“Mmm-hmm. It’s been almost twelve hours since admit and not one person has been here to check on her.”
The other nurse sighs softly, “Poor girl.”
“I know, you just can’t count on men anymore these days. They’ve all become selfish pricks.”
I don’t want them to know I’ve heard them, and I also don’t want to hear any more of their conversation, so I make some small sounds like I am just waking up and I try to open my eye again. Fighting back the dam of tears that are threatening to break free, I try to move a little just to distract from the pain in my chest.
“Whoa, whoa,” a female voice on my blind side says and small, cold hands touch my shoulders to push me back down. “Lay back, sweetie, you’ll make it hurt worse.” Her accent is thick, but compassion is laced with her words.
Looking around the room for any sign of Mason, hoping against all hope that they could be wrong, I confirm that I am alone.
He left me here.
Fanning my fingers over my stomach, I look at the nurse, “Is everything okay?”
She smiles as her gaze tracks my hand and then looks back up to me, “Yes, the baby is fine. Maybe I can get the doctor to let us bring the ultrasound machine in so you can hear the heartbeat.”
Taking a deep breath and letting my head roll to the side away from her, I stare out of the dark window at the lights of some of the neighboring buildings.
He found out I’m pregnant and left me here.
The nurses leave the room and I’m truly alone, so I let the tears fall.
What does it mean if he left me here? Is he done with me? Does it mean that I’m out of a job?
The cold chill of panic washes over me, blending with the ache in my chest. Then I realize the guy I stabbed is probably looking for me since I got away again. I’m so damn tired of this life, and now I’m going to have a baby.
Mason left me here; the recurring thought sends a crack down the middle of my heart, and I take a deep breath to try to curb the tears.
Is it even possible to feel more alone than I did before I met him at the hotel bar? I made the mistake of letting myself like how it felt when he held me, I let myself like him and the warmth in his eyes when he smiles at me.
Lesson learned.
Having a baby and being on the run is not going to be easy, but what I know for sure is that I can’t stay in one place, or I’ll be an easy target. I need to keep moving.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
MASON
“HER LEGhas a hairline fracture, and she has a bruise in the orbital bone over her eye. We stitched the cut in her hand, it wasn’t big, but it was deep, and bloodwork showed hCG making her positive for pregnancy.” The doctor looks between Jax and me, “Who is the father?”
“I am,” I say. I never imagined there would be a time I would be asked that question, panic surges through me as I wonder what kind of a father I will be.
Hanging my hands on my hips, I try to look like I am listening to everything the doctor is saying, but the sweat beading at my hairline as I realize this is real is distracting me. My father did a good job with six of us after Mom died, I had a good role model. I can do this.
“We’ve given her a sedative and some pain medication to help her rest, she’ll be sleeping for a while but you can go in tosee her if you’d like.”
Once I knew she was safe and resting, I told the nurse at the desk to let her know I would be back soon and the three of us returned to the barn on the ranch.
Dad meets me at the door, “Is she okay?”
I nod, “She’ll be okay, she got pretty beat up so she’s resting. I can’t just sit around; I need to do something.”
He claps his hand on my shoulder and nods. I realize that he knows what I’m feeling, after losing my mom to her illness. He and Gray have both felt what it’s like to lose the woman they love. They’ve felt the fear that’s gripped me since I’ve been separated from her, not knowing, but I get another chance. They didn’t.
We walk shoulder to shoulder to the runt tied on the practice horse. Dad hooks his thumbs in his pockets and chuckles, “He’s been singing like a canary since we pulled out the bolt cutters, we haven’t even had to touch him.”
Spits had already identified and located the main players for this area and the runt just confirmed what we know. I step up to him and see the tear stains on his cheeks, when he sees me, his shoulders fall and he starts to cry harder, “Please don’t kill me, I was jus’ followin’ orders, man. I gave ‘er back.”
