“Sebastian.” She sighs and turns toward the shower, pulling the curtain back to get in. “I don’t want to talk about it.” And somehow, she keeps her back from me.
“I do. I want to talk about it. Come here.” I drag her toward the mirror and stand in front of it, letting my hands slip down her arms as we stare at our reflections. “You’re beautiful,” I say, then I turn around and give my back to the mirror, looking over my shoulder to see the damage. It’s a good thing I’m good at schooling my face because holy shit, it looks like a battlefield back there, but she doesn’t need to know that. Dozens of red lines um the length of my back; even the skin of my cheeks is marked. There are five indentations on either cheek where she gripped me and urged me forward as I fucked her hard enough to break the bed.
“It isn’t even that bad,” I say, clearly lying.
She covers her mouth with her hand, and I think she is going to cry, but she takes me by surprise, a damn wild card, and laughs. “Oh God, why didn’t you tell me I was hurting you? I never want to hurt you.”
“You didn’t hurt me” I pull her to my chest and wrap my arms around her petite body. “You turn me on. I liked it.”
“Really?” She bats her dark lashes up at me, suddenly a bit shy.
“Really.” I sway us to the music of the water hitting against the tile floor from the shower. “It’s nothing like what he did to you, baby. You are nothing like him, if that’s what you are thinking.” I frame her face with my hands and gently tuck her head back to look at me. “You did this in passion. You didn’t do this to inflict pain on me.”
Her eyes widen with horror. “I would never hurt you. I—”
“I know. I know. I just want you to know there is a difference. And if you don’t do this every time we have sex, I’ll think I’m doing something wrong.”
“So now I have to do it?” She doesn’t believe me, at least, that is what her eyes say, loud and clear.
“It’s a must. You’re just going to have to deal,” I say on a long sigh, as if it’s an inevitable thing she has to accept. I hold a hand over my heart, faking my concern. “I’ll live to see another day.”
“Stop it.” Her laughter echoes off the walls of the bathroom. I give her a long, too long, of a hug and kiss her forehead.
“I’ll never stop if it means making you smile like that, baby. Come on; let’s shower before the guys throw a fit and Heaven comes back.”
“What do you think they want to talk about?”
I have a feeling. And I know I’m not going to like it.
Chapter Eighteen
GABRIELLA
As we walk out of the room hand in hand, our skin still hot from the shower, my head is reeling from the last few days. I can’t believe Sebastian and I finally had sex, good sex, like there is no way it could get better. Not that I would know, but I’ve known what bad is, and this is good.
So good.
“Well, finally.”
Heaven’s voice grabs my attention as we enter the living room. There is a woman in the kitchen cooking who isn’t Quinn. I'm not sure who that is. I haven’t seen her since I’ve been here. She is older, fifties maybe, with colored red hair that is fried from not taking care of it properly. She wears too much eye makeup to look young again. Whatever she is cooking smells fantastic.
Jaxon is sitting on the couch, legs crossed, with his head against the cushion. He is napping. Heaven is throwing popcorn in the air and catching it with his mouth. Owen plucks the keyboard with his fingers. Slowly, one key at a time with his big, sausage-sized fingers. His brows are worried, and his tongue peeks out of the corner of his mouth with every tap of the keyboard. He is trying. That is what matters.
Grayson sits on the other end of the couch, shirtless, but he has a patch on his side. I still have no idea what happened to them. It is the one question I’ve been meaning to ask, but I keep getting sidetracked with Sebastian.
He likes to distract me with his kiss. I don’t mind. Like he said, we have a lot of making up to do.
“Grayson, put on a shirt.”
“Why?” Grayson makes his pecs dance, and then he winks at me. “Afraid your pretty girlfriend will realize what she’s missing?”
“Dancing pecs aren’t my thing, sorry,” I say with a joking smile, then I sit on the floor, taking Sebastian with me.
“I’m watching you, shirtless,” Sebastian gestures his fingers from his eyes to Grayson.
“I’m shaking in my shirtless suit.”
“Nice!” Heaven holds up his hand for a high-five and without looking, Grayson meets his hand.
These guys have been around each other for a while. That much is obvious.
“Where is Quinn? She needs to be here too,” Owen says, making those keys his bitch as he plucks away.
“She’s puking,” Jaxon winces. “Whoever called it morning sickness is a liar. It’s anytime-of-the-day-sickness. It’s killing her.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I’ll give her some medication that can help with that.” Owen never takes his eyes off the screen.
“Oh, are you a doctor?” I ask Owen.
“Something like that,” he answers, only leaving me more curious. What does that mean?
“I’m here,” Quinn groans, and she looks awful.
Jaxon hurries to her side and wraps an arm around her waist, helping her to the couch. “Julia? Can you please fix Quinn some tea?”
“Of course, Mr. Steele.”
“Who is that?” Quinn asks. “She’s new.”
“It’s another part of the meeting I want to discuss.” Quinn mumbles something incoherent before laying down on her side, holding her stomach as if she is still nauseous.
She looks pale and exhausted.
“Quinn, when was the last time you really kept something down?” Owen kneels on the floor and puts two fingers on her wrist to check her pulse. He lays the other hand on her forehead to check her temperature.
“Don’t fuss over me. I’m fine.” She bats his hands away.
“I’m serious, when was the last time? Are you in pain? While morning sickness is normal, pain isn’t, Quinn. Are you in pain?”
Quinn manages to open her eyes all the way and water fills them as she nods. “I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t want to seem like I was worrying for nothing, but, Owen, it hurts so bad. I think something is wrong.”
“What?” Jaxon drops the mug in his hand, the ceramic shattering against the ground. The steam from the tea spreads across the floor. “Why didn’t you say anything to me? Quinn?” Jaxon lays his hand on her stomach, and I can see the fear in his eyes. He is scared.
“How long?” Owen bites out.
“I’m sorry, Jaxon. I should have told you. I didn’t want you to worry. And, Owen, I don’t know, a few hours?”
“We need to get her to the hospital. She could be having a miscarriage,” Owen says, and all the men in the room stand, ready to leave. Sebastian grabs my hand, and suddenly everything moves quickly after that.
Julia stares at us with such sadness. “I will keep an eye on the house, Mr. Steele. You don’t need to worry about that. I hope your wife is okay.”
“Thank you, Julia,” Jaxon chokes. He risks his injured arm and picks Quinn up off the couch, cradling her against his chest. She is a small person, but I’ve never seen her look this small. She is crying uncontrollably against his chest, and Jaxon is doing a great job of keeping it together, but he is erratic. He can’t seem to think or find anything. His only focus is Quinn.
“Jaxon, I don’t want to lose them,” Quinn says, peering up at him through devastated lashes. “I didn’t know. I thought a little pain was normal. I thought it was from the morning sickness. Oh God, I did this. What if they are gone, and I could have done something earlier?”
“It’s going to be okay. They are going to be fine,” Jaxon says, kissing her sweaty forehead.
Owen opens the kitchen door to the garage, and we all file out. I am surprised that the guys d
ecided to go to the hospital too. Jaxon could have taken her, but it is obvious the rest of the men don’t want to leave them alone. They are a family. I’ve never experienced anything like that.
I was the only child, and my parents had me in their forties. I was never supposed to be born because my mother was told she couldn’t have kids. They loved me and cared for me until they died around ten years ago. I don’t have anyone else. And then I met Kendrick, so I have lost the sense of what family is supposed to be like.
As I see them all getting into the truck, Heaven hobbling with his broken leg and Owen climbing into the driver’s seat to drive, I know this is what happens when people love one another.
Jaxon slides into the backseat, along with Heaven and Grayson. Sebastian and I sit up front. I am in the middle, squeezed between Owen and Sebastian.
Quinn cries in the back seat, and Jaxon pets her hair, whispering something in her ear that is private, but I know it has to be words full of love. Heaven rubs her back, and Grayson massage her calves.
She is like a sister to them.
Would that happen with me and Sebastian? Would I become part of this family, or does Sebastian want me to leave eventually? We haven’t done much talking. We have too much ‘catching up’ to do, so where does that leave us now?
Owen slams the truck in reverse, and once he is out of the garage, Sebastian clicks the garage door shut. The tires skid against the pavement as he speed away. The Cliff House is nestled in a corner, away from the main road and the driveway is long, venturing into the woods before it breaks out to the highway. Owen jerks the wheel right, and Sebastian flips on the hazard lights.
The night turns into a tunnel as we barrel through it. The tall redwood trees on either side of us are eerie at night. The trees are encroaching, the branches are long arms ready to grab whoever dares enter the forest. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
Not everything in life is a nightmare.
I grip Sebastian’s hand tighter and do my best to tune out the sound of Quinn’s painful sobs. I am scared for her. From what I understand, Jaxon and Quinn have a past too, and they finally got their happily ever after. I don’t want them to have it ripped away from them. It isn’t fair.
How much agony does someone have to go through to finally reach never ending happiness? I don’t understand life sometimes, the cruelty behind it, the reasoning for bad things to happen to good people; it leaves me baffled.
“How far is the hospital?” I ask, hoping that we will get there in time.
“Another five minutes,” Owen says, glancing in the rearview mirror. I don’t like the look on his face. There isn’t much hope. He doesn’t seem like a hopeful guy, though. I don’t blame him. I’m not either. It is better to be prepared for the worst than hope for the best.
It’s the cold, hard truth. Expectations are a bitch, and they aren’t afraid to show their ugly colors when the time presents itself.
“We’re here.” Owen turns into the parking lot, running over the rose bushes by the sign, and the truck crawls over the curb with no problem. He slams on the brakes in front of the emergency room, and Jaxon is out of the truck before it stops moving. He swings Quinn up in his arm and rushes inside the building.
“I’ll go with them. You park the truck,” Grayson says.
Owen pulls away and finds the closest parking spot. He lets the truck idle for a minute, worry thick in the air. I’m not even sure a knife could cut it. “What do you think it is?” I ask, staring at Owen’s profile. He is a handsome man, brooding. He sees darkness in everything. It explains his demeanor. Men like him are dangerous if they aren’t careful.
“It could be a few things,” he says, tilting his head back as he exhales a heavy breath. “I just hope it isn’t any of those things. I’m not sure if they can come back from it. Jaxon and Quinn, they were a long time in the making. Kids were the next logical step.”
“Could it just be pain?”
“Sure. Pain is normal. I’m not sure what it is like with twins.”
“So, you are a doctor?” I remember my question from earlier.
“Something like that,” he answers the same way he did before. “Come on, let’s go. Jaxon is probably going out of his mind.” Then he pauses getting out of the truck. He looks like he has something further to say, but he rolls his shoulders and shuts the door.
Sebastian helps me out of the truck and starts to walk away when there is a knock on the back window. “Hey! Remember me? Your assholes need to help me out. I could climb in, but I can’t climb out,” Heaven’s eyes are round, and he places his palm on the window, pouting his lip.
“He’s so fucking dramatic,” Owen says with more fondness than I thought he possessed. He stomps toward the truck, opens the back door, and reaches inside the cab.
“Hey, new shirt!” Heaven would have rolled out of the truck if it wasn’t for Owen supporting him.
“Get your crippled ass in gear. Jaxon needs us.”
“Hey, I wouldn’t have had to bang on the window, like a forgotten dog or something if you guys would have remembered me.” He hobbles in front of us, and I don’t know him well enough to know if he is kidding or not.
“Don’t be like that, Heaven,” Owen groans.
“Nope, talk to the hand.” Heaven tries to hurry away, he really does, but his cast is too heavy. He drags it along the road and before I can warn him, it slams against a tire of another truck we are passing. Heaven falls backward and Sebastian tries to catch him, but it is too late. Heaven falls and his head hits against the pavement so hard, he is immediately unconscious.
“Heaven!” I yell for him, but he doesn’t move.
“At least we are at the hospital. And he isn’t yapping. Thank god for small favors,” Owen slings Heaven over his shoulder and marched to the entrance of the emergency room.
“He’s kidding, right? Heaven is bleeding!” I point to Owen’s whistling form walking away, and Sebastian places his hand in the middle of my shoulder blades, silently telling me to move forward.
“Kind of. Let’s just get to Jaxon. Heaven will be fine.”
“Okay.” After a few seconds of walking, I turn to Sebastian. His jaw seems sharper, more defined in the dark. He must be the only man or thing in existence that doesn’t scare me in the dark.
I hate the dark.
Horrible, treacherous, heinous things happen in the dark. Things that can’t be seen, but are never forgotten. The dark is tricky like that, keeps your hackles on the rise, and feeds off your anxiety.
Like right now.
It is pitch black out. Only the emergency room light illuminates red onto the parking lot and a few street-lamps flicker on and off in the distance. While I am at the safest place I can be, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
I look around, seeing nothing but cars, but the feeling is there; my instincts scream at me that someone is watching me.
Chapter Nineteen
SEBASTIAN
What a fucking night.
Jaxon is at the hospital with Quinn. So far, everything was fine with her, but they wanted to keep her for observation. The pain she was experiencing was normal, but some people handle pain differently, and the fact that she was hungry and dehydrated didn’t help matters any. It wasn’t often we went out in public like that. We don’t like showing our faces just in case anyone recognizes us, and we want to avoid as much drama as possible.
We are drained.
Test after test was done on Quinn. One of the twins is getting more fluid than the other, and they want to see if it will resolve on their own, or if they will have to go to a specialist. The doctor reassured her that it has nothing to do with the pain, but it is still scary. If the fluid doesn’t clear up on its own, surgery will have to be performed.
Those kids aren’t even here yet, and they are already having difficulty with life. I really hate the bitch sometimes.
When we open the kitchen door, the smell of breakfast wakes me up a little, and it seems
to do the same with Gabriella.
“Jaxon told me you guys were coming home. I made coffee and breakfast. I know you will probably go back, so I packed clean clothes and food for Jaxon and Mrs. Steele.”
“Julia, you’re a life saver,” Heaven says, bending down to give her a kiss on the cheek.
“It’s the least I could do. I’m so glad Quinn is okay. Poor thing, I can’t imagine. I was blessed with my three children. I had no issues. She must be terrified.”
“She is,” Grayson says, filling his plate with bacon, eggs, pancakes, and fruit. “But Jaxon is there, and so far everything is okay. We will definitely keep you updated, Julia.”
Owen’s phone dings, then mine, and everyone else’s.
I dig into my pocket and turn on my screen. What I see almost has me dropping my phone. My own name is on the alerts.
I click on it, and my lungs stop working when I see my mugshot. I was pissed in that photo, and my hair was a greasy mess since I hadn’t showered in three days being stuck in a cell. “Fuck!” I run my fingers through my hair. This was why we didn’t go out in public.
This shit right here.
“What is it?” Gabriella blinks up at me, popping a grape in her mouth.
“Julia, can you give us some privacy, please?” Owen ushers her out, a simple and gentle way of telling her that it isn’t a question, but an order.
“Of course. I will be in my room. Call if you need me.” Julia smiles before she hurries down the hall. We all wait for the door to shut and then Grayson drops the plate, his eggs spilling over the edge.
“What’s going on?” he asks.
I don’t want to say. All of us are fucking tired. We need to sleep for a few hours before we go back to the hospital, only I can’t.
“I have a warrant out for my arrest. For kidnapping Gabriella.”
Cruel Seduction: A Dark Romance (Underground Kings Book 2) Page 14