Page 203 of Healed

“I don’t know. They say first-borns aren’t usually quick but…”

Her face twisted in sympathy as Gabriella went through another contraction.

“Hers seems to be progressing quicker than mine did,” she eventually finished.

“A…fir…mative,” Gabriella panted.

Rachel shot me a smug grin. “Told you.”

“Shit.” I looked down at my old lady, her face contorting again. “Dante, hurry up!”

“Hurry up!” Rachel slapped him for the third time.

Dante pressed down the accelerator, only for Gabriella to swing at him. Her arm completely missed her target, considering she was lying in the backseat, her legs spread with me in the middle of them. But she gave it a good shot.

“Slow. Down,” she panted.

“Right!”

The brakes slammed on.

I braced myself against Rachel’s seat with one hand and held Gabriella with the other.

Rachel wasn’t so fortunate. She had been leaning over her seat to look at us and went flying backwards into the dashboard.

“What the fuck?!” she muttered, stuck in the gap between her seat and the dashboard.

I looked over the back of the seat, grinning down at her.

“Alright?”

“Fuck off, Stoic.”

“Oh, we’re back to Stoic, are we? That’s real nice.”

We began to bicker back and forth, only for Dante to punch his steering wheel with both hands.

“Enough!” he growled. “This isn’t working for me. From now on, there will be no backseat driving. No more demands. No more petty fucking bickering. I will get you to the hospital safe and sound, but in the meantime, all of you, shut the fuck up!”

“Rude,” Rachel scoffed under her breath, hauling herself back up. “Thanks for helping me, by the way.”

“I’m trying—”

“And failing.”

“—to get us to the hospital!”

“No time,” Gabriella moaned. “The baby is coming.”

She spread her legs wider, having already removed her trousers, and as I looked down, I saw a head of black hair between her legs.

“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, pulling a disgusted face.

“Don’t look like that!” Rachel said, having recovered from her fall. She was leaning back over the seat and slapped me around the head. “That’s your child!”

“That’s horrific!”

“Vienna!” Gabriella whined, looking heartbroken.