Chapter 15 #2
Shit. She’d only started recently. Ginger tea seemed to be the trick to keep her morning sickness under control.
But just like the coffee had been a treat now that her stomach wasn’t trying to turn itself inside out every chance it got, the tea wasn’t needed anymore to soothe it.
Mae hadn’t felt nauseous all day, even skipping out on breakfast. She sniffed, clearing her throat and willing the sharp sting in her eyes to go away.
“Oh, yeah. Just feeling a bit under the weather, that’s all. Tea helps more than coffee. It was probably a good thing I spilled all that.”
“Mae…” No. Don’t look at him. The concern in his voice was a tsunami knocking against the wall she’d erected around her heart. “What’s going on? Is it Doc?”
“No. No, like I said, I’m just coming down with something. I don’t want Stone to catch anything if it’s a cold though. I’m going to pop over to the clinic at lunch and see if Jake can prescribe me something.”
Nash nodded, his knuckles hitting twice on the counter before walking past her to the fridge. “Okay. Let me know when you leave and I’ll take over front desk duties.”
And that’s just what she did. Popping back to Nash’s office an hour later, she gave him a quick nod before turning around and all but running out of Montgomery Defense.
Her stomach churned the entire walk to her OB/GYN’s office.
She’d been there routinely since moving to Silver Springs.
It was a quiet office that looked more like a storybook cottage than anything else.
Mae had always admired the magical look, but that afternoon, it felt like all the magic had left.
She went through the motions. Writing her name down on the appointment sign-in sheet. Sitting alone in the hard plastic chair. Hearing her name being called. Getting weighed. Giving a urine sample. Getting her blood drawn. Stripping down into a paper gown. Waiting for the doctor…
Everything else passed through blurry lenses, because as hard as she tried, the tears didn’t stay away. Not when the doctor assured her that ‘these things just happen’. Not when she promised Mae could ‘try again’ as soon as the bleeding stopped and she had a normal cycle.
How the hell had she even gotten out onto the sidewalk? Mae looked down in her hand, the appointment reminder for next week’s blood draw to make sure her pregnancy hormone levels were back to baseline… back to no trace of a growing baby… still clutched tightly in between her fingers.
“Just the person I was hoping to see!”
Mae’s head snapped up, heart galloping the second she recognized the voice.
“Is this a bad time?” Laurel looked over Mae’s shoulder, then down to her hand.
Mae had been pressing it against her belly.
The cramps had started up again as soon as she was moving around more, and she hadn’t been thinking about how it would look coming out of the doctor’s office.
Of course she would bump into the last person she ever wanted to see when she was feeling so fucking vulnerable.
Mae wished Stone was there. God. Why did she have to push him away? She forced her hand off her belly, but didn’t miss how Laurel locked in on the movement.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” she asked again.
“Anytime would be a bad time for talking to you. Excuse me, you’re blocking the sidewalk and I need to get back to work.”
“Mae, woman to woman, you need to make the guys see reason. They can’t ignore these allegations.
I’m giving them the chance to have the same platform as those bringing these truths to light.
I’ll show them the evidence my source has provided to me.
Stone is documented as the individual in question for the friendly fire, Mae.
He might have worked to save their lives after the incident, but he ultimately is responsible for their deaths.
And Sebastian’s actions to cover it up are so telling.
I’ve held off on running the story to give Stone time to heal, but it’s going to my editor in a few days.
Once I do that, there’s no coming back. They can get out ahead of the backlash—”
“Woman to woman, Lo, I don’t trust you. But I do trust those incredible men I work with.”
“And sleep with,” Laurel smiled, her eyes dropping to Mae’s belly before she let out a laugh. “Can’t forget that.”
Mae snapped. “Aw, is that what this is about? You’re mad that Stone and I have something incredible and my brother dumped you after a few non-memorable dates?
Hawk’s always been a great judge of character.
Probably dropped you as soon as he realized you had the personality of a wet newspaper.
Fitting, seeing as how you write articles that aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.
Now, if you’ll excuse me…” Mae pushed past Laurel, waiting for the woman to try and get in the last word, but she never did.
As much as she wanted to, Mae refused to look over her shoulder.
She walked back to the office, her face turned towards the afternoon sun, letting the warmth soothe some of her frayed nerves.
Time seemed to stand still the second Mae sat down at her desk. She found herself watching out the window as people passed by in the golden sunlight. Some were smiling. Some focused purely on their next step.
A few of their gym regulars came and went, sharing niceties with Mae when they logged in and out. And Mae just sat. Waiting for the moments to roll by until it was time to go back upstairs.
The thought suffocated her.
“Hey.” Nash tapped his hand on the corner of Mae’s desk. “I just sent you those documents I need printed and bound for The Trident. Do you think you can still have it all to me in two days?”
Finally! She was so thankful to be talking about an actual work topic. Mae wiggled the mouse to her laptop and clicked into her email, skimming through the first document while Nash reached over and took a ginger candy from her dish.
“Yeah, it should be fine. This first one looks easy. How many pages is the other document? The printer has been acting up and I’m not sure I can get a thousand pages out of it before the service person comes.”
Nash chuckled. “It’s only like a hundred pages total.”
“Oh, that’s no problem. Let me get working on it and I can have them for you in… like… an hour?”
“Thanks, Mae. You’re the best.”
Printing and binding were mindless, robotic tasks. Perfect for losing herself into the mundane motions of sorting, hole punching and binder organizing.
And she was doing a good job of staying calm… until the printer refused to recognize her print request. No matter how many times she sent it, and the little screen popped up on her laptop screen saying it was being sent to the printer, it just was not working!
God damn stupid fucking printer! Mae swiped at her cheeks, furious that tears even dared to leak out.
And then she let the rage get the better of her.
Mae slipped her foot out of her shoe, lined up with the base of the printer and gave it her best soccer kick.
Nothing happened with the printer, but Mae sure felt better.
“Whoa! What’s going on in here?” Gunner chuckled behind her.
“I just… it refuses to print my document and that’s the fifteenth time I printed it.
Nash needs the records updated and I’m trying to get it done before we close because I promised him it would only take an hour like three hours ago, but this fucking printer that’s been nothing but a spawn of the devil since the fucking day we got it decides to eat everything that I’m fucking trying to print.
Today! Of all fucking days in the year, today, it has to do this! ”
His face dropped the instant she turned to look at him.
“Mae.”
“Gunner.” She held up her hands, whether in defense or surrender, she didn’t know. “Honestly, unless you have a printing emergency right now, it’s probably best to just walk away. I can’t… I just need to deal with it on my own.”
Gunner’s arms fell down by his side as he pushed off the door frame. She stood still, another annoying tear slipping from between her lashes as he reached over to unplug the printer.
“Don’t tell Gage, but when in doubt, I always turn the power off and walk away for a few minutes. Nash went to get Lacy from Petals, by the way, and they’re going to get Embrie from school. Which means it’s just the two of us left here.”
“Thanks.” Great. She’d failed at the one task she felt like she could actually tackle that day. “I’ll remember that trick for next time.”
Gunner’s eyes remained glued to her as she picked up the papers already printed and the empty binder sitting wide open on the floor. Empty and waiting to fulfill a promise she couldn’t keep. Because that was the theme of her life lately.
“I know you have a brother. And I already have an annoying pain in the ass little sister…”
Mae scoffed. “Although it’s super fun to weirdly dive into our family trees, is this going somewhere?”
“I just… You know I think of you as a sister? Right? We all do. You’re our family just as much as Stone is. And we’re here for you. You don’t have to deal with it on your own. The printer. The stuff we’ve been through with almost losing Stone. The reason you’ve been feeling sick lately.”
Her eyes snapped to him. “Lily told you?”
The way his eyebrows raised in surprise told her everything she needed to know.
“It wasn’t my wife who said anything. Stone called me last night.”
Mae closed her eyes, forcing herself to take a slow, deep breath.
Gunner’s hand rested on her shoulder. “He was beside himself, Mae. I don’t… I can’t imagine. And I’m sorry. You don’t have to be here, dealing with this. I can set up leave for you. Seb would approve it. No questions asked.”
“No! Absolutely not.” The last thing she needed was more people knowing. More eyes filled with sympathy she didn’t want. “I need to be here. I need you to not say anything to anyone.”
Gunner didn’t move.
“Swear. It.”
Finally, he nodded.
“Did you tell Lily?” she asked, her whole body tense as she waited for his answer.
“No.”
Mae released her breath. “Thank you. I already promised Stone I would talk to her, but I just…”
“I understand. She’d want to be there for you.
But this isn’t about her. It’s not about any of us.
It’s about you.” Gunner stood silent for a minute, and then he completely took Mae by surprise.
His arms wrapped around her, and for a moment she just stood frozen.
“I won’t tell anyone if you need to cry.
As long as you don’t tell anyone I hugged you while it happened.
Hate for people to know I have a soft, squishy side for my family. ”
“I appreciate that,” Mae let herself relax for just a second before she was moving out of his embrace. “But I’m okay. I am. I just need to focus on work for now.”
“Okay. I’ll be in my office if you need anything. Let me know when you’re cutting out for the day and I’ll head out then, too.”
“You don’t need to stay… I’m—”
“I know you’re fine. You’ve said it just enough times that I’m thoroughly convinced you are actually the complete opposite of that word. No matter what, I’m not leaving you in the office alone when we still don’t have answers about what happened to Stone. Got it?”
Mae nodded, watching as Gunner plugged back in the printer and the screen burst into a million colorful dots as it came back online.
“Thank you,” she whispered as he turned and walked out of the room.