Chapter 75
CHAPTER 75
OLIVER
I like to say I’m in the process of switching jobs because Nigel is partnered with Frank to start an auto shop that will financially benefit all of us, but they keep dealing with setbacks, so it’s on pause for the moment.
Part of that probably has to do with Nigel being incapable of staying sober more than a few hours a day.
I groan as I move under the car I’m working on, a blue Nissan Altima with a blown head gasket and in desperate need of an oil change.
This bullshit is how I fund Beth and me living in a hotel to avoid her mom and spend time together without having to deal with the annoyance that is Aimee.
It also has given my cousin a reprieve from the chaos of that damn house. It’s a benefit to all of us.
Aimee has relentlessly tried to get me back into bed with her. Hence avoiding her like the plague.
Beth has her own money from working all through high school, but it's getting low, and Nolan isn’t giving her anything to keep her head above water.
I must admit this is a nice little fantasy we have going on. It’s something I could get used to, coming home to my beautiful, crazy girl every day.
“Hey, Doyle!” Someone calls from within the shop, but fuck if I know who it is. Today I’m filling in at a sister shop to where I am employed, which sucks donkey balls because I’m across town from my woman, and I’m just itching to get back to her. One of us has to make the money to feed our unborn semen demon, and I sure as fuck don’t want her to work in her current condition.
“Yeah?”
“Phone call.” Someone reaches down and extends my phone to me. I quickly snatch it. No one is supposed to call me when I’m at work.
When I see my woman’s name on the screen, my body relaxes, and I smirk. That damn brat.
Answering the phone, I press it to my ear. “Babe, you know you can’t call me while I’m?—”
All I can hear is her breathing until her words overshadow my own. “Oliver! He knows! I?—”
My heart drops at her words. He being Nolan fucking Gray, and what exactly does he know? He knows about the little crotch goblin, which only means terrible things are coming. Instantly, I push myself out from under the car and jump to my feet.
There’s a lot of background noise on the other end of the phone. Then, I hear her scream.
“Ollie! Oliver!” she’s screaming, but she’s not close to the phone. I don’t even bother telling anyone I’m leaving. I race out of there and go straight to my car, keeping the phone to my ear.
“I’m coming, crazy girl.” Jumping into the front seat, I put my keys in the ignition and floor it out of the parking lot, my heart slamming against my ribs from the panic.
“You stupid fucking bitch!” Then, the line goes dead, and my stomach bottoms out as I glare at the road.
No, no, no!
If I can’t get to her quick enough, someone else can.
I try to call my cousin, but there’s no answer no matter how many times I call. What the fuck is happening?
There is only one other person I know who would race to Beth with as much fire and determination as I would. Luckily, she’s much closer to the Gray house.
I dial Gunderson, and she picks up quickly. “Hello?” she answers cautiously, like she has no idea who just called her.
“Where are you?” I growl as I jump on the highway at top speed, not caring at all if a cop tries to pull me over. As soon as I explain that my woman is being attacked, they’ll probably be really understanding. That’s if I don’t kill them for inconveniencing me with the interruption.
“Where am I? Shouldn’t you be working, Oliver?” she huffs at me.
“Where the hell are you!”
“Jesus! Don’t be such an ass. I’m at home. Why? Since when do you care where I am?”
“Since Beth is in trouble, that’s when!” I explode into the phone. A part of me worries that she’ll hang up from my outburst, but I should’ve known better than to assume that.
“Trouble? What’s happening?”
“I have no fucking clue. She called me freaking out and…I think Nolan is hurting her. She said he found out about the…baby. I won’t get there for another thirty minutes. I don’t know who else to call?—”
“I’m going. I’m only three minutes from there. I’ll get Ro to meet me. I’ll get her out, Oliver.”
The relief that floods me is instantaneous.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I hang up and press down harder on the gas, weaving between cars as I race down the highway at top speed. At this rate, I’ll have to change the tires after this trip from how much rubber I’m burning, but I don’t give a shit. I just need her to be okay.
If she…if he…I’ll fucking kill Nolan and the rest of his fucked up family if Beth doesn’t have a pulse when I get to her. I will rain hell down on everyone in Grove Hill until the undead have no choice but to join her soul back with her body. Every last shred of humanity in me will cease to exist the moment I hear my crazy girl is dead. She’s the one thing tethering me to this world. Not my mom. Not my friends. That all went out the window the second I saw that truck hanging off the bridge, and my eyes met her petrified, green ones full of tears. It was then I knew I would be hers forever. We are bound in life as well as death. My very soul has its claws so deep in hers that I can no longer tell which one of us is holding on or if the nails really digging in are mine or hers.
My molars grind as I imagine tearing the skin from Nolan’s body with my bare teeth until his blood coats every surface and all that is left of him is bone marrow and hemoglobin, the goo of it all making him melt before me like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz .
A couple of minutes later, my phone rings, and I instantly pick up, turning on the speaker.
“Yeah?”
“She’s not here!” Gunderson gasps. “They let us check the house to make sure she’s not here and she’s not. They said Martin took her for a drive, whatever that means.”
I curse under my breath. “What about her phone?”
“I found it in the hall. It’s completely shattered, and…it has blood on it. You were right, Oliver. Something happened to her.”
Something toxic and potent races through my body. It’s adrenaline’s dark and dangerous black sheep of a cousin. A violent rumble ghosts through my veins, and it’s my welcome companion.
Fury.
Wrath.
Hatred.
Bloodlust.
“Check the hospitals,” I say before hanging up, ready to head directly for the Gray place. No one gets to take Beth from me and live to tell the tale. I’m going to torture Nolan until he begs to be put out of his misery, and then I’ll keep going, listening to him beg and cry the same way I bet my crazy girl did.
Suddenly, my phone goes off, and I hit the answer button without looking at who it is.
“What?” I growl.
“Sorry to bother you,” a voice I don’t recognize says, probably a sweet old lady from the frail texture of her speech. “This is Rachel Farley with Grove Hill General on behalf of Bethany Mercer. Is this?—”
My heart speeds up again at her name. “This is Oliver Doyle. What about Beth? Is she there?”
“Yes, sir, that’s why I’m calling. She has you listed as her emergency contact.”
I smirk. Clever girl.
“Is she okay?” I growl in irritation.
“She’s injured, but nothing is life-threatening. I just wanted to let you know that she is here, and we’re doing everything to get her back to full health. Don’t you worry.”
The words of who I assume is a nurse calm my rage. “I’m on my way. Can you tell me what room she is in?”
“Yes, sir. Room two-seven-three-six.” I make a mental note of the room number before changing my target to Grove Hill General.
I send a quick text to Gunderson to let her know that Beth is okay before I toss the phone in my passenger seat, fully focusing on the fastest path to my crazy girl.
* * *
I charge into the emergency room and navigate the hall until I come to Beth’s room, throwing open the door. My gaze instantly goes to my woman lying in the bed, tears falling down her bruised and bloodied face as my cousin holds her in his arms, stroking her hair. My woman is covered in bruises, dried blood, and tears. I’ve never seen her so banged up in my life.
“What happened?” I ask as I sit at the edge of the bed, determined not to go off the deep end. She needs me to be level-headed. She’s fine with me being psychotic and overprotective on a good day, but right now, she needs a partner, someone to be here for her in her time of need.
A small sob falls from her lips. “I think he killed the baby,” she admits as her hand goes to her stomach, which is more swollen than it was earlier today.
I can’t comprehend why my heart races and a part of me feels just as broken as she is at the news of what happened. Nothing fucking bothers me except someone hurting her, but there’s all these weeks when I’ve avoided acknowledging this baby as something more than just an idea. Even at the doctor’s appointments, it was just a blob on the screen. I wasn’t the one having to go around with the vagina nugget growing inside them. That was Beth, and it’s understandable how she became so attached, but me? I don’t get attached. There are only three people in this world I have a genuine attachment to. Beth, Martin, and my mom. That’s it. Yet, the crotch goblin placed itself on the list without me even realizing it.
I’m…involved emotionally, and that’s odd. Yet, he’s gone.
Our son.
Sadness pricks the backs of my eyes as I grab her free hand and squeeze it in reassurance. “You don’t know that for sure.”
Her fairy green eyes sparkle with tears. “I was bleeding, Oliver, down there.”
I don’t know a lot about pregnancy, but I do know that is not a good thing. Beth sobs as I stroke her hair, and Martin clears his throat.
“I’ll give you two some privacy,” he says before his eyes move to her. “I’m sorry. I tried my best.”
She nods with a fake smile in place. “Thank you, but you don’t have to go.”
He shrugs. “I think you two need this time together. I’ll just be in the waiting room. You can call me back in a bit.” He presses a kiss to her forehead before sighing.
He lets go of her and stands up. As he moves around the bed, he squeezes my shoulder in a show of support and my heart fully fucking aches.
He hurries out the door without another word, and I just move close to her, holding her in my arms as she cries out as much of the grief as she can.
Her eyes aren’t the only ones glistening, though.
* * *
A few minutes pass as Beth soaks my shirt with her tears, and then the hospital room door opens, and the doctor she’s been seeing for the baby strolls in with his lab coat on. “Good evening, Miss Mercer. I wanted to come by and check how you’re doing. I heard you were attacked. How are you feeling?” he asks, and I climb out of the bed to give him room to examine her if need be.
Her bottom lip trembles, but she keeps her crying under control.
“Like I was run over by a truck,” she admits, her voice breaking, and the doctor nods.
“Yes. You must be in a lot of pain,” he assesses, and she hums her response with a small groan of discomfort. “I would suggest that the hospitalist prescribe you some pain medication, but sadly, the strongest thing they can give an expectant mother is Tylenol.”
Her eyes widen, and I also feel surprised. “What? You mean my baby is…”
“He’s in perfect health, Miss Mercer.” He reaches over to the machine beside her and presses a button that releases a loud, continuous whooshing noise into the room. My gaze follows the path of the cords coming from it, and I notice they’re wrapped around her stomach.
The breath of relief that falls from her lips is contagious, and my fingers squeeze around hers to let her know I’m here.
“You got lucky. For the amount of damage you sustained from your attack, a miscarriage was expected, but your son is thriving.”
She thanks him religiously as she rubs her hands over her stomach, the joy in her aura vibrating through the room. Then, it’s suddenly dampens as the doctor turns off the machine. She reaches out and snatches his hand, panic across her face.
“Doctor, I need your help,” she pleads. “I don’t want to lose my baby, and the man that did this to me was trying to kill him. He’s a very powerful man, and the cops won’t help me. He owns them, and I won’t be able to get my son away from him without your help. He’ll only believe it if it comes from you. Please.”
I know exactly what she’s going to ask him to do. She wants him to lie to Nolan so, she can leave Grove Hill and have our son away from here so Nolan doesn’t ever find out that this baby belongs to her.
The middle-aged doctor stares at her for a moment before taking a seat in the chair next to the hospital bed and pulling it closer.
“Tell me what is going on, Miss Mercer, and I swear I will do anything in my power to help you, but I need you to be completely honest with me, okay?”
She nods as more tears fall down her face, and she tells him the entire tale from start to finish of why Nolan Gray wants our son dead.
* * *
Turns out, Doctor Dumbshit is a decent person because he agreed to lie to my uncle about the semen demon. The plan was to tell him that Beth lost the baby and needs to go to a special facility to recover from the damage caused by how vicious the miscarriage was, or she wouldn’t be able to ever get pregnant again. It was a fucking lie, but it’s necessary to get the results we need.
Beth squeezes my hand as I lead it up to her face, rubbing her unharmed cheek, a small smile pulling at her lips.
“I can’t stand the anxiety of this whole thing. Can you say something to take my mind off of this?” she begs, her fairy green eyes coming off as more of a doe than the siren eyes she usually gives me. She’s so fragile it enrages me. Where is my strong, bratty, crazy girl? She’s too stressed to be herself and in too much pain.
I want to take her mind off things, but there is only one thing I can think of that I want to talk about.
“Have you thought about names for the hellspawn yet?” I ask.
The smile that pulls at her lips, mixed with a comical laugh, has my insides relaxing. Her hand finds mine and squeezes it. “When are you going to stop calling him stuff like that?”
“When my balls sag down to the floor,” I joke, but then shrug. “Nah. Probably not even then.”
She snickers before smirking at me with that lovesick look in her eyes. She understands my humor in a way most people don’t, or maybe it’s just that I’m so close to her that it doesn’t matter if she gets it or not.
“I have thought about it. I compiled a big list of possible names, but they were all girl names except for one. I’m not sure if you’ll like it, though,” she confesses, a blush rising on her cheek.
“What is it?” I can easily tell her my thoughts on it if she opens up. If I hate it, I’ll let her know, and we can go from there.
“I like the name Rian with an I instead of a Y.” A blush creeps up her uninjured cheek. “It was my dad’s name, and he was really important to me.”
I smirk as I push the hair out of her face. “That’s an Irish name.”
Her eyebrows furrow with confusion. “Um, maybe? I didn’t really look into it. My dad was of Scottish-Irish descent from my grandmother, so it might’ve been on purpose.”
“It’s been an unspoken tradition amongst the founding families to give their kids an Irish name since that’s where our ancestors came from,” I explain.
Her eyes widen. “Oh…so Oliver is?—”
“Irish, yes. We all have Irish names.”
“Well, that definitely makes naming kids easier. There’s only so many Irish names to choose from.”
Ain’t that the truth? “I’ll make you a deal, crazy girl. We can name him Rian under one condition,” I offer, and her lips pull up into a big smile.
“What’s your condition?” she asks, worry etched on her brows.
“If you ever get pregnant by me again, and it turns out to be a girl, we name her after my mom.”
A smile pulls at her lips, and she nods enthusiastically. “I think I can work with that. Your mom is important to you, and that’s all that really matters.” She giggles like a little kid before saying, “I would kiss you, but my face really hurts right now.”
I lean into her and press a soft peck to her forehead, and she relaxes, all tension flying away from her flesh, and gratitude flashes in my mind.
“I love you,” she whispers, squeezing my hand, and before I can say anything, the door flies open. I snap my head around as the doctor steps inside and closes the door. He takes one look at us and nods, a reassuring smirk on his face.
“Good luck, Miss Mercer.”
He bought it. He fucking bought it.