Live Wire

by Cristin Harber

  Instead, he held a cheap plastic pen and a clipboard with information that had long ago been submitted to the hospital as Sugar had an intense moment. Her nails dug into his forearm. A very intense moment.

  “Doing okay, Baby Cakes?” Jared adjusted Sugar’s grip.

  “Never better.” Her lips were a flat line, and if she hadn’t been ready to have a baby, he’d have assumed she was a split second from a rage kill. He could see her molars grinding behind her cheeks.

  “Your fingernails are digging deep, babe. Thought I’d ask.”

  “Would you shut up a minute?” She dug back in.

  Okay. Yeah, he would need stitches after Sugar had the baby. That was fine. If that’s what it took. He flipped the form over. “Stupid paperwork. I thought we did this ahead of time.”

  “We did.”

  “Why are we doing it again? Stay put.” He removed his wife’s talons from the upper layer of his dermis and walked back to the nurses’ desk where they’d checked in. “Hey, yeah. We already did this.”

  The nurse faked a smile. “That’s day-of paperwork.”

  “Yeah. It’s done.” He put it down.

  “Both sides?”

  No. “Everything you need is there.” Honestly, he didn’t need to battle the lady, but as his chest puffed out and he contained a megadose of alpha-hole, Jared made a big show of signing the back page. He slid the clipboard forward. “Done.”

  Sugar had wanted to go to her special hospital, not where he basically had a concierge setup with Doc Tuska at his hospital. At this point, he would have paid to relocate her OB’s practice. “If there’s a problem, tell me about it. Otherwise, let’s get this show on the road. She’s having a baby.”

  As if on cue, a man rolled up with a wheelchair. “Lilly Westin?”

  Oh, brother. That would not go well. Before he could correct the poor soul with the wheelchair, he saw his wife’s annoyed face.

  “Sugar.” She pushed out of her chair. “That’s me.”

  Jared growled at the nurse, the wheelchair guy—basically at the entire room. This was not going as smoothly as he had planned. That was fine. He lived for handling contingencies. However, beginner name-calling mistakes and day-of paperwork were not on his list of acceptable fuckups.

  “Let’s go,” Jared snapped and led the way as if he knew where he was going. There was only one way to go. Down the hall. So off they went.

  “How are we doing today?” the chipper man pushing Sugar’s wheelchair asked.

  Jared rolled his eyes and shifted Sugar’s go-bag over his shoulder. “GTG, buddy. We’re good to go. Get us to our room.”

  “I’m fine. Ready to do this already.” Sugar took a deep breath. “Can you mark it down somewhere that I don’t like Lilly? I thought that was already done.”

  “It is already done,” Jared said.

  “Well, her paperwork says—”

  “Never mind.” Concentrate on the baby. “We’ll get you a name tag or something, Baby Cakes. Make sure it’s clear.”

  “First baby, Dad?” The man slowed Sugar and swiped a badge to open an electronic door. The goofy grin on his moronic face easily said he didn’t realize he treaded dangerously close to the end of his life.

  “He’s fine,” Sugar answered for him. “Kid number two. We should cut the small talk—oohh.” She groaned. “Probably best for everyone.”

  “Alright, here we go!” They wheeled into a room and parked Sugar, letting her breathe through her contraction. After a moment of logistics, Jared dropped her bag, and Sugar nestled into the bed as the wheelchair pusher was eyeballed out of the room.

  Where was the streaming intel when Jared needed it? Where was the team that was supposed to hop into action?

  A nurse came in, clearly warned that Sugar was Sugar. “Hi, Sugar.”

  Jared breathed easier as she was hooked up to things that beeped and printed and dinged and began to spit out something that might be construed as helpful. All was back on course.

  Moving from one side of the room to the next, he couldn’t find a great vantage point that seemed appropriate as the nurse dropped between Sugar’s legs, making his wife look far more uncomfortable than she needed to be. But more things had progressed. She was dilated and effaced.

  He realized this was something he could never do, and couldn’t imagine what strength Sugar needed. But, he was proud of her. And pacing, he worked his jaw, ignoring unusual nerves brought on by things that weren’t in his control. Jared rolled his shoulders, wandering to the other side of the bed. He cracked a knuckle and worked his neck back and forth.

  The machine’s printout picked up pace, making his heart beat faster. “You doing okay?”

  Her cheeks were flushed, her hair tied back, and Sugar had never looked more confident or beautiful as she dropped back onto a pillow. “Hell yeah.”

  God, he loved his woman.

  “Sugar!” A man who looked more like a movie star than a real-life doctor swooped into the room.

  “Hey, Doc.” She popped her head up then dropped back again. “I’m having this baby.”

  “So I hear. And you must be Dad.”

  Jared looked at her, looked at him. “Who’s this guy?”

  “Dr. Archer. I’m delivering Baby Westin today.”

  How did he miss that Sugar’s OB was a movie-star doc? Not that he was the jealous type… “Why haven’t we met before?”

  “Are you serious?” Sugar snapped. “Did you go to every appointment?”

  “No.” With his wife’s blessing, he’d been working in hell zones around the damn world.

  Dr. Archer laughed as if he knew her well. “Alright, let’s get our girl through this contraction and see how we’re doing.”

  Right. He wanted to call the guy a dick, but the dude was right, and Jared was not in control of the moment. Of the three of them, he was the lowest man on the totem pole, and that was some shit.

  He took a deep breath, trying to keep his shit together. As long as Sugar and the baby were healthy and safe, that was all that mattered. Doctor McDreamy could do his damn job and be on his merry way.

  “Jared.” Shaking him out of his thoughts, Sugar pulled him aside. The doctor agreed that she had more time to labor, and under the supervision of the nurses, she was left to growl and grouse, to breathe and meditate with him as her focus.

  Hours. It took them hours. He was exhausted and unable to imagine how she handled the stress on her body.

  Dr. Archer walked into the room, smiling as though he were seriously on a TV show. “Alright, Sugar. It’s time. You ready, honey?”

  Jared’s eyebrow ticked up, but he didn’t say a word at honey. Instead, he held her hand, astonished at the sheer strength Sugar still had. The nurses said to push. She pushed. He watched her eyes squeeze shut, tears leaking out, veins popping at her temples and forehead, her face turning shades of red that had him concerned.

  “Breathe!”

  “Deep breaths!”

  She did, her eyes holding onto his and her hand not letting go.

  “I’ve got you, Baby Cakes. You can do this.”

  Sugar nodded.

  Another contraction hit, and all the orders came again. Sugar cried out, pushing and exerting herself as hard as any man he’d ever seen. Actually, harder.

  “Don’t stop, honey.”

  “Keep going.”

  She cried. She pushed. She gave everything she had to their daughter.

  Their voices were loud, but he came close and quiet. “You’ve got this, Sugar.” Jared clung to her as hard as she clung to him. “Push, Baby Cakes.”

  And then he heard it. She did too—the tiny sounds of their baby.

  Sugar fell back in exhaustion, tears dampening her cheeks. Jared wrapped his arms around his wife, unable to hold back. “God, Sugar. You did it. Baby. You did it.”

  When he looked up, there was their little girl. “Dad, time to cut the cord.”

  And Jared’s whole world was now complete.
r />   CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The cold air poured into Titan HQ’s war room. Rocco Savage, the second in command of all teams, Brock Gamble, who ran the Delta team, and Parker sat with Bishop O’Kane’s folder in front of them and the man across the table.

  Parker had to give the guy credit. He didn’t flinch under scrutiny. They were an intimidating bunch, and this was an intimidating building. Bishop was there for the final interview of a much-sought-after job. Boss Man had already given his thumbs-up and was off the grid with Sugar. The final decision lay in their hands.

  There was one question on the table: what would he have done differently about Sugar? This was where Bishop could lose the job. Everyone in the room knew it too.

  Bishop’s eyes crinkled, and he almost smiled but must have thought better of it. “I’d have figured her out earlier and let her stir in the jump ropes a minute longer.”

  Parker laughed. “Damn.” He’d expected something more along the lines of sucking up about Boss Man’s wife. But to let Sugar sit and wait? Parker laughed again.

  Rocco and Brock did too.

  “Careful,” Rocco cautioned. “That woman could string you up and hide the body where no one would find it.”

  Bishop smiled. “Bet she could.”

  Brock remained silent and ran a hand over his face. “Works for me.” He eyed Rocco, who gave Parker the go-ahead to excuse Bishop.

  Parker stood and walked toward the door, the almost-new hire following in line, and he opened it and directed him to a small conference room nearby. “Good answer, bro.”

  “She’s crazy, isn’t she?” Bishop laughed.

  “In the best of ways,” Parker said.

  They reconvened and agreed with Boss Man and Sugar’s assessment. The dude was spot-on. They liked him and wanted to work with him. Brock nodded. Parker did too. Rocco slapped the table. “Alright, then.”

  They filed out, and Rocco stopped by the conference room where they’d left Bishop. “Welcome to Titan.”

  ***

  “Knock-knock. We come bearing gifts.” Sugar’s sister, Jenny, and her husband, Asher, walked into the hospital room, eyes trained on the sleeping newborn bundled in Sugar’s arms.

  Sugar grinned, exhausted and blissed out in a way that she couldn’t explain. Having her sister walk in made it that much better. Family had always been a four-letter word, with the exception of her sister, until Jared had crashed into her life. He’d just left for the cafeteria to grab Asal and him lunch while she rested in a hospital bed. Asal was tucked on one side of her. “Heya.”

  Asal squirmed off the bed and jumped into Asher’s outstretched arms.

  “What’s up, short stack?” Asher asked.

  Her dark ponytail whipped Asher in the face as her excitement bubbled over, and she reached back for the bed. “I’m awesome at helping.”

  “Bet you are.” He put her down, and they moved closer to Sugar. Jenny’s tearing eyes went wide, and her pearly whites beamed.

  “I know where the diapers are,” Asal said. “I tell the nurses when they need to do things.”

  Sugar couldn’t hide her amusement at the little boss lady in the making. Jenny and Asher had the same amused faces.

  Asal turned for her diaper bag. “Plus, I have snacks. Do you want something?”

  “I think we’re good. How about you, Mama?” Jenny asked. “Need anything?”

  “Jared went for lunch. He’ll be back—”

  As if on cue, he walked in with drinks in one hand and a to-go bag in another. “Hey, Jenny. Hey Mister Presidential Candidate.” He chuckled quietly, so as not to wake the baby, and deposited the food on a table.

  “Not yet, not yet.” They shook hands. “If at all.”

  “Not what the papers are murmuring.”

  Jenny rolled her eyes. “Yeah, the press. Your favorite people. They always say the truth.”

  “Just keeping him on his toes,” Jared said to Asher, and Jenny repositioned at the corner of the bed. Asal dug into the takeout and began distributing the meals.

  “She’s beautiful.” Jenny sighed, scooting closer to Sugar.

  “I know,” Sugar said.

  “So?”

  “So what?” Sugar asked.

  “Come on. Don’t make me beg.”

  “Oh.” She laughed. “You want a name.”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “Vi-vi!” Asal announced.

  Jenny’s questioning glance left the newborn and went to Sugar. “That’s different.”

  “Hello?” The deep, low baritone of Jared’s father announced his arrival before Sugar saw him.

  “Hey, Pops.” Jared greeted his dad, but Asal was head greeter, repeating her arm-launching manner of saying hello.

  “Grandpa.” She wrapped her arms around his neck but quickly wiggled away. “Grandma!”

  Violet Westin barely had a foot in the room before Asal slingshot from one grandparent to the next. A round of hugs and kisses later, Asal dragged the older woman over to the baby. “Grandma, this is the other Violet.”

  “Oh,” Jenny whispered.

  Tingles ran down Sugar’s spine as she glanced up and watched her husband. The man could bark orders or speak volumes with his scary silences. At this moment, he crossed his thick arms over his impossibly broad chest and stood stoically.

  “Hi, Violet. Meet your namesake.” Sugar gently tilted her elbow up, adjusting the sleeping baby, then relaxed her arm as Jared came up behind his mom.

  “Mom.” He kissed the top of her head.

  Asal crawled onto Sugar’s bed and snuggled in close. Jenny and Asher closed in too. This was family—everything Sugar had once thought a nightmare. The emotion and exhaustion hit her for a second as voices began to talk around her, and she let her eyelids slip. Maybe she tried to hide a tear. Maybe she was choked with emotion. Maybe taking it all in was too much. Or maybe this was just the perfect moment, and never did Sugar think that she’d be lucky enough to have a life like this.

  She didn’t realize how hard she’d fought for the fairy tale or that she’d been going after it to begin with. But what a journey it had been, and they were only getting started.

  ***

  Jared watched the two strongest women he knew—his wife and his mother—and then his chest pulled with a tightness that could only be explained as a surge of pride. Asal and Violet would be just as strong as the two women holding them.

  His dad was a man of few words, and as he stepped over to Jared, slapping him on the back, Jared could sense the two of them felt the same satisfaction in how life had turned out. There were so many twists and turns along the way, so many ways that things could have been different, that Jared might never have met Sugar or experienced this level of gratification with Asal doting on Violet and his mother doting on Sugar.

  For the moment, Jared swallowed away the tightness in his throat, and the memory of his sixteenth birthday surfaced. The range targets had been reset, and as sixteenth birthdays went, that one had kicked ass. Dad let him have full pick of all of his weapons. It was a dad-son day of ammo and target practice. Jared had played down how pumped he was, but between that and his mom offering to make his favorite dinner, that day couldn’t have been any better.

  He loved the heavy weight of the .45 in his hand, the cold feel of the metal, and how it warmed to his touch. He’d caressed the side with his fingertip, and the target had been his. Jared hadn’t yet stepped to the line, and he knew that bull’s-eye would be hollowed out with his shots.

  Dad had cleared his throat. “You given any thought to college?”

  That was the one topic they didn’t talk much about. School had sent home letter after letter reminding his parents how he was a candidate for great things. He had grades and the leadership skills—qualities that colleges apparently recruited.

  “No.” He’d stepped to the line, and the world disappeared. When his target was in sight, Jared had tunnel vision. There was an instinctual focus that he couldn’t describe. It was pre
datory—or perhaps evolutionary, further drilled into him by his father. There was no option other than completing his objective. A direct hit, no matter what distractions the world offered. Like college applications.

  He emptied his clip, leaving a hollowed-out target, and turned to look at his dad’s approving profile. “I’m going to be a Ranger.”

  Much like now, he knew with certainty that he was going to continue to excel in his job as family man.

  Most people who said they wanted to be Army Rangers didn’t have a shot in hell. But even at sixteen, he wasn’t most people.

  At the time, his Dad’s jaw flexed, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he took in the obliterated target. A minute passed by, and an unspoken conversation occurred between them. It wasn’t one of convincing or persuasion. It was not a mental mano a mano but a simple realization between two men cut from the same cloth.

  Dad had nodded. “I’ll make sure to tell your mother.” Now, standing in the hospital room with his own family, he was sure that whatever his children came to him with, Jared would have that same conviction in them that his father had in his dreams.

  “You’re an excellent father,” Dad said. “When you decide to do something well, you do just that.”

  The way his father said things, his man-of-few-words, always-speak-the-truth approach to life, it meant a lot. “I had good role models.”

  “Your mother more so than me.” Dad laughed.

  Mom joined in with his laughter. “I’d agree with that.”

  Jared remembered the day during Sugar’s pregnancy when she had dropped the baby-name book to the top of her protruding stomach. “We should call her Violet.”

  “What—like my mom?”

  “Exactly like your mom.”

  “Why?” Jared asked.

  “You surround yourself with strong women. She was the first.”

  “True…” Violet Westin. There was already one of those, and she was a live wire. “But…”

  “The woman practically tore down a burning building to save her son.” Sugar’s eyes had gone watery. “I want that name attached to our daughter.”