Chapter 2
Slowly, Harley opened one eye, still clutching onto Hades. As soon as that one eye opened, the bike turned off, ceasing the vibrations the powerful engine pushed through her body. With shaky legs, she dismounted the bike, shaking like a chihuahua out in the snow.
It had been eighteen years since she was on the back of a bike, and she never thought she would be again. She never wanted to be again.
As Hades swung his tree trunk of a leg over the bike, she glared at him with angry tears in her eyes, but he yanked her by her arm once again, dragging her forward. Her eyes grew big as she realized they were in a residential neighborhood not too far from the Ellwood projects, close to where she grew up. Her heart raced. Everything about this encounter with this asshole triggered her, and she so badly wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. Had she known he would have forced her on the back of his bike and brought her to the part of town she avoided at all costs, she wouldn’t have volunteered to help him.
The house they walked up to, though, was nothing like her crumbling childhood home. This house was in what the kids used to call the prestigious hood when she was growing up. People compared this area to a mini-Atlanta. Black people with a lot of money lived here, and it felt even more special to them because most of them grew up a few blocks away in the Ellwood Projects.
Harley watched as Hades put his thumb up to a scanner at the door. After a second, there was a click, and he pushed into the house. Her eyes were wide as she took her surroundings in, but she barely got two seconds to marvel before Hades pulled her again.
“This way.”
“You don’t have to pull so hard,” she murmured. Standing up for herself had never been her strong suit. She would have flashes of anger and bravery, but it never lasted. She was meek and timid and normally allowed people to walk all over her, which was why she couldn’t find it in her to speak up much more than a whisper.
Now, for others, she would stand up for them in a heartbeat. She hadn’t always been like that, but deep regret and life had shaped her in that way.
Hades either ignored her or didn’t hear her, causing Harley to be tugged through this massive house she assumed was his. They walked up the stairs and down a long hall. The decor in the house was beautiful but dark. Everything was in navy blues and black, and the wall art was almost scary, but she couldn’t help but appreciate the architecture of the place and the high ceilings with black marble floors that sparkled.
When Harley heard familiar groans and sharp inhales of breaths, she knew they were close to whichever room his sister was in. Her instinct to care for a mother in need kicked in as she asked, “Where is she?”
Once again, Hades either didn’t hear her or he ignored her as he pushed open a door and dragged her through the threshold.
“Hades! Where the hell have you been?” A woman screeched as soon as they entered.
“Man, please tell me you found her midwife?” a man who paced beside the bed as they entered asked.
“I found a midwife,” Hades grumbled, shoving Harley forward.
She stumbled but caught herself on the edge of the bed, the feel of the dark purple satin sheets cool against her fingers.
The woman who lay on the bed looked at Harley in horror as she breathed deeply, sweat coating her flawless dark skin. She looked back at Hades with tears streaking down her face. “Did you kidnap her or something? She looks terrified.” Her eyes landed back on Harley, who straightened up and put her professional face on. “Are you okay? My brother can be kind of an as?—”
Her words cut off with a cry of pain, and Harley jumped into action. “I’m Harley, sweetie. What’s your name?”
“E-Eris.” She panted and breathed deeply as she gripped the sheets.
Harley looked over at the man who resumed pacing and asked, “And are you dad?”
He stopped, standing just in front of her, his height dwarfing her, but his aura felt friendly, unlike Hades. “Yeah. I’m Cade. Please tell me my wife is going to be okay. Her midwife wasn’t answering the phone, and she’s been in labor for hours.”
“Hours?” Harley asked, her face folding into a frown. “Why didn’t you guys go to the hospital?”
“My brother doesn’t trust hospitals,” Eris spat, glaring at Hades who stood shadowed in the corner of the rather dim room.
“He’s not the one having the baby,” Harley said incredulously.
Eris laughed with absolutely no humor in her tone. “What Hades says goes, in case you haven’t noticed. Seriously, I’m sorry if he kidnapped you. I promise to pay you well for this.”
Harley shook her head and then jumped into action. “Okay, Hades, can you turn on the lights? If you have a dimmer, you don’t have to turn them all the way on. Just a little more so I can see better. Cade, did Tiffany have you set up with a birthing kit for home?”
He nodded and walked to the corner of the room, grabbing a large bag. Relief flooded Harley because she came here with absolutely nothing. When they left the birthing center, she hadn’t been thinking straight. The only thing she had on her was her phone. She left her duffel bag behind the reception desk when she checked the lady in labor into the center.
“Everything should be in here.”
“Perfect,” she said, rummaging through the bag and nodding her head. Everything seemed to be there. “Eris, do you want your brother in here while you give birth? We have to take your underwear off now and see how dilated you are.”
“The fuck you asking her for?” Hades barked, causing Harley to jump and then turn to her. “I’m standing right here.”
Harley’s eyes turned to slits. The attitude that was about to come up out of her was the perfect example of how she would step for everyone else but herself. Earlier, when he damn near pulled her arm off, she could barely muster a reaction. But now? Oh, she was about to tell him a thing or two. She stood and marched over to him. “Do you have a vagina?”
The question seemed to catch Hades off guard. He frowned down at her before he mustered up his response. “How ’bout I put this big ass dick in ya mouth for disrespecting me with that question?”
Harley’s mouth dropped open, but she quickly closed it, not wanting him to think she was giving him permission to put any of his body parts into her mouth. She had never been talked to so disrespectfully before, and her head reared back at the feel of her panties wetting. What the hell is wrong with me? On the outside, she forced herself to plant her hands on her hips and glare up at him. “Look, unless you have a vagina and are birthing a baby today, you have absolutely no say what happens in this room.
“I’m here to make sure your sister delivers a healthy baby into a calm environment. Whatever that means for her is what I will provide. Do we understand each other?”
Eris cried out behind them, and as badly as Harley wanted to attend to her, she stayed planted in place and waited for Hades to respond. His eyes moved over her head and toward his sister. She saw his jaw tense as he looked back down at her and nodded, but as she turned to walk away, feeling triumphant, he tugged on her arm again and pulled her into his chest. Leaning down, he spoke directly into her face in a hushed voice. “If anything happens to my sister or nephew, I’ll personally make sure you never leave this house again.”
Fear traveled through her body and made her tremble, but he let her go swiftly, allowing her to scurry away from him and focus on her job.
“Honey, do you want your brother in here?” Harley asked again once she was back at the bed.
“It’s fine! Hades, just come over here or stand over by the window. I don’t need you looking at my coochie.”
Hades huffed but surprisingly did as his sister told him to do. When he stood on the other side of the bed from Cade, Harley said, “Okay, can we take these underwear off to see what’s going on down there?”
Cade moved Harley aside. “I got it. Only person taking my wife’s underwear off is me.”
Harley respected it. She just needed him to hurry up, and he thankfully did.
“I need to push!”
Harley’s eyes widened as she got in place. Eris was definitely ready to push. “Go ahead, sweetie. Push. I can already see your baby. A head full of dark hair.”
Cade got in place and held his wife’s hand, speaking to her lovingly while Hades glared at Harley, watching her like a hawk. She ignored him and focused on her job.
After coaching Eris to push for about twenty minutes, strong wails filled the room, and Harley smiled down at the baby boy in her arms before noticing the greenish streaks mixed with amniotic fluids on the baby. She listened to him cry for a split second and realized it sounded raspy, and she immediately knew he had Meconium Aspiration Syndrome. In other words, baby boy had breathed in his own stool on his way out into the world.
She glanced up at Cade, and with one hand, she held the baby. With the other, she quickly grabbed some clamps and placed them on the umbilical cord. “Dad, do you want to cut the cord?”
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She had felt him studying her, but she was used to dealing with frantic parents, so she put her calming voice on but made sure what she said felt urgent, so he moved quickly.
“Baby boy swallowed some fluids on his way out. I need you to cut the cord quickly, if you’d like. Otherwise, I will, and then I can better tend to him. It would be best if we call an ambulance and get to the hospital?—”
“No hospitals,” Hades barked, causing the baby in her arms to cry louder.
At the same time, Eris asked, “Ambulance? What’s wrong with my baby?”
“He’ll be fine, sweetie. I just need to put a tube in him to suck some of this fluid out?—”
“Oh my God.” Eris cried.
“Bro, if we need to go to the hospital, then that’s what we’re going to do for my son?—”
“No!” Hades roared, causing Harley to jump.
“Okay! Everyone shut the fuck up!” she snapped. She rarely cursed or raised her voice, but when she did, people mostly fell in line. “Cade, are you cutting the cord or not?” He nodded and moved toward her, taking the scissors. “Cut right between the clamps. Good.”
When that was over, she grabbed the medical bag and rushed the baby over to a bassinet that was set up to the side. She heard Eris crying and Cade trying to console her. Hades was quiet, and she felt his glare on the back of her head, but she tuned that all out. Swiftly, she suctioned the baby’s mouth and nose before putting an IV into him and hooking up the portable monitors in every birthing kit. After that, she put the tube down him and secured it with the medical mask before turning to everyone else.
“He’s okay. It looks like it is a mild case, but he does need to be monitored for the next few hours, probably overnight. It really would be best if this was done at a hospital.”
“No,” Hades said again, and Harley quickly learned that was his favorite word.
“Does he have to go to the hospital?” Eris asked meekly.
Harley shook her head, suddenly feeling very tired. “He doesn’t. It really is a mild case, and he seems strong otherwise. After I deliver your placenta, I can run the other tests on him, but he needs to be monitored?—”
“Then you’re staying,” Hades said, as if that was the end of the conversation.
Harley stared at him. “I can’t. I have…” Shit. She had forgotten all about Blair’s birthday. She realized by now she wouldn’t make it on time since they were most likely at the restaurant already, but still, that didn’t mean she wanted to stay at this man’s house. “I can’t,” she finally finished.
“Well, you are,” Hades barked.
She ignored him and looked at Cade. “Why don’t you go meet your son while I get Eris squared away?”
Hades marched over to the bassinet like she had been talking to him, and she rolled her eyes. That baby wasn’t even his, but he went over there and interacted with him like he was the damn daddy.
Cade didn’t seem fazed by it. In fact, he seemed used to Hades. He walked over to meet his son, leaving Harley and Eris alone. She took a moment to check in with the tired mama before she delivered her placenta. Placing a hand on hers, she smiled. “Hey, I promise he’s okay.”
Eris had long goddess braids that were tied into a big braid and resting over her shoulder. Her body quaked as she cried, and sweat covered her as she looked up at Harley. “Are you sure? Do you promise?”
“I’m positive. He will be fine. If the condition was any worse, I would have called the ambulance myself. Still, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to go to the hospital. He’s your son, Eris. You’re a mama now. You have to protect him.” Harley felt the need to say that, because it seemed like Hades had things a little twisted.
Eris glanced over at the two men cooing over the baby, and Harley had to do a double take as she saw Hades interact with the child. He looked like a whole new person, and that confused the hell out of her.
“Hades protects us all, and Dante… he’s going to get the most protecting. I promise. If you had pushed any harder on going to the hospital, Hades would have submitted, even though he doesn’t trust hospitals. Hell, neither do I.”
“As long as you’re sure,” Harley murmured, giving her hand a squeeze.
“I’m sure as long as you’ll stay. I’ll triple your pay. You seem like you know what you’re doing, and you got Hades to shut up for once. I’ve never seen that happen before. I trust you with my boy.”
“His name is Dante, right?”
She gave Harley a tired smile. “Dante Walker.”
Harley moved to the edge of the bed again. “No middle name?”
“Nah. We couldn’t decide on one, so we went without.”
“I’ll be sure to help you fill out all his paperwork and birth certificate. When I leave tomorrow, I’ll make sure it gets in the right hands.”
Eris beamed at the confirmation that Harley would stay, but her smile quickly turned into a frown when Harley said, “Okay, I need you to push a few more times so we can get this placenta out.”
In the back of her mind, Harley prayed Blair wasn’t too upset with her for missing out on her birthday.