Authors: Jay Crownover
single girl as he has with you.”
Ayden made a noise and patted me on the knee. “I hate to tell you this, honey, but those boys have the
pick of the ladies they want to spend time with: skinny, chubby, blond, brunette … you name it and they
can have it. The point I think you might be missing is that clearly our boy has picked you to spend time
with and he has made that choice over and over again.” She pushed some of her dark hair out of her face
and lifted a dark eyebrow at me. “And believe me, none of them are scared of doing a little work.”
I was listening to their words, but at the same time one of the college girls broke from the pack and
waltzed up to the table. Nash was leaning on the pool cue, and even though she was clearly headed in his
direction, his gaze was locked directly on me. He was watching me closely and all I could do was stare
back. I couldn’t ever imagine trusting someone, loving someone so unquestioningly that you just
knew
that
you were the only person they were thinking about, the only person they wanted. That seemed like a
fantasy to me. That couldn’t exist in real life … could it?
“I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.”
They both started to talk at the same time, trying to reassure me that Nash was loyal, that he was a great
guy, that he was the nice one in the group, that he was typically the voice of reason because Rule was such a
hothead and Jet tended to be moody and emotional. I listened to it all with half an ear while I watched the
coed put her hand on Nash’s chest and smile coyly up at him. I don’t know what bothered me more, that
she was openly flirting with him, or that it bothered me so much. It made me very uneasy to watch it
happen.
Nash shook his tattooed head, took a step back, and handed his pool cue to Rowdy so he could wind
his way through the throng of ladies. His eyes stayed locked on mine. I think he could tell I was upset, and
not by anything the girls said, but by the overt attention he was drawing. He wasn’t mine, at least not in any
kind of spoken, official capacity, so it shouldn’t matter, but it did.
He dropped his hands on my shoulders and I felt him drop a light kiss on the crown of my head. It was
that, those simple little gestures that tried to untie all the things I thought I had knots tied securely around.
“Everything okay?”
Shaw and Ayden nodded and I gasped as he turned my chair around so that I was facing him. He put a
hand on either side of the chair so I was caged in and forced to look up at him.
“Seriously, are you all right? We can go if you need to.”
I felt like I couldn’t breathe. It would be the second time he had left his friends early because of me,
because I just couldn’t get my head together. I opened my mouth to respond, to tell him it was fine. His
friends were actually really nice. I had a nice enough buzz going that I could fake my way through another
hour or so, but I didn’t get the chance to speak because Rule suddenly appeared at the table, his light-
colored eyes wide in his handsome face.
“Rome just called me. Cora’s in labor.”
Everyone was suddenly in a flurry of activity. Jet and Ayden, Rule and Shaw, all flew out of the bar
without bothering to pay the bill. I looked at Nash in surprise as he waved the outrageously good-looking
bartender over with a flick of his fingers.
“Why is everyone freaking out?” I didn’t understand the sudden rush and hasty departures.
Rowdy materialized and pulled a bunch of bills out of his wallet that was attached to his pocket with a
chain and handed it to the bartender.
Nash put a hand on my wrist and helped me to my feet. I was a little bit wobbly, so I put an arm around
his waist.
“She’s early, the baby. Cora wasn’t supposed to be due until closer to the end of the month. Man, she’s
gonna be bummed out her dad isn’t here.”
He pulled out his phone and started firing off text messages.
“How many weeks is she?” I slipped easily into a role that I was comfortable with. Jealous, slightly
drunk, not-quite girlfriend made my skin hurt.
He looked at me like I was speaking another language.
“She’s probably fine. She’s just petite and the baby is probably pretty big considering the size of the
dad. If your friend is at least thirty-seven weeks, that’s considered full term, and she and the baby will be
fine.”
He hustled me out of the bar and I balked when he stopped by the Charger and not the Jetta.
“You were doing shots with Ayden, so I know you had to be drinking more than you’re used to. I don’t
want you driving, so I’ll take you home and we can get your car tomorrow.”
He put the key in the door and I looked up at him in a mixture of appreciation and fear. I really wished
he didn’t make it so easy to like him … more than like him, really.
“I know you’re worried about your friends. I can call a cab.” His eyes got dark like they did when he
was feeling something strongly.
“Saint …” His voice was scratchy and gruff. He ran his thumb over the curve of his chin, which made
me quake. “I worry about you just as much. I’m not sure when that happened, but it did. I’ll get you home
and then go to the hospital.”
I gulped and silently nodded. He helped me into the car and we took off into the night. He was tense; I
could feel it, and while I could rattle off a million and one medical reasons that things would probably be
just fine, I knew that wasn’t what would make him feel better. He already had one person he loved slipping
away from him; the thought of losing another was probably torture. I reached out a shaky hand and put it
on his arm where it was resting on the stick shift. The muscles were rock-hard and had a fine tremor in
them.
“Nash.” He looked over at me and I could see the fine lines of worry bracketing his mouth. “Do you,
uh, want me to go to the hospital with you?”
They were all a family, all loved each other, leaned on one another. I was an outsider. True, the hospital
was my home away from home, I was way more in my element there than I was in this car trying to offer
this brooding man comfort. But it was the right thing for me to do. I could see it when his eyes shifted back
to periwinkle, and his arm where I was touching him softened a fraction.
“Yeah. I really do.”
“All right. Let’s go, then.”
The wheels under the powerful car squealed, and I got tossed to the side as he wheeled it around in the
middle of the street and headed across town toward the hospital. This was a surefire way to have me
sobering up way more quickly than I would have if I just went home to sleep it off.
He parked and I had to practically run to keep up with him as he headed for the front doors. It was a
good thing I was tall or else I got the feeling he would have just dragged me along behind him. His hand
was hard on mine and I could feel nervous moisture coating his palm. He was headed for emergency, so I
had to dig my heels in and yank him to a grinding halt.
“Labor and delivery is this way. They probably moved her over there already.”
He grunted and begrudgingly let me take the lead. I didn’t miss the questioning looks I got from the
night staff as I skated by holding his hand. He was the kind of guy that attracted attention anyway, and
given the fact they were still all gossiping about my disastrous date with Dr. Bennet, this didn’t bode well
for me not being the topic of conversation anymore.
The crew was all gathered in the waiting room, minus Rule. Nash nodded at the guys, who were pacing
back and forth, but went to the girls for the info.
“What’s happening?”
Shaw was twisting her hair around her finger and her green eyes were huge in her face.
“She’s early, but not too bad. Thirty-six weeks. Rome was freaking everyone out. I think he’s having a
little episode, so his mom came and got Rule to keep him in line. The doctor was scared of him.”
Nash snorted and I had no problem imagining the scene between Rome and the doctor, considering I
knew exactly how intimidating the big ex-soldier could be.
“Anyone call Joe?” He looked at me and clarified: “Cora’s dad.”
Shaw nodded. “Rome did on the way in. You might want to call Phil.”
Nash went tense next to me and his eyes went back to dark. I knew his dad was like a fill-in parent to all
these guys. The tattoo shop he had created had become their home. The idea of a new life coming into the
world while he was on his way out had to gall and burn. I squeezed Nash’s hand and he looked down at
me.
“I’m gonna go talk to the staff and see if I can get any insider info. Okay?”
He gulped a little and his mouth turned down.
“I’m gonna make a call.”
He looked so sad, so torn, it pulled at my heart way harder than watching some girl throw herself at him
had. I reached up a hand and put it on his cheek. There was a tic there that had more than my nurse’s
instincts firing up, wanting to take care of him. That wasn’t good. I wanted to be insulated, wanted to have
enough space that there was no chance that this man could hurt me again, and I felt that safeguard slipping
further and further away.
I went and inquired about the patient and the baby. I used my employee status to get more info than
they would give the motley crew gathered in the waiting room. By the time I met back up with Nash,
everyone looked solemn and stressed out. Babies took a long time to come into the world and it was going
to be a long night for all of them.
“She’s doing great. She still has a ways to go before she is really in the thick of labor. The baby’s vitals
are strong, so I think everything is going to be just fine. I would say just settle in and wait. The baby clearly
has her own agenda and doesn’t know there are rules she should be following.”
“Sounds like her uncle; she’s already showing her Archer roots.”
Shaw’s dry comment broke the rest of the tension, and grateful eyes as well as relieved smiles met my
little debriefing. I gasped a little when Nash wrapped me up in his arms and pulled me against his chest so
that he could hold me while he propped himself up against the wall.
He put his lips to my temple, and I felt his chest expand and retract. “I’m so glad you’re here. I’m so
over being at the hospital, but at least you make it bearable.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just wrapped my arms around his lean waist and let him hold on
to me. I needed to figure out fast how deep in I was willing to go with him. The reality that he wanted
me
here, not because I knew how to navigate the ins and outs of the hospital, but because he wanted
me,
was
something I felt I needed to really get my head around.
I didn’t want to get hurt, but I had never considered that by handling this wrong, I could very well end
up hurting him. I didn’t like that idea at all.
“Cora brought the baby by. I can’t believe how tiny she is.”
I nodded and handed Phil a glass of water. He looked awful. It pained me to see him like this, wasting
away, the bedroom in his condo was basically converted into a hospital room. The more time went on, the
skinnier he got, the worse his pallor looked, and I could hear how gasping and sucking each breath he took
in and out sounded. I bent my head down and stared at the carpet between the toes of my Vans. I didn’t
want him to see how hard these visits were getting for me.
“She looks like a little doll when Rome holds her. She almost fits in the palm of one of his big bear
paws. She’s too tiny to know it yet but she has all the men in her life wrapped around her finger.” I joked
about it but it was true.
Remy Josephine Archer was a fuzzy, blond-haired, perfect miniature replica of her mom. Her eyes were
still infant dark, but at the center there was no mistaking the crisp, clear Archer blue. She was going to have
Rule’s eyes, Remy’s eyes. She was going to do her namesake proud, and Cora’s dad was already so in love
with his granddaughter, he was talking about moving from Brooklyn to Denver. Little R.J. was the first
baby for any of our patchworked family and there was no doubt she was going to be horrendously
overprotected and ridiculously loved. She deserved nothing less.
“How are you guys doing at the shop without Cora?”
Phil started coughing, and I looked up at him under my brows. He sounded so awful, it made my heart
squeeze so hard it stalled for a beat.
“It could be better. I can’t take as many clients, there was so much she handled. The first half of my day
is messing with new clients, doing shit on the Internet, and paying bills. It sucks. The construction at the
new shop started, so when I’m not trying to handle business at the Marked, I’m down there. Rule and
Rowdy found a couple good artists we’re going to bring in to pick up the slack and see if they’ll work out
at the new place, but for someone to run the desk and sit up front.” I just shook my head.