Hell Bent (Rock Bottom #1) (21 page)

I freeze where I am with no clue what to do. Thankfully, Abby realizes something is wrong and springs to her feet. She doesn’t ask what is wrong; instead, she helps Izzy off the stage and toward the door. Jameson whistles at me, waving his hand at the door.

“Let’s go, lover boy. You wanted in, you’re in.”

It’s like his words were all I needed to hear, and I jump into action. Leaping over the amps in front of me, I’m at the door before anyone else. I holler over my shoulder, telling the manager that I’ll be back for my stuff and don’t wait for a response before I slide out onto the sidewalk. Snow covers everything, and if I wasn’t so focused on Abby and Tuesday attempting to put Izzy in the truck, I’d probably pick some up and hit the guys with it.

“Izzy, baby, you have to get in the truck.” Abby attempts to coax her in but gets nowhere. Izzy bends, clutching her stomach, and cries out in pain. 

Tuesday, Izzy’s aunt, runs her hand along her spine. “Honey, if you’re in labor we have to get you to the hospital.”

“No,” Izzy cries. “It’s too early, I still have a month. I can’t do this. Not yet, maybe not ever.”

“It’s a little late to think like that,” Willow jokes, earning herself her own death glare.

“
Not
helping,” Izzy barks out.

Gently easing my way between Tuesday and Vanessa, I tap on Abby’s shoulder, and she steps out of my way. The snow begins to fall faster, covering Izzy, so I pull my jacket off the front seat and wrap it around her shoulders.

“I can’t do this, Bennett,” she sobs, standing up a bit. Meeting my eyes, I cup her cheek and shift my thumb back and forth across her skin. “I know I joked about evicting him earlier, but I’m not ready. It’s too early, he can’t come yet.” 

“Everything is going to be ok, Izzy. I promise. I’m not letting anything bad happen. You are ready,
we’re
ready. Everything will be OK, but you have to get in the truck. We need to take you to see the doctor and find out if you’re in labor, because if you are, you can’t have him out here in the snow.”

“It’s too early,” she says again. I slowly seal my lips over hers, ignoring the growls coming from the four overgrown men behind me. When I pull back, I rest my head against hers.

“Everything is going to be OK, I promise.”

A few more encouraging words and I finally manage to get her into the truck. Sliding in next to her, I toss the keys to Willow and ask her to drive. She looks at me like I’m crazy, and I know that she doesn’t normally drive, but she climbs in nervously and slowly pulls out into traffic while everyone else loads into their cars and follows.

“I’m not ready,” she whispers against my shoulder. “It’s too early for him to come.”

I squeeze her hand, pulling it to my lips. “We’re almost to the hospital, love. We’ll make sure he’s OK.”

Braxton Hicks. I panicked over fucking Braxton Hicks. If I freak out that much over false labor, how bad am I going to be when the real thing happens?

Rolling to my side, I slip my legs off the side of the bed and sit up. Everyone except Bennett left a few minutes ago, but he walked them out, so I’m alone for a minute.

“Hi.” A small voice from my door draws my attention and when I look up, I can’t help but smile at the small, bald girl standing there.

“Hi.”

She shuffles in, wearing
Frozen
pajamas and slippers, dragging a blanket around with the hand not pushing the IV pole.

“What’s your name?”

She climbs into the chair at the end of the bed before answering. “Aurora. What’s yours?”

“That’s a very pretty name, Aurora. I’m Izzy.”

“I’m this many.” Lifting her hand, she holds up four fingers. “My mommy says she named me Aurora because I was booful like the Aurora boredialis.”

I snort, quickly covering my mouth with the back of my hand. “Where is your mommy, Aurora?”

Shrugging, her face falls. “At home with my dad. They had to go home so they could work.”

“So you’re here all alone?” My heart breaks when she nods. How could someone leave their sick child alone in the hospital? “How did you get down here all alone?”

“I walked, silly.”

I laugh. Standing up, I grab my phone and shoot a message off to Bennett after I read her ID bracelet, letting him know that I’m headed two floors up to bring her back. “I bet someone is looking for you. Why don’t we see if we can jailbreak me for a minute so I can take you back up?”

Aurora stays quiet but slides out of the chair and reaches for my hand. Since I’m being discharged anyway I don’t think they’ll give me an issue. After letting the nurse in charge of me know where I’m going, I waddle along beside her until we reach her floor, and as soon as we step off of the elevator, a nurse comes running.

“Aurora Taylor, we’ve told you before that you can’t wander off alone.”

Ignoring her, Aurora turns toward me and kisses my belly. Her hand rests against the side and she giggles. Normally someone touching my stomach drives me insane. I don’t walk up to people and grab their tits—well, normally, anyway—so you would think that people would have the same courtesy with a pregnant woman’s belly. But with Aurora, something is different. I don’t feel violated, I feel blessed, and I’m not sure what to think about that.

“Bye, baby,” she whispers before turning away.

I continue to watch her until she disappears into a room.

“Thank you, but I’m sorry you had to bring her back up here. I just noticed that she was gone and was headed to call security when the elevator opened.”

“It’s not an issue,” I tell her honestly. “Is she really here all alone?”

“Yeah.” The nurse’s face drops. “Her parents come in when they can, but they both have to work and barely seem to be scraping by as it is. They only have one car that barely runs, and they live too far away to come in every night.”

“That’s so sad.”

“Yeah. We see them once or twice a week at most. She’s a handful, but since we don’t have a pediatric cancer unit, she’s stuck here, and we don’t have security monitors on the patients.”

“Does she disappear a lot?”

Shrugging, she turns to look at the door. “A few times a month. She gets bored when she’s here alone and finds someone she likes to talk to before security finds her.”

“I can’t believe she’s here all alone.”

I know she’s already told me more than she probably should, but she continues talking. “Her parents tried to be here full time, at least one of them at a time anyway, but it bankrupted them.”

Something inside me breaks, my heart maybe, who knows. It’s probably because I’m about to be a mother and the thought of leaving my child alone while they are sick makes me more emotional than anything.
I have to do something.

“There you are,” Bennett whispers in my ear as he steps up behind me.

After thanking the nurse, I grab Bennett’s hand and ask him to take me home.

I’ve been in this bed for two hours staring at the ceiling. I’m still in pain, but thankfully, with my mind focused on the things I learned about Aurora earlier, I don’t notice it as much.

“Bennett,” I whisper, trying to see if he’s awake.

“Izzy,” he whispers back. Under the blanket his hand slides across my hip.

I roll toward him. “You’re awake.”

“Mhm. It’s hard to sleep through all that sighing.”

The dim light filtering in through the window highlights his face, and I can see the humor behind his words. I swat at his chest and snuggle closer when he laughs. “I have to do something for them.”

“I know.”

Pulling back, I stare up at him. “What? How do you know?”

“Because I know you, and it’s how I know you’re going to be an amazing mother.”

“Do you think I’ll be overstepping if I do stuff for them? Do you think it will upset her parents?”

“No, I don’t think they’ll get upset about being helped. I think they’re going to be grateful for the help. It has to be hard not to be with their kid every day while she’s sick.”

“They’re missing out on so much, and they don’t know how much longer they will have with her.”

“So,” he whispers, pushing my hair off my face. “What are you gonna do about it?”

I think for a minute, wondering what I would want most if the situation were reversed.

“Help them.”

“Izzy,” Meg calls, peeking around the edge of the desk. “The Taylors are here.”

I clap my hands together, bouncing up and down in my chair like a child. I have never been so excited, or so nervous, in my life. This is the first time that I have been able to pull something off like this by myself.

Standing, I smooth my shirt down and follow her out to the reception area. As soon as Aurora sees me, she jumps off the chair and rushes toward me. Ignoring me for a minute, she goes straight for my stomach, rubbing her hands over it. Her parents try to call her off as she presses a kiss against it, but I wave them off.

“She’s the only one allowed to kiss my belly except my boyfriend.” Reaching out, I introduce myself to them while gently sliding my hand over Aurora’s head.

“I don’t mean to be that person,” her mother, Tawyne, starts before we even sit down. “But can you please tell us why you wanted us to take Aurora out of the hospital and bring her down here for the day?”

I smile, asking them to follow me, and I lead them back to the couch they just left. My feet and back are killing me today, so I’d rather keep them as comfortable as I can until I’m showing Aurora around, and take seat across from the Taylors. Aurora climbs into my lap without asking. I’m still in awe of her. She barely knows me yet feels completely comfortable with me.

“I hope when I tell you what I’m about to tell you that you won’t think I’m overstepping my bounds, but I wanted to do something for you guys. I know how hard everything has been for you guys since Aurora got sick, and I can’t imagine how hard it is for you guys to leave her alone at the hospital.”

“You don’t have to do anything for us,” Tawyne stammers, attempting to hold back tears already. If she’s about to cry knowing I got something for them, I’m afraid of how bad it’s going to be when she finds out exactly what I did.

“I know I don’t have to, but I can, so I’m going to.” Pulling a set of keys from my pocket, I squeeze them in my hand. “I learned a lot when I met Aurora the other day, and I know very well that time is precious and cancer sucks. So I have three keys for you guys and a few other things as well. They’re yours, all yours with no strings attached on one condition: you let Aurora hang out here with me today until she needs to get back to the hospital.”