Choosing You: The Pierced Hearts Duet: Book Two

by M. Robinson

  “He lost you, didn’t he? That doesn’t sound like a smart man to me.”

  Motherfucking swoon….

  “He’s street smart. The worst kind. Sean’s a two-bit hustler who has his hands in everything from drugs, to guns, to who knows what else.”

  “Do you have any proof of that?”

  “No. But all it would take is to follow him around for a few days. He’d lead you right to his dirty deeds. His biggest weakness is that he’s too cocky. He thinks he’s untouchable.”

  “And what role did you play in that life?”

  I mocked, “His queen.”

  “I see.”

  “You say that a lot.”

  “Do I now?”

  “You do that a lot too. Answer a question with a question. What are you hiding, Dr. Pierce?”

  He eyed me up and down. “From you?”

  “Mmm hmm…”

  “What am I not.”

  “What does that—”

  “Have you spoken to him?”

  “No. I haven’t even heard from him which is odd.”

  Ignoring my statement, he asked, “Did Sean ever hurt you?”

  I took a deep breath, it was such a loaded question. “Not physically, but sometimes I wonder if that would have hurt less than the emotional damage he caused. He ran around on me every chance he had. I was never enough. Ever. It didn’t matter what I wore, how I treated him, what I did for him… I—” pointing to myself “—was never good enough.”

  Aiden’s eyes glazed over as he stared deep into my eyes, contemplating what he was going to say.

  I never expected him to follow up with, “I was right. He’s a very stupid man because I guarantee you, Cami, you were always enough. And you still are, for any man.”

  My heart burst.

  No one had ever talked to me like this.

  No one.

  He didn’t stop there. “You’re the most selfless person I’ve ever met. You don’t ask for anything in return, yet you give everyone your all.”

  “I thought I was just a babysitter who did a shitty fuckin’ job at cleaning your house and cooking your food.”

  “If that were true, you wouldn’t be here.”

  “Is this your way of saying you’re sorry?”

  “No.” With a stern expression, he confided, “My way of apologizing has been by taking care of you. No one has appreciated what they’ve had in front of them, and I have a huge fuckin’ problem with that.”

  “Oh…”

  His eyes followed the movement of my mouth.

  “Is that why you’ve done all this for me? Because you felt bad for treating me like shit?”

  “Amongst other things.”

  “What things?”

  Journey chose that moment to wake up, calling out, “Ma!” in the monitor.

  Which was another thing that changed in our dynamic. Journey thinking I was her mother didn’t faze him anymore.

  “For the record,” I made clear, standing to go tend to Little Miss, “a simple apology would have sufficed.”

  He leaned over the cheesecake, getting close to my face. The scent of his cologne assaulted my senses and I stopped breathing when he huskily groaned, “For the record, it wouldn’t have.”

  <>Aiden<>

  “You’ve been spending less time at the hospital, Dr. Pierce,” Renee, my RN, pointed out.

  “I’m making up for lost time with my kids.”

  “And the nanny?”

  What is it with everyone and the nanny questions lately?

  If it wasn’t Noah, it was Skyler riding my fucking ass.

  Was I that obvious?

  Feeling irritated and annoyed, I snapped, “I don’t have time for your bullshit today, Renee. My surgery board is full, and I need to be home early tonight. So say what you want or go do your job.”

  She put her hands out in front of her in a surrendering gesture. “I was just saying…”

  “I know what you’re saying.”

  “Aiden, not sure if you remember because you are getting up there in age, but I was the one who ordered Camila’s cheesecake for you to pick up last week.”

  “Your point being?”

  “You never order cheesecake for anyone. You obviously like her.”

  I growled, harshly grabbing the charts out of her hands, rounding my desk to sit down.

  “I never thought I’d finally see the day that Dr. Pierce is smitten with someone. And let me just say, it’s about damn time.”

  “Don’t you have patients to take care of?”

  “I just made my rounds.” She sat down in the chair in front of me, placing her elbows on my desk and resting her chin on her hands. “So… tell me everything. Have you made a move yet?”

  I glared up at her through the slits of my eyes.

  “Please! You gotta give me some sorta gossip to feed my soul. I’ve been waiting for this since you hired her. Come on, spill!”

  “Do I look like Chatty fuckin’ Cathy to you, Renee?”

  “No. You look like an asshole withholding information. You never want to talk about anything. I’ve been with you for over ten years. I always have to pry everything out of you. So here I am, prying.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Have you gone on a date?”

  “For fuck’s sake, Renee.” I leaned back into my chair. “Do I look like a fuckin’ teenage boy to you now?”

  She rolled her eyes, already used to my temper. “Can you stop with the broody shit? I’m really kind of over it.”

  “Great. There’s the door.”

  “I’m not leaving until you give me something.”

  “I’ll give you something. Mr. Sanders in bed B needs an enema. How about you go clean up his shit?”

  “Very funny.” She looked at her nails. “But I do need a manicure. Maybe I should ask Camila if she wants to go with me? I bet she’d spill the dirt on you two. I feel like we’d have a lot in common. You know, having an asshole as a boss and all.”

  “Are you trying to get yourself fired?”

  “Nah. You wouldn’t fire me. There’s no else in the state of North Carolina that would put up with you like I do.”

  “We could always find out.”

  “Aiden,” she firmly said my name. “You’ve made at least seventy-five percent of the female staff cry in the last few years, and I’m not counting the women you made quit.”

  “What can I say? I have high standards.”

  “We both know it had nothing to do with your high standards.” She locked her hands behind her head. “I can stay here all day. I got time.”

  “Great.” I abruptly stood and in three long strides I was over to the door, opening it. “Then you can assist me with my patient evaluation, seeing as you have all the time in world today, not to mind your own business.

  “Aiden—”

  “Let’s go.”

  I didn’t pay her any mind as we made our way over to triage, focusing on the patient’s chart in my hands.

  Once we reached their curtain, I pulled it back. “Hello, Mr. Mitchell,” I greeted. “I’m Dr. Pierce and this is my nurse, Renee. How are you feeling today?”

  He scratched his head, taking me in. “I know you. Bobby, I haven’t seen you in years.”

  My eyes shifted toward his wife who was standing by his side with concern written all over her face.

  “Henry, honey, that’s not Bobby. Bobby passed away. This is Dr. Pierce and his nurse, Renee. He just told you that, remember?”

  He grumbled, “Of course I remember, Hazel.” Getting agitated quickly.

  “Mr. Mitchell, can you tell me where you are?” I questioned, immediately feeling like the room was caving in on me.

  “I’m… we’re… who are you again?”

  Renee must have felt my panic, she instantly grabbed the chart out of my hands and faced him. Turning her back to me.

  “Mr. Mitchell, I’m Renee. How are you feeling? A little confused, disoriented?”

  I backed away, needing some
air.

  “Breathe, Bailey,” I coaxed on the phone with my girl. “Just remember to breathe, Beauty.”

  “Aiden,” I heard Renee from afar.

  “Tell me where you are?”

  “I don’t know! I don’t know where I am!”

  “Aiden!”

  “Bailey, is someone around you? Give them the phone now!”

  “Aiden!”

  “I’m scared! I’m really scared!”

  “I know, baby. Stay with me okay? Just stay with me.”

  My heart pounded.

  My adrenaline spiked.

  Sweat pooled at my temples.

  As panic set in.

  A loud boom came through the receiver.

  “Bay? What was that? Are you in a car?”

  “Aiden!” Renee clapped her hands in my face, snapping me back to the present. “Holy fuck! Where did you go? Don’t do that to me! I’m sorry, I should have looked at his char—”

  My phone rang, interrupting her.

  I answered on autopilot, “This is Dr. Pierce.”

  “Dad!”

  “Jackson?”

  “Dad! It’s Journey! She’s… she’s… Camila, is trying to calm her but… fuck! She’s burning up and losing her shi—”

  Blood curdling screams came over the phone, followed by gasps of breath from my baby girl, cutting Jackson off.

  My heart sank deep into the pit of my stomach.

  “Renee, reschedule my surgeries and call Dr. Carver in. I ha—”

  “Go! I got this!”

  It was only then I realized we were back in my office.

  How did we get back here?

  “I’m on my way,” I told Jackson, rushing out of the hospital with my mind on one person and one person only.

  My baby girl.

  Because the alternative hurt too fucking much.

  Chapter 16

  <>Aiden<>

  As soon as I pulled into the garage, I could hear Journey’s ear-piercing wails, causing my blood to run cold and my mind to spin.

  I grabbed my medical bag from the passenger seat and jumped out of my car, darting toward the door to get to my baby girl. My heart pounding a mile a minute.

  “I know, Little Miss… I know… Daddy’s on his way to make you feel all better, I promise…”

  “DA! DA! DA!” she screeched in a high-pitched tone when she saw me sprinting through the door in the kitchen. Her chubby little arms reaching for me like her life depended on it.

  Camila spun instantly with a troubled Journey in her arms. Her face was bright red and frightened. I’d never seen her so thrown off course and it stopped me dead in my tracks.

  Dragging me back to another place and time.

  “Bailey, you’re doing great, Beauty. She’s almost here, our baby girl is almost here.”

  “What’s happening?”

  “Journey’s on her way to us, baby. The doctors are getting her out now.”

  “What? Why? It’s not time.”

  “It’s tim—”

  Monitors started going off.

  “She’s hemorrhaging!” Dr. Stein shouted. “Get the baby out of there now!”

  “DA!” Journey screamed, making me feel like I was losing my goddamn mind. She kicked her legs, twisting everyway she could to get out of Camila’s arms and into mine. “DA!” She crudely smacked her in the face, causing Camila to grimace with a pained look in her eyes. “DA!”

  “Journey, please…” she begged, holding onto her as best as she could.

  “Here, I’ll take her again,” Jackson intervened with a worried Jagger standing right beside him. Both of my boys helping Camila and my baby.

  Because of me.

  For me…

  Journey wasn’t having it, she slapped him too. Grasping only for me from Camila’s arms. “DA!” Throwing her body backwards, she tried to get free. Choking out, “DA!”

  I couldn’t take it any longer, my restraint, my sanity, my fucking conscience was burying me alive.

  Watching Journey need me, want me, have to have me was enough to break me free from the chains holding me down. Her agony resonated somewhere deep inside me, till I had no choice but to make it stop.

  There wasn’t a chance in hell I could deny her anymore.

  “Come here, baby. Daddy’s here, I’m here,” I soothed, grabbing her from Camila.

  Journey immediately latched onto me, wrapping her arms around my neck. She laid her head on my shoulder, hyperventilating through her rapid breaths.

  Her skin felt like a house engulfed in flames, the fire seizing into my chest.

  “She’s burning up,” I stated out loud, hurrying toward the nursery with all three of them trailing behind me.

  “I know! I’m so sorry! I should have had Jackson call you earlier!”

  “Da,” Journey weakly moaned, hanging onto me as I rubbed her back, trying to feel her lungs against my hands.

  “I know, baby girl, I know. I’m going to make you feel all better. I promise. I got you… shhh… I got you now.”

  She calmed down a little, listening to my soothing voice reassuring her that I was there now.

  Once we made it into her nursery, I nodded to the changing table. “Jackson, grab the blanket from her crib and lay it across the top.”

  He didn’t waver, moving quickly.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Camila fervently shaking her head, staring at me with tormented eyes.

  “I swear she wasn’t this bad before her nap,” she stressed a mile a minute. “When she woke up this morning, she was really quiet and wasn’t acting like herself all day. I’m so sorry! Please don’t be upset with me,” she pleaded, hanging on by a thread. “I thought I could figure it out. I thought I had it handled. I should have called you earlier. This is my fault. This is all my fault. I let it get this bad.”

  “Da!”

  “I know, baby. I know. It’s okay, Daddy has to lay you down now.”

  “Da!” she shrieked, holding onto me tighter.

  “Camila, help me. You’re going to have to hold her down while I check her vitals.”

  Her hands were shaking. “Okay.”

  “Relax.” I glanced at her, coaxing, “You did nothing wrong.”

  “No. I should’ve called you. I don’t know why I thought—”

  “Enough of that. Hold her down, please.”

  Journey bawled, getting hysterical.

  Camila grabbed her arms while Jackson gripped onto her legs, locking her in place as she threw a fit. A full meltdown. Yelling my name over and over again. Breaking my fucking heart.

  There was no use in trying to get through to her, all that was left for me to do was find the root of the problem.

  I pulled my medical instruments out from my bag, and swiftly went to work. My professional instinct kicked in at rapid speed.

  “Did you give her anything for the pain?”

  “No, I told you she wasn’t this bad until she woke up from her nap about thirty minutes ago.”

  With a small beep in her ear, I checked her temperature first.

  103.1

  “It’s not unusual for babies to run high fevers,” I told them, feeling their emotions running high.

  Though it wasn’t easy to hear through her wails, I listened to her lungs and heart and then checked her ears for fluid. As soon as the plastic tip hit her ear canal she screamed bloody murder.

  “Ah, there’s one of the causes.” Looking over at Jagger, I instructed, “In the medicine cabinet in the hall bathroom, there’s baby Motrin—”

  He turned and left before I even finished my instructions.

  “Da!”

  “Almost done, baby. Daddy just has to check your eyes and your throat. Can you be a good girl for me?”

  She fussed the entire time until finally, my examination was over.

  We spent the next five minutes forcing medicine in her mouth and down her throat. She kept spitting it out.

  She wouldn’t go to Camila for anyth
ing, only wanting me as I called in her antibiotic for her double ear infection. Holding a cold pack on the back of her neck, I cooled her down while I was on the phone with the pharmacy.

  Judging by the solemn expression on Cami’s face, she was still blaming herself.

  “Babies get sick,” I simply stated, locking eyes with her.

  “She hates me.”

  “Da,” Journey sniffled, squeezing me tighter.

  “No, she doesn’t hate you.”

  “Yes, she does. She won’t even look at me.”

  I sighed, taking a deep breath.

  The truth was, even if Journey wanted to go to Camila, I wouldn’t have let her go. I held her in my arms, slowly rocking her back and forth. Pacing the nursery.

  Nothing.

  No one.

  Could have taken my baby girl away from me in that moment. It was the first time in over ten months I felt her weight in my arms.

  Her heart against my chest.

  Her breathing on my neck.

  Hating myself a little more for waiting this long to hold her.

  She felt like everything I ever wanted.

  Remembering, there was a time…

  She was.

  <>Camila<>

  Journey finally passed out on her father’s chest while we were all in the living room. Jagger was sleeping by his side, laid out across the sofa.

  Jackson was with me, his head on my lap. We were on the couch across from them and I spent the last hour scratching his head. He must have fallen asleep as well because he started lightly snoring.

  “I don’t think I’m cut out for nursing school.” Feeling that admission deep in my bones, I continued, “I freaked out, Aiden. All my studies were out the door the second I held her burning body against mine. I panicked, and I made it worse for her. I’m going to be the worst nurse and mom.”

  “Cami, look at me.”

  I shook my head, strictly staring at the side of Jackson’s face.

  I was so ashamed and embarrassed. I wouldn’t blame him if he fired me. Journey wasn’t mine, it was irresponsible of me to assume I could take care of her in that way.

  She needed her father.

  A doctor.

  Not the nanny.

  Not me.