by C. M. Steele
"Dr. Simmons, I was just notified that your wife has been brought in.”
"Yes, came to get her some lab work after she vomited on our way here and then she fainted in the lab."
"Damn it.” He takes a look at her notes on the computer. “We'll do all we can. So far it’s a case of low BP which can be a side effect of pregnancy. Hopefully it's good news."
"I hope so, but I can't have her fainting every damn time she throws up,” I remark. I’ll be putting crackers in all her purses and on the nightstand.
"She's beautiful,” he says, lightly smacking my shoulder. “Congratulations.”
"Hello there, stranger. I like you," Sophia says, winking at him as she presses the raise head button on the bed so she’s in a sitting position. She’s still a little loopy, but I’m going to have to spank her ass for that later.
"Excuse us," I growl to him. He laughs and steps out.
"Are you flirting with my boss?"
She shakes her head excessively. "No. I like him because he's not a woman. Damn bitches all interested in my husband. You're mine."
I guess it really hasn’t been that long since Nurse Alma pulled that insane act. "Wow, someone is feisty. You need to rest and get your strength. Baby, I do have to ask if this is the first time you've thrown up."
"It's the second time today, but the first time I hadn’t even eaten yet."
While we wait for answers, I see the IV has done the job and Nurse Sarah comes in to change it. I need her on a saline drip to help the dehydration and add the salt so she can raise her BP. It’s still low, but not dangerously low.
I hit the vending machine in the waiting area and buy some Ritz crackers. “I need you to try and eat these. It’s been over thirty minutes. Just take it slowly.” She takes them from me and manages to eat half the package without feeling sick, which is a great sign.
The results come in from the bloodwork, and it's what we expected. "My love, we're having a baby."
“A baby? Yay!”
"Hello, I'm Dr. Nancy Hallström. I'm the head OB/GYN at the hospital. I'm going to go over your labs and make sure everything is okay. What you are experiencing is not entirely uncommon, but we'll still have to monitor it and hope it's a one-time thing."
“Thanks for coming down, Nancy. This is my wife, Sophia.”
“It’s truly a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard rumors that Joseph got married, and I’m thrilled they’re true. Taking it from your last menstruation, I’d say you’re about six weeks now.” It’s interesting that obstetricians count from a woman’s period instead of the possible conception. Either way, I’m happy. My wife is having my baby.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sophia
Joe leaves me to see other patients, but he promises to return. I need to check into the hotel before the room is given to someone else. I guess I technically have a room here anyway, but we’re here for two days so I want to make sure we have somewhere to sleep tomorrow.
"How are you feeling?" a nurse says as she comes in. She’s a thicker, older woman in her fifties, which makes me feel a little more at ease. After the drama with that nurse, I can’t stand a young nurse touching me.
I’m looking around to find my purse so I can get out of here. "I'm fine. A little tired, but I'm supposed to be checking in to the hotel across the street."
"Don't worry. Dr. Simmons took care of that. You'll be able to leave once you can hold something down. Your blood pressure and iron are really low. It's not safe, and since you married a man like Dr. Simmons, you will be stuck in the hospital until he feels you’re healthy enough to leave.”
"A man like Dr..."
"I mean that he's mad about you. It's so obvious that he's possessive and protective over you. We all want that for ourselves,” she remarks.
My face must be lit up with happiness because I know I’m radiantly ecstatic to be his wife. "Yes, he's pretty wonderful."
"How did you two meet?"
"His best friend married my sister. We met when my family came for their wedding."
She pats my hand and then checks the vitals on the monitor. "Oh, that's so adorable. Sorry. I'm such a softie. I've been married for twenty years to a man who is a lot like that. Super sweet, but he has that growly side that Dr. Simmons does."
Just as she moves to leave, Joe rushes into the room. He’s at my bedside with a frown. "Sophia, I just came in to check on you while I have a minute. They just radioed a shooting. I have to leave you here. I'm so sorry, baby."
I press my hand to his scruffy cheek and give him a gentle, understanding smile. "I'm sorry. I hope they are going to be okay."
He places his hand on mine and turns his head, kissing my palm. "We'll do our best. I need you to rest and get better. The hotel will hold our room for our arrival whenever that may be, either tonight or in the morning. Now, take care of my baby." He bends forward and steals a deep kiss before he runs off.
"See what I mean? So romantic." She holds her hand to her heart and sighs.
I wake up several hours later to another nurse checking my vitals. I take her in and she’s a little younger than my other nurse, but I notice the ring on her finger.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"No. It's okay. What time is it?"
"It's almost one in the morning."
"And Dr. Simmons?"
"He's in the middle of another surgery. Weekends are notorious for violence."
"Oh."
"It's okay. He checked in on you while you were sleeping." I smile to myself, loving how he's so insistent on making sure I'm doing well.
"Do you know when I'm going to be released?"
"Your vitals have improved. We'll have you ready to leave before the doctor ends his shift."
"Thank you. I'm going to go back to sleep," I say, sighing and releasing a yawn.
The next time I wake up, Joe is sitting in a chair by my side with his head on my bed. I reach over and brush his hair back.
“Good morning, Sophia,” he mutters, lifting his head up to look at me.
“Morning. Are you ready to go?”
“Yes. I’ve been done for about an hour, but I thought I’d let you rest as much as possible.” I really love this man. Joe thinks about me way more than he should. He helps me get dressed and then I sign a release form and we head out to the hotel.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Doc
March
For the past few months we haven’t had any problems with the cartel, but we’re all waiting for that other fucking shoe to drop, and it comes. I’m at the fucking clinic when I get a call to get over to the clubhouse as soon as I’m out of the office. Sophia’s at home resting and secure, so I rode my Harley to work. From the tone in Boomer’s voice, this isn’t something small. “I don’t mean to leave you to lock up, but I’ve got to get out of here,” I tell Tina.
“Is everything okay with Sophia?”
“Yes, I just need to meet with Boomer.” That’s all I say as I head to my office to get my things. I need to call Sophia and let her know I’m going to be late for dinner. This is the third time this week.
She picks up on the first ring. “Hey, don’t tell me you’re going to be late,” she huffs out before I can say anything.
“Sorry, baby. Boomer just called and told me I need to be down at the clubhouse.”
“Fine. Dinner will be here when you get home.” I don’t like her tone. It’s almost as if she doesn’t plan to be there when I get home.
“I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
“Bye.”
“I love you,”
“Me too.” Fuck, I’m in hot water.
I storm out to my reinforced, bulletproof bike that Wrench upgraded after my last incident in Paxton. I slip my leather briefcase into the saddlebag and hop on and kick the stand before driving away. My mind whirls with all the possibilities of this Church session. We’ve been trouble-free for months.
I pull into the secured lot and the
rest of the brothers are inside. Only a few prospects are outside. With the beefed-up electronic security and physical enhancements made after Mick’s attack, we don’t need constant outside presence, but with so many Riders gathered at once, we could be looking at a possible ambush.
“Hey.” I nod at the guys.
“Everyone else already here?”
“Yeah, Doc.” I walk inside and the mood is somber. Crystal is sleeping on the large sofa, and I hear someone in the kitchen.
“Hey, Doc, in here.”
“Guys, I brought you all here because we have some fucked-up news. Rico’s been killed.”
“No!” Beast roars.
“Fucking bullshit.”
“They’re all dead,” Boss adds in a low, menacing tone. He led us in several operations, and that’s the voice I remember. The one that said the enemy were about to meet their match.
I’m stunned. I can’t even speak. This is the fear we all faced from day one. Immediately, my thoughts are on Sophia. I text her to see if she’s okay. She can be mad at me, but I want to know she’s safe. She doesn’t respond back right away. I take a deep breath and remember that she’s pissed, so she’s purposely not responding.
“What the fuck happened?” Blade asks.
Boomer takes his seat at the head of the long table and sighs. “He was working undercover with the cartel. It happened after everything went down with Mick, but he’s been quiet about it. I knew it was a huge fucking risk. I knew that the danger was real.”
“Do we know where he is now? His body.”
“No, the Feds haven’t found the body. The only thing they know is his body was dealt with by the cartel. They dropped a present off with the ATF. It was his badge and his fake IDs. All his tracking devices were not active the night before they dropped off his stuff.”
“Damn. What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to drop bodies until we get answers. Once we find the one who killed Rico, we take that fucker out slowly.”
“Understood.”
“God, someone has to tell Demi and Asher.”
“They know. They’re the ones who called me. Mick, they are going to need time to deal with this,” Boomer answers.
“Of course, but they’re going to need twenty-four-hour protection. You damn well double it up on all of them.”
It’s been too damn long and she hasn’t answered me back, so I call as we decide how to attack the cartel. No fucking answer. I want to leave and check on her, but she’s just pissed at me. About five minutes later, Crystal comes in to ask if we need anything.
“Can you call your sister? She’s not answering for me.”
“What? Are you sure she’s not in trouble?” Blade asks.
“She’s pissed because I’m late to get home again.”
“Oh. So she’s ignoring your ass.”
“Exactly. Can you please call her and ask her to call me?” She nods and leaves the room. Two minutes later, she’s back.
“She’s not answering. Not even for me.” Let me check the exterior cameras. I run a scan of them, turning them to see her car is gone.
“Her fucking car is gone.”
“What?” The entire room is alert. Shit. Did someone wait for one of the women to be left alone? Or did she leave me.
“Cyber, I need you to track it.”
“On it.” He leaves the room to go to the main security center in the clubhouse.
“She’s stopped in a large shopping center.” Fuck, someone could have dumped her car there.
My phone pings. I’ll kill someone if they took her.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sophia
I look at my reflection up and down in the mirror several times, wondering if I’m not sexy enough for him anymore. I know he’s a doctor, but he works at a clinic with two gorgeous women who aren’t knocked up. My cheeks have gotten rounder, and my ass has some dimples in it that I never saw before. I grab the hem of the baby-doll nightie I put on for him and toss it on the floor. Bastard.
My ass is crazy, but fuck if I’m going to continue to sit around while he keeps making excuses. I’m losing my mind, sitting around waiting for him to come home, only to be left hanging. I’m crying again. It’s the twentieth time this week that I let the waterworks take over. I love him so much that I miss him to the point of insanity.
“I can’t take this anymore,” I huff out as I stare in our large bathroom mirror. Unable to stop the pain in my chest, I get dressed and head out in my car to find somewhere to go. I can’t drink, but I need one. Instead, I decide a trip to a bookstore will do the trick to calm my frustration. The nearest one is in the outskirts of Dallas.
Once I reach the main highway out of Steeleville, it becomes total darkness. Fucking shit. Luckily this road takes me to the Dallas city limits. My phone takes that moment to ding with a notification. It’s in my purse, and I can’t stop on the side of the road to check it, so it’ll have to wait until I get to my destination.
I turn up the music and let it blare in my ears, forgetting that my heart’s hurting. I should call my sister. Then again, she would see reason and understand that Joe would never hurt me like that, and more than likely is really working hard. I don’t think I can handle this housewife thing. My phone rings repeatedly right before I get to the first red light.
I can see the large Barnes and Noble on the corner, and a smile stretches across my face. Maybe they have a book on nutty, pregnant wives. I pull into their parking lot and pick up my purse, digging out my phone to see two missed calls from Joe and two from Crystal.
A text from Joe says, Are you safe?
Crystal left me one too. Just call Joe and let him know you’re okay before he loses his mind.
So he doesn’t care that I left or when I’m coming back. I see.
I’m fine. I send the message to both of them, so I don’t have to worry my sister. He probably called her when I wasn’t at the house. I power off my phone and tuck it back in my bag. I don’t want to deal with any more shit until I get home. Then he can get pissed all he wants.
I open my car door and look around. There’s a car with tints that just pulled up behind me. I close my door and click it locked, picking up my pace as I head to the bookstore. I normally smile like a fool as I reach the doors, but instead of pleasure, a sinking feeling hits me. I can sense someone’s eyes are on me.
“Hey, beautiful. Do you remember me?” I ignore the man and grab the door handle. His hand slams on it, and he blocks it.
“No, I don’t. You have the wrong woman.”
“No. I think you’re the perfect woman. Too bad that husband of yours doesn’t know how to keep a leash on you. I can fix that.” I’m scared, but then again, my brothers trained me for this moment. Nurse Alma was just a practice run. I need to just incapacitate him long enough to get in the building.
God. I just need to get inside. I throw my elbow up and clock him in the nose, and that’s enough for me to get in the door. I find the nearest employee and explain what happened. They call the cops, and I pull out my phone to call Joe. It takes forever for it to turn on and boot up. Damn it. My phone goes off in my hand as soon as it does. I click the button because I need to hear his voice.
“Baby, thank fucking God. I’m on my way to the mall. Where are you?”
“I’m inside the Barnes and Noble,” my voice cracks.
“Fuck, love. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“It’s not that. I was threatened outside of the store. The cops are on the way right now.”
“I’m already on my way. Stay inside away from the windows and don’t leave. Do not leave with anyone, including the cops. You hear me?”
“Okay. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The woman working at the register brought me a bottle of water. “The police are coming. We have cameras, so we’ll get the scumbag.”
I break the seal and drink
a sip. It’s all I can manage because I feel so sick. “Bathroom?” I ask.
“This way.” She walks me to the women’s restroom. “I’ll wait right here.”
I throw up a couple of times before I can function again. There’s shouting outside the bathroom door. “Ma’am, I’m telling you to get out of my way. I need to check on my wife and I’m not letting you stop me.”
“Joe,” I call out.
“I’m here, baby.” The woman lets him in and he pulls me into his arms. “Fuck, Sophia. Damn it. Baby, how are you? How’s my baby?”
“We’re both fine. He didn’t get to hurt me. I was just so scared.”
“Excuse me, but the police want to speak to you.”
“Can you talk to them?”
“Yes.”
As we step out, the officer recognizes my husband. “Dr. Simmons, right?”
“Yes.”
“You saved my niece in the accident a couple months back.” That’s the one I remember him coming home late for during our first time apart after we married. “We can’t thank you enough.”
“I was just doing my job.”
“Well, let me do mine. Mrs. Simmons, correct?” I nod. “Can you tell us what happened?”
“I pulled up to the lot and parked, grabbed my things, and stepped out of my car. That’s when I noticed a car that pulled in behind me with tinted windows. I felt uncomfortable, so I tried to hurry to the door. I got to the entrance, and he stopped me. He threatened me, and then I hit him and ran inside the building.”
“Okay. The store has surveillance cameras, so the manager is queuing up the video now.” When I hear the door open, I see the Riders coming in. There are three of them. Then I look around, and there are four more. Wow. I can’t believe they came here that fast.
“Let’s sit down, baby. You’re in shock.” I do as my husband says and take a seat at one of their cozy chairs in the magazine section. “Drink some more water.” He looks over to the woman who has been an angel and asks, “Do you have some chocolate or other sweets? I need some for her.” Boomer pulls out his wallet and hands the woman a twenty without asking.
