Chapter 11
Eleven
“If you aren’t feeling okay, we don’t have to do this today.”
Mae smiled as Stone’s hands landed on her hips, steadying her as she grabbed the fruit salad from the fridge and placed it on the counter. “Why would you think I’m not feeling good?”
She turned, her back now pressed against the counter as Stone’s body framed her in place while she waited for his answer. His eyes dropped to her lips, then back up to her eyes. “I heard you getting sick.”
Mae’s stomach dropped. She hadn’t been nauseous since the morning before Stone woke up.
There had barely been any dizziness, and there was no more getting sick.
Aside from feeling a little bloated, Mae just figured the baby got the memo about keeping their presence on the down low until she was ready to tell Stone.
But brushing her teeth that morning made her randomly gag, and there was no coming back from that.
“God, I’m sorry you heard that. I feel fine. I have no idea what that was even about this morning.”
His fingers reached up to brush her cheek. The tender act was so sweet she felt the familiar sting of tears welling behind her eyes.
“Mae. What’s going on?”
She ducked under his arm, walking towards the sink to wash her hands.
There was still so much work to do to get things ready for the cookout.
“I promise… I’m fine. Just feeling emotional about us all being together for the first time since you came home.
” She shut off the water, drying her hands before turning, her hip resting against the edge of the sink.
“Everyone’s going to be here in a few minutes. Let’s just talk tonight, okay?”
“That sounds bad. Just tell me now.”
Could she? There was no doubt that it was becoming harder to keep the news to herself.
Stone deserved to know about the little life growing inside of her.
She didn’t miss the way her belly was softer that morning as she looked in the mirror.
She was able to hide it easily enough, but their baby wasn’t something she wanted to hide from Stone anymore.
“Mae?”
“I just—”
Two knocks interrupted her confession. Whoever was on the other side of Stone’s door had either just given her the greatest gift or just stolen the biggest moment away from her. When the door swung open, she knew that no matter what, the news would have to wait until later.
“Hey, your brother is walking into the apartment, Mae.” Hawk laughed with his hand over his eyes. “Make sure you’re on your best behavior. No PDA around me, please.”
Mae kissed Stone’s cheek. “We’ll talk tonight. After all this. Go. Our friends want to celebrate you being out of the hospital, and so do I.”
“I’m not letting this go, Mae. Tonight.”
She nodded, pushing him towards the living room, where Hawk was watching their exchange with his eyebrows raised.
“Everything good?” her brother asked.
“Yeah, everything’s good. Except, wait! I told you to bring stuff for the grill!” Hawk’s empty arms made her see red.
“I did. It’s just up in the apartment. I wasn’t sure how much room you had in your fridge. I’ll run up and grab it once everyone’s here and it’s time to start cooking.”
Stone looked around the table. All of his friends gathered in one place, to celebrate him. To celebrate the fact that he was still earth side. Still breathing.
So why did it feel like they were all strangers at that table?
“Alright. Please. I’m begging you guys. I need you to just stop holding back and finally tell me what happened that morning. What the hell isn’t everyone saying?”
“Stone,” Sebastian groaned. “You were shot. That’s all we know. Hawk literally found you bleeding out on the sidewalk.”
He turned to his best friend. “Then walk me through it. Talk to me about what you saw. About what I said. Anything. Everything.”
“I can’t.” Hawk looked over at the women in the living room. “Mae would kill me if I said anything. Your doctor said we need to give you more time to remember. That’s what we’re doing.”
“Fuck that. We’re a team. A family. I know you guys are looking into everything. Tracker… you haven’t seen something on surveillance? Heard something on the dark web?”
Gage shook his head.
“Reap, there hasn’t been anyone in town that said something weird? Off putting sentiments disguised as condolences?”
“If there was something, you know I’d tell you. But there’s nothing. You can ask Hank or Colt. There’s nothing to debrief you on. I’m sorry, Stone. We aren’t keeping anything from you.”
Nash looked around the table and then took a sip of his beer. Stone immediately clocked the tick in his left eyebrow. His fucking tell.
“What aren’t they saying, Wings? What are you guys hiding from me?”
Nash just sat back, his arms folded, shaking his head.
“Fuck this. I need to go check on the grill.” Stone stood, his chair scraping loudly across the floor as he stormed away from the table.
“What do you think that was all about?” Emma asked, her glass of wine going to her lips as she pointed over to the guys.
“I’m not sure,” Mae admitted. “But maybe I should go outside and check on him?”
“I think he probably can handle a minute on his own. Just looks like things got heated with the guys… you know how they can be. Oh, see.” Sloane pointed to Hawk, who huffed as he got out of his chair, walking over to the balcony door.
“Hawk’s got him. You know, Stone really looks so good, though. ” Sloane’s hand rubbed over Mae’s arm.
“I know. We got home the other day and I was so nervous, but he’s doing great. The scars are healing, and he’s been good about taking the last of his antibiotics, so hopefully we are out of the woods for any infections. I think he feels like he can finally breathe.”
“And you?” Lacy asked.
“Oh, me? I’m fine. You know, just holding it together for him.”
“I know you are, but it’s not completely fair of everyone to ask that of you. Not after what happened before—”
“I know.” Mae cut her off. “But I agreed to do what was best for him. Until he’s healed all the way. Until his memory comes back.”
“And if it doesn’t come back?” Lily asked. “If he’s one of the people who just never recover their memories from the missing time?”
Mae ran her hands down her shirt, forcing herself not to linger on her bloated belly under the loose fabric.
“Well, then I guess I’ll work on finding a way to forgive him. That’s the healthy thing to do. Maybe it’s a blessing that he doesn’t remember us breaking up. That he doesn’t remember the reason why. We get to start over.”
“Mae…” Sloane’s eyes gave away exactly how she was feeling.
“He’s the old Stone. The one who looked at me like I was his reason for breathing. The one who wanted to protect me from the rest of the world, not protect me from himself. I won’t apologize for wanting to hold onto that.”
“And you don’t have to. As long as you’re happy, then that’s what matters. I just don’t want to see you push aside your needs because you are trying to take care of Stone and following someone’s desires other than your own.”
“He danced with me, Sloane. The night we finally came home from the hospital. I could feel his heart beating in his chest and he just held me as we rocked back and forth in each other’s arms. I used to be a dancer… and he knows it’s one of my favorite things in the world.”
“How did I not know that?” Lacy asked.
“I hurt my knee in high school. Ended my dreams of dancing professionally. Still makes me emotional.”
“I keep trying to get her to teach! Addie would be over the moon if you started teaching at her ballet school.” Emma smiled.
“Yeah, but it’s been years since I even went through a warm up routine.
Kitchen dances are my happy place now. And he knew that.
It’s been months since we danced together.
And it was the first thing he did when we walked in the door.
There’s just this warm, budding hope in my heart and I don’t want to snuff it out because I’m scared. I want to give it a chance to grow.”
“I don’t blame you one bit,” Sloane smiled. “Hope is a beautiful thing.”
Heightened emotions were something Dr. Anderson had warned him about. That things could and would sometimes feel out of control. This must be one of those times. Because Stone could feel it in his bones. Something was being shared between his friends, and he was out of the loop.
It didn’t just feel like concern. It was something more.
And he wanted to know. His elbows rested on the banister of the balcony, and his head moved down to fall into his hands.
Shit. He needed to get a grip. They wouldn’t be leaving him out of something if it was important that they do it that way.
He’d always trusted them before. Just take a deep breath and get a grip.
The door opened behind him, and over his shoulder, he saw Hawk step out next to the grill.
He didn’t acknowledge Stone. Instead, he lifted the lid of the grill and moved some of the meat around, before shutting the lid and sliding down onto one of the Adirondack chairs Stone and Mae normally occupied.
“You ready to talk?” Stone asked.
“You ready to listen?” Hawk shot back.
“Yeah. Shoot.”
“That’s probably in poor taste,” he grimaced at Stone’s choice of words.
“Nah. I survived it. Better to laugh than be afraid of it.”
“Yeah. Just don’t let my sister catch you saying that shit. She won’t think it’s funny, and she’ll have you by the balls until you agree with her.”
“That’s what I love about her,” Stone admitted.
“So, you love her, huh?”
“Oh. We’re going to have this talk now. I better sit down for it.”
“Look man, when I found out… I was pissed.”
“I bet.”