On the screen, it read My Boo. “Hello?”
“Ch-Charlie?”
Taariq frowned. “Uh, no.” He glanced at the phone again and then down at the bag. “Damn. I think I grabbed the wrong bag at the gym.”
“Hoo—hoo. It’s time.”
“Time? Time for what?” he asked, though he suspected that he already had an answer.
“The baaaabyyyy,” she screeched and then returned to that weird breathing. “Hoo…hoo…hoo…hee…hee…hee.”
“What are you doing?”
“Bre-breathing. Where’s Charlie? I need him to come home.”
“Uhhh…”
“Hoo…hoo…hee…hee. Tell him to hurry.”
Taariq started twisting around in his seat. Cars started blaring their horns. “Charlie…is…um, he’s not here. I—”
“I—I need him. I—I have to get to the hospital.”
“But—”
“NOW!”
“All right. Um, I’m on my way.”
Chapter 9
It was 9:00 a.m. and Anna was already on her third cup of coffee. She had been up all night reviewing proposals from K & L Corporation, a large conglomerate that had an interest in acquiring her company, Odyssey. Since the downturn in the economy they had been able to fend off a lot of corporate raiders, but the president of her company had been talking more and more about retiring and he hadn’t been so quick to turn down buyout offers.
In some ways, the president’s change in position felt like a knife being jammed in the center of the back and at other times there was this huge, strange…sense of relief. Maybe this was just the type of change she needed in her life. Heaven knew that she needed something to get her out of her rut. She just didn’t know what it was.
Riiiinnng.
Anna frowned while she wiggled her feet into her pumps. Since she was cutting it close on time, she decided to let the call go to voice mail while she tried to hightail it toward the front door.
When her high heel nailed Sasha’s fluffy orange tail, she meowed and then swiped her thin nails across Anna’s right ankle. “Oww!” Anna hopped up and Sasha took off like an orange bat out of hell, screeching the whole way. “Sorry!” she yelled after her pet, but clearly her tabby didn’t want to hear it.
Anna took one step and winced at the sudden stinging pain in her ankle. When she glanced down, she saw that it was bleeding through four jagged clawed lines. “Great. Just great.”
Riiiinnng.
Anna rolled her eyes. “All right. All right. I’m coming.” She hopped on her good leg over to the phone before the call was transferred to voice mail. “Hello.”
“It’s time!”
“Excuse me?” She wasn’t sure that she caught the voice.
“The baby,” Gisella screeched and then went into this weird hyperventilating breathing thing. “It’s…it’s coming.”
“Oh! The baby!” Gisella’s words finally registered. “You’re in labor?”
“Y-yes!”
“Great. Okay.” Anna’s heart leaped as she lowered her foot. “All right. I’ll just meet you and Charlie at the hospital. I can’t believe it. I’m about to be an aunt!” Giddy, she started to hang up the phone when Gisella screamed over the line. “Wait!”
Anna pressed the phone back against her ear. “What is it? Is something wrong?”
“Ch-Charlie is out of town. Hoo. Hoo. Heee. Heee. I need you to come and…take me to the hospital. I mean—Hoo. Hoo. Heee. Heee—if it’s not too much trouble.”
“Oh. Um. All right.” Now her heart was doing some wild African beat. She halfway expected it to pound its way out of her chest at any moment. Despite her nerves, she wasn’t about to let her sister down. “Sure. I can do that. I, um…”
“Now. Come now.”
“Gotcha. I’m on my way.” She dropped the phone back onto its base and started running around, completely forgetting about her battle scar from Sasha. “My purse. My purse.” She ran around in a circle and then finally grabbed it and bolted toward the door. However, the moment she jerked it open, she remembered that she needed something else. “My car keys. My car keys.” She raced around in another circle until she found her keys on the hook by the door—just where they were supposed to be.
“Calm down. Pull it together,” Anna mumbled repeatedly. But she was having a hard time getting her body to listen to reason and her thoughts to stop chasing each other. She was not a woman accustomed to falling apart so she sent a quick prayer up that she wouldn’t start doing so today.
When she reached her car in the parking deck of her high-rise condominium, she experienced another mini-heart attack when her car wouldn’t turn over. “No! Oh, God. Not now. Please!” Anna turned the key again and for half a second her silver Lexus LX flirted with the idea of starting, but then changed its mind at the last second.
“Damn it!” She smacked the steering wheel and then jumped when the horn blared. Now with her heart in the center of her throat and her stomach churning, Anna sucked in a deep breath. “C’mon, baby. Please. Please, don’t do this to me now.” She turned the key again. There was a slight hesitation, but this time, at the last second, the engine roared to life. “Oh, thank you, baby!” She planted a kiss against the steering wheel and then quickly peeled out of the parking garage.
However, her mad dash ended the moment she hit the congested street outside her condominium. “What the hell?” Anna looked up and tried to see if she could make out why traffic was so bad, but it all looked like one giant parking lot. “I don’t believe this.”
On cue, Anna’s cell phone started ringing from her purse. Without missing a beat, she fished through the cluttered bag, pulled out her iPhone and read her sister’s name. She answered with a preemptive, “I’m on my way.”
“Hoo. Hee. How far are you?”
Hearing the stress in her sister’s voice, Anna laid on her car horn. “Um. Not too far. I guess I should be there in a few minutes.” I hope.
“Good. Okay. Hurry.”
Anna disconnected the call and released a long stream of curses before laying into her horn again. “Move! Damn it!”
If none of the hundreds of drivers that Taariq was pissing off in Atlanta’s downtown traffic didn’t kill him, then surely the police would pop up at any minute and haul his butt off to jail. He cut people off, tailgated, laid into his horn and rolled down his window to give drivers who were just creeping along a good tongue-lashing. In between driving like a maniac and having temporary Tourette Syndrome, Taariq tried to get Charlie on his phone. Each time, Taariq was transferred to his own voice mail.
“Oooh. You’re going to owe me big time for this one, buddy,” he hissed and then tossed the phone back into the gym bag.
Ten minutes later, he pulled up into Charlie and Gisella’s suburban home, thankful that he’d made it without a scratch on his new Benz. He jumped out of the car and drew in a deep breath. You can do this. Another deep breath and he rushed toward the door.
Taariq knocked and then rang the doorbell. When no one came to the door, he tried again. He glanced around to check that he was at the right house. Had Gisella found another ride? Called an ambulance?
A rush of relief flooded him at the thought. There was no need for him to play Superman and try to save the day. Besides, he didn’t know nothing about birthing no babies.
Right then, he should have turned around, got in his car and drove off. Instead, he tested the door. Even then, it wasn’t too late to execute his escape plan. But noooo. He pushed open the door and entered a scene that was going to forever change his life.
“Hoo. Hee. Hoo. Hee.”
Taariq cocked his head. “Hello? Gisella? Are you in here?”
“Hoo. Hee.”
Maybe—just maybe—he still could’ve run out of there with his tail tucked in between his legs, but he continued easing into the house like a curious cat. “Gisella?”
“Hoo. Hee. I’m in here,” she called out weakly. “Hoo. Hee.”
This definitely didn’t sound too good. Taariq’s stomach looped into tight knots while his heart hammered so hard his rib cage ached. However, it wasn’t in his nature to just punk out. He was a man, after all. He could handle anything tossed his way. All he had to do was get a pregnant woman to the hospital. How hard could that be?
Now that he was finished with his mini-pep talk, he forced a little more steel into his spine and quickened his step. Yet, the moment he walked into the large, open living room and spotted Gisella trying to sit or squat, he wasn’t sure which, another wave of panic washed over him and that little bit of steel he’d injected melted like lead. He knew without a doubt that this was going to be harder than he thought.
A lot harder.
“Hoo. Hee.” Gisella tried to squat lower to the ground. Her face was twisted with pain and her long hair was drenched with sweat and matted to the side of her face.
For a few seconds, Taariq stared openmouthed, while waiting for his brain to kick into gear. That was just about the time Gisella abandoned her practiced Hoo-Hees for a very high-pitched shriek that exploded Taariq’s panic button.
Eyes wide, Taariq raced over to her. “It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here.” He took hold of one of her arms. “Let’s get you to the hospital.”
Gisella took hold of his right hand and crushed it. “Arrrrrrghhhhh!”
Shocked by her seemingly superhuman strength, Taariq’s mouth sagged as he tried to pry his hand free. Unfortunately, the more he struggled, the tighter her grip became. At one point, he even thought he heard his bones crack.
“Gisella, breathe,” he urged. “Please, breathe.”
To her credit, she tried. Gisella took a quick sip of air, but in the next nanosecond she was back to blasting a hole in his eardrum and breaking the rest of the bones in his hand. “Arrrrrghhhh! Where’s Charlie?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I swear I don’t know.”
Mercifully, whatever pain that had her in its throes suddenly released her and she loosened her iron grasp on his hands.
“Oh, thank you, sweet baby Jesus,” he panted, snatching his hand away. He lifted his hand up to his face and saw that it looked permanently disfigured.
“H-hospital,” Gisella panted as she pulled herself up from her deep squat. “Get me to the hospital.”
Taariq tried to stretch the muscles in his fingers, but it wasn’t working. He opened his mouth to complain, but Gisella popped him on the back of his head.
“Now!”
Taariq dropped his hand and jumped to attention. “Right. Okay. Um, let’s go.” Despite the pain in his hand, he tried to escort her to the door. For his troubles, she shoved him away and gestured toward a suitcase sitting next to the plush sofa. “Get my bag.”
“Right. I’m on it.” Hurry up before her head starts spinning. He raced over to the bag, grabbed it with his good hand and started for the door.
“Arrrrgggh!” Gisella started squatting again.
Taariq dropped the suitcase and rushed back over to her. “No. No. No squatting. Let’s get you out to the car.”
“I…can’t,” she screamed through clenched teeth. She tried to grab his hand again, but he snatched it out of her reach. “The baby is coming. I can feel it.”
“I know. That’s why we have to get you to the hospital,” he said gently, trying to pull her out of her squat. “Now if I can just get you out to the car.” He turned up a tight smile, but received a scold for his trouble.
“Don’t you think I’m trying to get to the car?” she snapped with her nostrils flaring. “Hell, I wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for your boy, your homie!”
“Ooookay.” Taariq couldn’t believe that the usually sweet and kind Gisella was quickly turning into a fire-breathing man-hater right before his eyes. “I’m sure Charlie would be here if he could or if he even knew what was going down right now.”
“Hoo. Hee. I should’ve known that you would take his side,” she growled with her eyes narrowing. At this moment, it wouldn’t surprise him if her head started spinning. “You Kappa men just stick together, don’t you? Through thick and thin.”
Taariq opened his mouth to respond, but at the last second thought better of it. There was a real possibility that he could end up saying the wrong thing and wouldn’t live to tell the tale.
“Uh-huh. That’s just what I thought.” She rolled her eyes and clutched her large belly. “You just wait until I see that man.” Her hand sliced through the air like a guillotine and Taariq jumped when a phantom pain shot through his crown jewels. This woman wasn’t playing. Hell. At this moment, Charlie wasn’t exactly at the top of his Christmas list either.
“Arrrrghh!” Gisella squatted so low she was practically on the floor.
“What are you doing?”
In between her grunting and panting, she looked up at Taariq as if he’d just sprouted two more heads. “What the hell does it look like I’m doing? I’m about to have a baby.”
“But—but you can’t have it here. We have to get you to the hospital.” He moved forward and tried to take her by the elbow. However, she tried to grab his injured hand again. For a few seconds they looked like a comedy act with her hands looking like Wile E. Coyote and his hands racing around hers like the Road Runner. Finally she gave up and just started smacking him on the arm.
“Oww.” He tried to duck out of the way from the sudden assault. “What are you doing?”
“I hate men! You did this to me!”
There was a loud gasp and both Gisella and Taariq’s heads whipped toward the living room’s archway where Anna stood with her eyes wide in shock. “What the hell is going on in here?”
Chapter 10
Taariq jerked as if he had been sucker punched by her sudden appearance. It was a strange reaction to a woman he’d determined was certifiable. And what was she wearing? She seemed to go out of her way to cover whatever curves her tall frame possessed. Today she wore a conservative black skirt and white blouse. Her jet-black hair was even pulled back into a tight bun, reminiscent of a strict schoolmarm.
Not his type, especially with the whole crazy, throwing-drinks-in-people’s-faces thing.
So why couldn’t he stop staring?
“Oh, thank God you came,” Gisella said and then immediately burst into tears.
Anna’s beautiful brown eyes narrowed with silent accusation before she raced to her sobbing sister. “It’s okay. I’m here now.” She knelt down and gathered her sister into her arms. “Are you having contractions?”
Gisella whimpered and nodded her head.
“How far apart?”
Her answer was a low guttural growl that Anna and Taariq couldn’t understand.
Anna whipped her head back toward Taariq and asked him. “How far?”
He stood there like a deer caught in headlights.
“Hello?” Anna waved and snapped her fingers to jar him out of his trance. “Is anybody there?”
Taariq’s spine stiffened. “Yes. I don’t know what you want me to tell you. I don’t know anything about contractions. I’ve been too busy trying to get her out to the car so I can take her to the hospital.”
Anna huffed and rolled her eyes.
What in the hell do they want from me? I’m trying to do them a favor.
Gisella stopped grunting and went back to her Hoos and Hees.
“Okay. Did the pain just pass?”
“Y-yes. Hoo.”
Anna glanced at the dainty watch on her wrist. “All right. Let’s try to get you out to the car before the next one hits. Do you think you can do that?”
Gisella looked like she wanted to say no, but instead she nodded and allowed her sister to help her to stand back up.
“Well.” Taariq clapped his hands together and took a step backward. “It looks like you have everything under control now.” After all, this was a family issue.
“Where are you going?” Anna’s accusing stare nailed him.
“I, um, well,
er…”
“You’re not going to leave me to do this by myself, are you?”
Well, not anymore. “Of course not. I was just—” his gaze swept over to the suitcase “—going to grab her stuff,” he lied with a shrug and then rushed over for the bag.
Anna’s stern expression refused to relax while she watched him grab her sister’s suitcase. Instinctively, she didn’t trust Taariq. She never really had. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise her one bit if he was really planning to jet out of there and leave her to deal with getting Gisella to the hospital by herself. He had made it clear that he wasn’t the kind of man who stuck around.
“Aaarrrrgh,” Gisella screamed and grabbed her sister’s hand.
At the crushing pain, Anna dropped like a stone with her mouth sagging open in a silent scream. In a flash, Taariq raced over to try to help loosen Gisella’s death grip, but he wasn’t making much headway.
“Gisella, baby. I’m going to need you to let go,” Taariq said, straining to lift just one finger.
If she wasn’t in so much physical pain, she probably would’ve found this scene amusing with the strong muscular man struggling to overpower a petite Gisella—and losing. But since she was in pain, the situation wasn’t funny at all. Bright multi-colored stars danced around Anna’s head like a cartoon and it wasn’t until Gisella’s contraction passed that she was finally able to pry her hand free.
Anna stared at her crushed hand. “Oh. My. God!”
Sympathetic, Taariq turned toward her. “Are you all right?”
“Hell, no, I’m not all right. Look at my hand!” She thrust it in front of his face.
In response, he showed her his own warped-looking hand. “Trust me. I know exactly how you feel.”
“Guys! Guys! Here comes another one,” Gisella warned. She tried to grab hold of one of their hands again, but this time both of them scrambled out of the way, leaving Gisella to grab hold of a floor lamp and shake the hell out of it.
Anna glanced at her watch. “Wow. They’re really coming pretty fast. I don’t know if we’re going to have enough time to get her to the hospital. We might have to deliver the baby here.”
My Only Desire Page 9