CHAPTER 32
Maverick
I break every traffic law imaginable driving to the hospital and thankfully or luckily for whatever cop would have tried to stop me, we arrive at Dogwood Memorial without incident.
I hustle Kaya inside and demand to be seen immediately.
I’m sure I look like a monster covered in dried blood from head to toe, but I don’t give a fuck.
Kaya is quickly moved to a bed in the emergency room. Her petite body appears so broken and frail on the large bed.
“Excuse me sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” A blonde-haired nurse says as she enters the curtained area. She’s tall with large brown eyes and a scowl that tells me she thinks I did this.
“No!” Kaya screams as she reaches for me.
I grab her hand and lean down close to her. “I’m not going anywhere. It’ll take a fucking army to get me out of this room, baby. I got you.”
“Sir!” the nurse yells. “You can’t—”
“He’s not leaving!” Kaya screams. “I need him!”
I turn my glare on the nurse. She takes in my blood-soaked appearance before focusing on Kaya. “Fine. But you need to stay out of our way.” She rolls over a cart and starts taking Kaya’s vitals.
A gray-haired nurse and a doctor enter the room. The doctor grins as he comes through the curtain. He gives me a chin lift, which tells me he knows the club, or at least Ace or Deuce.
“So, Ms. Rhodes, can you tell me what happened?” the doctor asks.
“She was attacked.” I spit.
“By you?” the blonde-haired nurse asks with attitude.
“No!” Kaya yells. “Does it look like I lost the amount of blood that’s on him? He saved me! So, please tell me if my baby is ok.”
“You’re pregnant?” the doctor asks in a warm tone.
Kaya shifts on the bed. “I only just took the test a few days ago. I haven’t even been to the OB yet.”
The doctor smiles. “No problem. We’re going to get some blood drawn, and check on your other injuries and then we’ll do an ultrasound to check for a heartbeat.”
“Fuck my other injuries! Just check on the baby,” she demands.
I glance to the doctor who gives me a nod before walking out of the curtained area. I stand by Kaya’s head, holding her hand as the gray-haired nurse puts in an IV, draws blood, and cleans up my girl’s face and head. A bruise is quickly showing color on her cheek along with red scratches.
Her forehead also has a purple bruise and some swelling.
It doesn’t look as bad as Tank’s did, but I’m sure they will still be checking it out.
After about ten minutes a woman wearing pink scrubs enters the area pushing a machine with a screen and wires.
She has a broad smile that fades for a second when she takes me in..
“Hello Kaya. I’m Mel and I’m going to be doing the ultrasound.
Because you’re so early, we’re going to need to do a vaginal.
” She pulls a wand thing from the machine and shows it to us.
“This is a transducer. It picks up high resolution images using sound waves. I’ll insert it gently into your vagina and hopefully we will be able to hear a heartbeat. ”
Kaya looks up at me with wide eyes and gives me a small smile.
I’m completely fucking overwhelmed and can’t even manage words.
A baby. A goddamn baby. I don’t even know if I want to be a father.
I know I have no idea how to be one. I never met mine and my home life before Carnage was less than ideal.
And Carnage? Well, they saved my life, but it wasn’t exactly a wholesome environment to grow up in.
Is this why Kaya changed her mind about us? She found out she was pregnant so she decided then that we could be together. Is this all because of the baby? I let out a sigh and glance down at her. She tries to sit up when she sees my face.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, her voice full of concern. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I shake my head. My stomach is full of knots as I think about everything that’s happened over the last few weeks. I study her face as she looks deep into my eyes. My mouth goes dry as I finally ask “When did you take the test?”
She squeezes my hand. “Last week. Monday, I think.” I nod, thinking back.
Jessica rolled in on Sunday so it was the day after we did it in the bathroom at the Iron Petal.
Things started to change that night, but she obviously already thought she was pregnant then or she wouldn’t have gotten a test the very next day.
I start to feel very uneasy and pull my hand from hers.
Her face falls as she watches me. I need to get the fuck out of here.
I won’t be taken advantage of. I have real feelings for this girl, but if she’s using me?
No. I won’t be made a fool of. I search her eyes, and I’m taken aback when a tear trickles down her cheek.
Fuck. She’s so nauseatingly beautiful that just one tear trickling down her face is enough to bring me to my goddamn knees.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I wanted to tell you sooner, but there was so much going on with the club and Gretchen… I convinced myself that if I told you, you’d leave, so I was trying to hold on to you for a little while longer.”
Is she being honest? I fucking hate this because I have no clue. She could be the world’s best manipulator. I look back and forth between her eyes. Her chin quivers as Mel finally interrupts us.
“I’m sorry, but we need to get started. I have another patient I need to get to.”
Within minutes Kaya’s knees are up and her legs open with a machine set up beside her. I take her hand again and she gives me a small smile.
“Ok, now just try to relax, you’ll feel a bit of pressure,” Mel says as she inserts the wand into my girl. Yes, my girl. I’ll deal with all the bullshit in my head later, because at the end of the day, she’ll still be mine.
Kaya winces and I squeeze her hand. “You ok?”
She winces. “Yeah, just feels weird.”
I lean down and give her a kiss on her temple.
“Ok, here we go,” Mel says as she adjusts something on her machine.
A second later, a sound I’ve only ever heard on TV and in movies fills the room. A beat, a rapid beat, that suddenly becomes the most beautiful fucking sound I’ve ever heard in my pathetic life, punches me in the chest.
Kaya’s hand flies to her mouth as her eyes fill with tears. “Oh my God,” she gasps.
I try to swallow but there is a lump there. What the hell? I swallow again, trying to gain control of whatever the fuck is happening inside me. I stare at the screen as the visual matches each whooshing beat.
“And there’s a good strong heartbeat,” Mel says, smiling. She then adjusts something else on the machine and the picture changes to what looks to me like black and white blobs.
Kaya squints at the screen. “Where is he?”
“Or she,” Mel says pointing to the screen. “Right here is your yolk sac and right next to it is the fetus.”
“That little bean thing?” I ask.
Mel chuckles. “Yep, the little bean is what will grow into a baby. So, I have to say everything looks good. You appear to be about seven weeks, but when you go to your OB they will be able to determine exactly how far along you are and figure out your due date. Do you have an appointment yet?”
Kaya shakes her head. “I was planning on calling today.”
Mel prints out a few tiny black and white photos and removes the condom covered wand from Kaya. “I would definitely do that as soon as possible.”
She gives us a little more information about the baby and Kaya’s endometrial lining, whatever the hell that is, and then packs up her machine. Mel gives me a wink and a grin before placing the wand on a holder on the side of the machine and pushes it out of the room.
Kaya’s eyes are nearly bulging out of her head. “Did she just fucking flirt with you before walking out of here?”
“Pretty sure she was just being nice.” I raise my arms, showing that I’m still covered in another man’s blood. “I don’t think she was flirting.”
“You never know. Some people are into some really messed up shit.” There is a long beat of silence before she adds, “I really am sorry.”
“Is it because you were afraid I’d leave or did you decide to be with me because of the baby?” I ask before thinking about what I’m saying.
She closes her eyes and shakes her head. “Do you really think I’m that type of person, Maverick?”
I shrug. “I really don’t know.”
She scoffs. “Wow. I thought after everything we’ve shared the last week that you knew me better than that, but I guess not.”
She lets go of my hand and I suddenly feel like I just lost everything that ever mattered to me in one move.