Tough Love (Hidden Secrets) (27 page)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Jackson

Forty-Eight
hours later…

This had to be the worst two days of my life. This has been the most that I’ve paced, prayed, cursed, cried, and screamed. There, lying in the bed, still unconscious to the world around her, was my world. I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve asked myself why she hasn’t woken up. I knew the drill. Everyone here knew me. I frequented here often helping doctors leave less scars. Now the one person who needs the help the most, I can’t help. Running my hands through my already messed up hair, I paced the room for the billionth time.

“You’re
going to wear a hole in the floor, you know?”

“Shut
up.”

“You’ll
fall through the floor then.”

“Shut
up,” I hiss getting more agitated.

“Unless
you have some cool super power and can walk on air.”

“Shut
up!” I yelled.

“Actually,
that’d be kind of cool…”

“Shut
the fuck up!” I roared.

“Dude
someone’s testy,” He held his hands up in mock defense.

“My
fiancée is lying there in a hospital bed after losing it in the hallway of the maternity ward. She hasn’t woken in two fucking days! I have a right to be
testy
. Why is it that you’re here anyway? To annoy me?”

“I
have my reasons,” he says guarded suddenly.

“Yeah?
Well, you’re going to start talking now or all this that’s going on in my head is going to be taken out on you,” I hissed.

“You
got a problem with me. I, too, have my own things going on in my head. Believe me,” Danger’s voice darkens, “you don’t want me to take them out on you.”

“Stop
yelling,” came a scratchy groan from behind me.

Danger
forgotten, I ran to Shannon’s side. Taking her hand in mine, I lightly ran my fingers down her cheek, as her eyes flickered opened before she closed them on a groan.

“Princess?
How are you feeling?”

“My…”
she licks her lips. “My head and throat hurt,” she licks her lips again, pursing her lips. “I’m thirsty,” she says hoarsely.

“Make
yourself useful and get some ice water.”

“I’m
no one’s slave.”

I
turned around and glared at him. “I don’t know what your fucking problem is, but you wanted to be here, now fucking help!”

“Jack,”
her voice cracked.

I
turned back to her, taking hold of her hand again. “Shh, don’t talk. We’re getting you water right now.”

I
heard Danger huff behind me before walking out of the room. That man was pissing me off, but I had to be thankful for him. He allowed me to get to Shannon and took on Ceo. He had to have a few stitches and I’m sure will be bruising, but other than that, he held his own well.

“Jack,
what happened?” She asked, opening her eyes again.

When
our eyes met, mine filled with tears as relief flowed through me. “They call it a break, a sign of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We were in seeing Mitchell and…”

She
gasped and her hand tightened fractionally around mine. “Is Mitchell okay?”

“Yes,”
I nodded. “You told Tobey to take him and ran from the room.” Running my finger down her cheek, “Do you remember anything?”

She
closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her eyes darted about behind her closed lids. She took another deep breath. “I remember screaming for you. The doctors wouldn’t let me go to you, but then you showed up.” Her eyes moved faster behind her eyelids before they shot open and she gasped for air.

“Princess?
What’s wrong?” Tears welled in my eyes. My heart was breaking from the helpless feeling that was taking over me.

Her
head turns slowly toward me. She stares at me as if she couldn’t believe who I was. Tears welled in her eyes and she began to shake. Shifting to the bed, I wrapped her in my arms and held her. Just then, Danger walked in with water and a nurse.

The
nurse asked me to get off the bed and she went about checking her vitals. Shannon whispered something to the nurse. The nurse smiled and whispered back. A teary smile spread across her face. Whatever the nurse said brought her a sense of peace.

“I’ll
be back in a little bit with the doctor. He’ll decide on your discharge, okay?”

“Thank
you,” Shannon said in a raspy voice.

Taking
the cup from Danger, I sat down on the bed and raised it to her lips. Shannon took a few sips before laying her head back to the pillows. It was then her eyes landed on Danger.

“Oh
sweetie, this is Danger. Danger this is my fiancée, Shannon.”

“That’s
a real name?” She asked with a smirk.

“Yeah.
My real name. From a mother that looked at me, saw my father, and turned away,” he said almost with a sneer. “I need to talk to you, Ms. Mitchell, in private,” he said looking at me.

“I
don’t think so. I’m not leaving her side.”

Shannon
scooted higher on the bed, groaning slightly. “Whatever you need to say can be said in front of Jackson. I’d just tell him later. This would just save time.”

“Do
you know who I am?”

“N-no.
Should I?”

“Fuck,
I just can’t get a break. I’m your half-brother,” he hissed at her.

“You’re
my what?”

“When
your mom couldn’t get pregnant, they decided that he could find someone to have the kids that she couldn’t. That’s when he found my birth mom. Don’t ask me how long they were together, but apparently long enough for him to break my mom. Then he was just gone. I found out later that he left because you’re mom finally got pregnant. I came here to find you and dear ol’ dad. Thought he’d been in here by now.”

Taking
a shaking breath, I watched as she swallowed hard, “M-my parents died a year ago. It’s just me and my brothers.”

Looking
at the man before me, I could now see the resemblance between her and the boys and this guy. No matter I was little pissed that he was upset with Shannon. So I stood and got close to his face.

“If
you think you are going to come in here and act as if Shannon is to blame for you not having a father in your life, I’ll kick your ass out right now. She’s been through e-fucking-nough!”

He
closed his eyes and clenched his fists, opening them. It was then I noticed a sheen of tears glossing his eyes. “That’s not why I’m here.”

He
moved around me and sat on the edge of the bed. Reaching for her hand, but stopped short. Letting out a deep sigh, he looked at Shannon for a moment.

Dropping
his eyes down, “I’ve been looking for you for a while. Then when my buddy calls and tells me they could use help up here, I jumped on it because this was the last area I knew you were. Only when I got here literally two days later, I’m called by my buddy asking for my help to rescue you. I didn’t want to meet like this,” he cut off.

Shannon
reached up and touched his face, causing him to look up in her eyes. “I can see my dad in your face,” she smiles sadly, shaking her head. “I’m sorry he wasn’t there for you. If it means anything to you, I don’t think he knew about you. He wanted so bad for a son. I’m sure if he’d known you were around, he would have found you.”

“You
just said you have brothers,” he says, confused.

“They
are four years old.”

“Oh,”
he says, shocked.

“So
I have a big brother?” She smiles brightly.

He
laughed. “Yeah, looks like it, but I’m only four months older than you.”

“Good
enough,” Shannon says opening her arms to Danger.

It
was weird to see this dark, mysterious man so kind and caring like he is right now. But just as I had the thought, he stood from the bed, squared his shoulders and hardened his face. He looked at me through dark and guarded eyes.

“So
you’re marrying my sister?”

“Oh
dude, don’t start,” I pushed him out of the way and sat down on the bed. “Are you feeling better baby?”

“Much,
but I need to tell you something because apparently I haven’t.”

She
looked nervous and that put me on edge. “What? What’s wrong?”

She
took a deep breath, licked her lips and whispered, “I’m pregnant.”

My
first instincts kicked in and I kissed her, I kissed her hard and passionately. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me back just the same passion. Just as I shifted to my knees and leaned over her, Danger broke the moment.

“I’m
fully aware of how babies are made, but I’d appreciate you not give me a demonstration with my sister.”

“I
already hate you,” I growled teasingly.

“
Back at ya,” he says, slapping my back. “Congratulations guys.”

* * *

Finally, we were leaving the hospital. Mary had been released before Shannon had even woken. Mitchell is doing better and no longer needs oxygen. You know as unsure as I was about Tobey in the beginning, he was perfect for my sister. The way he was with Mitchell told me that my nephew would have the same kind of dad that I have. Glancing over at Shannon, she was asleep with her head resting on the window. Reaching over, I placed my hand on her stomach. It was still hard to believe that she was pregnant with my baby. They did a scan to show us the baby was fine because we both worried with all that happened… They told us our baby was perfectly healthy. 

Pulling
into the drive at home, I looked at the house. It seemed like a lifetime since we’d been home. Danger was taking over my apartment. Jake as supposed to take it, but he changed his mind. Something about not being in town enough. I never understood his and Mary’s thinking. If it were me, no matter how little I was in town I’d want a home to come to, not a family member’s house or in Jake’s case a hotel.

Walking
around the car, I slowly lifted Shannon into my arms. Kicking the door shut with my foot, I carried her inside laying her gently on the bed. Gently I undressed her, before doing the same myself and climbing in next to her.  As I wrapped her in my arms, I sighed with relief. Thanking God that I still have her with me before falling asleep.

Waking, I was having an amazing dream that I was making love to Shannon. I was painfully hard. Only thoughts of Shannon did that to me. Slowly, I tried to slip my arm out from under her without waking her. Just as my arm was almost completely out, she rolled over and straddled my hips.

“No
you don’t. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”

“Baby,
I don’t think-”

Just
as I started to protest, she grabbed my erection and lowered herself slowly down on me. My head pushed back into the pillows as her warmth wrapped around me. Oh how I’ve missed this.

“Yes,”
she breathed as she fully seated herself on me.

“Oh
fuck,” I whispered before reaching up and bringing her down to my mouth as she rocked on me.

The
kiss was passionate, full of love, and animalistic hunger. The deeper the kiss got the faster her movements became. Soon my hips were thrusting in time with her. I kept my hands in her hair and kissing her. Honestly, I was afraid to touch her. I had been the one to remove the clamps from her nipples, stitched the gashes, and witnessed her breakdown. No this was her dance and she would lead it.

“Make
love to me Jackson. Please. Show me that I don’t disgust you now. Touch me. Love me. Please.” She whispered.

“I’m
afraid of hurting you,” I whispered honestly, looking in her eyes.

“You’ll
only hurt me by rejecting me,” she breathed sadly.

After
I looked in her eyes a bit longer, I rolled us over. Carefully, I moved my arms under her shoulders, cocooning her. She wrapped her legs around my waist and we made slow, passionate love to each other. My thrusts were slow and deep. Trailed kisses from her jaw to her ear and down her neck. I gently kissed around her stitches and down to her breasts. Lightly I swirled my tongue around her hardened bud before gently taking it in my mouth. She hissed, but held my head to her chest. Repeating the same thing to her other breast. My tongue ran back up to her mouth and I kissed her deeply.