Chapter 7
Gus
“You really shouldn’t be getting up,” Sawyer warned, trying to push me back onto the bed.
But damn it, I needed to see her face and yell at her for scaring at me.
They had wheeled her out of here into the next room, and I could hear her talking, but I needed to see her. Why wouldn’t they let me see her?
“Just let me get up. I need to get over there.”
“And if you tear a stitch? You really want me to have to face Jen or any of your teammates? Because I might work out, but I don’t work for a security company.” Sawyer flexed his biceps, and I rolled my eyes. Thankfully, I didn’t have a headache or a concussion, though it had been a near thing.
It was all I could do not to remember the explosion. The man coming toward us, all my training out the window. All because I needed to protect Jen.
And apparently our unborn child.
I swallowed at that, trying to come to terms with the ramifications of that information.
I had willingly nearly sacrificed everything for her. And I would do it again in a heartbeat. Because I loved her.
Holy hell. Things had truly just changed. Only I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to deal with it all.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to deal with it sitting in this room.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Sawyer asked. “Please, don’t do anything stupid.”
I shook my head, slowly moving my feet off the bed.
“Give me some pants. I’m not going to show my ass around the hospital.”
“If you go and confront her right now, that’ll be showing your ass in a different way.”
I flipped my brother off. “Please. Pants. I need to see her. I need to make sure she’s okay.”
Sawyer studied my face for a long moment before nodding.
“I just need to see her, Sawyer. Please.”
Sawyer sighed and then went to the bag he had brought with him. “Mom’s going to kill me if she finds out I did this.”
“Mom’s going to kick my ass if I don’t actually speak with Jennifer before she finds out.”
As soon as I said the words, he turned to me, and both of us widened our eyes. “Shit. Yes. You need to talk with her. Now.”
He helped me get dressed quickly, and then I slowly moved to the room beside us.
Daisy stood there, her gaze narrowed. “What the hell are you doing up?”
I held up my hand as Sawyer slowly backed away. Weakling. Though I didn’t tell him that. Mostly because I was afraid of Daisy, too.
“Just let me talk to her.”
“We need to make sure you are healthy enough to stand up, too, you know.”
“I’m fine. A clean bill of health.”
She looked pointedly at my bandage, and I shrugged, immediately regretting it. “I’m going to be fine. Nothing permanent. I just need to make sure she’s safe. Please.”
“They’re keeping her for observation. Fix this. I want my people to be okay.”
I nodded and made my way into the room. Jen sat on the bed, still in her clothes, hooked up to a machine showing her pulse and blood pressure. Everything looked good, and I was grateful for that.
When she met my gaze, my heart just…stopped. Jennifer had always been beautiful to me. Always something more. It was usually hard for me to keep my gaze off her. The way she lit up a room. It was her strength, her beauty, everything about her.
I’d craved her from the moment I saw her and had done my best to be one of the guys with her so she wouldn’t see. Wouldn’t know.
And then I had one moment of ecstasy, a moment that meant everything.
I wanted more. I had been working up the courage to tell her how I felt, to say fuck the complications.
And now it seemed we had an even larger one.
“Why are you out of bed?” she asked, a small smile playing on her face. “What am I saying? Of course, you’re not listening to directions. Why wouldn’t you be walking around after having part of a wall fall on top of you?”
“I needed to be here. To see you in person. You passed out in front of me.”
“So did you. Right on top of me, and then everyone pulled you away from me, and I didn’t get to see you. I just saw the blood.” She paled again, and I cursed, moving to the side of her bed. I wanted to reach out and take her hand. But I didn’t.
“I’m fine,” I said after a moment, studying her face.
“I’m fine, too.”
But what did fine mean?
“At least sit down so you don’t fall.”
“Okay. Okay.” I took the seat next to her bed and scooted it forward. When it pulled at my stitches, I winced, and Jennifer cursed under her breath.
“The nurses don’t know you’re in here, do they? So when they find you’ve skipped out, they’re going to get angry.”
“And they’ll blame me, not you. I’m really okay.”
“You threw yourself on top of me.”
“I didn’t even think twice. I knew we couldn’t stop him in time. I refused to let you get hurt, Jen.”
Her eyes clouded. “I’m just so pissed off that you got hurt. For me.”
I shook my head. “We both could’ve been hurt worse.”
“I know. But I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can. That’s what I’ve always liked about you. It’s why we work so well together.”
When she let out a sigh, I squeezed her hand. “But we haven’t been working well together recently. Because you keep trying to step in to protect me.”
“I guess I have another reason to now.”
“I really didn’t want you to find out that way.” When she put her hand over her stomach, it felt like everything changed.
I swallowed hard, staring at where her hand rested. “You’re pregnant.” I whispered the words as if they weren’t quite real. “How long have you known?”
I reached down and gripped her hand. None of this made sense. We were doing this the wrong way, but something was shifting. Something happened, and I didn’t know how to fix it.
“Three days. Well, four now.” She let out a breath.
“I didn’t know how to tell you. I was going to tell you soon, though.
That’s why I wanted to talk. But then it sounded like a weird relationship we-need-to-talk thing.
And I realized that it really is a weird relationship kind of thing. Because I’m pregnant.”
My ears rang as I tried to come to terms with what she was saying. It didn’t feel real. None of this did.
“I can’t believe it.”
“Me either. I mean, we used a condom. And I’m on birth control.
” She paused. “Oh, my God. I should go to my doctor because I don’t think I can be on birth control while pregnant.
I’ll need to have it removed. Oh, hell. I have a doctor’s appointment scheduled for tomorrow. But I should tell the doctor here.”
I squeezed her hand and nodded. “Okay. Okay. Hell. This is a lot.”
“I guess the bomb and the wall falling on top of us is only the second most explosive thing to happen today,” she said with a laugh before tears filled her eyes.
I moved to wipe the moisture from her cheeks. “Don’t cry, Jen, baby. We’ll figure this out.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“I’m not going to let you do it alone. No matter what happens. I’m here.”
“But we didn’t even want to be together.”
I frowned at her. “We said it would be easier if we weren’t. But nothing about this is easy, is it?”
She opened her mouth to say something, and I was ready to bare it all, to tell her what I felt, but then the nurses came in, and I was pulled away.
I wanted to stay, I wanted to figure it out. She wasn’t mine. And I had to remember that.
Even if I wanted her to be.
* * *
“I’m fine, Mom. Seriously. Sawyer is on his way over with dinner, and then I’m going to rest.”
“You’re sure you don’t have to work today? I will call your employers. My baby’s hurt.”
I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. My parents were freaking amazing, but they also tended to baby us. How Sawyer and I ended up as accident-prone and daredevil kids, I didn’t know.
“Whatever you do, please don’t call the Montgomerys. I don’t want to be the one with the mommy who calls my boss.”
“This mommy will call whoever I need to make sure her baby’s okay.” She sounded so stern it made me smile.
“I’m going to be fine. You checked on me yourself. Now, you’re back at work, and I’m not. Of course, I am off duty for a little bit. But there are just a few stitches. A couple of bumps. That’s it. No broken bones. No concussion. I’m fine.”
“I didn’t like hearing on the news that the building I knew you were in was blown up. I wish you would get a better job. One where you’re nice and safe and nothing ever happens.”
I sighed at the familiar refrain. “Things happen every day everywhere. I like being in a position where I can help, you know?”
My mom was silent for a while before she finally replied.
“I know, I know. And I’m grateful you’re in that position, too.
Now, let your brother take care of you. And maybe that young woman who was in the room next door.
You know, the one you never stop talking about?
” There was a question in her voice, and I could practically see the smile on her face, even through the phone.
“Okay, Mom. I’m going to let you go. Thank you, though.”
“I will get details out of you, mister. Just you wait.”
I said my goodbyes, and we hung up. Oh, she was going to get some details soon.
Because Jennifer and I needed to talk. Everything remained unresolved after the nurses kicked me out of her hospital room.
Then my parents showed up, and the doctors discharged me.
Now, I was home, it had been twenty-four hours since I’d seen her, and I was on a loaner phone until I could get a replacement.
I wanted to text her just to see how she was. Ask how the baby was.
I nearly freaked out at that thought. Baby. She was pregnant.
I mean, I knew how it happened. I knew when it happened. But it still didn’t seem real.
It had been over two months since I’d kissed her, held her. Since we’d let the heat between us burn. Now, everything had changed.
What was I supposed to do with that?
The doorbell rang, and since I didn’t have my phone where I could see the camera, I heaved myself up off the couch and made my way to the front of the house. My heart raced when I saw who stood outside.