by Stark, Lola
After a full minute it became very clear I was in trouble.
My very first thought as I reached for my cell was on my baby. Oh God! God, no. Please! Not the baby.
After a quick stop at home to shower, change and swap the truck over for my Harley, I pulled into work spying Scarlett’s Cobra in its usual parking spot. Hopefully, she’d not give me shit about being late. I was in no mood to deal with it this morning. Why couldn’t she see I was just trying to do what was right? I was helping her. She had lost her job; she lived in a rundown apartment and her car should have been set fire to years ago. She was so damn stubborn. I had not meant to get so angry, but seeing her sick like that and dealing with it quietly on her own with nobody to take care of her, just pissed me right off. She should have asked me for help, or at least told me she’d been having a hard time.
Walking quickly through the parlor with my head down, I made my way to my station and set up for the day. My first appointment was already in the waiting room so I had to get my shit together.
I was still stewing on the shit-storm that had gone down hours later, cleaning up after the client who’d just left. I snapped off my gloves throwing them in the trash when Scar came running in the room looking panicked. “You have to go.” She rushed out clutching her cell to her chest.
“What? What are you on about?” I asked, confused by her words.
“It’s Teeny!” She took a deep shuddering breath “You have to go, now.” My stomach dropped and my ears pricked.
“Slow down. What’s going on?” A cold sweat broke out across my face.
“It’s the baby. Teeny and the baby. She’s hurt,” Scar cried.
Jumping up, I knocked over the tray of instruments and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Hurt, how? Scar, tell me what you know?” I begged giving her a small shake.
Snapping out of her panic, she locked her teary eyes with mine. “She fell. You need to get to St Joseph’s hospital. Now.”
Without a second thought, I was out the door and driving way over the speed limit rushing to get to the emergency room. I just had no idea what I would find when I got there.
“Which room?” I yelled toward the group of nurses. My nerves were shot and I was out of breath. I’d almost been carted off by security trying to get into the ward. I actually had to tell them I was her husband just to get past the big white doors. A woman in a white coat approached me carefully. “I might be able to help you. Who are you looking for?” she asked in a placating voice.
“My—my wi—my Teeny. She fell and…the baby. My baby. She has my baby.” I stuttered. My stomach in knots, I looked around feeling completely useless and utterly terrified.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Please follow me,” she said quietly turning and walking ahead of me. Sorry? She was sorry… My mind immediately went into overdrive thinking the worst had happened as we approached a room toward the end of the hall. “She’s just resting now. I’ll be back in about ten minutes to check on her and answer any questions you might have.”
Nodding, I pushed into the darkened room; the only light was streaming in through a crack in the curtains. With quick purposeful strides, I made it to her bed. Teeny glanced up at me and did a double take. “What—what are you doing here?” she asked honestly confused. “Scarlett,” she snapped accusingly as the pieces clicked together. My heart was still pounding behind my ribs as I ran my eyes over her.
Looking between her stomach and face, I seemed to have lost all ability to speak. Ice-cold fear gripped me; the thought that we might have lost our unborn baby had me feeling like I was standing on broken glass. It must have been written clear across my face because Teeny grabbed my large inked hand in her tiny soft one and whispered, “The baby’s fine. Everything is fine. It’s okay, Trip.” The breath I didn’t know I’d been holding rushed from my burning lungs and my shoulders lost most of their tension.
Something snapped inside me. I had been so damn scared she was hurt. I hadn’t stopped to think about the fact it wasn’t just the baby I was scared for. A squeak left her lips as mine unexpectedly crashed down on her mouth. Cupping her pretty face in my hands, I put everything I was, everything I had, and everything I wanted to be into that one kiss.
Pulling back, I stared into her surprised eyes and spoke thickly, “You scared the shit outta me. Don’t ever do that again. Never.” Taking a deep breath, I tried steadying my frayed nerves. “Damn, Princess. What the hell happened?”
She gave me a quick rundown of how things had gone after I left, up to the point I’d arrived. The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach still hadn’t lessened any at the thought of how badly the whole thing could have ended. I couldn’t even take pride in the fact my point had been proven; she needed somebody to take care of her.
“What happens now?” I asked. “They’ve checked you out properly, right?”
“Yeah. I just have to wait for the doctor to look me over once more before I can go home.” Home? I glared down at her wondering how I was going to make sure she wasn’t left on her own. Maybe I could call on the girls and Ma to help me out, drop in and make sure she was okay when I couldn’t.
The sound of the door opening interrupted my moment. In walked the lady doctor who’d helped me in the hall, pushing an ultrasound machine.
“Okay, we’ll just have a little look at bub to see everything is okay, and then I’ll do a quick exam”
Once again, I was completely blown away by the grainy images on the screen. The tiny flicker of a beating heart absolutely absorbed me.
“Everything looks perfect. There’s no problems there. Do we want to know the sex of your baby while you’re here?” The doctor looked at us waiting on an answer. “You’re eighteen weeks now and we usually like to wait until twenty weeks, but seeing as this is the last opportunity to see, I figured I’d ask.”
“Oh, can we?” Teeny piped up looking from me to the doctor asking for clarification from her and permission from me. She was including me, unknowingly so, but the gesture was more than a little wanted.
“Have at it,” I smiled looking back up at the screen in awe; unlike last time, the baby wasn’t a jellybean. Our kid had hands and feet, a nose and ears. It was amazing and completely breathtaking. A lump rose up in my throat as I stared in wonder at its tiny form.
“Ohh, damn. Stubborn little thing.” Teeny’s laughing voice drew me back to the present.
“What?” I asked shaking the fog from my head.
“Your little one has its legs crossed. No chance of finding the sex out before birth. Sorry guys.” The doctor turned the machine off as she spoke and cleaned the goop off Teeny’s belly.
“I’ll be back in a few moments, and if everything is okay with the last lot of blood tests, you can go home,” Doctor Wood explained once she had finished poking and prodding Teen’s belly.
“You’re sure?” I pressed, still not quite convinced.
“With a small smile, the doctor turned to me. “Teeny and the baby are fine. They were both very lucky.” She patted me on the shoulder with a small laugh on her way out the door leaving us alone in the quiet room.
Rather than standing around fidgeting, I busied myself trying to be useful. “Here, drink some more of this.” I pushed the cup toward her face again.
“I don’t want anymore,” she snapped, clearly annoyed by my efforts. “Stop coddling me “
‘I’m not coddling. I’m being helpful,” I argued with a pout.
“You’re coddling me and it’s annoying. I told you I’m fine. The doctor told you I was fine. The baby and I are fine. Stop, please,” she chided.
“You fell,” I pointed out.
“Yes I did, but both the baby and I are fine.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the doctor move back into the room and sit on a stool at the end of the bed. “What is she—“
Lifting the sheet up to Teeny’s knees, the doctor pulled her tray table a little closer and reached for a small tube. She sat closer down between her legs. My brows furrowed.
Was she?
“Are you supposed to do that? Down there, I mean. Is that safe? I don’t think you should be putting anything up there. There’s already something up there. I mean, don’t break it or anything. I need that.” This chick was makin’ me nervous.
Shifting from one foot to the other, I leaned forward to do fuck knows what. When Teeny wrapped her hand around my arm, she hissed “Move any further down that way and I will break you”.
My brows bunched but I decided to heed her warning. She sounded pretty serious and the mean look on her face was enough to have anyone backtracking.
While she was down the business end, Doctor Wood asked, "How many times a week do you have sexual intercourse"
My face lit up. I answered quickly figuring Teen wouldn’t want to talk with a chick’s hand up her snatch. “A lot! Probably, umm, twenty,” I nodded my head, crossed my arms and puffed my chest out. Teeny made a gurgling sound biting down on her lip and trying not to laugh at my elaborate lie. “Yeah, about twenty times a week. That sounds about right, doesn’t it?”
Shaking her head with a smile, the doctor then asked, "What do you do?”
I pondered for half a second and answered, “Well, sometimes she's on top and sometimes I'm on top, or I take her from behind.” I thought it had some bearing on the baby being okay and all that.
Laughing and shaking her head, she clarified, "No dear, I meant what does she do for a living?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” I asked completely confused. Far as I knew, it wasn’t good form to ask questions when you already had the goods in your hand so to speak.
“It doesn’t, dear. It’s just polite conversation,” Doctor Wood smiled, lowered the sheet and rolled back on her chair snapping her gloves off.
“Ha! All I had to do was get her drunk to get my hand up there.” The second the words left my mouth, I could feel the daggers Teeny was staring at my back. I turned and winked at her, “Don’t sulk, Princess. It’s the truth.” And it was. The reason she was lying on the table knocked up with my kid was because after a few drinks, I’d gotten my hand up to the sweet spot.
Doctor Wood flushed and shook her head. Turning to Teeny, she said, “Everything’s fine. Baby is sitting in the right spot. All your measurements are perfect. The blood tests are all clear and you haven’t done any damage. You live alone though, right? “
“Not anymore she doesn’t. She’s moving in with me,” I piped up smiling smugly at the spur of the moment decision that I knew was going to get me the evil eye in three, two, one…
Bam!
There it was. Teeny glared at me like she could single-handedly turn me into a pile of ash.
“Good! I think that’s a great idea to have somebody around at the moment.” Doctor Wood softened, “You need to keep your mind on what’s good for you and the baby right now.”
Teeny’s answer was to simply scowl. I shrugged my shoulders and pointedly looked at her with my eyebrow raised. It was fine by me; I wasn’t giving her a choice anyway.
“Did you leave any of my stuff behind?” I grumbled as Trip, Mace and Remy walked past me with more boxes. Seemed to me, they’d ignored my directions and brought everything I owned.
“Just so you know, I’m not staying long, so this…” I gestured to the pile of boxes from my perch on the sofa, “was unnecessary and a waste of time.”
“We left the furniture,” Mace grinned proudly at me before grabbing Scarlett around the waist, throwing her over his shoulder and making for the door.
With a giggle, Scarlett waved and said, “We’re leaving apparently. Dinner tomorrow night.” I nodded and she called out, “Don’t forget!” just as the door slammed shut behind them.
Smiling and watching after them, I was loving how happy Scarlett was. It’d been a long time coming and hadn’t been an easy thing for her to let the walls down and accept Mace was her somebody. A pang in my chest reminded me I still hadn’t found that somebody, and I likely never would. The little person growing inside me would be the most important thing in my life, and I knew dating would be near impossible. “I’ll make you two some lunch,” I said. Shaking off my serious thoughts, I began pushing up from my spot on the sofa.
“You move from that sofa and it won’t be pretty,” Trip scowled from the end of the sofa I’d been laid up on for the last week. I’d been put on light duties by the doctor after my fall, just in case. Trip took light duties as not moving around. The one time he’d caught me in the laundry with a full basket of clothes propped on my hip, he unceremoniously picked me up and put me to bed, ranting and cursing about being a stubborn shit. He was driving me crazy to the point it was beginning to get suffocating. Not only had he waited on me hand and foot, he’d offered to ‘help’ me shower.
Yeah…right!
That wasn’t happening. I’d meant it when I decided the thing between us wasn’t going to happen again. Besides, I’m sure he had an entire black book of booty call phone numbers to choose from. The thought of Trip and one of his whores turned my stomach. I had to keep reminding myself he wasn’t mine. He wasn’t what I—Shit, who was I kidding! I could easily fall for him just so long as I didn’t mind having my heart torn to shreds in the process.
“If I have to stay on this sofa for one more minute…” I said slowly pronouncing each word as if speaking to a foreigner, “I’m. Going. To lose. My. Shit.” Feeling slight satisfaction when his scowl deepened, I added, “And it’ll be directed at your bossy ass.” I could hear Remy chuckling softly from the direction of the front door. Looking over, he waved and quickly left, apparently realizing how this situation was about to go. Smart man.
Trip’s smirk was cut short by a throw pillow to the face.
Direct hit!
I burst out laughing at the incredulous look on his face. My laughter died just as quickly when his lips turned up in a manic smile. The glint in his eyes didn’t bode well for me. I was automatically on the defensive. “No, no, no. I’m sorry. I—Trip, stop. I’m sorry! Really!” He was taking calculated steps toward me, and getting closer by the second. My eyes darted around the room looking for the best escape. Just before he got to me, I jumped up and ran toward the front door. Without a second thought, I raced across the quiet street to Scar and Mace’s place, with Trip yelling behind me that I needed to get back on the couch. I pushed through their back gate and came to a quick halt; Trip grabbing me around the hips as he crashed into my back from the sudden stop. “What the—Oh my God! Oh my God!” I screamed covering my mouth.
“Fuck me,” Trip muttered under his breath.
“Holy shit!” Mace yelled startled.
“Ahhh!” Scarlett screamed.
We’d just witnessed something that nobody needed to see. Scarlett had old-style vinyl pool loungers along one side of her pool, and right there in the dusk moonlight, was Mace’s very nice, very firm ass in the air, board shorts around his ankles, Scar under him thrashing and moaning. We’d interrupted them having sex in the backyard! I felt the blush rise up my neck and face. Scar had told me he had a sexy ass but holy crap…he really did. It was almost as good as Tr—No, not going there. I shook my head to erase not only my train of thought, but the fact I had just ogled my best friend’s fiancé’s ass.
A scream and loud splash of water had me rushing forward in a panic. Mace, fortunately with his pants up, dove into the pool as Trip ran past me and did the same.
“Hurry, hurry!” In all the commotion, Mace had jumped up from the lounger so quickly, it’d set the springs in the chair off causing it to fold up around Scar and slide right into the pool.
Both emerged with one side of the chair each. All I could see clearly was Scarlett completely naked, and her white backside poking through the soft plastic slats.
Snagging a nearby towel, I threw it over her bare body while the boys extricated her from the clusterfuck that was Scarlet, Mace and any sexual activity near water.
Out of nowhere, Scar burst out laughing. “
I think we need floaties and protective eyewear next time, baby.” She looked up at Mace’s smiling face.
“Oh, gosh! How disgusting, Norman! They’re at it again!” We all turned in the direction of the female voice to see Scar and Mace’s nosey old neighbor poking her head over the fence, a look of disgust plastered on her face.
“Fuck off!” Scarlett yelled still smiling. The hilarity of it all sunk in leaving me laughing so hard, I had tears in my eyes. Scarlett, wrapped tightly in her towel, was safely in Mace’s arms still giggling.
My laughter abruptly cut off and turned into a gasp when I was scooped off my feet. My arms instantly went around Trip’s neck. “What the hell?” I asked slightly confused.
“Told you. Stay on the sofa, Princess.” His lips turned up slightly and all I could think was how much I wanted to suck on that lip. A shiver that had nothing to do with the fact he was soaking wet ran over me, and my nipples instantly perked against my bra. Each step he took, jostled me slightly causing them to rub and become painfully hard. He cleared his throat when a tiny moan escaped my lips. I could clearly feel his erection poking against my back. This didn’t surprise me in the least; it was as if he constantly had a hard-on. It made my days harder than they needed to be, not to mention his habit of walking around in nothing but a towel or loose fitting pants that rode dangerously low on his hips. Living with Trip was fast becoming my favorite torture. It had, however, given me plenty of visuals for my B.O.B time. I mentally reminded myself to pick up some extra batteries.