Chapter 43 #2
“They’re waiting for you to ask for what you need,” he pointed out. “No one wants to intrude, but we’re not sure exactly how to help yet. If you don’t tell them soon, they’re just going to start showing up. Just so you know.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, it’s not that I’ve been trying to isolate myself here-”
“You have, by the way.”
“I know. It’s just I’ve been in this…” I searched for the words and failed to describe the holding pattern I’d found myself in.
Worry for my son, for Devyn, everything had just kind of frozen me.
I hadn’t been able to reach out. And people had been trying.
My parents, Dev’s parents, and even my MC brothers.
They’d been calling, texting, and stopping by. I talked to them, but it was like I was only half present. That was starting to fade. Sitting here with my brother, I felt more like myself than I had since all this started.
“Don’t shut them out,” Relay said with a shrug. “You’ll need the support.”
“I know. I’ll call Mom once we’re done here.”
“Good.”
I shot him a smirk. “You’re turning into a demanding old woman.”
“Fuck off.”
“And there he is.”
Relay’s phone buzzed. He picked it up and frowned as he read the text. “Gotta go. Looks like you’ll get most of this food anyway.”
“The Collective?” I asked.
“Maybe. Ruck’s not sure yet.” Relay stood, then stopped. “Unless you need me to stay?”
“No. It’s fine, but I’m going to want an update on all that.”
He grinned. “Fucking finally.”
“What?”
“Welcome back, Brother.”
I sat back in the chair and watched as Relay stalked out of the hospital. He wasn’t wrong. I’d been here, but not myself for the last few days. Now that Collin and Devyn were stable, I was coming out of survival mode.
I kept eating, but pulled my own phone from my pocket and called my parents while I finished up.
Remembering Relay’s advice, I gave them a couple tasks I could use some help with.
I could hear the relief and happiness in their voices as we spoke.
They’d probably been just as scared as I had over all this.
“Why don’t you stop by tomorrow?” I asked. “Spend a bit longer meeting your grandson?” I made a mental note to call and speak with Devyn’s dad too. I’d been checking in with Hope each day as she sat with Dev, but I wanted them to both get time with Collin also.
“We’d love that,” Dad replied.
We spoke for a few more minutes, then I told them goodbye and disconnected the call.
Spending time with Collin right now didn’t look like what it did with a lot of families where they all got to hold the new baby.
They could only stare at him through the isolette.
But no one was complaining about that. As it was, Devyn was the only one who’d held Collin for skin to skin against her chest. And that was fine by me.
She’d be the only one to do skin to skin until they were both ready and then I’d hold my son.
Everyone else would have to wait until he came home.
Watching Dev and Collin together yesterday, as she held him, had made all the emotions of the last few days get balled up in my chest. It had taken all my will power to hold back tears.
The most amazing part, though, was watching the way all of Collin’s numbers on the monitors had evened out.
She’d held him for an hour and for an hour those alarms had stayed completely silent as our baby and Dev had enjoyed their time together.
It was like Collin had been waiting for her to hold him. It had been incredible to see.
* * *
“Catch me up,” I told Relay two days later as we sat together in the NICU room.
“Not much to say,” Relay replied. “Our two groups keep taking pot shots at each other, but The Collective is hitting and bolting before we can nail them down.” He paused as a nurse walked past the door. “We’ll find them, though.”
“You going to get in on the fight?” I asked, keeping my voice low. We didn’t need anyone overhearing this conversation.
“Only when Ruck needs me. Otherwise I’m here.”
I frowned over at him. “If you need to go-”
“I don’t.”
My brows shot up. “You start climbing the fucking walls if you don’t get some…action,” I glanced over at the door, then back at him, “often enough.”
He huffed out a laugh. “You talking killing or sex?”
“Sure.”
“No one said I wasn’t getting sex.”
“Uh huh. While you’re living at home with our parents in the middle of suburbia hell?”
“Isaac’s having a rougher time than I am.”
“You going soft, Relay?” I asked with a grin.
“Fuck you.”
“I mean, it sort of seems like you’re…mellowing out,” I teased.
He scowled at me. “It would serve you right if I left your ass here to deal with all the parents alone.”
I shook my head. “No. No. I’m sorry. Don’t do that.”
We both laughed at that. Our, and Dev’s, parents were great, but it was nice having Relay here to balance everything out.
“What’s Ruck’s plan?”
Relay shook his head. “Besides decimate these bastards?”
“Yeah. As great as that sounds it’s lacking in the details.”
“There’s a reason for that. You’re here.”
“I know. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to know what the fuck is happening,” I muttered. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m here with Devyn and Collin until…shit…who knows? As long as I need to be.”
“Good. Then let us worry about The Collective.”
I glowered at my brother. “I’m going to lose my fucking mind if you don’t tell me anything.”
“Fine,” he sighed. “Two more of the factions have joined up with the first couple.”
“Shit,” I muttered. “So there’s four now?”
“Well, we put a real dent in the numbers of the first two.” He gave me a smug smile. “They had to bring in back up just to keep up with us. Won’t be the last either. But the more they bring in, the less we have to track down.”
“Good point. What are these two factions in charge of?”
“Guns and drugs. What else?” He gave me an unimpressed look.
“So fucking predictable,” I added and we both grinned at each other.
“Dev’s likely going to be released today,” I told him. “As much as we appreciate your offer to be here to give us time, if you need to go with the others, we get it.”
“Nope. I’ll hop in and out as I can, but Ruck and I are on the same page. This is my first priority.”
“I can’t fucking tell you what that means to me, Relay.”
He snorted. “Don’t. I don’t do mushy.”
“And I do?” I asked, offended.
“Sure as hell sounded like we were about to get there.”
I laughed, shaking my head at him. “But seriously, all the parents would be thrilled to sit here with Collin, too.”
“I know. But I want to. He’s my nephew.”
Grinning, I didn’t say anything to that. I had this feeling that Collin and Relay were going to end up being close. I could be full of it. It wasn’t like I could predict the future. But just the way Relay was acting about all this was so…out of character for him.
“Is everything alright?”
He looked over at me, confusion and disgust written all over his face. “You know what I hate more than mushy?”
“What’s that?”
“Talking about feelings. Knock it the fuck off.” He stood, slapped a hand on my shoulder so hard I lurched forward, then walked out.
Shaking my head again, I moved the chair used for guests back into the corner then sat in my recliner.
I pulled out my phone and shot Ruck a text.
I offered myself up as sacrifice for some of the bullshit hacking tasks that we were taking over from Glitch.
I was stuck in this room for most of the day anyway, I may as well be useful to them.
It was a way for me to help, and stay connected with, my brothers while I couldn’t be there in person.
The Collective wasn’t going to hold back for very long.
This was going to end up being an all-out war soon enough.
There was no way it was going to go on long enough for me to join in, so I’d at least take some of the burden off.
I wondered just how fucking bad the days ahead were going to get.
The Collective wasn’t some small organization that we needed to get out of the way.
They had serious connections. I knew part of the reason Relay was sticking so close was because my son was here and vulnerable. Which meant I was, too.
I’d kill any motherfucker who got it in his head to come after my family.
Whoever was important in their lives would end up wearing their fucking intestines as necklaces if they even tried.
But there was only so much I could do here by myself.
Knowing that my brother, Hype, Isaac, and my father were just minutes away—and often hanging around the hospital—made me feel a lot better.
No one was getting to us with them around. If The Collective tried we’d fuck them up so hard they wouldn’t have time to realize what’d happened.
“Hey.”
I stood up and went over to where Devyn was walking into the room. Pulling her into my arms, I kissed her. “How you feeling?”
“Good,” she said with a bright smile. She’d been such a damn trooper through all this. Our son had been nothing short of a warrior, but so had she. “I just got released. Mom’s dropping my stuff off at home, but I thought I’d come sit with my boys for a bit.”
I walked her over to the recliner and had her sit.
She was walking around a lot sooner than most women did after a C-section, or so the nurses had mentioned, but I didn’t want her standing for too long.
“Glad you got sprung,” I told her. “Do you need me to go pick up any medications from the pharmacy?”
“Mom went to grab them, but thanks.”
“How are all your levels?”
“Everything’s looking really good, according to Dr. Natalie. I have an appointment with her in a week to make sure everything keeps going down toward normal.”
“Good.” I squatted down in front of her. “I know you want to say hi to our boy, but I have a question first.”
She frowned, but nodded, staring into my eyes.
I pulled out a box from my pocket. I’d been carrying it around since yesterday when I’d gotten it from home. Now, here, with our son sleeping nearby, seemed like the perfect time. I flipped it open and watched as her eyes widened. “Marry me, Dev. I want us to be a family.”
“We already are a family,” she teased.
“I want it to be official. We already are in my world. I want us to be in every damn world.”
She looped her arms around my neck and kissed me. With our lips pressed together, she whispered the only thing I wanted to hear. “Yes.”
This was just the beginning for us. I knew that.
But for now it seemed like I wasn’t ever going to be this happy.
I would be. When I married the woman I loved.
When we were able to bring Collin home. Watching him grow and seeing all his firsts.
Having more kids. It was all going to add up to a perfect fucking life.
All because of her. And I couldn’t wait to get started.