“Fuck that, I don’t know where your closet is.” Haden yanked his t-shirt off and tore the v-neck into strips. As he knelt beside her, she averted her eyes from his bare muscular chest. Shoulder to shoulder with Liam, he wrapped one of the cloth strips around her arm and tied it off several inches above Liam’s hand.
She whimpered at the biting band cutting off her circulation.
“Careful!” Liam barked, shooting a deadly amethyst glare at Haden.
“I’ve got to tourniquet this before she loses more blood,” he snapped.
That would probably be a good idea, Olivia decided, because with each passing second, she was growing more and more lightheaded. Her vision was starting to blur. Liam and Haden’s voices began to echo, and she felt as if she were in a spinning tunnel.
“Liam…” her voice reverberated inside her head, joined by her pounding heart.
Neither of them looked at her. They were too busy trying to control the bleeding. Maybe she’d just thought his name and hadn’t actually spoken it out loud. “Liam…” she tried again to get his attention. “I think…I need…to go to the hospital.”
The last thing she heard before sinking into unconsciousness was a muffled curse, but she couldn’t tell who’d uttered the colorful expletive—perhaps both of them.
Olivia slowly opened her eyes, squinting against the bright white light. Unable to see against the glare, she closed them again. Was she dead?—surely not. Her wrist hurt far too much for her to be dead. She felt a sharp needle stick in her arm, followed by a slow, fiery burn, and a pained groan escaped her throat. A warm, reassuring hand squeezed hers at the same time a low, menacing growl echoed from the foot of her bed.
“Stop it, Haden,” Liam’s voice a hushed command beside her. “Let the doctor do his job.”
“He’s hurting her,” Haden barked back.
“Not intentionally. And he’s almost finished numbing it up if you’d quit breathing down his damn neck.”
Olivia did her best not to make any more pained noises as she laid there, slowly coming back to full consciousness. Attempting once again to open her eyes, she saw the light shining on her was actually a surgical lamp. A man wearing dark blue scrubs and a mask sat hunched over her wrist. Beads of perspiration dotted his brow that was drawn tight in concentration. His hand had a noticeable tremor as he held the needle driver, ready to stitch her skin closed.
Olivia’s free hand was tucked in between Liam’s. His head was bent, forehead resting against their clustered hands as he waited patiently for the doctor to start. Haden paced the narrow space of the room at the foot of her bed, prowling back and forth as if he’d like nothing more than to rip this poor doctor’s head off. He was wearing a scrub top, too, but his was mint green—a strikingly similar color to his eyes.
“Haden, please sitdown. You’re making the doctor nervous,” Olivia croaked, her voice still heavy with sleep.
Until that moment, no one must have noticed she’d regained consciousness because all eyes promptly snapped to her. Flecks of amber infiltrated Liam’s violet gaze as he watched her, a lovingly worried frown marring his handsome face. Haden’s verdant stare was intense and broodingly concerned, and the doctor’s…well, he just looked flat-out terrified. His gaze flickered nervously to Haden, then back to her.
“Please, Haden,” she asked again when he made no move to sit, and Liam shot him a glower that said “If you don’t sit your ass down right now, I’m going to break both your legs.”
Letting out a disgruntled huff, he grabbed a chair from against the wall, turned it around and sat on it backwards, using the backrest as a prop for his arms as he intently watched the doctor’s progress. The muscle in his tightly clenched jaw twitched every time the needle entered and exited her skin.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore,” she told him, hoping to ease some of the tension radiating off him in palpable waves. She couldn’t feel the little pinpricks, but each one seemed to pierce Haden like a voodoo doll.
Liam bent his head and kissed her knuckles. “How are you feeling, sweetheart? I am so sorry this happened.”
“It’s not your fault.” Olivia knew she could say it a thousand times over and he’d still blame himself for her accident. She could see the pain and guilt mirrored in his eyes. “I heard the glass break, I should have been more careful.”
Haden’s chuff from across the room wasn’t helpful in the slightest. She pinned him with “that’s enough out of you,” glare and turned her attention back to Liam.
“I’m worried about the baby,” she whispered, the confession meant only for Liam’s ears. “Can you still hear the heartbeat?”
His hand settled on her stomach and he shook his head. “It isn’t quiet enough in here.”
The doctor paused his sewing and glanced up at her, surprise morphing into concern on his perspiring face. “You’re pregnant?”
Olivia nodded.
“How far along?”
“I’m not sure. I haven’t been to the doctor yet.”
“You took a hard fall and you’ve lost a lot of blood. Perhaps we should get an ultrasound to make sure everything looks all right.” The doctor finished his last stitch and pulled off his gloves, dropping them onto the stand beside him. “I’ll send a nurse in to wrap up your wrist. Dressing changes daily, watch for infection, and the stitches can come out in ten days.”
“Thank you, doctor.”
He nodded curtly. “I’ll order the ultrasound and a tech will be in shortly to do that, as well. I’ll stop back in when I have the results.”
He left before she could respond, seeming anxious to get out of the small room, not that she could blame the poor guy. Haden was an intimidating sight, even when he wasn’t pacing the floor and growling like a feral beast.
The nurse came in a few minutes later with dressing supplies and a bandage. She did a double-take when she spotted Haden sitting at the foot of the bed. Her brows rose in question when they moved to Liam knelt beside her. Olivia watched their reactions to the beautiful blonde. If they realized she’d taken notice of them, neither one gave any indication. All their attention was solely fixed on her, and it was decidedly unsettling.
“My aren’t you a lucky woman,” the nurse teased, making conversation with her as she wet some gauze with saline and began cleaning away the dried blood on her wrist. “Please tell me one of these guys is your brother.” She glanced up from her task and winked at Olivia, giving her a conspiratorial grin. Olivia glanced at the woman’s nametag that read, Addy, RN, BSN, CEN, Emergency Nurse. So the flirty little thing wasn’t stupid. She carried herself with an air of confidence that was decidedly attractive. If she felt the mounting tension in the room, she gave no indication of it.
Olivia returned her smile, tamping down the surge of feminine rivalry, and said, “Sorry. I’m an only child.”
The nurse patted her wrist dry and tore open an ointment packet, squeezing it onto a Q-tip. “So which one of these men belongs to you?” she whispered, spreading the ointment over her wrist.
“I do,” they both volunteered in unison, and then shot each other murderous glares.
The nurse’s brow arched and she gave Olivia a questioning look of wry amusement, making her cheeks heat with embarrassment. “It’s not like that,” Olivia added quickly.
“Hey,” the nurse laughed, raising her blue-gloved hands in surrender. “It’s really none of my business. I was just makin’ conversation.” She placed some gauze over the wound and wrapped some more around her arm to hold it in place. “There, all done. Did the doctor tell you to change this every day?” She looked from Liam to Haden, then back to her. “You’ll have to have someone do that for you, but it doesn’t look like you’ve got a shortage of assistance. Watch for increased redness, swelling or drainage. Come back if you develop a fever.”
There was a knock on the door. It opened before she could bid entrance, and a portable ultrasound machine appeared.
“Oh, you’re pregnant?” The nurse lo
oked surprised, her gaze darting between Liam and Haden, and Olivia just knew the blasted woman was wondering who the father was. She vowed if the nurse asked as much, she’d surely die of embarrassment.
Olivia didn’t have to worry about the misunderstanding for long because Liam stood and turned to Haden. “All right, you’ve seen that she’s well enough. It’s time for you to go.”
For a moment, she thought Haden was going to argue, but then his pale green gaze shot to her, and she silently pleaded with him to leave. This was not the place to do this. Haden didn’t speak as he rose from the chair. Moving with a lithe grace, he swung his leg over the seat and walked out. The nurse quickly followed as the ultrasound tech worked on getting the machine into position beside her.
A mixture of fear and excitement sent Olivia’s heart racing. She was about to see their baby. What if something happened when she fell? As if Liam could read the direction of her thoughts, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. “Don’t worry. I’m sure everything is going to be fine,” he whispered.
Unable to speak past the lump in her throat, she nodded, exhaling a shaky sigh. The tech asked her a few questions as she setup to do the exam, typed some information into the computer, and then squirted some warm gel onto her stomach.
“Okay, let’s get started.” The tech gave her a friendly smile as she pressed the device against Olivia’s stomach. Once a picture came up on the screen, she angled the monitor toward her and Liam. “There,” she said, pointing to the small fluttering spot in the center of the screen. “That’s your baby’s heartbeat.” She turned up the volume and the room suddenly filled with the beautiful sound of life.
In that moment—that amazing blessed moment—tears of joy filled Olivia’s eyes. Relief washed over her, taking away all the fears and what ifs that had plagued her for the last week. Here was their baby—a perfect little person growing inside her.
Olivia glanced up at Liam to see his gaze fixed on the screen in awe. She never thought she’d see the day her mighty warrior was reduced to tears. Reaching up, she placed her hand on the side of his face, and he looked down at her. Her own tears spilled down her cheeks as she smiled, the bubble of laughter catching in her throat, sounding more like a broken sob. “That’s our baby,” she whispered.
When he returned her smile, she’d never seen him look happier. Drying her cheeks with his hands, he cupped her face and kissed her. Resting his forehead against hers, he whispered back, “That’s our baby.” His accent was thicker than normal, his tone huskier as he struggled to hold back his own tears of joy. “I love you, Olivia.”
“I love you, too.”
“Looks like you’re six weeks, five days,” the tech said, sounding as if she were fighting back her own tears.
Olivia quickly did the math and realized she more than likely had conceived the first time she and Liam had been together.
“I’ll print you a picture,” the woman offered, “for your scrapbook.” She took a few more measurements and printed out the picture as promised. She handed Olivia a towel to clean the gel off her stomach, but Liam took it and lovingly wiped the blue goo away, taking care not to get it on her clothes. The tech looked at her and they shared a smile. The thoughtful gesture hadn’t gone unnoticed. “I’ll get these images sent to the rad, and you’ll have an official report soon. Congratulations, you two are going to be wonderful parents. I can tell.”
Haden paced the family room inside the ER, cursing his guardianship and hating the world. His heart ached, his stomach was in knots, and unless he could find some way out of this assignment, he was destined to be trapped in a lifetime of servitude to a woman he loved and could never have. Truly, Hell had not even been this bad. Exhaling a frustrated sigh, he scrubbed his hands over his face and then dragged them through his hair.
“Coffee?”
Haden spun around to find Olivia’s nurse standing in the doorway, her shoulder leaning casually against the jam, a cup of steaming coffee held in her hand. In the span of two seconds, he assessed the leggy blonde. Her platinum highlights suggested she had a wilder side she tried to disguise by pulling her hair up into a librarian’s twist. She wore burgundy flared scrubs, the olive under-top matching the little iguana emblem over her left breast—fashionable, as far as scrubs went, so the woman had style. The fitted top stretched tightly across her generous rack, right where her nametag hung, so she was used to men staring at her boobs and didn’t seem to mind that he made no disguise in doing so right now. Her dark brown eyes hinted she was probably a brunette in denial. She had a comely enough face, high cheekbones, fair complexion, and a full, lush mouth that made a male think of all sorts of naughty things he could do with it. She was definitely fuckable, and if Haden thought for a minute it’d take his mind off Olivia, he’d be all up in that shit.
When her brow arched in question, he realized he hadn’t answered her yet, nor had he made any move to take the flimsy white Styrofoam cup from her hand. She smiled. Her white teeth and perfect bridge suggested she’d worn braces in her teen years—which by the faint laugh lines bracketing her mouth, had been about ten years ago.
“Come on, take it. I don’t bite,” she teased, misunderstanding his hesitancy.
“I do,” he grumbled, stepping forward to take the coffee. Haden was pretty sure she’d heard him, and that she didn’t scare off easily was a credit to the female, earning her his grudging respect. He took a sip of the black brew and grimaced. “Clearly, you’re trying to aid Liam in killing me.”
She laughed and shouldered off the door frame, walking into the waiting room. She waved him over to the kitchenette. He wasn’t sure why he followed, curiosity perhaps.
“I take it Liam was the other guy in that room?” She opened and closed a few drawers until she found the one she was looking for.
Haden didn’t answer. She turned toward him and took the cup from his hand, standing so close her scent teased his nostrils—rosemary and lavender.
She pulled a pink packet from the drawer and flicked it a couple of times before emptying it into his coffee. “Sorry, you’re the odd man out. That sucks. You obviously care for her.” She pulled out another packet—this one had a picture of a coffee cup on it—and dumped a few of those into the cup, as well. White powder floated on top of the coffee, and Haden wondered how in the hell she thought this was going to make it any better.
Again, he didn’t respond to her probing comment, nor did he deny his feelings for Olivia. The woman was obviously fishing, but he wasn’t interested in latching on to her bait. She stuck a red straw in the cup and swirled it around until the shit turned the color of dried mud and then handed it back to him.
“There. See if that’s any better.”
Why he tried, it was beyond him. But she stood there watching him with this beguiling grin and a teasing light in her chocolate-colored eyes. He took another sip and forced it down.
“There. That better?” she asked brightly.
“Not even a little bit.”
She laughed again and the sound wasn’t all that entirely unpleasant. “Okay, I give up.” She took the Styrofoam cup from his hand and dumped the contents down the drain. “That’s the best I can do here. Come down to the coffee cart with me and I’ll buy you a real one.”
“Don’t you have a life to go save or something?”
She shrugged. “Not right now. I’m on break.”
She winked at him and it surprised him when his top lip twitched into a semblance of a smile. “Look, Addy—” She hadn’t offered her name, but it was hanging off her boob so it was fair game. “You seem like a fairly intelligent woman. Perhaps not the best judge of character, considering who you’re flirting with, but nice enough that I’m going to do you a favor and decline your offer.”
The woman crossed her arms over her chest, the defiant gesture shoving her breasts higher. She didn’t look offended by his rejection, nor did she seem particularly deterred.
“Listen, I work in an ER. You would
n’t believe the ass-clowns I deal with day in and day out. And I’m a fine judge of character, I’ll have you know. For instance, there aren’t a lot of guys out there that would give someone the shirt off their back—literally.” Her dark gaze swept over his scrub top then back to boldly meet his stare. “There also aren’t many guys who care about someone enough to fret over them like you do with that woman in there, nor would they walk away when it was so obvious that was the last thing they wanted to do.”
“There also aren’t many guys that spend their lives killing. Everyone has their Achilles’ heel, Addy, and you just happened to witness mine—that’s all. And that doesn’t make me a nice guy, it makes me a damn fool. Don’t confuse the two.”
The rap of knuckles against the wood caught his attention and Haden spun around to find Liam standing in the doorway. He wasn’t wearing his usual surely scowl, so Haden could only assume the ultrasound went well and the young was unharmed by Olivia’s fall.
“There you are.” The angel’s gaze briefly shot to the nurse and then quickly dismissed her. “Olivia’s being discharged. Bring the car around, will ya?”
He tossed Haden the keys and left without waiting for a response. Cocky, arrogant bastard…
“Wow… I can see there’s no love lost between you two. It was nice meeting you. If you ever change your mind about that coffee, the offer still stands. You know where to find me.” She gave him a flittering-finger-wave and walked out. To the female’s credit, she didn’t even look back. Just as well, she didn’t particularly strike him as the fuck ‘em and leave ‘em type, and Haden had zero interest in becoming involved with another woman—ever. They were too damn much work, and for what? So they could turn around and rip your heart out? No, thank you.
Chapter Eleven
The Abyss made Sheol look like fucking Disneyland. The echo of wailing screams and gnashing of teeth carried past the gated entrance, sending an odd chill shivering up Gahn’s spine. So this was it—the place of eternal damnation and hellfire. As opposed to most fortresses, the coal walls stretching as far as the eye could see, were not built to keep souls out, but rather in. From the sounds of it, the final resting place of the damned seemed to be in no short supply of business. Surrounding the unsurpassable bastion was the Acheron River of fire. Flames flowing like water through the great chasm separated the living from the world of the dead.
The Redemption Series Page 111