Harley
Tonight was the night, though. She had no other alternatives.
The movers were arriving with her stuff tomorrow, and she was going to have to explain why she was going to be moving out of the little room that they were sharing at Hurricane’s bar.
She just hoped that Hex would be willing to pack his bags and go with her.
Then she saw him.
A man in a leather cut standing in the soda aisle, scanning the shelves.
Her stomach dropped. That walk, that posture, it was him—one of the Dead Rabbits who had kidnapped her in Huntsville, the one who had brought her here.
She’d never forget his face, or the other three men who had shoved her into that van and taken away the peace and security that she had once felt but would never feel again.
The city outside blurred. She barely made it to her car, fumbling in her purse for her keys.
She knew that she had to get to the hospital, but she worried that she wouldn’t be able to drive.
She called Hex and was sent straight to voicemail.
He had started working at the hospital and getting him to answer the phone while he was on duty in the ER was hit or miss.
“I have to do this,” she whispered to herself.
“We’ve got this,” she said to her belly, rubbing it as though for good luck.
Harley drove around the corner to the hospital—just two miles in Yonkers took over ten minutes, but she had breathed her way through the pain, and when she pulled up to the ER’s doors, she didn’t bother to explain to the guard that she was possibly in labor—he could probably see the panic in her eyes.
“She’s in labor!” the security guard called before Harley could even speak. Nurses rushed out of the ER, one with a wheelchair, demanding that she sit down.
“My car,” she breathed.
“Give me your keys, and I’ll park it for you,” the security guard said. She hesitated, but knew that her options were slim, handing him her keys.
“How far along are you?” the nurse pushing the wheelchair asked.
“About six months,” she said. “I know that it’s too early,” Harley gasped. Fear and pain twisted together through her body. “Please, just save my baby.”
“We will do our best, honey,” the nurse promised. They turned the corner, and the nurse pushed her into an empty room. “I’ll get the doctor. Just stay put,” she ordered.
She sat there, crying softly to herself, and that was when she looked up to find him standing in the doorway, staring down at her. Hex. He came rushing through the sliding doors, his eyes wide with worry and panic written across his handsome face. “Harley! What happened? What’s going on?”
She tried to speak, but another contraction had her doubling over.
Hex was at her side in an instant, steadying her, taking her hand into his own.
His touch grounded her. “Shh, it’s okay.
I’m here. I’ve got you,” he murmured, voice low and soothing.
“Can you tell me what happened?” He turned around and barked an order for the nurse to find another doctor.
He quickly explained that he couldn’t treat Harley since she was his woman and the baby was his.
Harley wanted to protest, to tell him that she only wanted him to check her out, but she also knew that she’d need his support, and he couldn’t be both her doctor and the man she loved, helping her through the contractions.
Harley nodded weakly, fear still bright in her eyes. “I was at the grocery store, picking up stuff for the new house, when I saw one of the Dead Rabbits who took me in Huntsville. He was the one who brought me here and put me in that cage down at the warehouse by the docks.”
“New house?” he questioned.
“Yeah, and we can get to all of that later. It was a surprise. Right now, I want to focus on what’s going on with our son,” she ordered. “And the fact that my kidnapper was shopping for soda in the same grocery store where I shop. God, what if he saw me?” she asked.
Hex’s jaw tightened. “He won’t touch you.
Not while I’m here. I swear. You’re safe here, Harley.
Just concentrate on relaxing. Your blood pressure is probably high from the stress, and that’s not good for the baby.
” The contractions kept coming, sharp and unrelenting.
Harley gripped Hex’s hand like a lifeline, focusing on his voice and his presence, thankful that he was by her side.
He leaned close, brushing her hair back, murmuring reminders of her strength.
“You’ve got this,” he said, voice steady, grounding.
“You’re okay. We’re okay. I’m right here.
Always.” Harley closed her eyes, breathing through the waves of pain, letting Hex anchor her to safety and certainty.
The world outside—the fear, the shadows of the past, they all faded.
Only Hex and their baby mattered, only the three of them—that was what she was focused on.
The doctor came into the room and gave her a shot of something that both he and Hex promised wouldn’t hurt the baby.
They said that it would stop the contractions, and within the hour, they had slowed and eventually stopped completely.
The doctor told her that she wasn’t out of the woods yet, as her blood pressure was still elevated, but it was a step in the right direction.
They moved her into the hospital room, telling her that she’d have to spend a night or two there so they could monitor her and the baby, and Harley knew one thing with clarity—she wasn’t facing this alone. Not now, not ever with Hex by her side.
“So, a new house?” Hex asked, sitting next to her on the hospital bed. He had gotten someone to finish his shift for him, insisting that he wasn’t going to leave her side, and she was grateful.
“Yeah,” she breathed, grabbing her purse from the table next to her. She pulled out the house key that she had been hiding from him and handed it over. “And you’re going to have to meet the movers there tomorrow to let them in so that my stuff from Alabama can be delivered.”
“And you were going to tell me when?” he asked.
“Tonight,” she breathed. “Everything’s been so crazy for us lately, I honestly forgot to tell you that I sold my aunt’s house down in Huntsville.”
“And you forgot to tell me that you bought a new home in Yonkers, too?” he asked.
“Honestly, I wanted to make sure that we were good, Hex,” she admitted, not missing the way that he winced at her words.
“I know that your home is in Huntsville, and your club, but I love it up here. I have friends—the Royal Harlots, and they want me to join their club. I guess I’m going to have to get used to being on a motorcycle before that happens. ”
“You’re getting off topic,” he said.
“Right,” she said, “I can worry about learning to ride after the baby comes. I sold my aunt’s house a couple of months ago, right after I got to Yonkers.
I knew that I couldn’t stay with Brandi and Reacher forever, and the money from the sale of the house gave me security when I wasn’t sure if you would ever want to be a part of our lives. ”
She rubbed her hand over her belly, and Hex did the same. “I wanted a place for our son to grow up and be happy, so I bought a brownstone in Yonkers.”
“I see,” he said. “Am I a part of this plan for our son to grow up happy, Harley?” he asked.
“You know that you are, Hex. I wanted to surprise you, but never found the right time to tell you about the house. Every time I tried, something happened—you got your new job here, or I’d end up on bed rest because of my blood pressure. Too many things to mention, but I did try.”
“I guess the question I need to ask you is, do you want me to move in with you, or is this house just for you and the baby?” he asked.
“Of course I want you to move in with me,” she shouted. One of the nurses peeked her head into the room, and Harley apologized. She reminded her that she needed to stay calm if she wanted her blood pressure to go down, and Harley agreed to do better.
They sat in silence for what felt like an eternity until she got up the nerve to turn to Hex and ask him the question that she had been wanting to for weeks now.
“Are you ever going to ask me to marry you?” she asked.
Harley knew that she was pushing him—possibly too fast for his comfort, but she couldn’t help herself.
She needed to know that he was in this relationship for the long haul—otherwise, all of this had been for nothing.
“Are you asking me to marry you, honey?” he teased.
“If that’s what it takes to get you to commit, then yes,” she said. “Will you marry me, Hex?”
He smiled at her, caressing her cheek with his gruff hand.
God, she loved it when he looked at her the way that he was.
“I thought that you’d never ask,” he breathed, gently kissing her lips.
“Wait here.” He got up from the bed and disappeared from the room, and Harley was sure that she had completely fucked everything up with him.
All that they had resolved was now gone because she couldn’t be happy with where they were in life—she had to push for more.
It felt like hours, not just minutes, until he returned.
He handed her a little black velvet box and sat back down next to her on the bed.
“I had this in my jacket since I left Huntsville. I bought it the day after you told me about the baby and left town. I’ve known that I’ve wanted to marry you for months now, honey.
I was just waiting for the right time to ask you.
I guess I wanted to see where this thing took us, you know?
” She giggled and opened the box, revealing the most perfect round diamond that she had ever seen.
“Hex,” she breathed, “it’s beautiful.”
“If you don’t like it, we can trade it for something else,” he offered.
Harley covered his mouth with her trembling hand. “I love it,” she admitted. “So, are you asking me to marry you?” she asked, giving him back his words.
“I am, honey. Will you be my wife?” he asked. There was no way that she’d ever tell him no. She wanted to be his wife more than she wanted her next breath.
“Yes,” she breathed. He pulled the ring from the box and slipped it onto her hand, gently kissing it as he slid it into place.
“Mine,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss her again. The heart machine went crazy, beeping way too fast, and another nurse ran into the room.
“Sorry,” they said in unison. The poor nurse made a disgruntled noise, saying something about him knowing better and turning to leave the room.
“We’re quite a pair,” she said. “I bought a house and didn’t tell you, and you bought a ring and didn’t tell me. I think that’s enough secrets for a while, don’t you?”
“I think it’s enough secrets for a lifetime, honey,” he agreed.
“Now, how about you concentrate on relaxing while I go and pack our stuff at the clubhouse? We have a new house to move into and a future to build together.” Harley loved the sound of that—a future that they’d build together, and a new house to fill with love and a family that they'd create. What more could she ever want?