Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
WILLOW
The sound of one of my babies wakes me. Opening my eyes, I push myself up to a sitting position in Malice’s bed. I know immediately that I’m alone with the kids in the room and my stomach tightens at the thought of where he could be.
No, I can’t let myself go down that dark road. It will lead me to nowhere good. I knew the life I was signing up for and there’s a chance he would want to go find release where he can if he can’t get it from me.
Sighing, I climb out of the bed and step over to the three cradles situated side by side. Gates and Gavin are still sound asleep as I pick up Gemini. I cradle her in my arms and frown as I notice right away how warm she is.
Glancing around the room in search of the diaper bag, I don’t find it.
Great. I need a thermometer.
I quickly set up the baby monitor next to the boys and carry Gemini out of the room. I don’t bother worrying about being in only sleep shorts and a tank top. My baby is warm, and I need the bag that I’d put all the smaller things, such as fever reducers and the thermometer.
Stepping into the main room of the clubhouse, I find Malice right away and my heart plummets in my chest at the woman who’s talking to him. But he doesn’t seem to be wanting to talk to her, especially with the way his body tightens when she tries to touch him.
Deciding to step in because Gemini’s more important at the moment, I make my way to him. Malice must see me out of the corner of his eye coming his way as he gives me a smile and takes Gemini from my grasp when I’m close enough for him to do so, then wraps his free arm around me.
“Hey, Dewdrop, what are you and my princess doing up?” he asks, seeming happy to see me coming to find him.
“Do you mind?” the woman says snarkily. “I was speaking with Malice.”
Ignoring the woman, I look up to Malice. “Do you know where the diaper bag is?” I ask him.
“Yeah, it’s still in the truck,” Malice says gently, but a frown mars his face.
“Is there any way you can go get it? I need the thermometer. Gemini is burning up and I need to make sure she’s okay,” I whisper and immediately have my little girl back in my arms as he releases me.
“Go back to the room, Dewdrop. I’ll be right there with it,” he says, stepping away from me to make his way to the door.
Earlier, when we’d gotten in, he’d left most of the stuff in the truck so we could arrange the room tomorrow to fit everything for the kids and me in there.
Nodding, I start back toward the room when the woman speaks up.
“But Malice, I thought we’d be going to my room where I can rock your world with my mouth around your cock, like the last time,” she whines, calling out to him, making his steps falter.
My heart tightens even more so, that is, until he turns and faces the woman and I hold my breath at the sight of his eyes. Only when he’s furious, have I ever seen that look in his gaze.
“That’s the last motherfuckin’ time you say shit like that in front of my ol’ lady.
I’ve told you more than once over the last year to leave me the fuck alone.
I’m not interested in having your bitch ass mouth on my cock or anywhere near me.
I’ve said it more than fuckin’ once. I’ve got an ol’ lady and you all know the fuckin’ rules.
Stay the fuck away from me,” Malice snarls, causing the woman to pale.
He then storms from the room to go get the bag from the truck.
The woman turns to face me with hatred in her eyes as she stomps off toward another hallway.
My mind spins going over what Malice said to that woman.
A woman I realize is one of the slobber-crawlers here.
I didn’t realize it at first since she wasn’t dressed in the same way as the others.
She’d been dressed in jeans and a tight-fitted shirt that covered her tits.
The others normally dress in barely their shirts and skirts or shorts unless it’s cold and they put on jeans.
Making my way to the room, I realize from what he said that he’s not been with anyone in all this time. This knowledge causes my heart to soar. In the room, I set Gemini on the bed and go about stripping her out of her clothes and getting her ready.
The door opens not even a moment later and Malice walks in, already holding the thermometer in his hand. He drops the bag to the floor and hands me the thermometer. He then drops down to his knees, putting his face near Gemini’s while he brushes his fingers along her cheek.
I go about taking her temperature to find it is over a hundred.
Panic starts to set in as I look to Malice and tell him, “Her temp is one hundred and one point eight.”
“Do we take her to the hospital?” he asks.
“I don’t know.” I shake my head and try to think. “I . . . I think we should. Just to be on the safe side. But we can’t take the boys there too. What if she’s contagious?”
“I’ll see if Axe can watch over them for us. Maybe get Quinn here?” he suggests.
I nod as he pulls out his phone. A moment later, the door opens to Axe coming in. “Everything good?” he asks.
One of the boys starts to whimper from where they are, and Malice moves to lift Gates up in his arms. “Willow, I think we need to take them all in. Gates is feeling warm as well.”
Oh, God.
My voice leaves me as I try to speak. Overwhelming tears start to fill my eyes and I suck in a deep breath in order to calm myself. Right now, I have to take care of my children, not get upset over them not feeling well.
“What’s going on?” Axe asks.
“Gemini has a temp. We were gonna see if you could watch the boys for us, but it looks like we’re taking them all in,” Malice says.
“I’ll help you take them,” Axe declares and lifts Gavin into his arms. Gavin doesn’t even make a peep which causes me to become alarmed.
Furrowing my brow, I step closer to Axe and take Gavin from him to find him barely breathing.
“Malice, we need to go now,” I mutter, panic starting to set in.
The three of us quickly make our way to Axe’s truck, not even bothering with car seats right now.
Due to the bases being in Malice’s truck, this is easier.
Axe hands Gemini to Malice in the front seat.
He takes our daughter in one hand while holding Gates in the other while I hold Gavin to me.
Axe rushes us to the hospital and my heart pounds in my chest.
What’s happening to my babies?
They seemed fine when we got to the clubhouse earlier in the day. We’d gotten them down for the night after feeding them. I’d laid down while Malice said he needed to check on a few things with his brothers.
Axe pulls up in front of the hospital ER doors and puts the truck in park. He hops out and opens Malice’s and my door, and takes Gemini from Malice. We all head in together and bypass the few people standing waiting for the nurse checking them in to be seen.
“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait until I get to you,” the nurse said, causing me to see red.
“No, you’ll get to me now, considering I have one baby barely breathing right now and two others running a temperature.
I think these people will understand you putting three babies who are only three weeks old ahead of them,” I snap loud enough another nurse comes out of the triage room when she hears me.
“Ma’am, come this way, we’ll get you all set and a doctor in here immediately,” the other nurse says before the first nurse can speak again.
Malice nor Axe say a word as they follow me to the nurse.
She takes us to the back and into one of the rooms and closes the door. “Can you tell me what’s been going on?” she asks as the door opens again to two other nurses coming in, indicating we put the babies on the bed.
“I don’t know. They were fine earlier in the day, but all of a sudden, bam, they’re not,” I mutter as Malice pulls me into his arms. I don’t take my gaze off our three kids while the nurses work together to take vitals.
One of them reaches out and pushes a button and requests they bring cribs into the room.
She then hooks up an oxygen mask thing to Gavin’s face.
“I’m just giving him a little help right now with his breathing. His pulse ox is low, and he seems to be struggling right now with his breaths,” she says, explaining what she’s doing.
The other two nurses finish taking vitals and put in a request for more oxygen machines. The first nurse, who brought us back, informed us they were putting the other two on due to their levels being low but not as low as Gavin’s.
Tears spill down my cheeks as they continue to hover over my babies.
A doctor comes in a few moments later and decides they need to all be taken straight up to the NICU where they can help them better.
Malice and I follow them while Axe tells us he’s going to go call Hammer and let him know what’s going on and get us all some coffee.
“It’s gonna be okay, Dewdrop,” Malice says after the nurses ask us to wait in the waiting area for them to get Gavin, Gates, and Gemini set up in the NICU and find out what’s going on.
I turn in his arms and press my head into his chest while wrapping my arms tight around him. “I don’t understand how they can go from being fine to not being fine in such a short time frame,” I cry.
“I know, baby, I don’t get this shit either, but we gotta stay strong for them,” he murmurs, brushing his fingers through my hair.
I let out a shuddered breath and nod in agreement.
Malice sits on one of the hard chairs and pulls me into him. We stay this way, waiting for the doctor to come out.
I don’t know how much time passes before he does, but he seems to have a concerned look on his face.
“We had to run some blood work on the three of them. There was a trace of a drug in their system that we have to flush out. It seems someone has tried to cause them harm.” Nausea churns my stomach at the doctor’s announcement, and I rush over to the nearest trash can to expel the small amount of content I had in me.
Who would want to hurt my children? Why? They’re only three weeks old.
I swear to God, when I find out who, I’m going to kill them for what they’ve done.