SHOOTOUT SAVE (The Renegades Series Book 6)

by Melody Heck Gatto

  “Kaden, don’t go to any trouble. I’m fine. I think I’ll just go to bed.”

  “Absolutely not. You need to eat.” He looked in the refrigerator again, before turning his attention back to her. “You don’t have much in here. We can do eggs and ham, maybe? I found some broccoli and tomato that I can add. But, doll, you need to keep better food on hand. I can make sure your refrigerator is stocked for now—until you get moved in with me, that is.”

  “That’s nice of you, but I don’t need you to do that.”

  She still wasn’t getting her color back into her face, and it worried him.

  “Ali, have you been eating?” There wasn’t enough food in her kitchen to convince him that she was. Take-out wasn’t good all the time, even if she was pregnant.

  “Yeah, of course. I’m just overly stressed after what happened. I didn’t want to meet your mom like that.” Her breathing sped up. “She probably hates me.”

  Her words hit him deep. Kaden dumped the eggs into the hot griddle and looked up at her. “Doll, don’t say that.”

  “Why not? I bet she does. I mean, you’re a hockey star, and look at me right now. I look like some bum. She doesn’t know anything about me except how I look right this second. I bet she thinks I’m after you for your money. And that I trapped you with the baby.”

  Still stirring the eggs, he added the ham and vegetables. “Ali. Why does it even matter what she thinks? She’s my mom and I love her, but I’m the one in love with you, not her. Let’s eat, and then you can take a nice shower and get cleaned up. You’ll feel much better.”

  “But what if she doesn’t think I’m good enough for you?” Tears started to flow from her eyes again. She pulled her legs onto the couch and buried herself under a blanket.

  Splitting the scrambled eggs onto two dishes, he brought them into the living room to the coffee table. He was going to have to learn how to deal with the crying; he was never very good at that before. Sitting beside her, he yanked off the blanket and pulled her into his arms. “Doll, how about we have a do-over?”

  She perked up and looked at him, her face puckered up like she ate a lemon. “A do-over? How in the world are we going to do that? She’s already seen me, like this. Can’t imagine this mess is easy to forget.”

  After taking a forkful of his culinary masterpiece, he let her in on his plan. “Well, while you were sleeping, I checked in on my sister to make sure they got back okay. And knowing how upset you were, I suggested we try this over again. Kassie agreed.” Ali’s look of uncertainty meant she wasn’t convinced yet. “Look, Kassie knows how happy you make me. She’s on board.”

  “Really?” She looked at him with watery eyes, and her voice was weak.

  “Yes, now what do you say? Do-over?”

  “Okay, I guess. But how do you suggest we do this?” Ali picked at her eggs, pushing the food around, and pulling out the ham and vegetables.

  “First of all, you need to eat.” He opened her bottle of water in the hopes she’d drink it, and then he fed her a forkful of eggs. “Tomorrow we’ll go to lunch with them. You can be prepared, and she’ll get to see the real you. Of course, we’ll tell them about the baby, because that cat is sort of out of the bag already. But it will be better coming from us.”

  She shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, we can give it a try.”

  He pulled her into a tight hug. “It’ll work. I promise. And remember one thing, doll. No matter what, we always have each other.”

  * * * *

  “You asked her to marry you at my reception?” Dom asked, as they worked out in the gym. He finished his pull ups, and pulled off the weight belt before joining Kaden on the treadmills.

  Their season was over sooner than they had hoped, but their workouts had become habit, even now that is was the off-season. After the craziness at the pet salon this morning, Ali had needed to rest, and Kaden needed to work off the pent-up stress.

  Kaden shrugged. He had so much on his mind again, that telling Dom waited until last. “Yeah. But she’s not ready—so she says.”

  “She turned you down?” Dom wrinkled up his face in confusion. “That sucks. Didn’t see that coming.”

  “Kind of. I mean, she didn’t exactly say no, but more like we’re not getting married just because she’s pregnant. She thinks I’m asking out of a sort of messed up sense of responsibility. Her words exactly. That she’s not ready, and I can’t really be ready. But I just want us to be together, to do this thing together, to be a family. So, yeah, I am ready. I’m without a doubt ready.” He was rambling, but couldn’t help it. The thoughts had built up inside, and it was nice just to say them all out loud.

  “You’re ready for her to be it? You are choosing her—forever?” Dom didn’t look like he was judging him. His eyes were sincere, and he had a small grin on his face.

  Kaden was sure this amused him. After all the time they’d spent as bachelors, and as hot commodities in the hockey league, they were both ready to settle down.

  “Absolutely. Ali is it for me. Only her.” His heart was full, and he knew without a doubt this was what he wanted.

  “Well then, now you just have to convince her. I’m happy to help in any way. She does realize that just because you put a ring on it, that doesn’t mean you need to get married immediately? Hailee and I moved pretty fast, but that was different. Alison can say yes and still wait on the actual nuptials.”

  Kaden nodded, the muscles in his face relaxing. Finally, someone else gets it. “Yes! Exactly! I was starting to think I was the only one who realized that. As soon as we get past this crazy thing with my mom, I’ll have to start working on it. But first things first; we need to get her moved in.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Alison

  A yawn crept up on Alison as she curled her hair. She had barely slept last night, her nerves keeping her up. Hopes that having Kaden here would help her relax were shot to hell when it was three o’clock and she was still wide awake. His snoring didn’t help.

  Looking at herself in the mirror, she was depressed to see her hair was still flat. This isn’t working. Ditching the curling iron, she turned her attention to her face. Ugh, I look like a sad clown. Her makeup looked messy. After washing it all off, she started over again.

  “Doll, are you still getting ready?” Kaden poked his head into the bathroom. “You look amazing. You smell even better.” He cooed as he pulled her close to him, and his nose buried in her hair tickled her neck.

  Being in his arms helped to relax her body. She was so worried about re-meeting his mom today that she hadn’t eaten at all. She couldn’t, she was so nauseated. It was tricky, but she had managed to hide her breakfast before Kaden could catch her. The milk was a different story. She had no choice but to drink it, and that’s when things went bad. She excused herself to take a shower, and that was when the milk decided to reappear.

  Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on the feel of Kaden around her. “Can we just stay here? We could cuddle all afternoon, and go to bed early. We can even talk about when I’m moving. Please?”

  “Doll, please don’t stress over this. Lunch will be fine. My mother is no monster. Remember that she just went through a terrible ordeal.” He snuggled her closer. “Also, don’t forget that my sister is already on your side. So, it’s three against one.”

  He smelled incredible. The scent of soap and cologne made her worries fade away.

  Kaden looked sexy. The way his jeans fit, tight in all the right places, accentuating his well sculpted legs, made her body warm. Turning to wrap her arms around him, she forgot about her makeup. “Sure I can’t change your mind?”

  He wasn’t playing along. “Nope. And we need to get moving, so you finish up in here, and I’ll let Kassie know we’ll meet them shortly.”

  She didn’t want to let him go, but fighting this was useless. Lunch was going on as scheduled, and she needed to deal with it. She had been looking forward to meeting Kaden’s mother until the ambush at the salon. Ali
son had wanted them to be able to tell Cathy their big announcement together.

  After quickly re-doing her makeup, she checked her outfit in the mirror. Finding something that didn’t accentuate her belly was a challenge, but the bohemian style dress she wore to the rehearsal dinner still worked just fine. Posing in front of the mirror, she decided the dress helped focus less on her belly than the t-shirt she had on yesterday. Chunky heels drew attention to her shapely legs.

  Feeling good about how she looked, she was ready to face this. But her stomach wasn’t on board. The hunger grew, and pains took her off guard as she walked to the living room. Not about to tell Kaden that she hadn’t eaten, she took a deep breath and swallowed hard. She was going to have to cover up this pain, or he’d have her admitted to the hospital, and then she’d never get a do-over.

  Maybe I’m just hungry. Grabbing a piece of candy from the kitchen, she hoped the sugar would help the pains, and it did. Meeting Kaden in the living room, she plastered a smile on her face and took his arm.

  “Ready.” Even though she wasn’t. Butterflies did circus tricks in her stomach and she had nonstop bubbles. Her heart raced and her nausea was back.

  One look into Kaden’s eyes and she knew she’d be okay as long as he stayed at her side. “Just stay close, okay?”

  “Always.”

  * * * *

  Squeezing Kaden’s hand, Alison walked with him into the restaurant. Something wasn’t right, but she wasn’t going to mess this up again. Searching the restaurant, she found Kaden’s mom and sister in the corner.

  He kissed her quickly. “Ready for this?”

  “I think so.” She didn’t know why she kept checking her outfit and hair over and over, but she did. This do-over was silly and yet still important to her. The pain in her stomach now felt like cramping, but was muffled by the hard thumping in her chest.

  “Kaden!” His mom called and waved. As soon as they reached the table, she stood and took Alison in her arms. “Alison, it’s good to finally meet you. I’m Cathy, and this is Kassie.” She is really into this do-over thing.

  “Hi.” Kassie smiled and waved. She looked just like Kaden except with dark hair. She had the same kind smile and joyful eyes.

  “Sorry we started off on the wrong foot. Here, sit down, please.” Cathy pulled out the chair beside her. She hugged Kaden next. “Kaden, sweetheart, thank you for arranging lunch for us today. And something besides pizza.” She nudged his side with a smirk.

  “No problem, Mom.” Looking at Alison, he nodded to the chair. He held it for her, and she sat down. After pushing the chair in, he placed a loving kiss on her cheek.

  “So, Ali, how’s the pet salon business?” Cathy asked.

  “Um, good. Yeah. I love working with the dogs. And I teach ice skating, too. I love working with the kids. I guess you can say I love what I do, which makes it not really work.” She flinched as pain rumbled through her middle again.

  “Did you know my brother is trying to get us to move here?” Kassie asked.

  “Yes, I did know that. He’s just being a good son. Plus, Pittsburgh isn’t a bad place to live. Not that Canada isn’t nice, too.”

  “Oh, I love it here. It’s not as pretty as back home, but still a great place to live, in my opinion. I think Kaden should buy us a place down here and we can keep our house in Canada. We can do some of the year here and some there. Everybody wins,” Kassie said, keeping the conversation flowing.

  “Trust me, I’ve thought about it. I’d be willing to do that, you know.” Kaden was smiling but she could hear in his voice that he was not joking.

  “I don’t doubt it,” Kassie said with a chuckle. “It’s your money, bro.”

  Done with the conversation that Kassie found more amusing than he, Kaden changed the subject. “We’re going to be moving Ali into my loft soon.”

  Unsure how that was going to go over with his mother, Alison held her breath, waiting for some kind of sign. She knew what was coming next, and was shocked that it hadn’t been brought up yet. Obviously, Cathy O’Conner was playing nice at the idea of this do-over, for which Alison was grateful.

  “Now I like that idea.” Cathy turned her attention to Alison. “You ready for that, dear?”

  Without hesitation, she answered. “Yes. I absolutely am. We’ve been together long enough that I think it’s time. Probably long overdue.”

  Kaden put his arm around her, sliding her closer to him. “I like the idea of seeing her every day, and not letting anything get between us.”

  He was right about that. Living together would prevent things like that from happening again. They would deal with whatever arose together from now on.

  “Ali, I can tell my son is head over heels for you. Just look at him; he’s beaming. Plus, he talks about you all the time.”

  Heat rushed to her face. If she only knew how much I love him back.

  “There’s just one thing.” Kaden laced his fingers with Alison’s and kissed her hand. “Mom, I love Ali. And what makes her even more special and amazing is that she’s carrying our baby. We’re going to be parents.”

  Cathy’s face lit up, and her eyes sparkled. She kept her voice low, but danced in her seat as the words flowed from her, almost in song. “I’m going to be a grandma. I’m going to be a grandma.”

  Kassie reached over and gave Alison a loving hug. Cathy got in line for one, too. This is a much better reaction than yesterday at the salon. After making herself sick with worry that they hated her, Alison was being accepted into their family.

  “Kaden, I might take you up on the second home idea. After all, I need to be able to spend time with my grandbaby.”

  The rest of the meal went smoothly. Alison got to talk about her pet salon more, while Kaden talked more about the possibility of moving his mom and sister to town. He let them take his truck with them again; it was the perfect size for them. He hinted at it being safer for the trips back and forth from Canada. Alison wouldn’t be at all surprised if he convinced them to take it home with them.

  She wasn’t feeling as crampy after she ate, and she was sure to drink a good bit of water. But something still wasn’t right. A dull ache bothered her lower back, while pain crept around to her sides.

  Later, as she walked into her loft, a stabbing pain across her stomach hit her so hard that she couldn’t move from the doorway. Opening her mouth to call for Kaden’s help, nothing came out. Only tears filled her eyes.

  Bent over in such pain, her knees buckled and she crumpled to the floor.

  Kaden had his head in the refrigerator getting a beer. “That wasn’t so bad, was it, Ali? Ali?” Turning to see her on the floor in the doorway, he ran to her side. “Ali, what’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. Kaden. Help. Our son.” She sobbed while she clutched at her stomach. Fear ran through her that something might be wrong with their baby. The ache was so intense, that she had to concentrate on breathing while she moaned from the pain.

  “Hang on.” He dialed nine-one-one before pulling her to him. He rocked with her close to his chest and whispered, “The ambulance is on its way. Everything will be okay, Ali. I promise.”

  “You can’t promise that.” As Alison tried to breathe through the pain, anything Kaden said was muffled.

  She concentrated on the baby. He had to be okay. She couldn’t lose their baby. The pain was so powerful, she could hear her own heartbeat. She didn’t remember Kaden letting the EMTs in; she didn’t remember anything.

  Until she woke up in a hospital bed with Kaden at her side.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Kaden

  “There you are. Hey, baby. How’re you feeling, doll?” Kaden squeezed her hand tight. Seeing her lying there so pale and so weak scared him. His heart rate hadn’t settled down since he’d seen her on the floor in her loft. If this wasn’t proof that he couldn’t live without her, then nothing was.

  “Um, I guess okay. Tired.” She looked around the room and at the wires that were attached
to her arms. “What’s all this?”

  “You were severely dehydrated. How I missed that, I’ll never know, and I’ll never forgive myself for missing it. They needed to give you fluids, and you fell asleep. Apparently, you needed the rest. Doll, how did I miss it?” It was his job to take care of her and he had failed. Bowing his head towards her hand, he refused to let go. He fought tears that threatened to fall. “Ali, I love you so much.”

  “The baby?” Her body went rigid and tears filled her eyes.

  “Don’t worry, he’s fine. They did an ultrasound to make sure. They let me hear his heartbeat and see him on the screen. I can’t believe I missed that the first time. But we need to make sure you’re taking better care of you and him. The doc said that stress could’ve played a part in all this. The cramping you felt was your body warning you to slow down and take care of yourself.”

  He knew what needed done. Taking a deep breath, he just said it. “I think we need to get you moved in now. I need to be there to take care of you and the baby. I want to make sure you have everything you need. I want to be there for you. What if I hadn’t been with you at your place when this happened? What if…?”

  What if it had been worse?

  He couldn’t stop talking. Afraid that if he did, the tears would let loose. “I’ve been with you. You’ve been eating and drinking. How are you dehydrated? It’s obvious that I’m failing my part in this, taking care of you. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you. It’s my job to take care of you.” He was just rambling by this point.

  His mind kept replaying her crumpling to the ground in the doorway. Kaden had never felt so helpless the way he had at that moment. The thought of losing her stung deep inside him, and twisted his stomach in ways he’d never felt before.

  He kept his head bent low, not allowing the tears to fall and not wanting anyone to see them sitting in his eyes.