Aced (29 page)

Push the up button. Push it again. Pace three steps. Grumble. Push it again.

I’m not nervous. Not at all.

Door dings. Enter the elevator. Push the number three button. Smile politely to the man in the car, but keep my head down.

Scratch that. I’m freaking the fuck out now.

A stop on the first floor. The man walks off. Push close door. Push close door. Close the fucking door!

A baby. Holy shit.

Door closes.

I’m coming, Ryles.

Doors open just as my cell rings. I answer as I walk toward the nurses station.

“I don’t have much time, Shane. What’s up?”

“Is she okay?” he asks.

“Not sure yet. I’m almost there. I’ll text—”

“I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault.”

Come again? “What’s your fault?”

“I told Rylee I’d take care of Zander and then I called her and told her I was going there because the foster douchebag was meeting him and she was there. Zander told her lots of things and said he’d die if he went and that made her go into labor and now I’m worried I caused all of this—”

“Whoa! Slow down,” I say to stop his word vomit. What the fuck is he talking about? His words irritate my temper like an itch. How? Why?

Missing pieces fit together in my mind. Ry was at The House. Sammy was driving her to the hospital. Goddammit! Sammy drove her to The House to begin with. Against. My. Orders.

That itch turns into a full-blown scratch. I’ll be having words with Sammy. No doubt there.

“Colton?” I can hear the fear in his voice that I’m angry.

My mind is scattered as I make a wrong turn and get lost down the wrong hallway in this monster of a hospital. “I’m not mad,” I lie through gritted teeth because, hell yes, I’m pissed but it’s not at him. It’s at my wife.

“She was just trying to help Zander,” he says quietly, and my heart goes out to the kid. Kid? Shit. He’s a man now.
When the fuck did that happen
? I’m still trying to wrap my head around the notion—around the fact I’m here for her to have our baby—but it’s not lost on me Shane’s trying to protect Rylee from my anger.

Even now, when I’m frazzled and lost in this goddamn hospital trying to get to her, it’s impossible not to recognize the incredible job my wife has done to instill compassion for others in her boys.

Our baby’s going to be one lucky kid to have her as a mom.

“Colton?” Shane’s voice pulls me back from my thoughts just in time to prevent me from going the wrong way down a hallway.

Get a grip, Donavan
. Pay attention. Get to Ry.

“Is he okay?” I finally digest his words from a minute ago about what Zander had said. My shoes squeak on the polished floor as I rush down the hallway and look for signs to direct me.

“I’m with him. Yes. But Ry was so upset and—”

“Look. I’ll fix it somehow, okay?” I then pass what feels like the same exact place for a second time. I’m anxious. Worried. Need to get to Rylee and yet couldn’t find my way out of a wet paper bag right now if I had to.

“There is no fixing it,” he says with resignation.

“There is if we adopt him,” I say off the cuff, distracted, overwhelmed, trying to get to Rylee, navigate this place, and carry a conversation that I shouldn’t be having right now.

“Oh.”

And then it hits me what I’ve said and who I’ve said it to. Fuck! Ry’s concerns flood my head and yet I just went and opened by big fucking mouth and did exactly what she didn’t want to do—hurt one of her boys. Let them think we’d pick one over the others.

“Shit!” I say through gritted teeth as I make myself stop and pinch the bridge of my nose. I need to figure out how to make this right. I’ve been there. Unwanted. Feeling slighted. Jealous. On the wrong end of the schoolyard pick.
Fix this, Donavan
. “That’s not what I meant. I’m doing too many things at once: talking, walking, and trying to get to Ry. I suggested the idea just to fix the situation but we’d never really do it because there’s no way we could just adopt one of you and not all of you. And social services—”

“Would never allow you to adopt all of us,” he says, finishing my sentence for me. But then nothing else.

Silence hangs on the line as I grimace at what I just said. At talking without thinking. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Talk to me, Shane.
Cuz, dude, as much as I want to make sure this is right, I also have somewhere else I need to be like ten damn minutes ago.

“Shane?”

“Of course. Makes sense,” he says. And goddammit, I’m torn between making sure I believe he’s not upset and getting to where I need to be. I look up and fucking kick myself when I see the nurses station to my left.

“I’m here. I gotta go. We’ll talk later. I’ll keep you up to date, yeah?”

“Yeah.” I don’t hear anything else because I hang up as I impatiently wait for the nurse to look up. And when she does I get the usual response: wide eyes, big gasp, flushed cheeks.

“Hi. Wh . . . How . . . What can I help you with?” she stutters as her hand automatically goes to pat down her hair in a move I’ve seen more times in my life than I care to count.

“Room number for Rylee Donavan, please.” My smile is forced, my patience nil. Because now that I’m here I need to see her, touch her, know she’s not in pain.

That’s brilliant, Donavan
. Labor. The word means it’s not going to be easy. Pain is inevitable.

“Three eleven is the room, and you’ll need this,” she says as she pulls out a visitor’s badge from a stack sitting on the ledge next to her. “What name do you want?” She winks. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“Ace Thomas.” The name is off my tongue without thought.
Where’d that come from?

“Ace Thomas, it is,” she says writing it out and handing me the badge. “Good luck, Mr. Donav—Thomas.”

I flash her a smile and jog down the hall to where Sammy sits in a chair outside the door to her room. He lifts his eyes and locks them on mine. He knows I know, knows I’m pissed, and stiffens his spine.

“Her. Safety. Comes. First,” I say through gritted teeth. “Always. Understood?”

The words he wants to say as my friend are written clearly in his eyes, but his obligation as my employee and lead security keep them from coming out of his mouth. “Understood.”

It’s all he says. All I need to hear from him. Discussion over. Point made.

I push through the door and into the room anxious about what awaits me.
No turning back now. This is real as real can be.

Ry’s back is to me and Dr. Steele is just walking out. She smiles when she sees me. “Everything looks good, Colton. Be prepared to be a daddy within the next twenty-four hours,” she says, then shakes my hand.

“Colton!” Relief. I can hear it in her voice and breathe a little easier now that I’m here.

“I guess we didn’t have time to repaint those toes,” I say as I walk to her side of the bed and press a kiss to her lips. That’s what I needed. A little bit of Ry to calm me.

“Or do other things,” she murmurs with a smile.

“I got here as fast as I could.”

“Ace Thomas, huh?” she says, her eyes flickering down to my nametag and then back to mine with amusement. “I seem to have heard that somewhere before.”

“Hmm. I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” I feign ignorance.

“Just don’t tell my husband you’re here. He’s got a mean right hook.”

I laugh.
God, I fucking love this woman
. Framing her face with my hands, I take in the feel of her skin beneath mine and breathe in a huge sigh of relief. “You okay?” She nods her head, her eyes searching mine, and I know what she’s looking for, knows I’ve connected the dots. “Yes, I’m mad at you . . .”

Furious. Livid.

But I love you more.

“Don’t be mad at Sammy. I made him drive me,” she says with a cringe, and I hold back the snort I want to give because Sammy’s a badass motherfucker. I doubt she
made him
do anything but at the same time, I know how Rylee gets when it comes to her boys.

“Have you talked to Zander? I need to make sure he’s okay.”

The saint.
In a moment that’s all about her, she’s thinking about them.

“Rylee,” I say with a sigh but know she won’t give up or relax until she knows they are okay. “I just talked to Shane.”

“What did he say about Zander?”

“We talked. Shane’s still there with him. I’m sure he’s fine. Let’s worry about—”

“No. He’s not. He was scared and said some things that—”

“I’ll call him, okay? Make sure he’s all right. If I promise to do that, will you stop worrying about everyone else and start thinking about yourself right now?” Her huge violet eyes look up at me, searching to see if I’ll really make sure, and when she likes what she sees, she worries her bottom lip with her teeth and nods reluctantly. “Good, because I wasn’t taking no for an answer.” I flash her what she calls my panty-dropping smile. She rolls her eyes.

“Did you forget that this is my show, Ace?” She laughs as she reaches out and fists a hand in my shirt to pull my lips back to hers for another kiss. By all means. Kiss away. “No need to give me that smile, considering I’m not wearing any panties to drop in the first place.”

I laugh long and hard over that. The hospital gown, the monitors on her belly, the rubber gloves. They all scream sexy.
Not
. “So there’s no chance—”

“No chance in hell,” she says, pushing against my chest and as silly as it seems, this banter makes me feel a bit more relaxed about what it is that’s about to happen to us.

“You in pain?” I ask, unsure exactly what to ask or do.

“Only when I have contractions,” she says with a smirk. Smartass.

“So we sit and wait?”

“We sit and wait,” she agrees. I link my hand with hers and sit in the chair beside her bed.

Hours pass.

Minutes tick. Seconds lag.

Anticipation riots. Boredom reins. Doubt lingers.

I’m excited. Can’t wait to meet this little person.

Contractions come.

What am I doing? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I’m not ready to be a dad yet.

Contractions go.

Suck it up.

I’m brash and moody and selfish and I say
fuck
way too much.

Quit being such a pussy.

Contractions come.

I’ve never changed a diaper. Never even held a newborn.
God, what am I doing
? I’m completely clueless. Inept. How could I think I could do this?

Contractions go.

It’s a little too fucking late to turn back now, Donavan.

Panic claws at my throat. Fear tightens around my windpipe. I stand, pace the room to abate my nerves while Ry sleeps.

Breathe, Donavan. Fucking breathe
. Ry’s the one in labor and you’re the one nervous? Think of her. Worry about her.

The after part you’re worried about will just happen.

Relax.

Chill the fuck out.

I call Shane to eat up time. Try to right my wrongs and make sure he’s cool. Make sure Zander’s better. Hang up. Send Sammy to get some decent coffee downstairs. Wait some more.

I look out the window to the city beyond just as night begins to eat the daylight. Deep breath in. Exhale all the bullshit out. I glance up, surprised to see Ry awake in the window’s reflection.

Our eyes meet as a sleepy smile forms on her lips and my world clicks back into its place. How could I doubt this? Our connection? Our love? Our future? She’s my Midas. Everything she’s ever touched in my life has been made better, fucking golden, including me as a man.

I turn back around. Ready to do this.

Wheels on the track.

Hands on the wheel.

It’s time to add our first memory to the frame.