20. Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
Griffin's Beach Colt
P ounding on the front door jolts Colt awake, and he looks over to see Lex slowly opening her eyes. Silently cursing whoever it is, he climbs out of bed and hurries to slip on his sweatpants and T-shirt while Lex slips on her robe before they rush to the front door.
Lex had finally fallen asleep. Granted, it was out of pure exhaustion, but at least it was sleep. She'd gotten home less than two hours ago, but she'd finally gotten some shut-eye. Of course, someone would come pounding on the door at two-fifteen in the morning when it finally happened.
"This better be good," Colt says, swinging the door open.
Lacey and Psycho stand on the front porch, and Lacey holds her belly with glossy eyes.
"What's wrong?" Lex asks, pulling the pregnant woman inside and guiding her to the couch.
"Something's wrong. I know it. I feel it," Lacey says.
He places a hand on Psycho's shoulder as they follow the women into the living room, and he feels the crazy man vibrating. Fear. The only time Psycho has ever shown fear has to do with the redhead currently on the edge of full-blown panic in front of them.
Hailey walks out, her eyes barely open. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, it's okay," Lex says. "Go back to bed."
"I'll check on the boys and Calla."
"Thanks."
Colt looks at Psycho and shakes his head. "Why drive here? There's two hospitals on the way to our house."
"If we go to the doctor, it's a guarantee something's wrong with the baby," Lacey says, her eyes locking with Lex's. "It's not rational, I know, but..."
Sighing, Psycho looks helplessly at his wife. "She woke up and flew into a panic when I pulled into the hospital parking lot. I didn't know where else to go."
"Okay, let's just calm down," Lex soothes. "What's wrong? What has you convinced something's wrong?"
"There's this feeling in my stomach. It's happened a few times over the last month or so, but it hasn't stopped for two hours," Lacey says.
"Have you said anything to your doctor at your checkups about it?" Colt asks.
Her head looks up at him. "No! Of course not. If I do that, he's going to look for something wrong, and then he'll find something wrong."
"Got it."
"That makes sense to you?" Psycho asks.
"Pregnancy thinking tends to be pretty irrational, which makes it completely rational."
"Okay, then."
Lex rolls her eyes at the guys and moves to crouch in front of Lacey. "What does it feel like?"
"Fluttering at first, and now it's... I don't know how to explain it. Not really a pain but discomfort. I feel it right here," she says and takes Lex's hand to press against the side of her belly.
Bowing her head, Colt catches Lex's smile. Psycho doesn't and hurries over. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Give me your hand," she says, placing it where hers had just been. "Do you feel that?"
"Yeah," he says, alarm in his voice. "What is it?"
"That's your baby," she says. "He or she is kicking."
Panic immediately changes to amazement as they both stare down at Psycho's hand. Colt remembers the first time he felt Noah kick in Lex's belly, and he can't stop his smile. It's an amazing feeling to feel the child you made with the person you love more than anything in the world. The life being brought into this world, and it still awes him how women can grow a literal human inside of them. It's both amazing and freaky.
"Kicking?" Lacey asks, her tears turning happy. "Our baby's kicking."
"Oh my God," Psycho whispers and kneels to place his cheek against her belly.
Standing, Lex runs a hand over Lacey's hair and smiles at her. "You're fine, Lacey. This is a good thing. You need to stop assuming the worst, okay? Your baby is healthy, and it's telling you it's in there. Just wait, though. The kicking on your bladder around eight months is going to get really fucking annoying."
"I can't wait," she whispers.
Colt waits for Psycho to come back to reality and taps him on the shoulder. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Uh, yeah," he says, wiping his eyes and standing. He shakes his head in amazement and follows Colt outside to the front porch. "Look, I'm sorry, man—"
"Lex is going through something," he says, his voice low to avoid being heard inside.
Both sit on the top step of the porch, and Psycho looks at him. "What's going on?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
He runs a hand over his face and tugs on his beard. A whiff of Lex's need from their quick round before she fell asleep hits his nose, but even that doesn't make him smile. "She can't tell me yet. She's not sleeping, and tonight was the first night she actually passed out. Granted, I think it was from exhaustion, but it's more than she's had since we moved back."
"Colt, I'm sorry—"
"I get it, man. You're scared. I was, too, and we didn't have the history you guys do. But I need you to lean off Lex a little bit. She needs a break somewhere, and there just aren't that many areas to take off her plate, you know?"
He looks up at the sky and nods. "This probably seems really silly."
"It's not. I swear. I've gone through it twice now, and trust me, the scariest part you'll go through is when that kid's coming. You're going to see Lacey in more pain than she's ever been in before, and probably more pain than you'll ever experience, to be honest. But she'll be a fucking rockstar. A superhero. Then you'll really have the fear kick in when they let you walk out of that hospital with the baby. Like you know what the fuck you're doing."
Laughing, Psycho shakes his head. "That's not really reassuring."
"That woman will know exactly what to do. There'll be moments of panic and phone calls, but she has instincts she doesn't even know she has. Ones you'll never understand. Watching her nurse your baby will be fucking amazing. Erotic as shit, too. The body you loved to create that baby is being nourished from it. And she'll know what each cry means. This tiny human, a perfect mix of the two of you, will be here before you know it. It's pretty fucking awesome."
He finally smiles and nods his head. "I'm excited but scared shitless. It's hard not to worry something bad is still gonna happen. At this point, it's not just an idea, you know? We've seen pictures. Ultrasounds, but the new 3D ones they have are basically pictures. It's going to be different than any time before if we lose it."
"You're not going to. You've made it this far. Hell, she went, what, five months before finding out she was pregnant? If nothing happened in that timeframe, you're probably solid. I'm not a doctor, but the stars aligned for you both."
"I didn't think about it that way."
"If you have a moment of panic, stop. Don't let her see it. You have to be the rock because she can't be. She's a wash of hormones that make no sense and all the sense at the same time. Your job is to calm her down, and then you freak out when you're alone."
Psycho chuckles. "And then what?"
"Call me. If you have that moment of panic, call me. I'll help, and I can do this. If it's out of my depth, I'll call my mom. She's done this three times. But Lex needs things off her plate right now, and I promise, I can handle this."
Slipping his backwards baseball cap off, he runs his hand over his bald head. "What do you think's going on?"
"Something with Zane. Or maybe Lane. He's been MIA for weeks now. It's gotta be bad, though. You can see the toll it’s taking on my wife."
"Who else knows?"
"Jennings. Maybe VP. Zane hasn't been on a run since I've been back, and Jennings's cut mine down, too. Which has me freaked out in its own right because it means he wants me around for Lex. If he's worried about her, I sure as shit have to be."
Both look out at the dark sky filled with clouds that block out the stars. "Do you think it's Lane?"
"It would make the most sense. I just don't know what."
"Maybe she's sick again."
"I thought about that, but others would have noticed, right? I mean, if she's going through treatments, she's probably going to show it. There's no way the women in this club could keep that type of secret."
Psycho shrugs. "That's a fair point. They can keep secrets from us and when it comes to us, but not so much about each other. Unless they're Lex or Lacey. Plus, like you said, it'd show. Maybe she's pregnant again. It could be a really difficult pregnancy with lots of risks, and she doesn't want people to know in case something happens. I can completely understand that."
"That could be it. I just wish Lex would tell me. I wanna help her. It's killing me to watch her barely keeping her head above water. And then this shit with Felicity hasn't made it any easier."
"I missed that one. What shit with Felicity? They aren't friends?"
Laughing, Colt shakes his head and tells him about all the drama, including Gracie being pregnant at sixteen without sharing who the father is. He stares wide eyed as it all comes out, and sick smile on his face.
"Damn, seriously? Ky fucked his girlfriend's sister?"
"Felicity was his ex at the time, technically. I have no idea what Vicky wrote in that diary, but it was enough to have Felicity that pissed."
"She and Lex had issues before, though?"
He nods. "Yeah, there was a meeting with the Griffin's Beach women, and a good number of them wanted to bolt when the shit was happening with the Slashers. Take the kids, change their names, and completely abandon the men."
"No shit?"
"No shit. Felicity was on the side of leaving. Lex was on the side of telling them they're all being fucking idiots. I guess it got heated, and Tess is still proud of Lex's response. It was beautiful, man. We'll have to have her say it to you when things settle down because it was something about her being born into this where Felicity married into it. Oh, and if she wants to fuck, she'll find out. Something like that."
Laughing, he nods our head. "Sounds like our girl."
"I didn't even tell you the most explosive part. Felicity had the gall to come into the clubhouse last night and took a swing at Lex. It took Ky and me both to get her off of Felicity, then Felicity was stupid and told Lex she didn't have balls. So Lex put her on blast. Secrets galore."
His jaw drops. "Did she have an accident and hit her fucking head? Who the fuck tells Lex she doesn't have balls?"
"I have no idea what the fuck happened to her, but she seems to have lost all sense of reality. She had the old lady meeting secret put out there, and I think there are a few uncomfortable conversations being had still with some of them. And only Felicity is to blame. She poked the bear, and the bear bit her damned head off."
"She of all people should know not to fuck with Lex."
"Oh, the best part? Jennings kicked her out. Said she only wanted problems, and she was told to leave. Of course, Lex felt guilty afterwards."
"She deserved it!"
Colt chuckles. "You know that. And I know that. But Lex still feels like she betrayed someone because she lost her temper. No one can feel guilt quite like my wife."
His large hand slaps Colt's shoulder. "Okay, new topic. We were gonna ask Lex, but maybe you can help us out."
"Of course."
"Wanna do a gender reveal for us?"
"Smoke and a burnout?"
"What else would we do?" he asks and laughs.
Colt nods and smiles. "I can totally do that. I'll get Mom to help with the other party shit, but I got the reveal part on lockdown."
"Thanks."