“Yes,” I answered her. Under my breath I told Brody, “But I’m not done with this conversation.”
Our chipper little waitress took our orders, all the while flirting with Brody. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes while Brody just flashed his panty-melting smile. Once she left I shook my head. “Good to see some things never change.”
“And what might those be?”
“Oh come on, you know what I’m talking about. Don’t play coy.” I lifted the lemon from my water and squeezed it in. “Everywhere you go women practically lay themselves down at your feet, begging you to walk all over them for just a taste.”
“Careful, Lei,” he smirked, “you sound like you’re jealous.”
“I’m not jealous, Brody. I just think it’s rude for her to flirt with you right in front of me. How does she know we aren’t together?” I really wasn’t jealous. I had Jaxon, and Brody deserved to be happy with someone. “All I’m saying is it’s unprofessional on her part.”
“Noted,” he said with a wicked grin still spread across his face. “While we have some time, have you given any more thought to baby names?”
“Not much really. The almost-being-kidnapped thing kind of pushed it to the back burner.” Finally, I could make my little jokes and mean them, knowing Drill was lying dead on a cold, hard coroner’s table somewhere.
“You mean you didn’t use your panic room time wisely?” he teased back.
“Nope, I panicked while in the panic room instead. I don’t know, I still really like Lillian Elizabeth. What about you? Any new names you like?” Looking to the left, I saw the flirtatious waitress coming our way.
“I still really like the name we picked out in the hospital too. Lillian Elizabeth Davis. It has a nice ring to it.”
Oh boy, this conversation was getting ready to take a hard left, and I didn’t think Brody would be pleased with where it was going to end.
“Here is your crab bruschetta and your meal should be out shortly,” our waitress announced as she stuck her chest out, proudly displaying her now-visible cleavage. I’ll be damned, she unbuttoned her shirt.
“Thank you, Chelsea. My little momma here is quiet famished.” He reached over and rubbed my belly.
“Oh, congratulations, you’re having a baby.” She mustered up some seriously fake enthusiasm.
No, I’m just super fucking fat, is what I wanted to say but I think Brody could feel the waves of hostility rolling off me and spoke up first. “We are, thank you. A little girl, in fact, and she’s due any day now.”
“Well, y’all’s food will be out soon. Let me know if you need anything else.” As she walked away, my hormones surged and I had the horrible desire to trip her. Instantly, I felt bad for even having the thought.
“Oh my God, rude much? What did she think, I was just naturally fat just in my stomach?” I quickly grabbed a slice of bruschetta and scarfed it down. Man, was it delicious. “Anyway, what were we talking about before she came over?”
“Names,” Brody reminded me as he lifted the toast to his mouth.
“Right.” Damn, I wished he had forgotten too. I did not want to have this talk. “So about her name—”
“Brody,” a man’s voice hollered from down the aisle. Turning, I saw Sean and his girlfriend walking toward us, dressed to go clubbing. Shit, what is her name? “Hey, bro, what’s up? You guys remember Rachel, right?”
Rachel. It was on the tip of my tongue when he said it. “Of course,” I smiled, lathering on the cheerfulness. “How are you?”
“Good.” She smacked on her gum like a cow chewed cud. “Wow, you’re really pregnant, huh?”
Wow, she was a quick one. “I am.”
“Hey, were you able to get out to the Summerville property I asked you to take a look at?” Brody asked Sean. As they had their real estate conversation, I silently prayed to all things holy that he did not invite them to have dinner with us.
“Why don’t y’all have dinner with us?”
You don’t have to have the baby name talk anymore. “Yeah, sit, have dinner with us. We already ordered but I’m sure y’all could order real fast and it could all come out together.” I startled Brody, who had a confused look on his face.
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Sean looked at me.
“Please, sit.”
A short time later the waitress took our guests’ orders and the guys continued discussing work. Rachel was so busy on her cell phone texting she was barely there. Dinner came, we ate, then they left after Sean and Brody all but leg wrestled over who was paying the check.
As we walked out of the restaurant Brody stopped me. “Before we get in the car and leave I need to just say this.”
“Brody…” I knew where this conversation was going and I just didn’t have the energy.
“No, wait, Lei, I just want to say that I am really trying to be understanding when it comes to Jaxon and our daughter. I know I wasn’t on board in the beginning, but that has changed. I can’t wait to see this little girl.” He reached out and put his hands on either side of my stomach. “I want to make this whole co-parenting thing work.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “With all of us. She deserves the best of both of us and fighting with him is not the best of me. I was at my best when we made her and I am trying really hard to get back to that guy.”
Oh great, cue the waterworks.
I would have preferred to fight with him than be reminded of the heartache we had both caused and endured. My heart hurt at the thought of him losing his way, but I was happy to learn he was trying to move forward and be happy again. I just wished I wasn’t the source of his pain.
“I agree she deserves to have parents who aren’t fighting all the time. I’m sure we’re going to disagree, but we’ll do a better job of communicating. I want you to be in her life as much as you want to. We will make this work. You are her dad and I would never dream of taking that away from you.”
“I’m sorry, Lei, I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just want you to know that I want the best for both of you.” He swiped his thumb across my cheek, wiping away the tears. “Even if that means we aren’t together.” He tilted my chin up. “Okay…enough sadness. How about I take you to get some ice cream?”
The baby walloped my side. “Ow. Damn, I think she understands those words. I’m really not in the mood for ice cream. Actually, if it’s okay, I’d like to head home. I really need to lie down and get my feet up.”
I looked down at the same time Brody did. “Whoa, Lei, should your ankles be that swollen?”
“Nope, thus why I wanna get home.”
I slipped my arm through his winged-out elbow and continued toward the car. “So about the name of the baby.”
“I’m good with Lillian Elizabeth.” I stopped with that for now. I’d approach the subject of last name another time. Maybe I should wait until I was in labor. No one would dare argue with a pregnant woman who was being ripped in two from the inside out.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Jaxon
“It’s almost eight thirty. You see anything?” Mark asked for the hundredth time.
“Not anything more than the last time you asked and it’s only eight twenty.”
“Can you see all of the guys at their spots?”
Swinging the rifle around to the different targets, I saw four out of the six guys. Dig and Stretch were pacing, while Barrett and Rip were sitting on their bikes. Still no sight of Viper or Axel. I wasn’t surprised. Viper knew to stay out of sight and Axel, well, I suspected he wouldn’t be there at all.
“I can see everyone but Viper and Axel.” I focused in on the warehouse Viper was assigned, trying to get a bead on him. He was a trained Marine. If he wanted to stay hidden, I wouldn’t see him.
“Well, where the fuck are they?”
“Prez, you need to chill the fuck out. Keep lookin’.” I tilted my head at the binoculars. “You keep a lookout over there and I’ll look over here.” I nodded to the right of the tower wher
e Dig, Rip, and Viper were supposed to be. Stretch, Axel, and Barrett were to the left, where I searched for movement.
I looked down at my watch, eight-twenty-six p.m. then put my eye back to my Nightforce scope. Just as I suspected, I saw two black SUVs pulling up outside of the warehouse where we sent Axel. “We gotta move. Warehouse F on McMillan.”
“Son of a bitch! I’m gonna kill him with my bare fuckin’ hands,” Mark rasped as we ran down nine flights of stairs, skipping every other step.
Tapping the Bluetooth headset, I called Viper. “V, get to warehouse F on McMillan Avenue now, one street over and four blocks up. Axel’s there with the fuckin’ buyers. Call in reinforcements.”
“On it.” Viper hung up.
The stairs seemed to never end as we passed landing after landing until we finally hit the ground floor, burst out the door and jumped on our bikes. Hauling ass, we made it to the warehouse in about three minutes. We pulled up at the same time as Commander Gorden, Tommy, a van full of federal agents and two SWAT teams.
Sliding to a stop, I killed the bike and damn near laid her down. I pulled my gun from my waistband and ran wide open toward the open warehouse door, Mark, Tommy, and Drew all the while yelling for me to stand down. Stopping at the doorway long enough to listen and not hear anything, I peeked around for a split second and didn’t see anyone. I hollered out, “Viper.”
Nothing.
With my back against the exterior wall, I checked my gun, looked back at Drew then spun and ran into the building. The open room was as large as an airplane hangar and had steel drums scattered about. Scanning the space, I noticed a pair of legs behind a set of barrels. Gun raised, I sprinted toward the familiar black Rocky boots. I heard the guys hitting the building behind me as I ran. I skidded to a stop and from my knees peered around the drum.
Fuck.
“Viper.” I moved closer to him. His chest was covered in blood and he was barely conscious. “Motherfucker. V, talk to me.” I grabbed his hand and squeezed then looked up and screamed, “Get me a medic. One down.”
Drew was the first one to get to me as I ripped V’s shirt open to find the gunshot wound. Dropping my gun, I ripped my shirt over my head and jammed it in the gaping hole in his chest. “V, man, you gotta hang on. Medics will be here, just stay with me, buddy. Please fight, man.”
“Fuck, Jax, it’s bad,” Viper coughed and sputtered.
“I got you, man, I’m not lettin’ you go so easy, man. Medic,” I screamed ’til my throat burned.
Paramedics got there a few minutes later, scooped him up and took off to MUSC. As they loaded him, I jumped in the back, explaining he was my partner. Gorden was arresting Mark as the ambulance sped from the warehouse.
We finally pulled up to the emergency room bay door after what felt like the longest ride of my life. Along the way Viper’s heart stopped twice, but by the grace of God, and a great medic, we got V back. They rushed him out past me and the nurses refused to let me follow no matter how many times I screamed he was a federal agent and I was his partner. Throwing Leila’s name out there didn’t help either.
Drew and Tommy pulled up with lights and sirens going, jumped from the Tahoe and trotted in. “He’s in the back but they won’t let us through.”
Tommy shouldered past me and stomped to the nurse’s desk. Drew threw me a black t-shirt with SWAT spelled out across the back. “Thought you might need this.”
“Thanks, man.” I pulled the shirt down over my head.
“Jax, I need to call Barb. It’s Wednesday. She might be working. I don’t want her to find out inadvertently.” I handed him my cell phone, he turned and called Barb.
Tommy was coming back over as Drew finally got Barb on the phone after the second try. “They will only allow me back right now because I have my credentials on me. I tried, Jax, I really did.” He patted my shoulder and turned to follow the nurse to the back.
I walked over to the chairs and dropped, telling myself V would be fine. It looked worse than it was. Hell, I was in far worse shape and I was still here. He would be fine. He had to be.
“I talked to Barb, she’s back there. She’ll be here in a minute, hopefully with an update.” Drew took the seat next to mine and we watched for Barb or Tommy.
It was close to ten p.m. before Barb came out. I knew it was bad when I saw her face. “They are taking him up to surgery now, but they are not optimistic. I snuck in for a minute to see him.” She bit down on her bottom lip as it quivered and tears streamed down her face. Drew pulled her to his chest and held her while sobs wracked her tiny body.
My cell phone started vibrating around eleven; looking down, I saw it was Leila calling. She must be worried since I hadn’t called or been home. Hesitantly, I answered. “Hey, babe.”
“Hey, honey, is everything okay?” She sounded sleepy.
“No, baby, everything is not okay, but I am. I’m not gonna be home for a while. I’m at the hospital.” She gasped. “Babe, I’m good. It’s Viper and it’s bad. Barb and Drew are here.”
Before I could finish she asked, “What the hell happened, Jax? Are you sure you are okay?”
I fought back the guilt until I couldn’t any longer. “I fucked up. I sent him when I shouldn’t have. He got shot because of me. It was my call to send him over there and I should’ve just waited until we were all there. It’s my fault, Lei.”
“Jaxon, I don’t know what happened, but I know that you would never intentionally get him shot. Are y’all at Shock Trauma?”
“Yeah, but, babe, please, just stay home. I’ll call you when I know more. Lei?” Silence. I pulled the phone from my ear and looked at my call log. She hung up on me. Which meant she was on her way over here. “Drew, we got a problem.”
He sat next to Barb, still holding her hand. “What’s up?”
“Just got hung up on by your sister.”
“Shit. You told her I guess?”
“I had to. She would’ve noticed when I didn’t come home. I didn’t want her worrying about me.”
“Great. You know she’s on her way, right?”
“Yeah, I know, but I don’t know how to stop her,” I let my head drop back to rest on the back of the chair.
Thirty minutes later, through the sliding doors came the sexiest pregnant chick ever. My woman. Even while I sat here and waited to find out if my best friend was going to live or die, she mesmerized me and for a moment made me forget everything else.
“Jaxon.” She rushed over and wrapped her tiny arms around my waist. Calmly she asked if there was any update. When I shook my head, she pulled back and looked at Barb sitting with Drew. The moment their eyes met they both lost it.
“I’m here, Boo. I got you.” She opened her arms as Barb stood and walked into them. “Shh, it’s going to be okay.” They stood there in the waiting room and cried, rocking back and forth in each other’s arms.
The doors opened again and in walked my favorite ex-boyfriend.
Drew walked over and whispered to him, then they walked back out front. Barb and Leila sat and held each other’s hand. I couldn’t just sit there any longer, so I paced the waiting room until Drew and Tommy came back.
Drew sat down next to Barb, leaving the chair next to Leila empty. She looked at me and I could see her need to comfort me, but I didn’t deserve it. So instead of sitting next to her I walked. I needed to be alone right now. Finding myself out front, I ran into Commander Gorden in the parking lot.
“Hey, any news?” he asked.
“Nothin’ yet. He’s in surgery. Tommy is in the waiting room.”
“This isn’t your fault, Jaxon. I know that look. It’s the same look he had when you got shot a while back. That was no more his fault than this is yours,” he called out as I walked away from him.
Fifteen minutes later, I found my way back into the ER waiting room. Leila’s beautiful brown eyes met mine and broke down my wall. I rushed over and pulled her to me. “He’s gotta be okay.”
“He will, we jus
t have to stay positive and pray,” she whispered. Dropping to my knees, I kissed her stomach, grateful she was here with me.
Sometime close to three in the morning, a pair of doctors in green scrubs came out the doors from the back and asked for family for Cole Ellett. We all stood as they approached. Viper didn’t have any family that I knew of. We were it.
The tall, older doctor greeted Barb and Leila then introduced himself to the rest of us.
“Mr. Ellett had a single gunshot wound that hit his right lung, ricocheted off his ribs and lodged near his heart. We performed a sternotomy to try to remove the bullet but I’m afraid that the damage was irreparable. I’m very sorry, we tried everything we could.”
It felt like someone had swung a pickaxe and landed it right through my chest. “What?”
“Oh God,” Barb cried as her legs gave out and Drew caught her.
Tommy stepped up and pulled the doctors aside. Leila wrapped her arms around my waist and sniffled. “Jax, why don’t we sit down? Jaxon.”
“He’s gone.”
“Jaxon, I need to sit down.” Leila let go of me and sat down a few seats away from Barb and Drew.
“Lei, babe, are you okay?” Looking at her, I noticed that all of the blood had drained out of her face.
“I’m okay, I’m just tired. I’ve been on my feet a lot. I’m gonna go get a drink, maybe a little sugar will help.” She scooted to the edge of the chair and stood.
“Babe, sit, I’ll get you a drink.” I didn’t want her passing out or pushing herself into exhaustion. Retrieving a Pepsi from the vending machine, I came back to find Tommy and Gorden had left. That was when it hit me: We didn’t have any reason to stay here and wait.
Viper was gone.
Chapter Thirty
Leila
The night Viper died we all finally left the hospital around four a.m. and came home.
Barb stayed with us that night and Jax, being the world’s best fiancé, didn’t balk when I told Barb she would sleep with me in the master bedroom. He just smiled and took Ruger out one last time before setting the alarm, followed us up to our bedroom to change then went back to the second-floor guest room. Drew had dropped us off and went home to bed.
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