Chapter Fourteen
brAY
I’VE BEEN SITTING in this plastic hospital chair for three hours.
It’s uncomfortable as fuck, and if it were not for Reilly cuddled in next to me with her legs draped over mine, I would more than likely be pacing the waiting room.
It’s real fucking hard to stay still, my body itching to move.
Every time my legs start to jitter, bouncing up and down, Reilly squeezes my hand and looks up at me with concern in her eyes.
I force myself to calm down. I do not want to stress her out any more than she already is.
She came barrelling into the hospital about thirty minutes after I got here.
She would have broken all sorts of road rules to get here that quickly.
The way James would not make eye contact with me confirmed that she was fucking reckless.
He was meant to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid.
Zac’s been in there for an hour with Alyssa—the bastard could come out and give us all an update so we aren’t just sitting out here stressing the fuck out.
Dean’s been staring at his phone texting God knows who for the last hour.
Holly, Sarah and James are sitting opposite Reilly and me, staring at our open show of PDA.
Sarah has been switching between questioning—no, not questioning—interrogating us on this sudden development, and pacing the room while cursing out Zac for not coming back out with information.
Holly’s been quiet; she’s always the quiet observant one of the bunch, but more so now. I want to make sure she’s okay, but I know asking her anything in front of the group is not an option—she will pretend everything’s fine.
Leaning over and whispering in Reilly’s ear, I tell her, “Babe, I’m going to go get coffee. I’m taking Holly with me.”
Reilly looks at me confused, then looks across at her sister and nods her head.
“Okay,” she says as she untangles herself from me. “Holly, come with me. We’re getting coffee.” I stand
and shake out the stiffness of my legs. I’m really going to need a good fucking massage to loosen up for tonight’s fight, that’s if I can make it back in time. I don’t plan on leaving this hospital until I know Zac and Alyssa are okay.
Holly stands up and grabs her purse, silently following me out. I can tell something is bothering her and I don’t like it. Once we are out of ear shot of the group, I say to her, “Whoever it is, give me a name and I’ll sort it out.”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“I know you’re worried about Alyssa, but you’re not yourself. So, whoever it is who’s put you in this mood, tell me.”
“You don’t even know me, Bray. How do you know I’m not always this quiet?”
“I know you better than you think. You’re not yourself.
What’s wrong?” She’s just as stubborn as her sister, but I’m persistent.
“It’s you, actually,” she says, which has my head snapping in her direction.
“Me, what the fuck did I do?”
“It’s you and Reilly. Bray, she hasn’t been in a relationship like what you guys have for over five years.
She hasn’t let anyone in because she’s afraid of getting hurt.
What’s going to happen when you don’t want to be tied down anymore?
What’s going to happen to her when you break her heart?
Or do something stupid and end up in jail or something? ”
Well, shit, I was not expecting that. I understand her concerns for Reilly but fuck that. I have no plans of letting go of Reilly. If I could convince her to go to Vegas with me right now, I’d be making her Mrs. Bray Williamson.
“Holly, I promise I have absolutely no plans of letting Reilly go anywhere. I’m all in this with her.”
Holly observes me for a moment. “Okay, but if you do break her heart, I will come after you. I may be quiet but fuck with my sister, and I will make your life hell.”
I smile at the thought of little Holly coming after me. I have no doubt she would find a way to fuck me up if she wanted to. It’s always the quiet ones you need to be wary of.
“You can save the crazy for someone else, sweetheart. I’m not breaking her heart.”
“It’s about time,” Sarah yells out, jumping out of her chair. I look up to see a very exhausted Zac walking into the room while glaring back at her. He’s smart enough to hold back whatever he wants to say.
“She’s fine; the bullet grazed her shoulder. You can all go back for a minute to see for yourselves, but then you got to go.” He leaves no room for argument. Sarah, Holly and James are the first out the door. Zac tells Dean to go with them. “Make sure they don’t jump all over her.”
Reilly walks up to Zac, wrapping him in her arms. He freezes, unsure what the fuck to do. He looks to me for help, but he’s all alone in this one. I just shrug my shoulders at him. I’m close enough to hear what she says, making me fall for her even more. The way she cares for everyone is endearing.
“Thank you for finding her. I’m really glad your overbearing ass put a tracker in her ring. I’m not even mad about it. I don’t know what any of us would do without her. She’s extremely lucky to have you, and if you tell anyone I said that to you, I’ll deny it to the grave.”
Zac returns her hug and says, “Thank you,” as she releases him.
“I’ll catch up with you, babe.” I give her the indication to go ahead without me. I want to make sure that Zac is okay.
I wait for Reilly to be out the door before I ask, “You doing okay, man?”
Zac runs his hands through his hair. “I’ve never been so terrified in my life.”
“I know, but she’s okay, right? And Caitlyn’s been taken care of.” I don’t really know what to say. He’s usually the one giving me the pep talks, not the other way around.
“Yeah, thank fuck. There is something else though.” “What?”
“Alyssa’s pregnant,” he says with a huge fucking smile plastered across his face.
Okay, so obviously this is a good thing. Thank fuck, they could use some good. “Congratulations! That’s great. Obviously, you’re chuffed about this development but how’s Lyssa feel?”
“She’s okay. When the doctor told us, my stomach dropped. She didn’t want kids, Bray. The one thing she told me she didn’t want and I went and knocked her up anyway.”
I raise my eyebrows at this. I didn’t know Lyssa didn’t want kids. “What do you mean you knocked her up anyway? Did you intentionally get her pregnant?” I ask, appalled.
I would never think that he would do something like that, but he’s fucking insane over this girl so who the fuck knows what he’s capable of.
“Fuck no, I would never do that. It was an accident. An accident that we are both thrilled about now,” he claims.
Yeah, my perfectly calculated, never makes a mistake brother, accidentally knocked up his fiancée. I’m still doubting that it was not intentional.
“Bray, fuck you. I did not knock her up intentionally. I can’t help it. I lose my mind and all sense of responsibilities when she’s around.”
Yeah, that’s the more likely story. She does make him go fucking stupid, but in the best way. She’s the best thing to happen to him.
“I don’t really care how you got her knocked up,” I lie
—I totally would have kicked his fucking ass if he did that to Lyssa. “I’m going to be an uncle, finally. Jeez, it took you long enough, bro. I thought I’d be sixty before you made me an uncle.”
“Shut up, idiot. Let’s go see her so I can kick all those fuckers out.”
I slap him upside his head. “What the fuck was that for?”
“One of those fuckers happens to be my girlfriend—watch how you talk about her.”
He laughs. “Your girlfriend? When did that happen?” “A few weeks back. We’ve just been keeping it on the
DL. You know, sneaking around like teenagers.” I wiggle my eyebrows up and down.
“I wish you fucking snuck around as a teenager with the number of times I had to call cabs for girls you’d leave asleep in your bed. Why the fuck would you start sneaking around now?”
“Please, you only saw a fraction of the girls I brought home, most of them were gone before morning even broke. Besides, it’s Reilly who wanted to keep us on the DL, not me. I’d be shouting it from the rooftops, that she was mine.”
“Yeah, I can see why she wouldn’t want it made public that she’s with your ass,” the fucker laughs; to which, I slap him up the backside of his head again.
We make it to Lyssa’s room. Walking in, I can see all three girls hovering over her, Dean attempting to tell them to move back. Not one of them is listening to a word he says. James, however, is the smart one, standing on the opposite side of the bed, not touching Alyssa at all.
I squeeze my way through the three of them, effectively pushing them out of my way. “Stand clear, I’m coming through,” I declare.
“What the fuck, Bray!” Sarah screeches, while both Holly and Reilly give me death glares.
“What makes you think you can just barge your way in?” Reilly questions.
“I’m her favourite brother-in-law. Trust me, babe, she wants to see me. Don’t you, Lyssa?” I look down at her. She’s laughing, but I can see the torment in her eyes from the hellish day she’s had.
“Of course, I want to see you,” she laughs.
“Told you so!” I say to Reilly, who just shakes her head at me.
I lean down and kiss Alyssa on the forehead and Zac makes a big deal of clearing his throat. Jealous bastard can’t stand anyone touching her.
“You doing okay, sweetheart?” I ask her. “I am now,” she smiles.
“Good. Now, do you need anything before your grump of a fiancé kicks us all out?”
“No, I’m good. But you should get going. Don’t you have an ass to kick tonight?”
“Yeah, I do.” I look down at my watch. The fight is still four hours away; I can make it back in time.
I can hear Reilly groan behind me. She doesn’t say anything though. I’m sure whatever it is, I’ll hear about it the moment we’re alone.
Leaning down, I whisper into Lyssa’s ear, “Thank you for making me an uncle. This baby is going to be loved like no other, I promise you.” Standing back up, I see tears running down her face. Shit, now I’ve gone and done it.
“Fuck, Bray. I’m gonna kick your ass for making her cry,” Zac growls out. I don’t get time to rebut his statement before Reilly and Holly both stand between Zac and me. At the same time, they both say, “Touch him and I’ll cut your damn balls off, Zac.”
The whole room goes silent. Well, all the men in the room go silent.
Sarah and Lyssa are desperately trying not to let their laughter escape.
I don’t know why they’re laughing—that shit’s straight out of Children of the Corn kind of scary.
I’m dumbfounded, looking between the two of them.
I can’t see their faces as they’re facing Zac.
But I’m sure I don’t need to see them. I know the expression they are both wearing, identically.
Zac looks over their heads at me. “Yeah, good luck with that, mate,” he laughs.
I’m still a little shocked. I don’t think I’ve ever had a girl stand up for me like that, other than Ella. Not just one, but both of them. “Ahh, babe,” I say, pulling Reilly around to look at me. “I appreciate you sticking up for me, but I can handle him all on my own.”
She laughs, “Bray, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” “Well, that shit you two pulled just then is fucking
freaky, okay?” Reilly and Holly look at each other and smile; they both then turn to me and say, “Freaky? Really? Bray the fighter is scared of us two little twins?”
“Okay, stop. Now. That’s not fucking funny.
” I grab Reilly’s hand and start pulling her towards the door, as everyone else in the room is laughing.
“Reilly we’re going.” As I get to the door, I dig my keys out of my pocket and throw them to James.
“Make sure Holly gets home without a scratch, and Sarah, well, just make sure she makes it home?” I laugh and duck the bottle of water she throws at my head.
Reilly stops, picks up the water bottle, and throws it back at Sarah. “Don’t throw shit at him, Sarah,” she says before walking out. Everyone in the room looks at me.
Holly laughs and says, “Boy, she has it really bad.” At that, I smirk. I like that my girl is feisty and protective.
Reilly has been silent pretty much the whole two hours it took to drive back to the club. Before I let her out of the car, I need to find out what’s bothering her.
“Okay, what’s wrong?” I ask. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“Something’s wrong. Tell me. I can’t fix it if you don’t tell me, and we both know I’m not going to stop bugging you until you tell me.”
“I’m worried, that’s all,” she says.
“About Lyssa? She’s going to be fine.” I try to reassure her.
“Not Alyssa, you.”
“Why the fuck are you worried about me?” I ask, dumbfounded.
“You’re going to fight tonight, you haven’t exactly been prepping all day, and you haven’t done your pre-fight routine things. What if you’re not ready?”
“Babe, this ain’t my first rodeo. Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”
“I know you can fight, but what if tonight’s the one time that it goes wrong? I just don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.”
I pull her over the centre console and sit her on my lap so she’s straddling me. “I promise I’ll be careful. I’ll be focused. There is nothing in this world that can take me away from you, okay? I will always fight for us, Reilly. We are worth fighting for.”
I gently lay kisses all over her face, and her body relaxes and sinks into me. “I’ll fight for us too, Bray. I won’t let anyone take you from me,” she says before slamming her lips onto mine and claiming more and more of my heart and soul.