Chapter 25
We’d stumbled out of the reception hall, sweating in places I didn’t know were possible, high on the energy of the night, but I felt myself coming down.
The flashing lights had stopped. The bright, harsh lights of the hotel lobby assaulted my eyes as I draped my arm over Rose and guided us toward the elevator.
“Damn, that’s a long line,” I said when we approached the single elevator with a line of about fifteen people deep. I glanced at Rose. “Want to take the stairs?” I asked. It was only two floors.
“Sure,” she said with a smile, but she looked tired. Drained really. And as much as I wanted her stripped bare and beneath me, I didn’t think either of us was capable of that tonight.
“WYATT!” Paxton, a friend from college, yelled from across the lobby.
I threw my arm up in the air. “PAX-TON!” I let the letters rumble deep and loud.
“You killed it on the dance floor,” his wife, Becky, said to me as they drew closer.
I tightened my hold on Rose, who I could tell just wanted to get to bed.
“Thanks,” I said with a grin. “I try.”
Paxton clapped me on the shoulder. “Man, you always were a menace.”
“Still am,” I said. “Just with better music.”
Rose gave a polite smile, her head resting briefly against my chest, and I felt a subtle shift. Her weight leaned heavier on me. Not in the good, familiar, I want you now way. My grin faded.
“Are you feeling all right?” I asked quietly as Paxton got swept up in Chris’s arms and carried across the lobby.
“Yeah, just tired.” Her words were soft, almost too soft. My girl needed a bed and stat.
“We’re going to call it a night. Early flight tomorrow,” I said to Becky, who was rolling her eyes at her husband.
“Smart,” Becky said. “If only I could wrangle that one.”
“Good luck,” I said with a laugh as I guided Rose toward the stairs.
The noise from the lobby dulled as I pushed through the heavy door. Cool air and concrete walls surrounded us. The fluorescent lights weren’t nearly as bright as the lobby. I took the tie from my head and stashed it in my pocket.
“Just two floors,” I said. “Then I’ll carry you the rest of the way if I have to.”
She laughed, but it was tired. “Such a gentleman.”
“Always. I have an image to uphold.”
She patted my chest. “Uh huh.”
We made it up the first flight; her hand tightened in mine, fingers slick with sweat.
“You want to take a break for a sec?” I asked.
“No, I just want to get to bed.”
I heard the door below us open, the sounds of people echoing off the concrete walls. “Okay, upward and onward.”
We stepped onto the landing and made our way to the next flight. One step, two. Rose’s foot slipped, her body faltered. One minute she was there, warm and solid against me, then she stumbled forward, her grip tearing loose from me as her body pitched sideways.
“Rose!” I lunged for her, catching air instead of her arm.
She went down hard, too hard, her body twisting as she tumbled against the railing and collapsed on the landing.
Everything fell silent.
My heart slammed violently against my chest, stealing my breath. I jumped down the three steps, landing beside her, and fell to my knees. “Rose, hey, hey! Look at me.”
Someone shouted. Footsteps pounded. Someone screamed for help.
“Rose!” I cried out, afraid to touch her, afraid to move her in case she was hurt.
Her eyes fluttered; a rush of relief slammed into me, but then I locked eyes with hers, unfocused, scared.
Her fingers latched onto my wrist. “Wyatt,” she whispered, panic threading through that single word. Her eyes flicked past me to the woman pushing her way through the crowd of people I hadn’t even realized were there.
Lori dropped beside us. Rose held her gaze. “You don’t think… You don’t think I hurt the baby… do you?”
The word hit me like an uppercut to the solar plexus.
My entire body froze.
“The what?” I breathed.
The concrete walls tilted and swirled.
Someone said my name. Someone else said an ambulance was on the way. But all I could hear was that one word echoing in my head.
Baby.
My hands shook as I brushed her hair from her face.
“Rosebud,” I said, my voice barely holding it together. “What are you talking about?”