room in a panic.
Sienna switches the light on. “Evan, what are you doing?” She questions, holding her stomach.
“I was trying to find your bag in the dark and I kicked the bed.” That’s going to bruise, tomorrow.
“The bag is beside the bed. Go get changed, I’m just going to quickly jump into the shower, clean myself up. Can you grab something for me to wear please,” she asks calmly as she disappears back into the bathroom. How the fuck is she calm?
Moments later we are both dressed and heading into the hospital. “Fuck, I haven’t put the baby seat in the car.” I panic.
“Evan, we can worry about that later. Let’s just get to the hospital,” she reminds me that a baby is trying to escape out of her, I put my foot on the pedal and try and get us there as quickly as possible without killing us.
A couple of hours later and still no baby. Sienna’s contractions are getting worse. We’ve tried the ball in the hot shower, whoever thought that was a brilliant idea is an idiot, heavily pregnant woman, rolling ball, add in slippery water, yeah not so fun, especially when your wife nearly hits the floor because she slipped off the ball, hello heart attack.
“Stop rubbing my back, Evan,” A possessed Sienna hisses at me.
“Sorry, sweetheart, I’m trying to help,” feeling utterly lost as I watch Sienna grit her teeth as another contraction rolls over her.
“Do you want some ice?” I ask, floundering in a sea of hopelessness.
“Yeah sure,” she moans.
I quickly scurry away and grab a cup from the nurse. “Here you go, babe.” Placing a cube in her mouth, she sucks on it for a moment before spitting it out. “It’s too fucking cold,” she complains.
“It’s an ice cube, of course it is.” Which obviously was not the right thing to say when I see the look she’s giving me. I move away from her because I’m not sure if she is about to sprout devil horns or not.
“You’re doing really well there, Sienna.” The midwife says. “But I’m going to have to check to see how dilated you are. Can you take off your clothes and underwear and pop this hospital gown on.”
I help Sienna undress and I watch as the nurse puts gloves on and heads back to where we are.
“Now hop up onto the bed.”
I help Sienna up.
“This is going to be a little uncomfortable,” the nurse says as her hand disappears up Sienna’s vagina, what the fuck!
“Okay, good we are getting close. You are now about five centimetres dilated. Your contractions are getting stronger, so would you like me to call the anaesthetist and get him to give you an epidural or would you like to wait a little longer?” She asks.
A contraction rolls over Sienna and she grits through it. “No, I think I can hold on a little longer,” Sienna answers.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, Evan, I’m sure. I’m perfectly capable of dealing with pain,” Sienna reprimands me.
It’s going to be one long ass night. I sink into the chair and pray that Bean hurries the fuck up and puts me out of my misery.
A half an hour later and we are still no further. How long does it take for a baby to come out? This is getting crazy; we have been here for five hours. I’m slumped in the side chair as Sienna walks around the room, my eyes keep closing and every time they shut, Sienna yells that I better not be sleeping. She is scary as fuck!
Then Sienna crumples to the floor in pain, I rush over. “Sienna, are you okay?” Grabbing her arms, I can see tears falling down her face.
“Oh that was a strong one.” The Nurse looks at the data on the machine that is watching Sienna’s contractions. “Would you like me to call the Anesthetist, for the epidural?”
“Yes, fuck, yes,” Sienna grits through her teeth and the nurse scurries away.
Five minutes later in walks an older man, he runs through the risks with the both of us and gets us to sign some paperwork and then he is putting the epidural in.
Shit, that needle is big. But Sienna doesn’t seem to notice it at all. I give her my hand as she tries and pushes through another contraction. Fuck, she’s hard core. I think I fell in love with her even more then. Ten minutes later she is relaxed, laying back in bed watching TV, joking, talking, back to her normal self. We watch the machine as the contractions play over the screen, the squiggly lines going crazy when she has a contraction, but she doesn’t even feel it. Fuck, those drugs are good.
We make phone calls to our family, letting them know that Sienna is in labor. We both fall asleep for a couple of hours and wake up when the nurse comes back in.
“Okay, Sienna, we are going to try some pushing. I’ve just checked and you are almost there,” the nurse says proudly. “The Doctor is on his way.”
This just woke us both up, we are ready, the time is now, we are about to meet our little Bean, it’s been nearly twelve hours since arriving at the hospital and we are both exhausted.
“Now, Sienna, you need to push like you’re doing a poo, okay,” the nurse explains, as another midwife comes into the room with a big smile on her face.
Sienna gives the nurse a push, “No sweetie, like a poo.”
Sienna nods and tries again and pushes as hard as she can. I just stand there helplessly urging her to push.
“Yes, yes, that’s it,” the nurse encourages her. “Okay, I can see the head.”
Sienna and I pause and look at each, holy shit, the head.
“Come on let’s keep practicing, this bit can take a while,” the nurse urges Sienna on, and she keeps pushing for the next twenty minutes.
“You’ve done so well, now the head is right there, you’re crowning. We are going to need one big almighty push. Evan would you like to watch?” The nurse asks.
Oh hell no, there is no way I am going to watch that baby come out of my fun zone. I shake my head, “I’m fine, I’ll stay up here, thanks.”
The nurse just laughs. “Okay, Sienna, one big push.”
Sienna pushes and pushes and pushes with all her might.
“And again,” the nurse yells.
And she does, she pushes again.
“You’ve done it, the head is out,” the nurse says excitedly.
I look at Sienna. “You’re doing good, darlin’, I’m so proud of you, we're almost there,” I urge her on.
In that moment the doctor walks in, pulling his gloves on, he takes one look at the head poking out of Sienna’s vagina, then looks at us. “Fantastic, Sienna, you are almost there, let’s get the rest of the baby out, one big push,” he urges her.
Sienna is exhausted, I can see it on her face, but she does it with all that she has and pushes and pushes and pushes.
“Yes, yes, yes, you did it,” the doctor calmly states, pulling the baby out.
We hear the first cries of our baby. “It’s a boy,” the doctor announces, placing the screaming baby on Sienna’s bare chest. The little bloodied thing tries to suckle straight away. Sienna instinctively puts the baby to her breast. Tears are pouring down my face as I look down at my little family. “Fuck, darlin’ you did it, you fucking did it,” I praise, giving her a big kiss. Sienna is crying now as she looks at our baby on her breast. “He’s perfect, Evan.”
&nb
sp; “So do you have any names picked out?” The nurse asks, while the doctor is sorting out Sienna’s lady bits.
“Ryder,” Sienna says. “Ryder Hayes Wyld.”
Now we are up in our suite, and it is filled with our friends, families and the band. It’s pretty crazy.
“Sisi, he is gorgeous,” Vanessa coos at the little guy who is asleep in his crib.
“He’s going to be a lady killer, just like his dad.” Derrick gives me a wink.
“Y’all look at those lips, I would kill to have that pout,” Charlotte adds.
“You did good, man.” Axel slaps me on the back as we walk out of the suite, leaving the girls to baby talk.
“Man, you have a baby,” Finn adds.
“Y’all seriously, this is the best feeling in the world. The instant love I have for him, never have I felt anything so strong,” I explain to the guys.
“We’ve lost him, Evan Wyld is now officially a pussy,” Christian says with an edge in his voice.
“Hey, until you experience it for yourself, don’t knock it, man,” I say, wondering why he is so pissy.
“Congrats, man, but I’m out,” he says, patting me on the shoulder and walking away.
“Y’all, what the fuck?” I question the guys.
“Not sure, I found out Ness moved out of their place,” Axel whispers, seeing as Vanessa is just inside.
“Really, why?” They have lived together for years.
They all shrug. “Neither of them will talk about it,” says Axel.
That’s just weird, but anyway I don’t care about Christian and Vanessa’s drama’s, “Y’all I just had a baby,” I yell, making the guys give me a huge cheer.
The End
Suddenly Together
BOOK TWO
Prologue
Vanessa
The clock strikes midnight and a new year begins. All of Sienna and Evan’s wedding guests are watching the spectacular fireworks display over the valley and out toward the ocean. The surrounding beaches are having their own colorful celebrations lighting up the entire coastline. Christian’s strong arms wrap around me and I snuggle into his embrace.
“Vanessa, I love you,” he whispers into my ear, his prickly chin resting on my shoulder.
“I love you too.”
He pulls his arms tighter around me. It’s not uncommon for us, as best friends, to share this sentiment with each other. Christian let’s out a heavy sigh, his breath tickles my skin. Slowly his large hands turn me in his arms so that we are face to face. Golden, hazel eyes stare into mine. There is an intensity shining from them which is most unusual and it’s a little unnerving. His handsome face normally has a bright smile across it, except for now.
“No, V…I love you.”
Yeah, I heard him the first time.
Rough hands move from my waist to my face, his calloused thumb gently rubs the apple of my cheek.
“Not as the ‘best friends forever’ kind of love, more like…” He pauses, mulling over his next words. I watch as a frown falls across his brow. “I love you as in you are ‘the one’ kind of way.”
I let out a nervous laugh thinking he’s joking. But he’s standing there so still, staring at me. Maybe he’s drunk. The bar has been open and free flowing all night, he has been enjoying it. Maybe he’s caught up in the atmosphere of the night and that’s given him an overwhelming sense of love for me, when in reality he’s just horny. I’m sure it’s just a bad case of lust or maybe heartburn.
“Ness?”
“What?” Pretending I didn’t hear what he just said, I’m hoping to forget his little confession.
“You don’t have anything to say?” He sounds annoyed with me.
Shaking my head, nope there’s nothing for me to say because I’m trying really hard to forget the bombshell my best friend just dropped on me. I’m dreaming, right? I have to be because this cannot be happening to me right now. I reach out and pinch Christian.
“Ouch,” he groans, rubbing his arm.
Shit, I’m not. We both agreed to have fun with each other. He’s my best friend for God’s sake, my anchor, the one and only man I can depend on. Christian’s never developed feelings for a woman before. Why now? Why me? He’s the world’s biggest player; he has actual trophies from various award shows calling him ‘World’s Biggest Player’ proudly displayed in his bar at home. We live together, we work together, we party together. We’ve been in each other’s lives twenty-four hours a day for the past five years. I’ve seen it all, even the groupies doing their walk of shame out of our home. The same way he’s seen my random hook-ups traipse the same path. I share everything with him, he knows all my deepest and darkest secrets. But love, it complicates things. It complicates what is good between us.
“Chris… no!” Pulling myself from his arms. I need some distance to think clearly. My body reacts automatically when it’s around him. I need my head clear to deal with all this. I didn’t think us hooking up again would lead to a declaration of love. Shit, how naive am I? I thought I’d stumbled upon nirvana when Christian agreed to pursue a friends with benefit relationship with me. I thought being older and wiser we could handle such a relationship, that sex was just sex.
It’s not like we’ve even been exclusive with each other since we agreed to this arrangement. Christian loves going to the Paradise Club, an exclusive celebrity only sex club, and I don’t mind sampling the delights on a night out. But love, as in forever and ever? My heart starts to race; my chest starts tightening up. I think I’m having a heart attack. I am too young to have heart palpitations. Is he trying to kill me? Is that his plan, to off me by declaring his love for me?
“V, look at me,” Christian commands.
I can’t. I just can’t, because I’m actually scared at what I might see in his eyes. I stare at my feet instead. Wow, my toes look super cute, I really like the color Sienna chose for them.
“Ness, stop freaking out and look at me.” He knows me so well and this time he sounds more authoritative with his command.
My eyes slowly lift from my pedicure to where his hazel ones are staring back at me. He takes my hand in his, his thumb rubbing over the top of my palm, soothing me.
“No one can compare to you, Ness.”
My traitorous heart just skipped a beat at his words. I shake my head at him, I don’t want to hear it. I can’t hear it because once those words are out, they are out. You can’t stuff them back into Pandora’s box, once that bitch is open, there’s nothing that can close it again.
“I tired, I tried so much to get over you but you are so far under my skin.”
I can see the emotion written all over his gorgeous face and any woman would kill to have Christian Taylor utter these words to them. Honestly deep down inside of me, hidden under a million layers of crap, there’s that girl bouncing up and down with joy but…
“But…we live together.” Such a pathetic excuse, even hearing those words come out of my mouth makes me cringe.
“And yet that doesn’t stop you from crawling into my bed most nights.” He arches his brow at me.
I shake my head again. “Don’t,” I whisper.
“Doesn’t stop you straddling my dick on the couch during a movie or…” I cover his mouth with my hand, muffling the rest of that answer.
“I never hear you say no,” I hiss at him, dropping my hand from his lips.
“Why the hell would I, Ness? You are fucking hot and I love you.” His hand lightly runs down my arm, sending shivers across my clammy skin. I hate how my body reacts to his touch. I hate how my body yearns for him. I hate that I want him so much.
“But…you’re my best friend.” God, why do I sound like a whiney bitch?
“Don’t you think that’s a great foundation to start a relationship?” Those hazel eyes challenge me to disagree.
Shaking my head, I reply, “Chris, you weren’t supposed to fall for me.”
“How could I not, Ness? You’re beautiful, sexy, you look after me, that
accent of yours does things to my dick. I trust you and there aren’t many people I trust. You also swear like a biker, drink like a sailor and fuck like a pro.”
Pushing hard on his chest, he takes a step back from me, his eyes searching mine looking confused by my reaction.
“Wow, what a glowing reference.” Anger boils to the surface, I don’t know why I’m pissed off. I shouldn’t be. A hot, tatted up rock star is declaring his love for me and I’m pissing all over it. “Why the hell would you want to be with someone like that?” I can’t make this verbal diarrhea stop. “I don’t sound like a woman you want to bring home to your family.”
Christian’s eyes narrow. “My family loves you, Ness, and you know it.”
It’s the truth. I love his mom; we always hang out together when she’s in town. But that’s not the point. “It would ruin everything we have worked so hard to build, you can’t go and change the goal posts now,” I mumble, wrapping my arms around myself.
“What?” Christian raises his voice at me. “Haven’t you liked being in my bed all these months?” He tilts his head to the side, daring me to deny it.
“Fucking you is different to being with you.” Shit. I cover my mouth with my hands surprised I said it, I didn’t mean it. I watch as my words make him flinch. Moments pass as we stare at each other in silence.
“Okay, I get it. I’m good enough to fuck but not good enough to date. I’ll only ever be one of your many fuck toys you play with.”
He sounds really angry and when he puts it like that it sounds kind of horrible.
“I never thought you were like that, Ness. I never thought you saw me like that.” He crosses his strong arms over his chest. The same ones I’ve spent night after night curled up against. Now I feel like a bitch, because he means more to me than just being my fuck buddy, but that’s the thing, I had Christian in a nice little box and now he’s decided to jump out of it and turn it into a big heart shaped box instead.