Road to Love (Triple R Book 4)

by Jules Dixon

  “What’s the new cologne?”

  Holt’s cheek twitched as he rumbled, “Outlaw.”

  My heart pounded at his voice and how it did things to me inside. Deep inside.

  “It’s really nice.” I moved closer to him, trying to keep eye contact. “What can I say to make you believe that I’m sorry for everything I did to break us?”

  “Break us?” Holt moved until only a sliver of the giant screen was visible between us.

  “The horrible words, my behavior, the absence and time we lost.” My voice creaked and I stopped to clear it. “Fuck, and probably a thousand other things. I don’t know if I can ever apologize enough, but I’d like to try.”

  “I should have been honest—”

  Holt’s head turned when the front door slammed. Sage’s raised voice traveled down to us.

  “Shit,” I mumbled.

  “What?”

  “I’m really sorry, I want to get all of this out, but I need to go upstairs and be with Sage. Rahl’s telling her something that’s going to be hard to hear and I don’t think it’s going too well.”

  “I understand, these people are your family, not hard to see that, Oliver. We can get together tomorrow.”

  “Thank you.” I pecked his cheek, noticing he closed his eyes as I stepped by him. I walked into the kitchen, but there was no Drexel or Rory, only Rahl and Sage.

  Sage gripped the edge of the granite island countertop behind her. “Ollie, this doesn’t concern you.”

  Rahl rubbed his forehead. “Oliver knows.”

  Her eyes found mine and the hurt in them was like telling someone you lied to their face and it was for their own good. Although I always thought I’d take Sage’s side in any argument, I was leaning toward Rahl’s, and explaining that to Sage would mean risking and ruining our friendship.

  “You knew?”

  I nodded.

  Her eyes traveled from mine to Rahl’s. “So, who doesn’t know? Am I the last person to know, Rahl?”

  “No one else knows.” Rahl stepped toward her, but she skirted away from him. “Sage, Dave needs to talk to you. He’s not doing well.”

  “You talked to him?” Her chest heaved, and she pinched her eyes closed. She clutched the island edge and grunted.

  Rahl moved beside her and his hand touched her stomach as she panted. “Sage, honey, take a deep breath.”

  Shaking off his support, she moaned, “Don’t touch me.”

  I moved to Sage as her legs started to shake, and she gripped my arm. Her wide and swaying gaze shot panic through my body. “Ollie, there’s something wrong.”

  Rahl scooped her up, carried her to the sofa, and knelt beside her. He made a call. “Tyson, are you home? I need you over here. It’s Sage. There’s something wrong. Now, please.” He set his phone on the coffee table. “Ty’s on his way, Sage.”

  “Get away from me!” she called out, her neck stretching as she writhed, her body contorting into an unnatural shape.

  Rahl’s body stiffened. “Sage, I’m sorry for upsetting you, but it’s better you know.”

  “Better how? I’d accepted not knowing who my father was. How do you even know it’s him? Did you do DNA testing on me without my knowledge?”

  “Your eyes are his eyes, Sage. I spoke with him. Your mother came to him and told him, but she didn’t want him to be involved.” His jaw ticked. “And I would never test someone without their knowledge.” He reached to touch her but she cringed away.

  “But you would keep secrets from me. How long have you known?”

  “Dave is your father. He’s very sick and he wants to talk to you. Does it really matter how long?”

  “Yes, it matters to me. Honesty and trust are the foundation of our relationship, and you cracked our foundation.” She clutched the basketball-sized roundness of her stomach. “How long, Rahl?” Her back arched as she screamed, “Answer the question!”

  “Please, Sage, please calm down. I’m…” Rahl’s voice cracked. “I’m scared for our babies. Angel, I don’t want to lose any of you.”

  Sage was a singer, so when she used her diaphragm she could really scream. “You don’t get to be scared!”

  Holt moved in behind me, his presence was supporting me more than if he was physically holding me in his arms. Rahl kept glancing toward the front door while Sage cried with her back turned to him.

  “Maybe we should just go to the hospital?” Rahl rubbed her back, but his touch only made her cry harder.

  She slipped away from him and watching the separation made my heart hurt for both of them. After minutes of silence, everyone in the room jumped as the latch on the front door clicked. Dr. Tyson Richter stepped into the room, Rahl’s brother-in-law and a pleasant man to talk to, but a horrible shot at Rahl’s favorite hobby of skeet-shooting. I’d joined them a couple of times, and from moment one, I was kind of concerned that Dr. Richter might accidentally shoot Rahl or me. He was that bad.

  Heard he’s a better high-risk obstetrician.

  “Hello, everyone. Can I have a moment alone with Rahl and Sage, please?”

  Holt and I turned toward the entry.

  “Ollie and Holt can stay, but I don’t want him in here, Tyson.” Sage pointed at Rahl.

  She grunted again, her breaths coming in pants.

  Dr. Richter moved to the sofa. “What’s happening, Sage?”

  Her body froze as she cried out, “I don’t know. Pain.” Then we watched her body go limp and her eyes rolled in her sockets.

  “Rahl, call an ambulance, now.” Tyson checked Sage’s breathing and listened to her heart.

  Rahl stared at the scene, his shoulders slumping forward.

  Tyson turned to him. “Now, Rahl!”

  Beside me, Holt had already dialed 9-1-1 and was talking to an operator. Our eyes met and I mouthed “thank you” to him. He tipped his hat in return.

  “Is she okay?” Rahl dropped to his knees next to the sofa. His large body caved forward. “Tyson, is she okay?”

  Dr. Richter continued his assessment in silence. Sage gasped and her eyes flickered open, her pants of breath flushing a rush of oxygen over her pale skin.

  “Sage, we’re going to get you transported to the hospital. Please take some deep breaths and stay calm for me. Can you do that?” Dr. Richter patted her leg.

  The fear had her paralyzed. “Are my babies okay?”

  “Our babies, Sage,” Rahl rumbled.

  I stepped to Rahl and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving a squeeze.

  Sage stared hard at Rahl. Her eyes swam in tears. “My mother did this by herself. I can, too. And I will.”

  ****

  Sage was carted out on a stretcher. Rahl and Dr. Richter followed her into the back of the ambulance. Sage argued but Rahl ignored her. I insisted I would meet them at the hospital, and no one argued with that. The sirens of the ambulance screamed as the doors closed, punctuating their silence.

  Drexel showed up at my side as the ambulance drove off. “Did you know about the father thing?”

  The sound the ambulance made stuck with me, whirring in my head.

  I shook myself from the daze. “Yeah. The Ogre had been grumpier than usual at VSI. I forced it out of the big lug this week.”

  “Rahl’s training in observation would be hard to turn off.”

  Holt’s arm brushed along mine. His proximity intoxicated me with the cologne that reminded me of a fond past and a new beginning. “Once you hone a skill, it’s impossible to ignore it. I hear people speaking Spanish, German, or Farsi, and I can’t help but translate in my brain. It’s second nature now.”

  “I can imagine.”

  The overwhelming need to break their connection zipped through my body. I pushed the feelings down or at least tried.

  “Where’ve you been?” I asked Drex.

  “Rory and I decided to stay out of the whole family drama. Fewer people for Sage to worry about.”

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

>   Rory joined us, and I gave her a good once-over to make sure she was okay. She touched my arm. “Hey, Drexel offered to drive me home.”

  “You two probably know each other from the dealership?”

  “Yeah. We’ve met before.”

  I looked at the remaining vehicles. “I take it you drove your date?” I asked Holt.

  His dimpled cheeks indented with a grin. “Well, I am a gentleman.”

  I shook my head.

  “Here, Drex.” Holt tossed his keys to Drexel.

  “No funny business, Drexel,” I directed to him.

  Rory rolled her eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

  Drexel smirked. “I’ve known Rory for years. I don’t see anything special from her nose to her knees.”

  “Hey! There are plenty of guys who like what they see when they look at me. Oliver seemed to really like what he saw.” Rory cringed and glanced between Holt and me. “Sorry.”

  Holt chuckled. “No problem.”

  With raised eyebrows, Drexel looked her up and down, but his expression didn’t send up any red flags. “I’ll drop your truck off tomorrow morning, Holt.” He started toward what I assumed was Holt’s truck, but turned around and yelled out, “Can you guys send me a text to let me know how Rahl and Sage are doing?”

  I confirmed I would and gave Rory a quick kiss on her cheek. She avoided Holt and practically ran to the truck.

  We went back inside to lock up the house.

  When the house was secure, Holt stopped in the entry and turned to face me. “I want to go to Rahl and Sage, but I’d much rather be going to your place to talk, Aston.”

  I stepped closer. “Me, too.” The proximity of his body flushed my body with his heat. “Damn, can you feel that?”

  “I can.” He drawled out the “can,” and my body heated to bonfire levels. “But heat and attraction were never the problem, Ollie.”

  “You’re right, truth and honesty were.” I stared at those full lips that I craved once again. “You’ve never called me Ollie.”

  “I like it. Makes you seem innocent. Somethin’ you definitely never have been.”

  My smile matched his.

  “Don’t give me that self-satisfied smirk, Aston. You know what it does to me.”

  I stepped closer, forcing him to back up against the wall, trapping his body with mine.

  “And what does it do?” I tipped his hat up and out of my way.

  His hands grabbed my waist and his thick fingers dug into my jeans. “Every inch of me stands at attention, soldier.”

  “Every? Inch?” I pressed my body firmly against his and smiled wider. “Huh, maybe not every inch?”

  “I’m well on my way to saluting below the belt, Ollie, but I can’t help it when it comes to you. It’s some instinct I can’t control, and honestly, I don’t want to.”

  I couldn’t help myself. I sealed my mouth over his and his rough hands clutched my face. The kiss was as if every man before Holt were only a dress rehearsal for the main attraction. This returning feature was only him and me, and the pounding thoughts of taking this to the bedroom.

  When my tongue parted his lips, Holt pulled away.

  Why do I always have to push?

  Chapter Nine

  Holt

  I ripped my lips from Oliver’s.

  With closed eyes, he rested his forehead against mine. Hands tensed on my waist as his blue eyes opened, but the spark that normally spoke to his warmth and happiness wasn’t there.

  “I’m sorry.” Ollie stared at my lips. “Again. Pushing you isn’t going to bring us back together, I know that, Holt. Even if we don’t return to being a couple, I couldn’t live without you as a friend.”

  His hands move to both sides of my head, muscles in his arms popping like I remembered.

  “I just need a little time to process all of this.” I moved my hands to behind his neck.

  I didn’t know how to tell him that if I had allowed myself one more second of the connection, I would’ve dragged him upstairs to see if that guest room could be as useful as Drexel thought. But that wasn’t what he and I needed. That part was never the problem. We still had things to discuss. Issues that needed to be hammered out before and if we decided to move forward. And the issues that Oliver had been quick to judge were still with me. Suzanne wasn’t one of the main ones, but Oliver had made it clear he didn’t agree with me keeping my sexual orientation a secret from my family. We each have our own path is what I kept telling myself. But what path was I on? Dead end? Roundabout? Fork-in-the-road? I did know I wanted my path to lead back to my roots in Montgomery, at least for visiting. Family meant too much to me.

  Oliver pushed off the wall and walked around the corner to grab Sage’s keys off the kitchen counter. “I think Rahl better have a car there in case she can come home tonight. I’ll drive Sage’s car, if you drive mine.”

  “Good idea.”

  I didn’t want to be in a separate vehicle from him, but I understood why it needed to be that way. I started to put two and two together about who Dave was, the Whitemans’ hired hand who was in the hospital. That he’d been Sage’s father all along and she never knew, I didn’t know how I felt about that. Keeping that from her…

  It’s no different than keeping your truth from your family.

  We walked into the hospital and Jude and Presley stood on the other side of the waiting room.

  “News?” Ollie glanced between them.

  “They’re going to admit her for the night. She’s having preterm labor contractions,” Jude answered.

  “Any reason?” Oliver asked.

  “Um…” Jude looked to Presley.

  “I know Rahl proposed to Sage. He told me.”

  Presley’s shoulders dropped. “The marriage proposal is the big one, and this whole Dave news on top of it, plus carrying triplets has its own high-risk pregnancy issues. Probably stress. Lots of things.” She shook her head. “Rahl was probably feeling the weight of knowing, but now he’s got the weight of having told her and if something happens, he’ll always hold himself responsible.”

  Oliver’s eyes stared into the distance. The silence in the room was like after a bronco rider was thrown from the back of a bronco or bull and it was clear he wasn’t playing possum on the ground. I wrapped my arm around his shoulder and gave a tug. He leaned into me and his suffering found its way into my body.

  “Coffee?” I asked, and there were requests from everyone but Jude. He asked for water. I followed the signs to the cafeteria, which turned out to be more like a convenience store. While the cashier added everything up, I pulled my phone out and dialed Cade.

  “Hey, bro.”

  “Cade, I need you to pick me up at the hospital out on 192nd and Dodge Street in about an hour.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No, the granddaughter of the farm owners is pregnant and had some complications tonight. We’re all hoping for the best, but my date took my—”

  “You had a date?” he interjected.

  Shit! Not what I meant.

  “Not a date, just a guy … a new friend.”

  Shit, again!

  My hand gripped the phone tighter, frustrated and hopeful thoughts fighting in my brain.

  “Good for you. What’s the lucky guy like?”

  “An hour, Cade.”

  “I don’t know why you can’t be open, Holt.”

  I gripped the phone tighter in my hand. “I have no idea what you’re talkin’ ‘bout. Just pick me up.”

  I hung up the phone and carried the drinks to the waiting room. Rahl sat resting his elbows on his knees with his forehead in his hands. I passed out the drinks and Jude offered his water to Rahl, who declined.

  “Sage okay?” I sipped my coffee and the all bean, no chicory, settled over my palate. Not bad, I could probably get used to it.

  “I wouldn’t know,” he said, lifting his head. “She kicked me out of the room.”

  “She asked for Presley.” Jude sat next to
Rahl and leaned back. “She needs time to understand that you had her best interests at heart.”

  “It’s more than that. She’s done this before. With her past, she has some real fears of medical issues. She can’t believe that I want to face everything with her and be there for her.”

  I glanced at Oliver. He ran his hand over his Mohawk with his head dropped, stopping at the back of his neck to rub. Sage obviously meant something to him, too. I leaned against the wall. There wasn’t much to say. An hour later, we were all still in silence.

  Presley entered the waiting room through the parted automatic double doors of the emergency room.

  Rahl scuffed his laced-up boots across the floor. “What’s happening? Is she okay? Our babies?”

  Presley rubbed his arms. “She’s being moved to a private room on the maternity floor.”

  “I want to see her.”

  “That’s not going to happen tonight. She fell asleep from exhaustion about five minutes ago. Now, you can either sleep in one of these uncomfortable chairs or you can go home, get the house cleaned up—”

  “We did that for you,” Oliver interjected.

  “So, go home, get a good night’s sleep, Rahl, and then come back tomorrow and hopefully things will look different to Sage. She’s resting comfortably and the babies are doing okay. ”

  His head pitched back and forth. “I can’t go home without her.” Fear of losing her clung to every word of his sentence.

  “Then come to our place and I’ll bring you back tomorrow.” Jude clasped Rahl’s shoulder.

  Rahl bobbed his dropped head. His lax eyelids and crumpled shoulders offered his version of exhaustion. Jude walked to Presley, and Oliver replaced his hand on Rahl’s shoulder, clamping down as if he could absorb some of the pain Rahl was feeling through his hand.

  Wish it worked that way.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket.

  Cade: I’m here. Outside the ER, parked to the right. Come in?

  Holt: I’m coming out.

  Cade: I’ve tried to get you to come out but you won’t.