“Brody, could you give me a few minutes?”
“Sure, I’ll just run to the cafeteria and grab a quick bite to eat.” He strolled out, taking his phone out of his pocket as he went.
I grabbed my phone and hit the direct dial for Jaxon’s cell. He answered on the second ring. “Hey Lei, what’s up?”
“Uh, Dr. Rogers said she’d discharge me today since my contractions have eased up, but I need someone with me at all times. Barb is working the next three days and Drew has crazy shift work and could be called out at any time. I was hopin’ you might be able to stay with me. Actually, I would stay with you at our, err, your place, but I need someone with me at all times.”
He was quiet but I could hear voices in the background. “Uh, I can’t. I’m not in town. After I left you, Mark called and needed my help with some club shit. I’m halfway to North Carolina.”
Really? “Hmm, that’s funny. It sounds like you’re surrounded by people, not pulled over on the side of the road talkin’ to me.”
“We just stopped to grab food and fill up. Mark was already on the road when we talked, so I met him here in St. Matthews.”
Rejection ripped through my chest as hot tears slipped from my ducts. “Sorry, I bothered you Jaxon.”
“Lei…babe. I’m sorry. If I was there you know I’d—” He started to tell me he’d be here or he’d take care of me but I didn’t give him the chance. I didn’t want to hear it, and I didn’t believe it.
“I get it. The club comes first. It’s perfectly clear, Remi. You don’t need to explain yourself to me anymore.”
As I pulled the phone from my ear I heard him say please, but I pressed end, then stared at the picture of us on the screen. I wiped the salty mess from my face and sent Barb and Drew a text filling them in. It was only a matter of seconds before Barb’s face appeared on the phone as she called me back.
“That was fast,” I answered.
“So what are you gonna do? You really shouldn’t stay alone,” she said groggily.
“I haven’t talked to Brody yet, but I think I’m just gonna stay at the condo. Drew will be there and it’s not like I’m far from the hospital. It’ll be fine.”
“Damn, you’re such a stubborn bitch.”
“Listen, I need to start figuring this shit out on my own. Contrary to what he promised me, it’s clear Jaxon’s first priority will always be the stupid club. I need to stop thinking I can rely on him. He’s proven today that I can’t.”
Barb took a deep breath. “I’m sorry Leila. I wish I could smack some of the stupid outta him for ya.”
“Me too honey, but it’s better I find this out now, I guess.”
“I think you two need to sit down and talk. I don’t think he realizes you think it’s over,” she said quietly.
“No, I’m pretty sure with the way I left things, he got the picture. He’s not here. He’s made it clear where his priorities lie. He knows I’m in the hospital. He knows what’s going on. Yet he chose club business over me. He didn’t even try, Barb. I think that’s what hurts the most. He didn’t even try to help me figure out another way.”
“Did you tell him that Brody was there and willing to take you home with him?” she asked.
“No way. Did you drink a big, steamy cup of stupid this morning? I still love the man and want to work things out. I don’t want him in jail for chopping my baby daddy into tiny pieces.”
“I knew it.” I could hear her shit-eating grin through the phone.
It wasn’t until I heard her statement that I realized what I had said. I still loved the man and wanted to work things out. Did I? Could I forgive all of the craziness over the last few weeks? “Brody is back. I’ll call ya back later.”
“So what’s the plan? Is Barb staying with you?” he asked.
I sighed deeply. “No, she’s gotta work the next three nights. Drew’s working too. And Jaxon is…outta town.” I pick my cuticles as I explained, then looked up to see the question on his face, but I didn’t give him a chance to speak. “Don’t ask, ’cause I’m not talking about him.”
He threw his hands up in surrender. “Didn’t say a word.”
“You didn’t need to Brody. It was written all over your face.”
He looked a little too smug for my taste. “That’s it. You’ll stay with me.” I started to object, but he steamrolled over me. “Shut it, Leila. I’m not done. I’ll be there most of the time and if I’m not, Jane is always there. She can make sure you’re eating right and not getting dehydrated and also take care of Ruger.”
“Brody, I don’t need a babysitter. I just need someone there in case the contractions get too close together. I’ll be just fine at the condo. Drew will be there some and Barb only works at night.”
“Drew’s on call with the damn SWAT team Leila. And yeah, Barb works nights, but she also sleeps all day. Be sensible. You’re coming home with me. End of discussion.” He stood and walked out of the room. I heard him at the nurses’ station telling Lucinda he would be taking me home, to get the discharge started.
“Geez, bossy much?” I grumbled. I forgot how domineering and intimidating he could be. The last few months he’d been at a disadvantage, trying to get back into my good graces. He had been agreeable and accommodating, but the second he saw an opening, he grabbed it with both hands and held on for dear life.
He strutted back into the room. “The nurse will be in shortly with paperwork and to disconnect you.”
“Hang on, Brody I don’t think this is a good idea. Jaxon will be past furious when he finds out.” I swung my legs around and stood up.
“Sit down. I’ll get your stuff together.” He walked around and grabbed my overnight bag out of the small closet. “Jaxon isn’t here. He couldn’t be bothered to support and care for his fiancée. So I am taking the mother of my child home with me to take care of her. If he’s pissed, then he’ll only have himself to be pissed at. He had his chance. I know you called him,” Brody growled.
“Thank you very much. I forgot he wasn’t here. I forgot that he had prioritized work over me.” While I’m in labor.
“You’re. Welcome,” he responded as he snatched my toiletries from the bathroom.
I could feel the fury vibrating against my nerve endings and running through my muscles. “Son of a bitch.” I gripped the blankets, bracing as the contraction took hold over my abdomen.
Dropping everything, Brody rounded the bed and started sliding his hand up and down my back. “Breathe, babe. Slow, deep.”
I controlled my breathing and rode out the contraction. Brody slid his hand along my cheek and tilted my head up to look at him.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things. I just…I hate seeing you hurt. Especially knowing I hurt you like he’s doing now. Jesus.” He took his hand away to drag it over the back of his neck. “Lei, I’d give up everything I have if I could go back and do it over. I want to fix this.”
“Can we not do this?” I paused. “Not right now. Later, I promise we’ll talk, but just not right this minute. I can’t.”
“Sure babe, whatever you want.”
Right at this moment, he’d probably give me anything I wanted.
Chapter Twenty-Four
~Leila~
We left the hospital about noon, which felt like a jailbreak. I was so happy to go anywhere but here. We stopped at the condo to grab some clothes, the ginormous body pillow and Ruger.
We arrived at Brody’s around 2:00 p.m. As Brody shut the door, Jane practically leapt off the couch and ran to us.
“Oh praise Jesus, she’s home. Oh, and where is my handsome boy?” she sang.
“I’m right here.” Brody stepped around me grinning.
“Oh, not you. Where is my Ruger?” She knelt down and he trotted over to greet her with a warm, slobbery welcome. “Oh, there he is. There’s my sweet boy. You wanna treat, good boy?”
“Hey, what the hell? What am I? Chopped liver?” Brody clutched at his heart. I smiled at t
heir antics.
“I’ll just put your bags in the bedroom.” Brody started up the staircase.
“I’ll follow you. I wanna lie down for a little while, I didn’t get much sleep last night,” I said as I climbed the steps behind him.
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Jane agreed. “With all those people in and out of there and the contractions, I bet you’re exhausted. You rest and I’ll work on some dinner for later. How ’bout grilled chicken Caesar salads?”
“You don’t have to make anything special for me Jane. I will eat anything you cook and love it. Besides, I know some people”—I tilted my head up the stairs—“don’t really like salads.”
“I heard that,” Brody mumbled from above.
“Don’t worry, I will whip something yummy up for us,” she said as she turned toward the kitchen with one overzealous German Shepherd in tow.
As I climbed the stairs, I noticed Brody walking through the doorway to his room. There was no way he thought I was going to sleep in there with him. If he did, he certainly had smoked the bad crack today. I walked to the doorway and gave him a WTF look.
“What?” he asked sheepishly.
“Uh, why are you bringing my stuff in here? I thought I’d stay in the guest room down the hall, by the bathroom.”
“Oh come on, I know you love my bed.” He hesitated for a second. “Wait, that didn’t come out right. It’s not what you’re thinking. I swear. I just meant that this bed”—he nodded to his left—“is more comfortable. Plus the bathroom is right there. I thought you’d like to take advantage of the tub and soak some to help you relax.”
“That’s all well and good Brody, but we aren’t sleeping in the same bed. I’m not tryin’ to be a bitch. It’s just that Jax…I mean, I don’t know…” My shoulders dropped. I could feel the emotions welling up in my throat.
“Hey, it’s okay. I was planning on staying in the guest room and letting you have my room. I know I can be presumptuous, but you’ve made it perfectly clear where we stand. And I’m okay with that…for now. I had no ulterior motives when I asked you to stay here, other than taking care of the mother of my child.” He set the bag down on the foot of the bed and crossed the room to me. “I simply want to help you. I know you’re fiercely independent and you can do all of this on your own, but I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to.”
Still holding my pillow, I walked over to the bed and tossed the pillow into the middle. “I do appreciate you offering to let me stay here. I don’t want you to go out of your way and I certainly don’t want to put you out of your own bedroom. I can stay down the hall.”
“Enough Lei, you’ll be more comfortable in here and this conversation is over.” He turned and walked toward the bathroom. “Besides, Jane already moved some of my things to the hall bathroom. Now, would you like me to—”
As he turned he was interrupted by my loud groan. “Shit.” I planted my hands on the edge of the bed and bent over. “I forgot how much these damn things hurt without pain meds.”
Brody darted to my side and started kneading my lumbar area. “Stop holding your breath. You need to breathe,” he whispered.
I took several slow, deep breaths as the contraction started to ease off. I climbed up in the bed and snaked my ridiculous pillow around my body.
“Oh God, I forgot how freakin’ comfy this bed is.” I wiggled down into the bed. “Can you wake me—oh geez Pete. Here, gimme your hand.”
Brody sat down next to me as I grabbed his hand and placed in on my belly near my ribs. “Feel that, it’s not a kick. She’s stretching. It’s more like a rolling feeling.”
“Oh whoa, that’s crazy. What is that?” he asked as he stared at our hands.
“Her foot, I think. Here, watch.” I pulled up my shirt, exposing the taut skin stretched over my swollen abdomen. “You can actually see her, it’s so cool.”
We waited and, of course, she was still. It’s like she knew we were waiting for her to perform and she had stage fright. Just as I started to tell Brody to keep talking, he leaned down slightly.
“Hey sweet girl, are you sleeping in there? I know you want to push on Mommy’s ribs again. You must be paying her back for getting squeezed so much, huh?”
Just as he finished she slid her foot across my side back up toward my ribs.
“Oh my God, that is so weird.” Brody lightly touched his fingers to the gliding mass. I lay on my side watching him watch our daughter move inside of me. I was so tired I started to drift off as he continued to talk to her.
Sometime later I woke, feeling a large hand sliding up and down my arm.
“Lei, babe, wake up. It’s almost six o’clock and Jane has dinner ready,” Brody spoke quietly, knowing I hated to be woken up.
“Hmm.” I blinked a few times trying to focus. It took me a minute to remember where I was. “Oh, okay. I, uh, just need to use the bathroom and then I’ll be down.”
Brody stood up and started toward the open door.
“Hey, wait, you said it’s six o’clock? Hmm, that’s weird. I don’t remember waking up with any contractions.” I scrunched my nose and wrinkled my brow trying to remember. I looked over toward the sitting area and noticed his laptop on the coffee table.
“That’s because you didn’t have any,” he confirmed.
“Did you stay in here while I was sleeping?” I asked, looking back over to the sofa.
“Huh.” He looked over his shoulder. “Uh, yeah. Not the entire time, but for a while. I had to make some calls, so I went downstairs to the office for those, but I was worried you’d wake up with a contraction and…uh, I don’t know, need me.”
“Oh,” I said, surprised by his response.
I climbed down and went to the bathroom. Looking around, I finally found my purse and took out my cell. Only one text message from Drew telling me to call him tomorrow, that he was going to be working tonight. I don’t know why I was disappointed that Jaxon hadn’t called or texted me. I knew, before I picked up the phone, there wouldn’t be anything there, but I still felt the empty pit in my stomach deepen.
We had dinner around the island in the kitchen. Caesar salads. Of course. Jane had told me Brody could stand to eat a few more salads and less steaks. She cleaned up after dinner while I retreated back to the bedroom and turned on the TV.
Around 8:00 Brody appeared in the doorway. “Do you want to watch a movie?”
“Sure, what did you have in mind?” I scooted up and tossed the remote over to the side of the bed I knew he slept on.
“I was thinking we should watch a baseball movie.” He grabbed the remote. Brody had an expansive movie collection on his DVR.
“Uhh, really? Baseball, Brody?” I groaned.
“Trust me, ’kay?” He started pressing buttons until the movie appeared on the screen. I knew it as soon as the opening credits began.
“Oh my God, you remembered.” I realized he actually listened when I talked about my favorite movies. “How about I go make us some popcorn?”
“I already put some in the microwave and Jane should be bringing it up any second.” He settled into the bed next to me.
“Brody, I have to say I am really surprised that you remembered For Love of The Game. You were really drunk that night.” I smiled as I recalled the evening.
“For the record, I wasn’t that drunk. I still remember sitting up talking about all of your favorite movies, songs, foods and books. What I remember most about that night in Parrot Cay was afterward, making love to you on the beach under all of the stars.” I blushed at his reminder.
“Knock, knock.” Jane was in the doorway. “I have popcorn, beer and a bottle of water for you, my dear.”
She handed me the large yellow melamine bowl full of buttery goodness and a bottle of Evian. Brody crawled over toward me and took the bottle of Miller Lite.
“Thanks Jane.” He sat back down on his side as Ruger came trotting in.
“Yes, thank you. Jane, do you want to watch the movie with us? T
here is plenty of room up here,” I asked, even though I knew she’d decline.
“Oh, no thank you, sweet girl. I have to get downstairs and watch NCIS. You know how much I love Gibbs.” She smiled and laughed as she left the room.
Brody grabbed the large remote and dimmed the lights and turned up the Bose surround sound. Ruger curled into his bed and was whimpering in his sleep in no time.
I set the bowl of popcorn between us as we watched Kevin Costner flash back through his past as he attempted to pitch an extraordinary perfect game. We watched the movie until I had another contraction. It wasn’t too bad and lasted about forty-five seconds. We went right back to watching the movie, without skipping a beat. I felt my eyes starting to get heavy, but tried to push through.
I woke to a dark room. I was lying on my side hugging my pillow. Two fluffy pillows were stuffed behind me to support my back and I was tucked in under the covers. In front of me, Brody was lying on top of the covers, hand in the popcorn bowl, remote on chest and his head resting uncomfortably on his own shoulder. That would hurt tomorrow if he stayed like that.
I was torn as to what to do. I should wake him up and send him to the guest room, but he had been with me at the hospital and I knew he didn’t get any sleep. Besides, this bed was huge, and he was on top of the comforter. Lazy and full of justifications, I decided to roll over and go back to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up and was overly warm. It didn’t take long to realize there was a thick arm draped over my side holding my belly. My eyes flew open. I looked down and saw Brody’s hand resting right below my belly button. I noticed the pillows were at the foot of the bed and my C-shaped pregnancy pillow was on the floor on my side of the bed. Brody was tucked in, right against my back. I picked up his arm and tried to carefully slide out without waking him, but no such luck.
“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked sleepily.
“Uh, well, I need to pee and you were spooning me.” I climbed down and went to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, washed my face and as I was drying my face I realized all my stuff was in here and put away where it used to be.
Pulled Page 19
