Nasty (Naughty #2)

by R. L. Kenderson

  Piper walked into her home and turned on the lights. But rather than going to bed right away, she got on her computer. The great thing about the internet was a person could waste a lot of time on there. Before she knew it, over an hour had passed.

  Her phone pinged.

  Rachel: Did you order the chicken Alfredo?

  Piper frowned.

  Piper: Yeah. Why?

  Rachel: I think I have food poisoning.

  Piper: How do you know?

  Rachel: Because my toilet is now my new best friend.

  Shit. They’d eaten the same thing for dinner.

  A new text came in as Piper was replying to Rachel.

  Kayla: I think eating out was a mistake.

  Piper: Did you have the chicken Alfredo, too?

  Kayla: How did you know?

  Piper: Rachel’s sick, too.

  Kayla: You’re doomed.

  Piper did a quick mental assessment. She didn’t feel bad. Her stomach didn’t hurt. And thinking of food didn’t make her queasy.

  Piper to Kayla: I feel okay now. I’ll let you know if that changes.

  Piper to Rachel: Kayla’s sick, too. So far, I feel okay. I’ll keep you updated.

  Rachel: Good luck!

  Piper shut down her computer and put her hand on her abdomen. She really hoped she didn’t get sick.

  Piper went to the master bath and brushed her teeth. She was still doing okay…until she lay down for bed.

  It came out of nowhere.

  One minute, she’d felt fine. The next, her body was busy trying to get rid of everything in her stomach.

  When she was between waves of puking, she texted her friends to let them know it was definitely the chicken Alfredo.

  Piper was never eating Italian again.

  At one point, she fell asleep on her bathroom floor, only to wake up and make a rush for the bowl. She did this over and over all night until the sun started to rise in the sky.

  She’d never had food poisoning before, but now, she’d choose death over being this sick. She was sweaty and nauseated, her abdomen hurt from cramping, and she was thirsty as hell. But, every time she tried to drink water, she’d throw it right back up.

  It was when she started to cry that she knew she was in a little bit of trouble. Tears were not a good sign, and she really couldn’t afford to be dehydrated.

  Kayla was right. Piper was doomed.

  Nate knocked on Piper’s door and then unlocked it. He didn’t even realize that he had come in like old times until he shut the door behind him. But he wasn’t going back now. He was already in the house.

  “Piper,” he called out.

  It was eight in the morning, and light was streaming through the windows, but she wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room.

  He knew she might still be sleeping, but the two of them needed to talk. He’d woken up that morning with texts from Luke and Ethan, telling him that Piper was going to move.

  He couldn’t let that happen. Not without them talking first.

  “Piper,” he yelled again, and he walked toward her bedroom. He didn’t want to burst into the room and scare the crap out of her.

  “Nate?” It was a weak-sounding call coming from her room, and he knew something was wrong.

  He burst into the room. “Piper?”

  “In here,” she croaked from the bathroom.

  He rounded the corner and stopped in his tracks. She looked like death. She was lying on her back on the floor of her bathroom. She was as white as the wall next to her, and her hair was matted to her head.

  He got down on his knees beside her. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m dying.”

  He felt like he couldn’t breathe. “What?”

  She tried to smile. “Not really. I just feel like I am.”

  Her revelation calmed him some.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked again.

  “Food poisoning.”

  “Oh, babe.” He’d been there. It sucked.

  “Can you take me to the hospital?”

  And he was back in panic mode. “Shit. Why?”

  “I can’t explain now. I’m dehydrated, and I need fluids. I throw up every time I try to drink water. Can you take me? Please?”

  He pushed her sweaty hair out of her face. “Of course, Piper.”

  “Thank you.” She held up her hand. “Can you help me up?”

  “Fuck that.” He put his arms underneath her back and under her legs. “I’m not letting you walk.”

  He knew it was because she didn’t feel well, but his heart warmed when she put her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder.

  She still trusted him.

  Maybe his dad was right.

  Nate helped Piper walk into the emergency room. She’d refused to let him carry her. While she appreciated him carrying her to his truck, apparently, she had too much pride to let him do the same once they got to the hospital.

  Since it was Sunday morning, the ER wasn’t terribly busy, but they still had to wait. They sat down in the waiting room, and Nate encouraged her to rest her head in his lap. On the other side of him, he set the bucket she had grabbed from her house in case she didn’t make it to the bathroom.

  She had no idea why he’d shown up at her house, but she was incredibly grateful he had. He hadn’t hesitated when she said she needed help. It was almost as if their fight had never happened. Unfortunately, it had.

  She’d worry about that later. Right now, she was going to appreciate his caring and warmth. She appreciated it so much that she dozed off.

  “Piper?” a male voice called out in the room.

  She slowly sat up. “Right here.”

  Nate helped her stand, and they walked back behind the double doors.

  “We’re going to head to the third door on the right,” the man said.

  Once in the room, she immediately lay down on the bed and clutched her bucket.

  “I’m Henry, and I’m your nurse today. And I’m just going to ask you a few questions.”

  Piper was a little disappointed her nurse was a male. She needed to tell him something, and it would have been easier had he been a woman.

  As the nurse asked her questions, she glanced at Nate several times. She really needed to find a way to get him to leave the room for a minute or two. Yet she didn’t have a good excuse to get rid of him.

  Henry was in the middle of his questions when the door opened.

  “Piper, if you wanted to see me, you could have done it for free. You didn’t have to pay for an ER visit.”

  Piper groaned into her pillow. Of course her doctor was going to be Luke. She should have insisted Nate drive her to another hospital.

  “Nate,” Luke said, shocked. “I didn’t expect you to be here.” He looked at Piper. “I’m glad you are though.” He grabbed on to both ends of his stethoscope around his neck. “So, you’re here because you think you have food poisoning.”

  “Yes.”

  “Yeah, I heard Rachel got sick.”

  “Another girl we went out to eat with did, too.”

  “That means we can pretty much rule out the stomach flu. Not that it matters much. We treat them both the same.”

  Henry walked back into the room, carrying an IV bag. Piper hadn’t even seen him leave.

  While the nurse started the IV, Luke continued to ask questions, “So, you’ve been throwing up?”

  “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

  Luke chuckled. “That’s how it works, unfortunately. And you’re worried about being dehydrated?”

  “Yes.” Piper looked at Nate. She wanted to tell Luke why she was so concerned, but she couldn’t with Nate right there.

  Luke went over to the computer and clicked on a couple of things. He didn’t say anything while he read whatever was on the screen.

  The nurse finished up Piper’s IV and left the room.

  “Have you had any diarrhea?” Luke asked her.

  She felt her eyes get big.
She didn’t want to answer that. Not in front of Nate and not to Elise’s husband.

  Luke looked at her face and then at Nate.

  “Hey, man, can you give me a couple of minutes alone with my patient?”

  Nate didn’t answer, but she could see he didn’t want to.

  “I just need to ask her a few questions, and then you can come back in,” Luke reassured Nate.

  “Okay.” Nate stood. “I’ll be in the waiting room if you need me,” he told Piper.

  “Thank you.”

  Nate left the room, and Luke pulled up the stool from under the counter and sat next to her.

  “He’s gone. You can tell me.”

  “No, I can’t.”

  Luke laughed. “Piper, I’m a doctor. I’ve heard things way worse than diarrhea.”

  “Fine. Yes, I’ve had some. But it’s mostly been throwing up. And I haven’t…gone to the bathroom for a couple of hours now.”

  “Have you urinated at all?”

  “Not since last night.”

  “It’s a good thing you came in. Dehydration’s nothing to mess with.”

  “Thank you. I felt silly for coming in, but I was worried.” She looked down and put a hand on her stomach.

  “Does Nate know about the baby?”

  Piper whipped her head up. “How did you know?”

  Luke raised his brow. “Because I can read.”

  She was confused.

  “It’s in your chart.”

  “Oh.” Duh. “Um…no, I haven’t told Nate yet.” She met Luke’s eyes. “You can’t tell him either.”

  When she’d found out she was pregnant on the drive home from her lunch with Nate, who said he didn’t want to be friends, her first thought was how she was ever going to tell him. She hadn’t figured that part out yet.

  He held up his hands. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Besides, you’re my patient. I can’t say anything to anyone without your permission.”

  That was a relief.

  “But you are going to tell him, right? I’m sure he’s bound to notice sooner or later.”

  “No kidding. Yes, I’m going to tell him. I just haven’t figured out how. Things haven’t been great between us lately, as I’m sure you know.”

  “Oh, I know. Nate’s been miserable.”

  She didn’t want Nate to feel bad, but hearing Luke say that flooded her with hope, even with Vanessa in the picture again. “He has?”

  Luke looked at her like she was foolish. “Of course, Piper. You have to know he’s crazy about you.”

  “Well, he did say he loved me. But then he turned around and told me he just wanted to be friends.”

  Luke looked at her with sympathy. “That’s because that’s what he thought you wanted.”

  “I really screwed up.” She wished she had never yelled at him and said those mean things to him at the wedding.

  Luke grabbed her hand. “The good news is, it’s fixable. Nate might act tough and pretend like he doesn’t care about relationships and such, but deep down, he just wants to be loved.”

  “Yeah, I know.” And she had used that information against him in their fight.

  “Now, if you tell him I said any of this, I will call you a liar and tell him I gave you drugs and you were delusional.”

  Piper laughed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Luke let go of her hand and winked. “That’s what I’m talking about.” He stood. “Oh, did my wife know that you were pregnant?”

  Piper shook her head. “I haven’t told anyone. Just you and my OB/GYN know. I thought Nate deserved to find out before anyone.”

  He nodded his head. “That explains it.”

  “Explains what?”

  “Why she didn’t say anything to me. I can’t imagine her keeping something that big a secret.”

  “Didn’t you two date behind everyone’s backs?”

  “Yeah. But that didn’t involve a baby.”

  Luke had a point.

  “I suppose.”

  “I’m going to tell Nate he can come back in. We’re going to give you two bags of saline because we want you nice and hydrated for that baby and some antinausea meds, and then we’ll let you go home. Sound good?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll come back and check on you in a while.”

  “Thanks, Luke.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Nate came back in a minute later. “Are you doing okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did Luke want to talk to you about?” He waved his hands in front of him. “Never mind. None of my business.”

  Piper laughed. “Just some medical questions. Some embarrassing questions.”

  Nate looked relieved. “Good. I was worried.”

  She held out her hand, and he took it. “Thank you for caring.”

  “Always.”

  Nate decided to take Piper to his house. He would have gone to her house to take care of her, but he had stuff he had to do at home. Thankfully, she didn’t protest.

  He helped her inside and insisted she sleep in his bedroom. It seemed a little weird since they weren’t together anymore, but he felt better with her being there, and she didn’t object once.

  He pulled the covers over her, tucking her in, when Fred walked into the room.

  “Fred!” She pulled her hand out from under the comforter and patted the bed. “Come here, buddy.”

  Fred meowed and jumped onto the bed. He made a circle next to Piper and lay down.

  She rolled onto her side and petted him. “I missed you, Fred.”

  Fred meowed his appreciation.

  “You missed Fred? You must really be sick.”

  Piper laughed. “I missed you more.” She scratched Fred’s ears. “But who wouldn’t miss the two of you, right, Fred?”

  A little in shock from her admission, he cleared his throat. “I’m going to let you sleep. Your phone is on the nightstand. If you need anything, call me. I’ll be here all day, but I might be outside or in the basement.”

  “Okay.” She pulled the covers back up.

  Nate quietly left the room and silently shut the door, leaving it open just a crack for Fred.

  Several hours later, Piper woke up, feeling much better. She wasn’t back to being one hundred percent, but sleeping in a bed versus the bathroom floor, uninterrupted, had done her body some good.

  Funny how she’d managed to avoid morning sickness, only to get food poisoning.

  Piper got out of bed, taking her time and going slow, afraid her stomach would notice she was up and moving and revolt.

  She went to use the bathroom, relieved that she was peeing again, but then did a double take when she looked in the mirror.

  Yikes.

  She looked awful. She needed a shower.

  The thought of being clean after last night was almost orgasmic.

  She went to Nate’s room and approached his dresser. Before their breakup, she’d had a drawer at his house. Would her stuff still be in there, or would he have put everything in a box in the basement? Or worse, the garbage?

  She pulled the drawer open, and there her clothes were.

  She breathed a sigh of relief.

  He hadn’t gotten rid of her stuff.

  She grabbed a T-shirt and yoga pants and headed for the shower. Once she was out, she opened her drawer in the bathroom. Her detangler, pick, extra makeup, and other stuff were in there, too. Another good sign.

  She got dressed, combed out her hair, and went in search of Nate. She found him cleaning out his garage, a broom in his hand.

  “Hey.” He stopped sweeping. “Are you doing okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m better now. Not all better. But better.”

  He moved the broom back and forth, almost playing with it. “That’s good.” He looked so forlorn.

  “Are you sure?”

  He shrugged. “I admit, I don’t want you to leave.”

  She didn’t want to leave either.

  S
he pointed her thumb behind her. “Do you mind if we sit and talk for a minute?”

  “Sure.” He set the broom against the wall. “Let’s go in the backyard.”

  She followed Nate outside, and they sat in his lounge chairs. His backyard faced the west, so it was nice and cool back there.

  “So, what do you want to talk about?”

  “I want to be completely honest with you.”

  He looked confused. “You haven’t been in the past?”

  She shook her head. “Wrong choice of words. I want to lay it all out for you and hold nothing back.”

  “Okay.”

  “And I’m hoping you will do the same with me. Although I won’t hold it against you if you don’t.”

  He nodded. “Okay.”

  It wasn’t a no, but it wasn’t a yes. But she suspected that Nate was waiting to see what she had to say.

  She took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

  “I know I already apologized to you about what I’d said at my mom’s wedding, but, Nate, you have no idea how horrible I feel. Immediately after I said it, I regretted it. I was just so confused, and my in-laws made me feel so guilty.” She blushed at her next confession. “And this is probably going to sound silly, but sometimes, I ask Jordan to give me signs about what I should do. I had just been to visit him at his grave, and I’d asked him to help me out. When his parents came to talk to me, I thought that was his sign, and he was telling me not to be with you.”

  “I kind of understand. My dad talked to me about what it was like for him when my mother died.”

  “Wow. Really?”

  Nate chuckled. “Really.”

  She was so happy Nate was connecting with his father.

  “I don’t know if this helps, but if I didn’t care about you or want to be with you, it would have been easy to walk away.” She looked Nate in the eyes. “But I realized I loved you, and that was what made me so distraught that night. I wanted to be with you, but a part of me felt like it was wrong.”

  “Because you felt like you were being unfaithful.”

  She was surprised by his statement. “Yes. That is a simple way of putting it. But, after I calmed down, two things occurred to me.”

  Nate swallowed. “What would those be?”

  “I realized Jordan would never send his parents to deliver a message. And I know that there wasn’t—isn’t anything wrong with being with you because I love you. Some people only find love once in their lives. Do you know how lucky I am to find it twice?” It was a rhetorical question, so she kept talking, “I might be wrong, but that day we met for lunch, you told me that we would just be friends, and I’m guessing that’s because you thought it was what I wanted. Or you were protecting yourself. Or both.”