Authors: Kristen Brockmeyer
It was all so unreal. Trapped in Dominick
's gloating stare and the harsh haze of pain that was rapidly getting to the overwhelming point, my thoughts pinged around like birdshot in a coffee can. Dimly, I could hear Chance swearing and fighting the chains that held him up. Crap, the idiot would think this was his fault. And how much worse would it be for him if I was really pregnant? Not that he'd have time to feel sorry for himself, because he'd be dead soon, too, I thought wrenchingly. And Jack was still setting up a horrible racket in his cage to the left of me. I didn't want him to see his twin sister murdered. At least Addy had done the smart thing and passed out. I wished I could pass out on cue.
The soft, sibilant hiss of evil cut through my thoughts.
"Last words, Lucky? Don't you want to beg me to make their deaths fast?"
This was it. Tears slid into my hairline, and I could see Dominick taking them in, avidly feeding off my pain and fear.
"Please," I croaked.
"
Yes?" His look was triumphant.
"
Please… go fuck yourself."
I spit in his face.
Dead in the eye. He reared back and leveled the gun at me, and I squeezed my eyes shut, the last of my bravado gone.
A shot rang out and then there was nothing but blackness.
If I was in heaven, it smelled like lime Jello and bleach. And it was noisy. There were beeps and intercoms. And I didn't think angels argued, but somewhere nearby, a full scale battle was taking place in whispers.
"
I can
not
believe you're sitting there eating right now."
"
I'm hungry. It's been like two days since I've had anything to eat."
"
She's sitting there near death and you're scarfing her Jello! Why the hell did I marry you, you worthless, selfish jerk? If it were me lying there, would you be eating
my
Jello?"
I cracked one eye open blearily. The room was spinning, but after a second, it righted enough for me to make out Addy, swimming in a pair of oversized blue hospital scrubs, her small hands clenched in fists on her hips. Jack was in front of her, wolfing down the
jiggly green stuff with a mutinous look on his face.
"
Knock it off, kids," I managed, my voice coming out all weird and wavery. "I don't even like Jello."
Addy gasped and spun arou
nd. It was gratifying to see Jack drop his spoon in guilty surprise and push the rolling tray aside to jump to his feet. He was wearing scrubs, too, and had a butterfly bandage on a cut over his cheekbone. His left eye was blackened.
"
Don't talk!" Addy said, bottom lip quivering, tears already tracking down her cheeks. She was still cute as a button, even when she cried. "I'm calling the nurse."
She pressed the intercom button before I could even muster the wits to tell her no. I needed to know about Chance. Something must be horribly wrong or he
'd be here, too.
I was dizzy and floaty, though, probably from painkillers and it was impossible to even pull together a coherent thought, much less make it come out of my mouth. Everything next seemed to happen in a blur. The last thing I remember was asking the impossibly young-looking nurse if pain meds would hurt the baby, and my intention was to whisper it, but my voice boomed out
like someone had been screwing with my volume button. The chaos in the room stilled for about six seconds.
I don
't know what happened after that, though, because the darkness sucked me under again.
It was actually quiet in the room when I woke up. The shades on the window beside the bed were open, and I could see it was night. Enough neon to light up the moon told me I was still in Vegas and I was suddenly desperate to get home. I missed my mom. I missed Louie. I missed trees, unpredictable weather that alternately steamed like the world's most humid clambake or blasted you to the bone with frigid sub-zero temps, sometimes even in the same day, and the relative calmness of the Student Ghetto. It was normalcy.
Rolling my head to the other side, I saw Chance sleeping in the chair next to my bed. He was in a hospital gown, stretched between two uncomfortable-looking chairs, heavily-muscled arms folded across his chest and head resting against the wall behind him. His legs should
've looked funny sticking out from beneath the thin blue gown, but Chance could've made a paper bag look sexy. Thick and tan, dusted with dark hair, big feet. Dark lashes long enough that they should have made him look feminine but didn't resting against his cheeks. His lips were parted just a little bit, and I could hear him breathing.
Then the tears started. He was breathing, chest rising and falling steadily in his sleep. I was so afraid I
'd never see him alive again, and judging by the new bruises, cuts and snowy white bandages that criss-crossed in places where his skin showed, it was a major miracle he was sitting here next to me. I cried harder. I was just so freaking grateful that he was breathing.
I tried to be quiet, muffling my sniffles under the thin hospital blanket I pulled up over my face, but then Chance was awake, standing over my bed. He was hunched over a little and I saw a grimace of pain pass across his face, but his eyes were soft and warm, and he was whispering for me to hush in a deep, affectionate rumble, and that made me cry harder.
"Are pregnant women always this emotional?" he asked huskily.
I sighed and snuffled a last time before rolling to one side and scooting backward to make room for him on the bed, gritting my teeth a little as my thigh
twinged. "You escaped from your own room, didn't you?" I asked, while he lay down next to me, huffing a little as he pulled his legs up on the bed.
"
It's not like I left the hospital," he shrugged. "They'll find me. I was a couple rooms down."
The bed was not built for two and the metal side rail dug between my shoulder blades, but he felt so good and warm and solid pressed against my front that I just burrowed closer and carefully slid my hand across his front to hug him to me. His
unbandaged arm held me tight to him. I wanted to ask where all he was hurt. Heck, I wanted to ask where all
I
was hurt. But I didn't want to bring Dominick's shadow into the bed with us.
"
Am I, for sure?" I asked instead.
"
What?"
"
Pregnant."
He gave me another light squeeze, reassuring this time.
"Pretty sure. After your outburst—which I literally heard from my room, by the way—the nurse ordered a couple of blood tests on you. It's really, really early to tell, but your hormones levels are elevated and rising, which is a good sign. So far, neither the pain meds or anything else, seems to have bothered the little tadpole."
I felt
a tightness in my chest that was part happy, part scared shitless, and my laugh was watery. "Tadpole? Really? That just sounds gross."
He laughed too and my heart skipped at the sound. I wanted to make him laugh again. It reminded me of the old Chance, but deeper and grown-up.
"No, not really even a tadpole yet. He or she's not much more than a tiny blip on your hormone radar, but I'm kind of stumped on a size comparison for that. You know, though, they said that an hCG count this high so soon after conception, and the fact that you're a twin, is a good indicator that there's two on the way."
Yikes.
Another Lucky and Jack? But no, I immediately pictured two sweet babies—one with auburn tufts of hair, and the other with a shock of silky black. A little Lucky and Chance, except hopefully little Lucky would end up with a nicer brother.
"
And how would you feel about that," I asked tentatively, tracing a nervous circle in the dark hair of his arm.
"
I like babies."
"
Really?" This surprised me. I'd never seen Chance with a baby, but then again, I knew what kind of gentleness those big hands were capable of and it didn't seem like that much of a stretch.
"
There's only one thing…"
Uh oh.
"We might want to make the wedding soon, if that's the case. You'll probably get as big as a house, and it'll be hard to find a vintage wedding gown that'll fit."
"
I found your letter. And the ring. You should probably tell me all that in person, you know. And ask me."
Carefully, he rolled over on to his side, so he was facing me.
"You're probably right." He traced the outline of my jaw, and then my lips, with one finger, his eyes mossy green and intently fixed on my face. "Hell, I fell half in love with you when I was about fifteen. Remember the pool party at Carly Morales's house?"
I groaned and buried my face in his chest.
"You fell in love with the Topless Wonder?"
Chance
's chuckle rumbled against my ear. "I think a lot of guys secretly fell in love with you that day."
I remembered that day, all too well. I was wearing my brand new bikini with the ruffles and black polka dots. It was my first bikini and I
'd been feeling like pretty hot stuff. I wasn't the world's greatest swimmer, but I'd managed to slice a perfect dive off the board and had come up to cheers and whistles. It wasn't until I'd climbed out of the pool and took a smug little bow that I realized my ruffled pink bikini top was still floating in the deep end. And I'd just flashed my little fifteen year-old boobies to half the high school. And then Jack had fished the bikini top out with the skimmer and tossed it up on Carly's roof, where, for all I knew, it still lived. Probably the story had gone on to become urban legend, the Topless Wonder still a part of Parchment High School's collective memory like that girl with the dog and the peanut butter back in 1974.
I shuddered.
"Hey," Chance said, putting his lips to mine in a brief, soft kiss. "You do know how to get a guy to notice you."
"
Right," I said, a little dazed by the jolt I got just that simple caress. I sure couldn't doubt we had something special when my toes went numb just from a simple brush of lips. "You just waited two years to do anything about it."
His face clouded a little.
"I had a lot going on at home. I made the decision that you were hands-off. You were all sunshine and kittens and I was redneck alcoholics and loud, abusive fights."
I ran my knuckles down his prickly cheek.
"Until that day in the gym."
"
Until that day in the gym," he agreed, and grinned. "You were such a little spitfire, those blue eyes of yours shooting sparks and your face all flushed. I couldn't stand it anymore. That's when I finally fell for you all the way.
"
I'm sorry for walking away from you," he said and kissed me again, a heated, possessive slanting of lips and tongue. "You kept me sane during the years after that. I went through some brutal shit, but you were always there, in the back of my mind, and the thought of you kept me going, waking up the next day to do it all over again."
I ran my fingers through his hair, brought his lips back to mine, and tried to erase that hell from his mind, at least a little.
"I love you," I whispered urgently. "Are you okay with the whole lottery thing, though? I know some guys don't like a wife worth more than they are."
"I'd love you if you had more money than Donald Trump
, just the same as I'd love you if you were broke and living in a homeless shelter. Marry me," Chance growled, nipping at my bottom lip.
I had just opened my mouth to answer
yes, yes and oh, yes
,
please,
when there was a loud "ahem" from the door. "Mr. Atkins, while I'm not too old to appreciate a very fine-looking behind, yours does not belong in this room."
Chance stiffened, an embarrassed flush climbing up his neck as he reached back to find that yes, his ass was hanging out of his hospital gown, and a scowling, middle-aged nurse with a twinkle in her eye was checking out every inch of it.
"Find me a Salvation Army thrift store," I called out when he got to the door, "Get me that ring, and have somebody check us out of this place in the morning. We're in Vegas. Let's find an Elvis preacher and get married tomorrow."
The next morning, a few visitors paraded through, bringing flowers and all kinds of surprising revelations, letting me piece together what happened in Dominick's dungeon. The first two were official, but very welcome. Angela, dark FBI suit back in place, hair trying to spiral free from the neat bun at the back of her head, and her face creased in a bright smile, and Nate, who was on crutches but with his face more relaxed and his dark eyes a lot less haunted than the last time I'd seen them.
They were full of good news. Angela hadn
't gotten in too much trouble, she claimed, after our escape. Or if she had, it was at least temporarily buried under all the excitement of the day before. Also, the FBI's search of Dominick's villa had turned up another secret room and they'd be very busy for the next few weeks going through the computers, flash drives and extensive records he'd obligingly kept on the inner workings of his organization. Dominick's demise would be kept hushed for a while longer yet while they took down some big players, especially the ones involved in the sex trafficking ring.
The best news of all was that the blonde women that I
'd seen locked up in Dominick's workshop had been Tanya and Ashlynn. Tanya had been treated for minor injuries, kept overnight for observation and was planning to go on leave for a while to recover from her ordeal. Ashlynn was being treated for a variety of hurts, both physical and mental, and would probably need some extensive psychological therapy, but she was expected to be okay, too.
The burning question of what had actually happened when I heard the shot and passed out, giving myself up for
dead, I got to hear from the horse's mouth. Betty showed up with a huge bouquet of daisies and a smile beaming with happiness.
"
Ain't this just some shit," she rasped cheerfully, hugging me carefully so she didn't hit my bandaged-wrapped arm. I'd been told the cut underneath came from Dominick's jigsaw, and had taken seven stitches to close, but that the leather jacket I'd been wearing had actually kept the laceration from being a lot worse.
"
You're looking a lot less dead than the last time I saw you."
"
How's your chest?" I asked. "You didn't break any ribs?"
"
Nope, the flak jacket took all the impact. I've just got a big bruise there this morning as a souvenir. Guess my ex wasn't so crazy for buying those things in bulk."
"
Did you guys meet Betty?" I asked Angela and Nate, who were hanging back, looking amused.
Betty spun around, frowning nervously.
"Sorry, I didn't know you had company. I can come back."
"
That's okay," Angela said. "Agent Whiteford and I were just getting ready to leave. I'm sure we'll see you again soon, Mrs. Tuttle. You, too, Lucky." She winked.
Betty heaved a relieved breath after they
'd left. "Cops make me nervous," she added unnecessarily.
"
You met Angela and Nate?" I asked curiously.
Betty pulled one of the visitor chairs up closer to the bed.
"You bet I did. Bound to happen when I was the one that blasted Dominick to hell. I dragged my sorry ass down those stairs just in time to save yours. The badges showed up right after that, but by then, the party was already over."
Betty left too, after I'd extracted a promise from her to stay in touch. I gave in to fatigue from my mostly-sleepless night and dozed for a while. Around noon, a doctor came in and checked me over a last time. It was the first time I'd seen my own injuries uncovered. The gouge on my arm was no big deal—I'd ended up with a worse-looking cut after I'd actually tripped while running with scissors when I was eight—but the hatchet wound was something else altogether.
"
Meh, it's nothing," Dr. Fitzgerald told me as he poked and prodded around the area. Stitches bristled down the front of my thigh. "Now, if you'd nicked an artery, that wouldn't have been any good at all, but you didn't. Just whacked through lots of skin and muscle, but that'll heal. They don't call you Lucky for nothing, huh?"
"
Guess not," I said weakly, trying not to gag.
He gave me a prescription for some antibiotics and pain killers, and the
n I was given my walking papers and the assurance that someone would be along shortly to spring me. I hoped they brought clothes, because I was dying to get out of the hospital gown and go see if Chance was free yet.
Addy came in with a wheelchair holding a couple of bulging shopping bags a few minutes later, Jack following along behind. She was wearing a floaty, light green chiffon dress with a matching scarf wound around her neck and a pair of strappy leather high-heeled sandals. Her shiny brown hair was pulled back in a chignon. Jack was dressed in a navy blue suit with brown pinstripes and a matching tie. There was a yellow rosebud pinned to his lapel.
My eyes narrowed. "A little formal for hospital wear, don't you think? Why do you guys look like you're going to a swing dancing contest?"
Addy giggled.
"None of your business. But you need to get dressed. We've got places to go and things to do today."
She carefully
bustled me off into the bathroom. With some swearing and contorting and a lot of help, I got a fast shower and full shampoo with some bottles of yummy-scented things that Addy produced from one of her bags. I was pretty sure I knew where we were going with all this, and nerves and excitement fluttered together.
I was positive when Addy pulled out some cream satin underthings and a gauzy, lemon-colored confection of a dress from another shopping bag. It was tea-length, bias cut and diaphanous, and the most beautiful thing I
'd ever seen. I discreetly checked the label and had to gulp back a happy sob. It was vintage.
"
Did you do all this?" My eyes met Addy's in the mirror as she stood on the toilet, tugging and teasing my curls into a perfect braided coronet and threading small yellow roses through it.
She shrugged and grinned, dimples winking.
"I figure since you stuck by me through my bitchiest moments and that entire six months of pre-wedding nightmare, the least I could do was to help give you the surprise wedding of your dreams. Chance called my hotel late last night, and I got started first thing this morning. Vegas is a great place to get married, apparently. It was easy-cheesy to pull everything together."
She hugged me tightly around the neck, her position on the toilet giving her height advantage for the first time since second grade. I focused on deep breathing to keep from crying and ruining her makeup efforts.
"I'm glad my Addy is back," I said, hugging her forcefully.
"Oh, I almost forgot!
A gift from Angela." She bounced down and dug in another shopping bag, coming up with my purse. "Can't get married without ID, even in Vegas!"
Married.
The word echoed in my head.
For Pete's sake,
I was getting married.
To Chance.
Addy had found some delicate high-heeled sandals that match my dress, but with my bum leg, I was wheeled out of the hospital and didn't have to worry about coordination issues. We drew stares and smiles from hospital staff and patients on our way to the front doors, especially Jack, who was relegated to flower-carrying donkey.
Waiting for us in the patient pickup area was a gleaming white classic Rolls Royce with miles of glossy white hood. I
'd pictured a car just like this taking me to my wedding a thousand times.
"
You don't miss a trick, do you?" I asked Addy. She hiked a thumb at Jack and smiled proudly.
"
It's a car," he shrugged, handing off the last of the flowers to the smartly-uniformed driver. "I figured that made it a guy's department."
Instead of reminding him that this girl could run circles around him as a mechanic, I pushed myself
up to give him a wobbly hug. "It's perfect."
He squeezed me back, hard.
"Love you, sis."
I
clasped him back just as tight, and then pulled back to glare at him. "If I didn't love you back, I'd be bludgeoning you to death with this wheelchair right now."
He gave me his usual cocky grin
, the mirror image of mine. "Actually, come to think of it, you owe me. I'm the one that introduced you to your future husband, after all. You could start with some cash, moneybags. You're reimbursing me for all this old-timey wedding shit."
I punched him hard in the arm and climbed into the Rolls.