Chapter 18
Bolo
My eyes swept the parking lot, looking for threats as I walked up to Devyn’s apartment complex.
It’d been about a week since the factory incident and we’d settled into a routine.
I watched over Dev at night, and Strike and Drifter had volunteered to sit outside her place during the day for a few hours while I slept, then I took over again.
It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best I could do for now.
We didn’t have an exact location on the two factions of The Collective Glitch had been watching just yet.
He’d been keeping an eye on them via bank accounts, emails, and other shit rather than knowing a physical spot.
So the club was split between guard duty here, watching over the compound—and the women there—and looking for our targets.
We were searching different buildings on the side of town where we suspected they were holed up.
The kind of buildings these types usually used, old warehouses, factories, and shit like that.
With every empty building our frustrations were building.
Once we found them, all hell was going to break loose.
They just didn’t know it yet. They thought they were safe.
It was only a matter of time before we found them.
I knew Dev was investigating the factory fire as well, because of course she fucking was.
Though I hadn’t told her I was the one who’d killed those men, burned their bodies, then set the place ablaze.
It was just my luck that she was the investigator on a fucking fire I started.
My gut told me this was going to get complicated real soon.
It wasn’t like I could ask her to look the other way.
Not yet. She was still trying to come to terms with the fact that my club brothers and I were vigilantes.
I actually wondered if somewhere in the back of her mind she suspected our involvement.
Or had it not really occurred to her yet.
If it hadn’t, then it would at some point.
I knew I should sit her down and explain everything that had led up to me torching that building, but she wasn’t ready for it just yet.
It was important that I walk a line with her.
I needed to give her all the information about me.
About my club. Hell, about my family—since Dad and Isaac had helped me dispatch those pieces of shit straight to hell.
But I needed to do it a little bit at a time.
If I just dumped everything into her lap she was going to drop my fucking ass so fast, I’d wonder what the fuck had happened.
I had to be…delicate…about this. And delicate didn’t describe me in any way.
A bull dozer was more delicate than I was.
I looked down at my cell and frowned. Devyn hadn’t responded back to me yet today.
Strike and Drifter had been keeping an eye out, but hadn’t seen any threats.
But she wasn’t responding. There was a chance that she’d thought about everything I told her and had decided I wasn’t worth the trouble.
But she’d been responding to me up until she went to sleep last night.
I couldn’t imagine she’d decided to drop me between closing her eyes last night and opening them this morning.
No, something else was going on. A pit formed in my stomach. I wanted to hurl.
My brain—and my imagination—didn’t have a chance to catch up with my instincts. I was overcome with something I was almost completely unfamiliar with. Fear. Dread. Something was wrong.
My brothers were waiting in one of the MC’s SUVs to see if I needed any help, and I jerked my chin in acknowledgment of them as I went past. I took the stairs two at a time until I got to her floor.
My fist beat on the door. I probably sounded like the damn cops serving a search warrant, but at this point I was fucking worried.
Had those pieces of shit somehow gotten past my brothers and gotten to my woman?
My scowl deepened the longer I waited. I was about to take the door off the hinges when it finally opened. The glower on my face disappeared the second I laid eyes on Devyn. “You look like shit.”
I cringed as soon as the words came out of my mouth. I didn’t need her offended glare to tell me that had been a fucking stupid thing for me to say. But she didn’t look like she felt well. Her skin was pale, there were shadows under her eyes.
“I’d be mad at you if I had the energy,” she informed me, then stepped aside so I could come into her apartment.
At least she hadn’t slammed the door in my face. “Sorry. I just meant-”
She waved a hand at me, interrupting my apology. “I know. I made the unfortunate mistake of looking in the mirror this morning.”
It was noon and she was in sleep shorts, that left her long, sexy, legs bare to mid-thigh, and an over-sized t-shirt.
“Did I wake you up?” Worry was starting to take over for my surprise.
She sighed and rubbed her fingers on her forehead. “I was dozing. I don’t feel good.”
The way she said the last statement made me want to gather her up and make it all disappear.
Her defeated tone had my protective instincts flaring to life.
I reached out and cupped her cheek. Frowning, I flipped my hand, checking her temperature with the back of it. “I think you have a fever, Baby Girl.”
She blinked slowly at me, looking like she was halfway in a trance. She definitely wasn’t feeling well.
“Back to bed,” I told her, motioning to the hallway that led to her bedroom. “I’ll grab the thermometer and some supplies and meet you there.”
She didn’t argue, she just turned and walked back to her room where she crawled into bed.
Keeping an eye on her room as I moved around, I went into her bathroom and grabbed a few things.
Not that I really knew what I needed. I just grabbed the shit Mom had always come armed with whenever we were sick as kids.
Sitting beside her on the bed, I dumped everything on the night stand. “Open up.”
She obeyed, and eyed the different medications as I popped the thermometer in her mouth. “I don’t think I can take any of that,” she mumbled around it.
“No talking.” I frowned when I realized she was probably right.
The list of shit pregnant women couldn’t take was way too damn long for me to remember.
“Give me a second.” I pulled out my phone and hit a number.
“Hey. Can you get Drifter up here? Something’s going on with Dev.
” Strike grunted something then hung up on me, so I knew they’d be up here about as fast as I had been.
The thermometer beeped and I glowered down at it as the number flashed at me. “You have a fever.” It was a low one, one hundred point two, but that couldn’t be good.
She just laid there on the bed and stared at me as though this wasn’t a shock to her. She had said she felt like shit. Well, not exactly in those words.
“I’m having Drifter take a look at you,” I told her. “Then we’re going to the hospital.”
She frowned, confused. “Why would we need to go to the hospital?”
“You have a fever.”
“Yeah?”
“And you’re pregnant.”
“So?”
“We’re going to the hospital.”
“I don’t think a low fever is what you go to the emergency room for, Bolo…” She trailed off at the look on my face.
A knock at the door saved me from arguing with her. We’d save that for later when I insisted she see a doctor. It didn’t matter what Drifter said, she was going. I just wanted him to reassure me that I didn’t need to drive at Mach Jesus to get her there. “It’s open!” I called out.
Drifter appeared in the doorway, carrying the duffel he always had with him. “Hey.”
“Hi,” Devyn said, giving him a tired smile. “I’m just feeling a bit under the weather. He’s over reacting.”
“She has a fever,” I announced.
“Okay,” Drifter said, taking in all this information with a neutral expression. “Move.”
I got off the bed and let him sit next to Devyn.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I started pacing around the room.
Drifter had told me before that when dealing with women the husbands tended to be a burden to him, or when treating children, the mothers.
More than once he’d had to subdue a husband or parent just to be able to treat his patient.
Later—definitely not now—I would understand why.
I just wanted to shake him and yell, “Fix her!”
“Maybe you should-” Strike swallowed whatever he’d been about to say when I shot him a look. “Maybe I should wait in the living room,” he amended.
I nodded, then looked back to where Drifter was talking with Devyn.
“How’s the morning sickness?”
“I got a couple of days where I got to eat almost regularly earlier this week,” she told him. “But then it came back and I can only eat a little each day.”
“How long until your doctor’s appointment?”
“Three more days.”
He wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her arm and put a stethoscope into his ears. A frown grew on his face, which had me scowling as I watched his every move. “Do you normally have high blood pressure?”
“No.” She frowned at him. “We do annual physicals for the job. I’m usually well within range. Why? What was it?”
“It was just a bit high,” he told her, his tone easy and soothing. “It could just be because you’re not feeling great.” He patted the back of her hand. That was one thing about Drifter. He had a damn good bedside manner. Even with us, when we were cranky as fuck about being injured, he was patient.
“Can I move her to the hospital?” I asked.
He looked over at me, opening his mouth to speak, but Dev beat him to it.
“I’m not going to the hospital, Bolo.”
My eyes narrowed.
“I spoke with my friend the other day,” Drifter told me.
His eyes fixed back on Devyn’s face. “The one I told you about?” That had been directed at me even though he was focusing on her.
“She’s an OBGYN. Why don’t I give her a call and have her take a look at you?
” The last two sentences were said to Devyn.
She sighed in defeat. “Do you think that’s necessary?”
“Do you want him dragging you to the hospital?”
“No.” They gave each other wry smiles. As if I was being fucking ridiculous.
“I think it would be for the best with how much the morning sickness is affecting you and the fever,” Drifter told her. “No point in waiting three more days if we can get you in now.”
“Okay.”
Drifter nodded as he stood. “Give me a couple minutes to call her.”
That was more for me than for Devyn. I sat down next to her and grabbed her hand.
She smiled at our linked fingers. “Who would’ve guessed you were so sweet?”
My lips twitched. Sure, I was being sweet to her. But overall? Sweet didn’t describe me any better than delicate did. But I let her keep thinking that. Her eyes were getting heavy. “Just rest while Drifter does whatever he needs to do.”
She nodded, letting her eyes fall closed. It didn’t take long before her breathing evened out.
After a couple minutes, I disentangled our hands and went out to her living room.
“Thanks, Natalie. We’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.” Drifter nodded at me as he hung up.
I hated to wake Devyn up now that she’d fallen asleep, but I wanted her to see a doctor more. “Where are we going?”
“I’ll text you the address and we’ll meet you there,” Drifter told me.
“Thanks, Drift.”
“Anytime.” He smacked his hand down on my shoulder. “I think she’s fine, Bro, but that high blood pressure needs to be looked at and kept track of.”
“Alright.” I was so out of my fucking depth here.
I didn’t know jack shit about pregnancy.
We were going to be busy chasing down The Collective, but in between I was going to need to read up on what to expect in the months to come.
I wasn’t going to fail Devyn or my baby.
“Hey, uh, later on can you point me to what I need to read about this? I mean I’m not stupid, blood pressure is important. Just why it seems to have rattled you.”
“Of course.” Drifter said. I knew he’d follow through with not just the right reading material, but material in normal non-medical terms that I would understand.
I went back into her room as Drifter and Strike left.
Leaving her sleeping, I went to her closet and pulled out some luggage I found there.
I started tossing clothes from her dresser and closet into the suitcase.
She wasn’t going to be thrilled about this, but the thought of leaving her here alone while she was sick was just not an option.
She was coming home with me. Before closing the suitcase, I saw a picture of her and her sisters all together.
I grabbed that, too, and dropped it in the case.
I brought the now full suitcase down to my vehicle and put it in the back before heading back upstairs to her.
Going over to her, I brushed my hand over the top of her hair. Those gorgeous gray eyes fluttered open and focused on me. “I’m taking you to see Drifter’s doctor.”
“Okay. I’ll- Bolo!”
She latched her arms around my neck as I lifted her out of bed, carrying her bride-style.
She wasn’t a tiny woman necessarily, just compared to me she was.
She was five-eleven and her body was toned, not overly muscular, but fit.
That came from years of working out for her job.
She was a delicious fucking handful. There were enough curves there to keep me more than interested.
“I can walk.” Her tone was dry, though tinged with amusement.
“No need. I got you.”
“I’m not going in my pajamas, Bolo.”
“Seen people wear worse than this out in public.”
She sighed. “Fine but at least let me grab some shoes.”
“Saw some flip flops out front. I’ll grab those.”
Her gray eyes searched my face. “You’re worried.”
I was. Though I needed to lock that shit down. The last thing I needed to do was scare her. “It’ll be fine. Drifter’s doctor will get you fixed up. You just need some sleep.”
She sighed and rested her head on my chest as I carried her out the door. I stopped long enough to grab those flip flops, her purse, and lock the door.
Everything else was going to wait until after I made sure she was actually doing alright. The morning sickness shit was bad enough. Now with a fever and high blood pressure? I wasn’t letting her out of my sight.