Stitch

by Jaime Lewis

  “Potter!” Alex shouted, making Potter stop and turn towards her. “She wasn’t injured. Her water broke. She’s in labor. She’s in the bathroom downstairs with Autumn.” He nodded his head and ran toward the house.

  As Potter left to tend to his wife, Stitch and the rest of the crew all gathered their weapons and took off on foot toward the trails searching for Mia, and possibly Bailey.

  ◆◆◆

  Mia was sucking air big-time as she made her way through the trails. Even with her running regiment, she still struggled on the incline. Her bummed ankle wasn’t helping as she hopped over branches and slipped on rocks and leaves. She could hear the footsteps of the men following behind her. They were yelling as if trying to intimidate her.

  She had tried to pay attention when Stitch brought her up here, but she was so enthralled with what nature had to offer that she may have missed a few things he had pointed out. Mainly when he spoke about where certain trails led to.

  She paused for a moment to rest against a tree. She bent over and took deep breaths. Her mind was still on Alex, Tenley, Autumn, and Bailey. She prayed they were okay and that the guys were alerted to what was happening. She looked around and noticed a clearing up ahead. It wasn’t the same one that Stitch had taken her to, as this one wasn’t up as high.

  As she cleared the trees, a small area opened up. She heard a gunshot in the distance and prayed it hadn’t hit anyone she loved. She looked around and noticed she had hit a dead end. The only way out was to go back the way she had come, or over the side of the mountain.

  She heard the crunch of footsteps as she turned and gasped when she stood face-to-face with Elijah, holding a gun in his hand. He, too, was breathing heavily.

  “Mia.”

  She shook her head as tears emerged in her eyes.

  “How could you? I trusted you. I looked up to you.”

  “I could say the same about you. You betrayed me by working with the authorities who sent you to spy on my organization.”

  She was jerked back by his comment, clearly confused.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about. I never worked for anyone other than you.”

  “It doesn’t matter now.”

  She took a few steps back into the clearing, being careful not to go too far or she’d go over the edge.

  “I don’t want to die,” she told him. “I swear I didn’t know about anything until after the fact.”

  “You don’t have to die, Mia. Just come with me, then you and I can put all of this ugliness behind us.”

  She shook her head. “You almost had me killed.”

  “That was a mistake. Those responsible had mistaken you for Willow. You were never the intended target. I’d never harm you, Mia. I’ve wanted you ever since I first laid eyes on you.”

  “Where is Willow?” She asked, sudden realization dawning.

  Elijah’s face went blank, then he rubbed his forehead before looking her in the eye. “Willow crossed the line, Mia. She had to pay the price for her betrayal.”

  Mia placed her hand over her mouth to cover her sob. He had killed Willow. Oh, God, she felt sick to her stomach.

  He took a step toward her, and she moved back. She didn’t have much more room.

  “Mia, don’t test my patience. Come with me now.”

  In a surprise move, he stuffed his gun in the waistband of his pants then held his hand out to her. Without a gun being pointed at her, she felt a little reprieve.

  Suddenly, Stitch’s voice echoed through the trees.

  “Mia!”

  “Stitch!” She shouted, and Elijah ran toward her. She braced herself for the impending hit. He tackled them both to the ground. She swung her fists, hit him in the face, then got to her hands and knees and tried to crawl away. Elijah grabbed her foot and dragged her backward as he flipped her over onto her back. He straddled her body, and she cried out from the pressure on her still healing ribs.

  “Stop fighting me!”

  “Go to hell!” She told him and dragged her fingernails down his cheek, drawing blood. He cried out and grabbed her arm and slammed it against the ground. She felt the bone in her forearm crack, and she screamed. He latched onto her throat and squeezed until she could no longer breathe. Her lungs began to burn, and black dots started forming in her vision. It was the telling moment that she knew she was going to die. Her eyes started to close as death pulled her under its spell. Just as she took her last breath, a gunshot sounded, and then everything went silent. She felt free.

  ◆◆◆

  Stitch knew the direction Mia was in when he heard her call his name.

  As he and the others charged up the trails, the group had started to fan out to surround the area. There was no way he was letting this asshole go. But Mia was his first priority. One of the deputies had taken out the other guy.

  Stitch got to the clearing where he believed Mia was, and he became enraged when he saw Elijah on top of Mia choking her. He could see Mia was without a fight and losing consciousness. He raised his gun to take the shot, but suddenly, another shot came from another direction, and a bright red bloom appeared on Elijah’s chest, and he fell over.

  Stitch raced to Mia’s side.

  “Mia?” He said frantically as he shook her. Not getting a response, he checked her pulse—nothing.

  “No!”

  He started CPR as the others all came running towards him from all different directions.

  Ace knelt beside him and took Mia’s hand.

  “He was choking her,” Stitch said before giving Mia another breath of air.

  “Got a pulse,” Ace said right before Mia started sputtering and coughing. Stitch pulled her into his arms and held her close. He buried his face in her hair and cried.

  He felt Mia move, and when he looked down into those brown eyes staring back at him, he almost lost it again. The others had all taken off their coats and laid them over Mia to keep her warm until help arrived.

  The paramedics arrived and secured Mia to a backboard and loaded it onto one of the deputies ATVs.

  Stitch never once let go of Mia’s hand. She was quiet through the whole process, probably in shock and exhaustion. The paramedics splinted her arm, but other than her arm and bruising, she appeared to be okay. She squeezed his hand, and he bent down, so he was face-to-face with her.

  “The others…are the others, okay?” She asked him. Her voice was rough and raspy.

  He smiled. “Everyone is good.”

  “What about Bailey? I think she followed me.”

  Stitch’s smile faded as he looked to Ace.

  “Ace, did anyone confirm Bailey’s whereabouts?”

  Ace looked at the Sheriff, and he radioed down to some of the deputies who were at the cabin processing the crime scene.

  When one of the deputies radioed back saying no, that she was not there with the others, Stitch saw the panic in Irish as he pulled his phone out. Stitch knew he was trying to call her.

  Ace tried to calm him.

  “Irish, if she is up here, she may have just gotten lost.”

  “Yeah, I’ve my deputies starting to search. We’ll find her.”

  The Sheriff then looked over at Elijah’s body that was now covered with a white sheet.

  “Who fired the shot?” The Sheriff asked, turning back to the group.

  The guys all stood there looking at one another as if waiting for the other to confess. Stitch knew the shot couldn’t have come from anyone on the team because of their location. The shot had come from the other direction. He looked at the Sheriff. “Are you sure it wasn’t one of your guys?”

  The Sheriff shook his head slowly, then as if right on cue, there was rustling in the bushes to the right of them, followed a woman’s mumbled curse.

  “God damn, fucking thorns. Jesus, by the time I find my way out of here, I’m going to look like freaking cactus.”

  They all stood there wide-eyed as Bailey emerged from the thick brush, shaking her hair out and pulling out
vines that were stuck to her clothing, all the while carrying a huge ass rifle that was slung across her small frame.

  Stitch looked closer. If he wasn’t mistaken, the rifle resembled Irish’s sniper rifle.

  When she had finally pulled the last vine from her shirt, she looked up, and Stitch wanted to laugh at the look on her face and the faces of the others.

  “Oh, thank god. Can someone please take this thing?” She asked as she pulled the strap of the rifle over her head. Irish was there in an instant, taking the rather large weapon from her shaking hands. When nobody said anything, she said, “What?” Irish’s eyes widened at first, but quickly narrowed as he found his voice.

  “Why in the hell do you have my rifle?” When she grinned and her cheeks pinkened, Stitch wanted to laugh out loud. Hell, even he knew nobody ever touched Irish’s rifle unless there was a damn good reason. For a while, until Irish found Bailey, the team was beginning to think that the only marriage Irish would have would be to his rifle. Stitch just shook his head as the little sprite batted her eyelashes at her husband.

  Sheriff Prescott stepped forward and rested his hand on the butt of his gun. Stitch didn’t miss the amusement in the Sheriff’s voice when he spoke to Bailey as serious as the situation was.

  “Darlin, would you like to explain why you are hiding out in the bushes with your husband’s rifle?”

  “Well, when the bad guys came into the house, I saw Mia slip out the back. I knew she was trying to protect the rest of us by leading those two guys away from the house. I knew Alex could take care of herself and Tenley and Autumn.”

  “So, you decided to follow her.” Irish blurted out.

  “Christ, don’t get your flippers in a twist, husband of mine.” Stitch was biting his cheek to keep from laughing, but the coughs covering the laughter he heard from the others didn’t go un-noticed. He even saw Mia crack a smile.

  “Anyway, I couldn’t let her go off by herself without backup. I didn’t know where you guys were or when you’d be back. I remembered when Irish brought me up here for a weekend, and we had spent a lot of the time hiking the trails. I wasn’t really sure where Mia was leading them, but I remembered Irish taking me up to a deer stand that overlooked Stitch’s property. You could see almost any spot from that vantage point.”

  “Sweetness, do you care to share how you even know how to shoot my rifle, let alone hit a perfect shot?” Even though Irish pretty much growled out his question, Stitch could also hear the pride in his tone. He knew deep down Irish was proud of his wife, but on the other end of the spectrum, she had taken someone’s life, and they all knew the toll that could take on a person.

  Stitch saw her lip start to quiver. Shit, he hated tears. Especially tears that belonged to his and his team’s women.

  “Are you mad at me?” She asked Irish just as the first tear breached her lower eyelid and slid down her cheek. Irish was a hard man. They all were, but Irish more so than the others and probably due to the fact he had racked up an impressive kill list, though he would never admit it or be proud of it. But, doing so, it takes what is inside to get through the guilt of having to take another life. But, seeing now how his face melted as his wife stood there asking if he was mad at her showed the true man Irish was. He was a true softy at heart.

  Irish grabbed the front of her sweater and pulled into a crushing hug. “No, baby. I’m not mad at you. I’m damn proud of you for your quick thinking. Without you there to help Mia, we could be dealing with a whole other situation. But, you never answered my question. How do you know how to handle my rifle?”

  “Well…Alex and I have been going to the shooting range the nights we have kickboxing. I expressed my interest in learning to shoot, whatever that is called. I told Alex I wanted to learn to shoot the same type of gun that you have. She laughed at me at first, but then she thought it was a great idea. I tried asking you, but you kept telling me that it was too much for me.” Stitch heard Ace groan at the mention of Alex’s name. Alex loved handling all types of weapons and could probably handle with ease any weapon put in front of her.

  “We will be talking about yours and Alex’s extracurricular activities later. I’m just glad you’re safe. I was so damn worried about you.”

  The Sheriff chuckled. “You guys are some lucky bastards, I tell ya. My men and I will handle this scene. You all head to the hospital. Potter and Alex took Tenley. From what I heard, she was in labor, and as my deputy put it, the woman can give a sailor some competition when it comes to her language. Frost and Autumn are waiting for you guys at the cabin.”

  Stitch took Mia’s hand as the ATV started to move.

  “What do you say we go say hi to the newest members of Team 2 and then head home?”

  She smiled, “Home sounds good.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Standing by Tenley’s side, Alex took deep breaths along with Tenley as she endured another contraction. By the time they arrived at the local hospital, she was already too far along for an epidural. Unfortunately, because of the delay from the fiasco back at Stitch’s caused, they had no other choice than to admit Tenley to the closest hospital or risk delivering the twins in the back of their car.

  She had gotten a message from Ace telling her that the cabin's situation had been defused, and they were on their way to the hospital. Thank god because she had been torn between going to the hospital with Tenley and staying to help look for Mia.

  Alex had to bite the inside of her cheek to conceal her amusement when Tenley turned to Potter and spouted off the next verbal beatdown on the poor guy. But, Potter, because of the Special Forces soldier he was, took it all in stride, knowing that Tenley didn’t really meant anything she had said.

  “Potter, I love you dearly, but damn, if I will ever let you put another one of your super SEAL sperms up my vagina again.” Her eyes got really big. “Oh shit, here comes another contraction. Motherfucker! Where in the hell is the damn doctor? The pressure is getting to be too much, and I feel like I have to push.”

  The nurse assigned to Tenley, who seemed more interested in Potter’s comfort, looked at Tenley and told her by no means should she try to push until the doctor arrived. If looks could kill, that nurse would be six feet under by the death glare that Tenley gave her. Alex swore if the woman put her hand on Potter one more time to “reassure” him everything was fine that Tenley was going to come up off that bed pregnant or not and kick the woman’s ass. Potter had been polite and calmly brushed the woman’s advances off. He never left Tenley’s side and constantly praised her as she got through each contraction.

  Tenley leveled her stare at the nurse, and Alex knew that look and waited for it. “Well, how long does it take to get here? It’s not like this a huge town. Unless instead of cars, you all get around by horse and buggy. If that’s the case, then you better suit up because these babies are coming out.”

  To ease some of the tension into the room, Alex got the nurse’s attention. “Why don’t you go check and see where the doctor is? If Tenley says she needs to push, shouldn’t that indicate we need a doctor, like yesterday? And, if he’s not close, maybe they can send a doctor from the ER up.

  Thankfully the nurse had a sliver of brains and agreed. As soon as the woman was gone from the room, Tenley relaxed then turned to Potter. Alex was shocked to see tears streaking down Tenley’s face. Potter pushed the loose strands of hair that had escaped Tenley’s ponytail from her face and tucked them behind her ear. He took her face between his large palms and placed a kiss on her nose. For anyone who knew Potter, they only saw the large, serious, and broody man. Rarely did anyone get the glimpse of the gentle giant that he was on the inside. Alex knew when it came to Tenley; the man would bend over backward to give her what she needed.

  “Honey, what are the tears for?” Potter asked her.

  Tenley sniffled. “I’m sorry for yelling at you. I love you so much. Please don’t be upset with me.”

  Potter’s expression softened. “Oh, baby. I love y
ou too, and I could never be upset with you for expressing your emotions while giving birth to our children. I would take your pain if I could.” He leaned down and kissed her. Alex felt a little awkward listening to such an intimate conversation between the two of them. She tried looking away, but then she felt Tenley grab her hand. When she turned back, Tenley was looking at her. “Alex, thank you for what you did. That twatwaffle was starting to test my patience, and I was afraid that I would lose my cool and have to get out of this bed to deal with her. And, oh my goodness, wouldn’t that have been a sight. Me going all cavewoman on the nurse with a baby dangling from my lady bits.”

  Alex couldn’t hold back her laughter. She laughed so hard that she cried. Even Potter was laughing. Then he bent down and whispered something in Tenley’s ear, and Alex thought it was a good time to give the parents a couple of minutes to themselves. As she excused herself from the room, promising Tenley she would be right outside, she couldn’t help but notice the black mass making an appearance between Tenley’s legs. Alex quickly stepped outside and went in search of a doctor. Thankfully, the search didn’t take long. By the time she got to the nurse’s station, the doctor was walking in. She quickly explained, and the doctor seemed a little agitated. On the way back to Tenley’s room, he apologized for his delay and explained that the details he was given made it seem that Tenley still had a while before she would go into full labor. Needless to say, Nurse Barbie wasn’t welcomed back into Tenley’s room.

  After the doctor did a quick introduction with Potter and Tenley, he suited up and started barking orders to the staff that filled the room.

  Looking up from between her legs, he gave Tenley a warm smile and said, “Okay, sweetie, I think these little rascals of yours are in a hurry to meet you.” Alex was pleased to see Tenley smile. Potter, on the other hand, looked ready for battle. But that didn’t surprise Alex at all. His eyes never left his wife. “On this next contraction, I want you to push. Push like you have to poop.”