“Eden?” Pup asked. “What aren’t you telling us?”
“She was putting her house on the market and looking to buy a smaller place so she could pay her bill to the CC.”
“Bill? What bill?”
“She got it in the post last week, a bill for fifteen grand.”
“I’ll sort that.” A nurse then walked into the room and handed me the scan picture of my baby.
“You can sit with her for a little while if you want? Only one at a time though.”
“I’ll take him, you go,” Eden said, holding out her arms for Nate. I passed him over and kissed him on top of his head.
“Love you, dude.”
“Follow me.” I followed the nurse out of the room and down the corridor. “You have a lovely family. You’re a lucky man.”
“Yeah, I am.” We stopped outside of a door and she motioned for me to go on in. I stepped foot in the room and couldn’t help but notice all of the machines. I sidled up to her bed; she was pale with a bandage around her head. She had no breathing tube in which was good, she just looked like she was sleeping. I carefully held hold of her hand.
“Flower.” I stopped to clear my throat when her name came out squeaky. “I’m so sorry for how I reacted. I didn’t give you a chance to explain. It hurt to think of you thinking about me and my brothers that way. I thought my heart broke that day but it was nothing compared to how I feel now. You own me, flower. Heart and soul. Nate and I need you, not to mention that new little baby of ours. Come back to us and we can be a proper little family. I love you, flower, It was an unexpected love, but I do love you so much.”
Chapter 21
Solar
I had been in and out of the hospital for the last week and there was still no change in Jasmine’s condition. The swelling to her head had gone down but she was still in that fucking coma. They had moved her to a private room so Nate could go in and see her and we spent all afternoon of everyday with her. We read her stories and told her jokes but she still didn’t wake up.
I had kept Nate with me at my apartment, he said he preferred to be there when Jasmine wasn’t around. Our relationship had definitely developed and I loved helping him in any way that he needed.
“Go on in then, dude,” I said as we reached Jasmine’s room. I carried his school bag that had his homework in it, we did it here at the hospital so we didn’t have to leave quite so early. I had been out and brought Jasmine a new car, a safer one. Only I was the one currently driving it to get Nate to and from school and to and from the hospital. He loved the shiny black, Nissan Qashqai. It had a built in DVD player in the back for him, sat nav, Bluetooth and cruise control.
“Dad, mum’s moving.” My head shot to look at him, that was the first time he had called me dad and not apologised after for getting it wrong. That’s what I wanted to be to him. I looked at Jasmine and her eyelids started to flutter, I pressed the emergency button on the wall and within seconds a nurse came running in.
“She’s waking up,” I told her, smiling bright.
“I’ll get the doctor.”
“Mum?” Nate said, squeezing her hand.
“Nate?” she croaked. “Bright.” Her hand came up to shield her face. I quickly dimmed the lights and her eyes eased open.
“There are those gorgeous hazel eyes I’ve been waiting to see.”
“See, Dad, I told you it would be today. I knew she would wake up today. She doesn’t want to miss uncle Pup’s party tomorrow.”
“Party?” she croaked.
“His twentieth birthday.” I offered her the straw for the water that was sitting on the side and she took a couple of small sips.
The door opened up again and this time the doctor and nurse walked back in. I moved around to the side Nate was sitting and lifted him off the bed so the doctor and nurse could get to her. They were shining a light in her eyes and asking her lots of questions.
“It’s looking good, Jasmine. We’re going to send you for one more CT scan and if that comes back clear then you’ll be able to go home soon.”
“The baby?” she asked. Her eyes darted over to me.
“Our baby is fine,” I answered, walking closer and pulling out the copy of the scan picture to show her. It was a bit worn out as I looked at it every day and always kept it in the back pocket of my jeans.
“You’re ok with this?”
“Mum? Dad said you got a baby in your tummy. How does it come out and when?” Nate looked at her and tilted his head to the side.
“I think you need to start on your homework, dude.” He was about to complain. “Then you might be able to cuddle up with mum and watch some TV.” He shot to his school bag and pulled out his reading book.
“How are you really feeling, flower?” I sat on the edge of her bed and cupped the side of her face in my hand. Her hazel eyes looked into my green ones.
“I’m ok. How long have I been here?”
“Just over a week.”
“Who’s had Nate? Mum and dad?”
“No, he wanted to stay with me. Your mum, dad and brother have all been in to visit. I should give them a call really.” I stood to my feet.
“Wait. When did he start calling you dad?”
“Sorry about that, flower, he only started today.”
“I like it,” she smiled. “As long as you don’t mind?”
“I love it. We’re a family. All four of us. I love you, flower.” I bent towards her and kissed her quickly on the lips.
“I love you too.”
“I’m going to call everyone.” I waved my new phone at her, my old one smashed when I threw it against the wall the day Eden had called and told me she was being cut out of her car.
“Nate, come and show me what reading you’re doing,” she called out to him as I headed out of the room.
***
Jasmine
Everyone had been in and out all day long, my throat was sore and scratchy from talking all day long and I had a slight headache. The CT scan came back clear so they said as long as I was going home with someone, I could be released tomorrow. Of course, Solar told the doctor that he would be looking after me and I didn’t argue. The last three months had been full of drama and adventure and I was looking forward to everything getting back to normal. I wanted to get back to work because in a matter of a few more months, I’d be off again on maternity leave. I never thought that in the space of a few months, I would have a completed family. Mum and dad had started treating Solar with more respect, although they did refuse to call him Solar. He said it was fine for them to call him Aiden.
“How you feeling?” Solar asked as he sat in the chair beside my bed and rested his feet on the end of my bed.
“I’m fine. Everyone needs to stop fussing. I’ve been very lucky. No broken bones and no losing our baby.” I looked over to the sofa in my room and Nate was fast asleep on it.
“What happened, flower? How did you lose control of the car?” I looked down at my hands and twisted them together. “Tell me,” he demanded.
“I just… Um… I…” I stuttered.
“Did someone do this to you? Were you run off the road?” His feet fell from my bed as he sat forward to look at me.
“A cat,” I whispered.
“A cat? What about a cat?” He looked confused, his gorgeous face was wrinkled from him frowning.
“There was a cat in the road and I swerved to dodge it. I don’t know how I ended up on the side of the road on my roof.”
“You’re telling me, that you risked your life and our baby for a bloody cat!” he growled. I nodded and his jaw stiffened. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don’t ever do that again. Your life is much more important than a fucking cat.”
“I’m not just going to kill a cat!” I exclaimed. He shook his head at me and we both looked over to the sofa as Nate stirred in his sleep.
“I had better get him home.” He climbed to his feet and stretched his arms above his head which caused his t-shirt to r
ide up, giving me a glimpse of his toned and tattooed stomach.
“Where have you been staying?”
“At my apartment. He didn’t want to be in the house without you. Speaking of which, I called the estate agents and told them to take your house off the market.”
“We’re going to need to move anyway, that house isn’t big enough for all of us.”
“Well, my flower, that is where you’re wrong. This letter got hand delivered to your place a couple of days ago.”
He handed me a letter that he had already opened and passed it to me.
“Jasmine, I am so sorry for all of the heartache and trouble that my ex-husband caused you. If I had known what he was up to I would have stopped him straight away. As a way of saying sorry, please accept the deeds to our house. I no longer want it and I’ll be surprised if he survives prison. I apologise again, Mrs. Miller.”
I looked up at Solar in shock.
“Is this true?”
“Yep, I have the deeds right here.” He passed them to me and I looked it over.
“That’s great, I can sell the house and pay back the CC.”
“You do not owe them anything. I was thinking of knocking down the wall that separates your house from theirs and making one big house for all of us.”
“Wow, can we do that?”
“Of course we can, we may just have to live at the apartment while the work is being done. It won’t be good for you or Nate living there.”
“Thank you, Aiden. For everything.”
“You can thank me properly when you’re feeling better.” He winked at me.
“You mean when I’m the size of a whale.” I laughed.
“You carrying our baby will be the sexiest thing ever. I won’t be able to keep my hands off of you.”
“I love you,” I mumbled against his lips as he bent down to kiss me.
“I love you too, flower.” He stood back up, rounded the bed and scooped Nate in his arms.
“I wanna kiss him.” He carried Nate over to me and I kissed the top of his head. “What did I do to deserve you?”
“Bad luck is what got you to be stuck with me and an old condom.” He winked at me and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Go and get some sleep. You look tired.”
“I won’t be able to sleep properly again until you’re by my side. Love you, flower. Sweet dreams. I’ll come by after I drop Nate at school. Oh and I bought you a new car, a safer one.”
“Bye.” I waved him away, I knew it would be pointless to argue with him. I couldn’t wait to get out of this hospital bed and start living my life again, with the two most important men in my life.
Chapter 22
Solar
I got up early so I could head to the club to see the Prez. Jasmine was already up and sorting Nate out for school. Today was her first day back after being off for nearly two weeks.
“If I leave now, I’ll be back to take you both to school,” I said as I wrapped my arms around her waist as she was washing the dishes.
“I can drive us, plus we’re going in early so I can get caught up with everything.”
“Dad?” Nate called out from the breakfast bar. I turned around to look at him, he was shoving cheerios in his mouth.
“Yeah?”
“Can I get a bike?” he asked round a mouthful of food.
“Nathan, what have I told you about talking with your mouth full?” Jasmine placed her hand on her hip and cocked her eyebrow at him. I could see the slight swell of her tummy in the tight pencil skirt she was wearing.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t you have a bike?” I was sure I had seen one in the back garden at the house.
“One like yours.” He sighed, annoyed that I didn’t know what he meant.
“Oh, no way, you’re too young; way too young.” I knew that at some point he’d ask to ride my bike or get one of his own but I wasn’t expecting this for at least another ten years. I didn’t think Jasmine would be too happy about her son being on a motorcycle.
“Go and clean your teeth please,” Jasmine told him as she picked up his empty bowl and placed it in the sink.
“Sorry about that,” I said as I pulled her close to me. She buried her face into my chest and took a deep breath.
“I knew that it would happen. He wants to be big and bad like his dad.” She smiled up at me and I covered her lips with mine.
“I gotta get going. Don’t overdo it today. I’ll pop over and see you later.”
“Aiden, you know you’re not supposed to come and go on the school property like you own the place.”
“I know. I’ll meet you for lunch then. What time?”
“Half past twelve.”
“I’ll see you then, flower. Love you.”
“Love you too.” We kissed once more and when she stretched up on her tiptoes to get closer to me, I couldn’t resist pulling her tighter to me and devouring her mouth.
“I’ll never get enough of that mouth of yours,” I whispered.
“Go and see the Prez.” She giggled, pushing at my chest.
“Bye, Nate!” I called out down the small hallway.
“Bye!” he shouted back.
“Have a good day!” Jasmine called out to me just before I walked out of the apartment door.
***
I stormed in through the Prez’s office door and slammed Jasmine’s bill flat on his desk.
“Just come on in, Solar,” he laughed.
“So we’re charging Old Ladies now are we?” I fumed, standing back and crossing my arms over my chest.
“We put a lot of time and effort into finding that boy, and she wasn’t your Old Lady at the time.”
“So you going to send Ash a bill for Iron protecting her then?”
“She was already ours to protect, you know that.”
“She wants to sell her house to pay for that. We have another kid on the way. Cancel the bill and I’ll pay it.”
“Fine, consider it cancelled.” He ripped the bill up and tossed it into the bin. “You need to figure out a way to bring some extra cash into this place. All legit, no dodgy business.”
“Prez, I don’t see why we just don’t go down the route that Blade has. The Devon Destroyers now have two strip clubs, they bring in great money.”
“I’ll leave you in charge of this little project…”
“What? No. Jasmine won’t be happy about that,” I cut him off.
“Well, I ain’t doing it. Carla will have my balls.”
“You’re the Prez of this club.” I chuckled at the thought of him scared of his wife.
“Yeah and you’ve seen how scary she can be.” He laughed.
“Who’s scary?” Carla asked as she strode in through the door and straddled the Prez’s lap. “I missed you in bed this morning.” I noticed the little movement of her hips grinding on him.
“Out!” he shouted at me.
“I’ll sort it, Prez!” I shouted over my shoulder, laughing as I slipped out of the door.
“Hey, man, what’s so funny?” Pup asked as he strolled past me with his son on his shoulder.
“Nothing. I got something I need to do, wanna help me out?” I asked as I hurried to catch him up.
“Sure. What we doing?”
“You’ll see.”
“Ok, let me grab his car seat. Tanya’s tired today.” He passed me Cooper and I cradled him in my arms.
“I’m not sure that it would be the right place for a baby,” I added.
“Ok, let me go and wake her. You cool with him?”
“I got him.” I sat on the sofa and flicked on the TV. He was looking up at me and I couldn’t resist pulling funny faces at him. His eyes searched my face before they started closing.
“I need a break, Tyler.” I looked up to see Tanya storming after Pup. She was shouting at him as he walked away from her.
“Sorry, man. I’ll have to give it a miss.” He pulled Cooper out of my arms and placed him back on his sho
ulder, rubbing his back.
“Fine, give him here then,” Tanya snapped, trying to pull Cooper away from Pup.
“Leave him the hell alone!” Pup shouted at her, causing Cooper to start screaming.
“Look what you’ve done. Now you’re going to leave me with a screaming baby. This is just great.”
“Go and get his car seat, we’ll take him with us. I’ve only got a couple of hours before I need to meet Jasmine anyway.” Pup nodded at me and as he started walking away Tanya followed behind him, bitching at him. What the hell was her problem?
“She doesn’t like that kid.” I turned around to see Missy standing behind me.
“What?”
“She’s always complaining about him.”
“Do you think she’s got that depression thing some women get after giving birth?” Maybe I needed to talk to Carla about it; she’d know.
“Nah. She just never wanted him. She wanted an abortion.”
“Why didn’t she get one?”
“She wanted Pup back.” Missy shrugged her shoulders like it was obvious before she walked behind the bar and turned the coffee machine on. Prez had recently invested in one of those fancy coffee machines that you see in coffee shops. I had never seen it being used very much.
“Let’s get out of here.” Pup had Cooper in his car seat and a bag over his shoulder. “You riding with me or your bike?”
“I’ll take my bike as I’m meeting Jasmine for lunch.” I followed Pup out of the clubhouse and to his car. “Hey, man, sorry I missed your birthday party.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He waved it off like it was no big deal. It was a big deal, he was no longer a teenager. “Where we headed?”
“Follow me.” I winked at him.
***
I pulled up outside of a place called ‘Nudes’, I knew this place would be open, it had a twenty-four hour licence. What I wanted to know was why it was up for sale.
“Why are we here, man?” Pup asked as he stood by the side of his car and glanced through the window at Cooper.
“Prez said we need another way to bring in money, I think this will go well, alongside our video making.” I chuckled.
Unexpected Love (South Coast Brothers Book 5) Page 14