Panic hits me as Cole shakes again, and Stone meets me halfway in the common room and asks, “What happened?”
My stomach tightens when I don’t see Ty anywhere, despite him telling me this morning on the phone that he’ll be at the club all day with the tattoo shop getting a deep clean after he gets back from the run, and I swallow hard.
He’s been acting off for a while now, well, for a year, since he didn’t meet me like he said he would, since his mama faked being ill and was in this very room drinking and partying with her old man. Since I was raped and I lost our baby…
Swallowing down the horrible feeling that he may be with someone when I know I’m his world and he’s most likely not back yet, I fret, “Cole’s temperature shot through the roof. I tried to call Tyler five times, but he didn’t answer, so I thought maybe he’s still on the run, and I tried Doc, but he canceled the call, so I thought maybe he was working.”
Something passes over Stone’s face, something I can’t quite decipher, but before I can question him and question where the hell my husband is, because let’s face it, if he were still on the run, then Stone wouldn’t be here. It seems he goes on most of them with Doc being a doctor and all, Tank comes up to me.
“I’m here Ash, let me look at him,” Tank says as he appears beside us and I physically relax as he takes Cole who cries, “I want daddy,” and my arms drop like a lead as Tank murmurs, “Come here buddy, I’ve got you, Uncle Stone will get daddy.”
Tank looks at me and nods down the hallway where the medical room is situated in between the officer’s offices and I nod and quickly turn around and run towards the hall. Ty’s parents attempting to follow but I quickly turn and point at them shocking them.
“You two are not welcome,” I snap, shocking everyone as Tank walks past us, side eyeing me with a raised brow of approval.
The man may be quiet and barely spend time at the clubhouse, but he knows when I mean business.
“He’s our grandson, Ashley. What are you on about?” Scar asks with shock, and I growl, “How about when you both ignored my calls ten minutes ago and my son was having a seizure?!”
Scar flinches as Olive looks down in shame, and I scoff and I spin on the spot and rush after Tank, entering the room just as he lays Cole on the bed.
“What happened?” Tank asks, and my tears fall.
I admit, “He was sitting on the couch when he said he didn’t feel well, and suddenly he was, it was like he was having a seizure…”
Tank nods as he checks over Cole, looking in his ears, then confirms, “He’s got a raging ear infection, and I think we may need to take him to the emergency room unless Doc has some antibiotics here.”
“H-he didn’t say his ear hurt,” I choke as I press my hand against my stomach, worry and pain filling me, mixing with guilt.
Have I been so caught up in my own thoughts that I missed Cole coming down with something?
“He probably didn’t realize, Ash, don’t beat yourself up.” Tank tries to reassure me, but I shake my head just as the door to the room opens, and I turn to find my husband stumbling in, and everything in me falls at the state of him.
His light brown hair is messy, his clothes are a mess, and as he gets closer, I can smell cherries, a strong, fricking smell of cherries mixed with the cologne I bought him for Christmas, so strong it’s like he’s just sprayed a ton on him.
Oh god, was he cheating on me?
The thought makes my stomach drop as my heart sinks.
“What happened?!” he demands as he gets closer and goes to wrap his arm around me, but I quickly move, suddenly feeling sick.
He frowns, his eyes taking me in but I quickly look away from him and step closer to my son, my mind not able to understand, I mean, I don’t have proof but it would make sense. The nights he doesn’t come home a couple times a week, the times I’m at the clubhouse with our son but he disappears for an hour here and there.
The door opens again, and Doc rushes inside, not making eye contact with me and bile rises.
Does everyone know, or is it all in my head?
I blink, then shake my head as I continue to re-stock the shelves that Andrea, the night manager, didn't get this far on her shift last night.
I haven’t smelled anything on Ty since that day and to be fair even before it I didn’t smell cherries. Since Cole was ill he’s been more affectionate with me, trying to always cuddle me, hold my hand, trying to spend more time with Cole, but I just, there’s a nagging feeling in the back of my head.
I barely let him touch me for a year.
Maybe it was all in my head, maybe my guilt over what happened to me is what's got me thinking crap.
Maybe it’s because I still resent him and his mama for that day, when he should have been here, meeting me ready for our date, so I could tell him I was indeed pregnant. So I could finally make him proud and explain about my studies, to let him know I had a job in line for when I graduate as long as I pass my exams at the end of the year. The owner Pauline, happy with my work placement descriptions from Happy Place Farms.
Surely he wouldn’t throw away nearly seventeen years of love instead of communicating with me right?
