Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Reid
“Hell yeah!” Landry cheers as we make our way to the locker room at halftime. He hops onto my back, and I carry him a few feet before he jumps off and races ahead.
We’re up by two touchdowns. Landry caught a perfect spiral from Knox with twenty seconds to go, strengthening our lead.
If we win today, we'll play again next week for the championship in our conference. If we win that, we'll move on to the league championship. If we make it, this will be our third year in a row, and we’re all salivating for this chance. We’re breaking records, and I get to do it with my best friends, my family, and this year, my girl is here, and soon, our daughter.
As we make our way down the tunnel, everyone is in good spirits until we all spot Corie, pacing in front of the locker room doors. Knox rushes to his wife, with Landry hot on his heels. Baker, Foster, and I stand behind them, building a wall.
“Corie girl, what’s wrong?” Knox asks, pulling her into his arms. She immediately pulls away, ignoring her husband and her brother to come and stand before me.
My heart drops to my cleats.
“What?” I ask, my voice breaking.
“Bellamy collapsed. She was coming out of the restroom in the suite, and she just fell to the floor. We called the paramedics, and they took her to the hospital. Sloane is with her,” Corie rushes to tell me with tears in her eyes.
“When?” I grit out. My body is numb. My heart feels like it could pound right outside my chest.
Please let them be okay. I can’t lose them.
“There were about four minutes to go in the quarter. They were taking her out when I raced down here to tell you.”
Shoving my helmet at Baker, I strip off my pads, drop them to the floor, and take off running into the locker room to grab my keys.
“Montgomery!” Coach bellows. “What the hell are you doing? Why are you not dressed for game play?”
“I gotta go,” I tell him. I’m not even sure he can hear my reply. Blood is rushing in my ears, and I feel like I’m in a tunnel.
“The fuck you are. We still have two quarters of a game to play,” he rages.
“Fucking fine me. Fire me. I don’t give a fuck.
My family needs me, and that’s where I’m going to be.
” Swiping my phone and my keys, I rush out of the locker room to him calling after me.
Fuck him. I understand that I’m under contract, and I also understand that I’ll get fined for this, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let the love of my life and our unborn child be in danger and not be there.
I won’t make his mistakes. If it costs me my career, then so be it.
I’ve invested well, so we’ll be just fine, but I won’t be. Not if I lose them.
In the hallway, Corie’s there. She takes my hand and leads me away, with the guys calling back to keep them updated. I don’t bother to reply; I just let Corie lead me out to her car. She insists on driving.
“You'd better have a lead foot,” I warn her.
“Trust me, I’m just as worried as you are.” She nods to the police car that’s in front of us. “I called ahead. They’re going to escort us there. There are perks to being a Rampage,” she says, trying to make light, but I can’t even crack a smile.
“They have to be okay, Core. They have to be. I can’t lose them. She doesn’t even know that I love her. I didn’t tell her. Why the fuck didn’t I tell her? Fuck, what if I never have the chance to tell her?” I’m spiraling as I rest my elbows on my knees and bury my hands in my hair.
Please, please, let them be okay.
“Her mom. Amanda. I need to call them. Fuck, I didn’t even tell Coach why I was leaving.”
“Knox is going to talk to Coach and tell Rowan. I called Amanda while I was waiting, and she’s going to call her mom.”
“Thanks,” I mutter.
Corie reaches over and takes her hand in mine. “She’s going to be okay. They both are. She was starting to come to as they were loading her on the stretcher.”
“The baby. Bell had a checkup last week. Everything was fine. Was she feeling bad? Did she say anything?” I’m racking my brain to see if I missed something. Was I not paying close enough attention?
“We’re almost there,” she says, as she follows the cop car into the hospital parking lot. He drives us straight to the ER entrance, and before the vehicle is even stopped, I’m reaching for the door handle.
“I’ll meet you in there. I’m going to thank our escort and park,” Corie tells me, as I jump out of the still-moving car and rush inside.
“Bellamy Warner,” I say, slapping my hands down on the desk. “She was just brought in by ambulance.”
“Are you family?”
“Yes.”
“Your relationship?” the lady asks, but she has yet to lift her eyes to greet me.
“She’s my everything,” I tell her, my voice gritty with emotion.
She finally glances up, and her eyes widen. “You’re Reid Montgomery. You’re supposed to be playing today.” She glances down at me, still in uniform.
“Bellamy Warner,” I say, ignoring her.
“Can I have your autograph?” she blurts.
Taking a deep breath, I try to keep my anger and my fear in check. With gritted teeth, I reply, “I’ll sign any fucking thing you want, if you take me to my girls,” I say, barely holding on to my anger. I’ll definitely be letting administration know how she’s handling this.
“Oh, it’s immediate family only.”
“Listen,” I grit out, ready to go off on her, when a male voice stops me.
“Mr. Montgomery?” I turn to face a man in a white coat and blue scrubs. “I’m Dr. Jones. I’m on call. Dr. Armstrong filled me in on Bellamy’s history. Come on. I’ll take you to her.”
“Thank fuck,” I mutter, and hurry along behind him. “How are they?”
“They’re getting her settled in a private bay. I’m preparing to perform an ultrasound on the baby,” Dr. Jones explains.
My hands tremble as we reach the end of the hall, and he grips the curtain tightly pulling it open before stepping back and motioning for me to go in.
My heart stops when I see Bellamy lying in bed, hooked up to IVs and monitors on her belly for the baby.
Her eyes are closed. She’s pale. She’s never been more beautiful.
Rushing to her side, I pull a chair next to her bed and gently take her hand in mine, pressing a kiss to her palm.
My eyes find Sloane on the other side of the bed. She offers me a weak smile. “I’ll give you some time,” she says, standing to leave.
“Sloane,” I call after her.
She stops and turns to look at me.
“Thank you for being with her until I got here,” I say, with a lump growing in my throat.
“That’s what family does,” she says, before spinning and walking out the door.
Turning my attention back to Bellamy, I rest one hand on her belly, careful of the monitors, and the other gently pushes her hair back out of her eyes.
Slowly, her eyes flutter open, and she offers me a weak smile. “Hey, did you win?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” I reply, as I stand and lean over her, careful of all the wires. “Hey, beautiful,” I say, pressing my lips to her forehead. “You took about fifty years off my life. How are you feeling?”
“Tired, but I’m okay. They said the baby’s vitals look good, too,” she tells me. “Wait, how do you not know if you won?” Her nose scrunches and her brow furrows as if she’s trying to figure out why.
“I left.”
She gasps. “What? What do you mean you left?”
“I left at halftime. Corie told me what happened, and I left.” No way was I going to be able to concentrate on the game, knowing my family needed me.
“Reid!” she scolds. She tries to sit up, so I help her, propping pillows behind her back. “You’re going to get fined, or worse, benched.”
I shrug. “Don’t care. This is where I needed to be.” I drop another kiss to her forehead, before sitting my ass back in the chair. I feel as though I’ve run the length of the field a thousand times—my legs are weak, and my heart is still thundering from worry and fear for my girls.
“You can’t do that. You have to go back.”
“Not a chance in hell,” I tell her fiercely. “I’m not leaving this hospital until you do.”
Dr. Jones knocks and steps into the room.
“How about we take a look at your baby?” he asks, stepping over to the ultrasound machine that’s been rolled in.
I help Bellamy raise her gown and keep her bottom half covered with the blanket before Dr. Jones adds the gel to her belly.
Within seconds, the sound of our baby girl’s heartbeat fills the room, and tears well in my eyes.
Bellamy squeezes my hand, and I hold onto her tightly.
I was so damn scared of losing them. “H-How is she?” I ask as my voice wobbles, not hiding my fear.
“Everything looks great.” He turns the screen so that we can see her. “No distress. She’s doing just fine,” he assures us.
“Do you know why she passed out?” I ask him.
“We’re running some tests. The bloodwork should be back soon. I put a rush on the results. Right now, Mom and baby are both doing well. Vitals for both are excellent.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” I nod, and he hands me some towels to help wipe off Bellamy’s bump. When I’m done, I pull her gown back into place and tug the covers up over her.
“The best thing you can do right now is let the fluids do their thing and rest. I’ll be back as soon as the results are in,” he explains before leaving us alone.
“Go back to the game, Reid,” she tells me, her voice soft.
“Baby, I’m not leaving you. I don’t give a single fuck about the game.
You and our daughter are what’s important.
This is where I want to be. Where I need to be.
” I hold her gaze, willing her to believe me.
I lean in close, pressing her palm against my cheek.
“When Corie told me you collapsed, I couldn’t get here fast enough. ”