Chapter 8
Travis
“What the hell do you mean I can’t go back there?” I demand to know at the patient station of the emergency room.
The moment I saw that frightened look in Alyssia’s eyes and her insistence that she needed to get to the hospital, instinct took over. I wrapped one arm around her waist while dialing my driver with the other.
I directed him to get us to the nearest hospital. We happened to be close to a well-known university medical facility. During the drive, Alyssia wouldn’t open up about what was wrong.
She shut down, in fact, only telling me that she needed to speak with a doctor right now.
I hated to see the way her leg bounced up and down while her hand firmly clutched her other knee.
When we arrived, the emergency department wasn’t busy. After filling out some paperwork, they were able to take Alyssia back after about twenty minutes of waiting. The entire time she went from sitting, to pacing, to absent mindedly massaging her shoulder.
All while silent. To me, anyway. I overheard her tell one of the nurses something about stomach cramping.
But minor stomach cramping wouldn’t put that fear in her eyes like that. Unless it’s something bigger.
She was taken in to see a doctor almost an hour ago and I haven’t been privy to any updates since. One phone call and I could have a hospital administrator here to cut through the red tape.
But I clamp down on the urge to violate Alyssia’s privacy.
The stony expression on her face as she’d turned to me and murmured thanks and that I could leave as she followed the nurse down the hall keeps coming back to mind. She didn’t want me to follow her or be with her.
So I chose to wait.
I refuse to leave without knowing that she’s alright.
Patience is one of my weaker traits. After another ten minutes of scuffing the linoleum floors with my Tom Fords, I can’t take much more of this.
“Hey, you can’t …” The woman behind the desk’s words trail off as I saunter down the hall.
Among the murmured tones and beeping medical machines, I listen for Alyssia’s voice. While I intend to do my best to give her the privacy she wants, I’m not about to let her slip through my fingers again.
At least not until I know she’s okay.
Liar.
I shove the voice to the back of my mind and continue on my quest.
“The blood work looks good and like this pregnancy is progressing as normal. That’s good news, isn’t it, Alyssia?”
Those words stop me like the metal wall on a vicious corner.
Pregnancy.
The metal on metal scraping of the curtain being pushed back brings me face to face with the same nurse who’d brought Alyssia back earlier.
I look above the nurse’s head to Alyssia who rises from the bed. A beat or two later, she finally looks up to see me standing there. Her mouth falls open.
“How far along are you?” I hear myself ask.
“I …” is all she manages to say.
“How many weeks, Alyssia?” I barely recognize my own voice.
“Eight,” she finally confesses in a voice barely audible.
The answers punches me directly in the gut. Air seeps from my lungs.
Pregnancy.
Pregnancy.
Pregnancy.
My eyes drop to her mid-section before rising to her shielded gaze. Alyssia’s concealed all emotion behind a wall of blankness in her eyes. The way she puts distance between us couldn’t be more obvious than if she’d given me a stiff-arm to the chest, forcing me away.
“I have to go,” Alyssia suddenly says.
“The doctor has already cleared you,” the nurse, who I’d forgotten about, says. “But on the condition that—”
“I’m sorry, sir. You shouldn’t be here.”
I pivot to find the administrator who tried to chase me down earlier behind me.
“I’m not going anywhere.” I turn back to Alyssia, grinding my teeth so hard that my jaw aches.
She avoids eye contact and looks as if a small burst of wind has the power to send her out of this room and my orbit forever.
That’s not about to fucking happen.
Not until I get these questions forming in my head answered.
“If you don’t leave now, I will call security,” the woman behind me threatens.
“Call them,” I say, still staring at Alyssia.
“Travis.” Alyssia’s voice is low, but a warning, or cautioning. She doesn’t want to do this here.
“Please. I, uh, need a moment alone with the nurse.”
My gaze lands on the nurse who’s now glowering at me.
In this healthcare professional’s eyes, I see it all.
She’s putting that label on me.
Another glance over her shoulder toward Alyssia reveals that I might be earning that look.
I shake my head and take a step back, giving the nurse the space and freedom to slide the curtain between us, effectively shutting me out of whatever’s going on with Alyssia and the baby.
Baby.