“I’m so happy, baby, because honestly, it scared the shit out of me to let anyone in, especially you because what you thought and felt really matters to me.”
“But don’t you see? We’re the same, Cage. You’ve been hiding yourself behind the playboy. You think all this psychic loving, happy, optimistic happiness is the person I showed to the world? It isn’t. Even Percy was surprised by this me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’d never let them see me because I was so scared I wouldn’t fit in if they did. They’re terrible.”
“Yeah, no shit.” I snort, pushing closer, needing more contact.
She giggles and strokes my hair as she gazes off into whatever memories she’s seeing in her head.
“They were all so tough and ready to kick butt, even Dot with her quiet kindness. And there I was, a little nerd who enjoyed the mysteries of the universe and had two kooks for parents. I fit in about as well as a fly in your soup. But I wanted in, you know? I adored them and the way they seemed to close ranks around each other and I just, I needed that closeness because I felt so alone.”
“So you became what you needed to be to fit in,” I say.
“I did. It was dumb and freaking unnecessary, I can see that now, but at the time I was ashamed to admit that my mom saw ghosts and believed in farming with her own poop. FYI, do not eat at my parents’ place if she’s doing squash.”
Duly noted.
“I’m really glad you can be yourself with me, Luci. It makes me feel like you’ve given me something special and just for us.”
I predict some heavy making out and petting sessions tonight, I hope, if she forgives me because I’m about to tell her everything.
Until she gasps and I see her face scrunch up just as she doubles over and starts panting.
“Cage.”
Chapter Sixteen
Welcome to the World
Luci
Cage grabs me up and just starts running. He’s freaking going nuts in the elevator as he juggles me against his chest with one strong arm and barks into the phone while kicking at the elevator panel.
Yeah. Total meltdown.
I’m terrified and ready to start bawling as another pang shoots through me and I feel a wet gush between my legs. It goes everywhere. All down my legs, and as Cage pauses and looks down at me wide-eyed, I’m guessing his ten-grand suit just got the brunt of my explosion.
“Sorry. I’m so sorry.” I sniffle, my hands rubbing soothing circles across my belly when all I really want to do is yell and punch something.
“Don’t, baby, don’t. Shh, it’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.”
We hit the lobby and I see people’s eyes go wide when they get a load of the mad giant charging through the space carrying a whale who’s no doubt looking on the verge of hysteria.
I can’t help it. I’ve never done pain well, and right now it feels like someone shoved a hot poker up my quam and all the way into my womb.
He dives for the door of the car waiting for us and pulls me into his lap just as the driver peels away, burning rubber like I have never seen him do before.
“Oh owwiiiiee.”
“It’s okay, baby, just breathe like that quack at that class told us to.”
I giggle because we went like one time and never again because that woman was hitting on him the whole time and he took great exception to it.
“Can’t you go any fucking faster?!”
Cage is losing it right now and instead of it scaring me, it’s having the opposite effect and soothing me in a way. Odd, I know, but as he continues to yell into his phone and clutch me to his chest as if he’s terrified to let go of me, I just feel safe and secure.
And sort of floaty all of a sudden.
It doesn’t even hurt anymore.
“Cage, honey, you can calm down. I’m okay. Don’t feel a thing anymore,” I whisper into his neck, burrowing closer to feel the heat of his skin on my cold face.
Cold? Why cold?
My words have him going nuts, and I think I hear him sob a little as he pulls me closer and starts rocking me like a baby.
“Don’t you do this to me, Luci.”
“Do what? Cage, stop yelling and breathe. It’s okay.”
It’s then that I feel another gush and see his eyes go wide. I smell it then and you know, I should always know that looking is not a good idea, but that’s me. I always have to look.
What I see explains Cage’s behavior.
I thought my water broke. Silly me, I think now as I look down to see his ten-grand suit will not be saved by dry cleaning.
There’s blood. So much. Everywhere.
“Oh dear.”
“Luci! Luci, baby, look at me. Look into my eyes, sweetheart. That’s my girl. You look at me, baby, and you fucking promise me you won’t do this to me. Please. I’m begging you not to do this to me.”
What’s he talking about? I’m not doing a damn thing.
“It’s fine,” I murmur when the car hops to a stop and Cage lunges for the door. Then we’re just running and it seems as if there are people everywhere, yelling and shouting for God knows what.
“They’re mine,” Cage says as he lowers me to a gurney and we’re moving.
“What?”
“The babies, Luci. They’re mine. I need to tell you before…”
“Of course they are, silly.” I smile, wanting to reach out and stroke his face but not able to because my arm just won’t move an inch.
“No, I mean it was my semen that got swapped out.”
***
Cage
I’m covered in blood from my chest all the way to my thighs and my hands have long since dried into crusty gloves of the blood that came out of my wife.
I can’t move, can’t find the will to care enough right now as my friends and our families all sit around me silently, some praying, others looking so terrified that I can’t look at them without feeling like I’ll crack and start yelling at the roof.
“Here drink this,” Woody says, handing me the flask he keeps in his jacket at all times.
My hands hardly register the cool silver of the flask, and getting it to my lips is pretty impossible considering I’ve been frozen in this spot since Jack and Woody got here and dragged me into the waiting room.
I haven’t said a word. I can’t because it feels like I’m frozen inside as I wait for something to happen. I’ve never been a big believer in anything really, not since I was a kid and learned only to believe in myself and the cruelty of life, but I am now or I can be as I pray to whoever is out there to please, please just let my heart keep beating.
“Cage, drink the fucking stuff and look at me, man. She’s going to be okay. The babies are going to be okay,” Woody insists, grabbing my hand and twisting till I’m forced to look at him.
“Luci is a fighter, man, and you know that woman. No way will she give up before she sees those babies, Cage.”
“She…” I pause and clear my throat as hope starts unfurling inside me, making my blood start pumping again. “She just told me she loves me. We were just…”
“I know, man. I know. Trust me, you’ll be finishing those sappy declarations when you’re elbow deep in babies. Have faith, Cage, you have to have faith or this won’t work.”
“I can’t lose her now. I can’t raise four kids without her. I won’t.”
I love them all and it’s not like I’d dump them. I just won’t be there, because if she goes I’m going with. I love my family, my babies, and even Luci’s weird-ass dad who seems a lot more canny than scatty behind those green eyes of his, but Luci…she’s my heartbeat, and if she’s not here I don’t give a shit about anything.
“You can, but thankfully you won’t have to. She’s going to be okay.”
“The blood, Woody, Jesus Christ, you didn’t see it pouring out of her. There was so much I felt it run through my pants into the seat. How can she live when it seemed to just pour right out of her?”
Wo
ody doesn’t seem fit to answer as he looks down at my ruined suit and flinches. Yeah, I know exactly what I look like, and while I know I should go clean up, I can’t. I need a part of her near me, and right now this is all I have.
“Fred, bro, let’s go get you cleaned up. The girls keep looking over at you and freaking out, and Gruffy’s about to start crying. Please. Let’s get you cleaned up and then we can all go track down someone who’ll tell us what’s going on,” Jack says softly, his hand squeezing my shoulder in support.
“I don’t want to.”
I can’t move till someone comes in here and tells me my wife and babies are okay. Please, Jesus, let them all be okay, I pray as another thought hits me like a sledgehammer.
I could lose them, too. Oh God, don’t do this to me. Don’t take any of them. Luci will live, she has to, and so do each and every one of my little ones because I know that it will kill her if they don’t.
“Fred—”
“I said fucking no! I’m not moving a Goddamn muscle till someone comes in here and tells me my family is okay, Jack,” I yell, my anger at the world rising.
I want to hit him, someone, anything right now to release the agony that’s building inside me. A hand lands on my shoulder and I look up to see Dyson Braxton.
“Go find him a change of clothes, boys, and give us a minute.”
Woody and Jack share a look but nod and leave us, no doubt relieved not to have to stay and deal with the brunt of my anger.
“Cage—”
“Don’t, old man. Don’t you give me some ‘think positive’ bullshit right now, because I may just lose it if you do,” I warn, trying and failing to shake him loose.
He’s a big bastard and stronger than he looks most days as he lowers himself beside me and lays a hand over my nape to keep my in place.
“I will because that’s just what you need, and if Luci were here she’d do the same thing after kicking your ass, boy. You think I’m not terrified? That little girl is my princess and while I may not have been the most emotionally available father, I have loved each of my babies with everything that I am.”
“Yeah? That why Luci always felt like she was an add-on her whole life?” I hiss, knowing that I’m wrong but needing something to get rid of these emotions.
“Boy, all this love and the certainty that you’ll die without her? I felt and still feel exactly that strongly about my own wife. You think it just stops when you have kids and levels out because you can spread all that obsessive, crazy love? It doesn’t happen. I should know, I’m still crazy for my woman and I’ll be even crazier for her when she’s ninety and doddering about.”
“Look, Dyson—”
“And I know that you’re sitting here thinking that you’ll die if she does and I don’t blame you. But here’s the thing. Those babies she’s given to you? They’re a gift you can’t throw away. She’s done an amazing thing to give you the family you need, and I won’t sit here and watch you forget them just because your heart is breaking.”
I nod once, not saying a word because he’s right. And wrong.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I get it, boy. I told you. And congrats, by the way. If there’s anything you should be asking God for, it’s that those babies look more like her than you, asshole.”
His smile brings me up short and I look up at him in shock.
“You know?”
“Boy, I helped Woody do it all. You think I would allow my little girl to go through with that nonsense when my wife told me that you were her destiny? Not bloody likely. I may be retired, but this shark still knows how to swim in those waters, and I have enough money to get what I want.”
I laugh a little. I can’t help it and shake my head at the old asshole.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, Cage. You’re mine now, too, and I always look after my children, no matter what. Now do us a favor and go wash, would you? The sight of all that blood is hurting my baby, and I’m about a breath away from kicking your arse.”
Chapter Seventeen
To Be or Not To Be
Luci
I’m floating, light as a feather, and feeling a peace that I just know is not right. It’s a freaking trap, I think suspiciously as I narrow my eyes and try to look away from the light.
Cage’s words keep echoing around me even as I try to turn back and see what’s behind me.
Turn back.
But do I want to? Cage’s words won’t stop haunting me and the realization of them, that he just told me that he lied, tricked me, keeps me coming back to the pain I felt before, when I knew for a damn fact I couldn’t trust him.
Stupid man!
And yet…
These are his babies, Luci, just like you prayed for every night when you lay in his arms and wished that things were different.
I got my wish and I get to look at those four little faces every day for the rest of my life and see him and me in them.
I eyeball the light and float down to my feet like a freaking fairy or some shit.
Just as I’m about to bolt back the way I came, the fog clears and it’s like I’m standing at the fork between two paths.
Choose.
Choose what, asshole? I’m finally feeling all pain free and stuff, and I’m busy thinking here, trying to figure out exactly why I’m not ready to murder Cage for being such a scummy liar.
I need a minute to figure things out.
Choose.
One road seems to be all shiny and paved in rainbows or some shit while the other isn’t so great but has one thing that grabs me immediately. A tiny little cage.
I’m a believer and I totally go with signs and my gut usually, but as I stand there and look both ways, I have the overwhelming fear that I may just choose wrong. This is all in my head, and knowing me I’d lay a trap to lure me in and then wake up right next to one of the Olson twins in hell.
The shiny road looks like it could be the trickster, but then I look down the other, less attractive road and I’m terrified that it’s the obvious trick that I wouldn’t think is a trick but definitely is.
Oh decisions!
I’m just about ready to throw a tantrum and rail, fists flying, because shit, I’m nuttier than I ever imagined when I hear a thin little wail coming from the cage.
“We’ve got them all, guys. Close her up!”
What? Is that…?
Oh Dr. Sparks, you idiotic wonderful old fool, I am so getting you a gift basket for this, I crow, smiling even as I start down the path I know will take me where I need to be.
“There we go, people, she’s stable. For now. Let’s go do something about that big bastard out in the waiting room, shall we?”
***
“Shh! Stop pushing. I wanna see her first.”
“No me.”
“Me.”
“I’m number one, I get to see her first.”
“Shut the hell up and behave, you lot.”
That last one is Cage as he obviously hisses and glares at my four sisters and tormentors. I slowly swim my way back to consciousness. I feel like straight-up roadkill, I won’t lie.
My head hurts from whatever they’ve been pumping into me, my eyeballs are possibly swollen, at least that’s what it feels like. I know for sure I look as bad as I feel and yet I’m giddy as I force an eyelid open and stare at the five idiots arguing in whispers beside my bed.
I take this time while they’re unaware that I’m back to take stock. Belly? It’s definitely gone, and I feel so empty suddenly that I want to cry a little and mourn the loss of the thing.
Just a few days ago I was praying for something to happen so I could see my toes and here I am, wanting to wail for the damn thing. Ridiculous.
That thought sets off another, more urgent thought, and I shoot awake with a vengeance, my eyes going all round as panic hits me.
“Babies!”
Cage just about jumps out of his skin and he’s on me so fast I have to blin
k to bring him into focus as he grabs my hand and starts peppering my face with tear-drenched kisses that have the peanut gallery groaning.
“You came back. You’re okay. Don’t ever do that to me again!”
He’s yelling so that means we must all be all right.
“Stop yelling at me, my head hurts,” I mutter, smiling when he seems to deflate and is on the verge of crying. Too cute. And totally not my scene as I narrow my eyes at him and grab the hands that seem to be everywhere all at once.
“Cage. Babies. Now.”
That seems to get him to stop and I feel my heart skip a beat when he stills and the others seem to swallow and take a mental step back.
“Luci, baby, you need to—”
“Babies! Babies! Babies! Are you all hearing me right now? I want my freaking babies. Move. Move your ass so I can get up,” I snarl, my panic turning me into a demon as the need to find and nurture hits me.
I mean I love Cage and all, but really? I’ve been waddling around with my crew for months and they think I’ll be okay to languish here while fear cripples me.
Oh God. What if one...some…all…
I can’t finish that thought if I’m to stay sane and not start swinging at people, so I try to push him away and get up so that I can sniff my little ones out.
“Babe, stop that and calm the fuck down already. You’re full of stitches and you can’t be moving around so soon. You lost a load of blood.”
“Cage, I love you more than anything and I am so sorry if this hurts your feelings, but get the fuck out of my way and take me to my kids before I take your substantial manhood.”
Now that I’m fully awake and feeling the loss of my babies, it’s like I’ve turned into mother bear or something. I need to see them and touch them and know that they’re okay and these five weaklings think they can stop me.
“Lie down.”
“Chill out.”
“Stop being a dickhead and just listen to the man!” Dot yells, bringing us all to a stop.
I freeze a little and Cage manages to wrestle me back onto the bed as Dot marches forward and slaps me upside the head.
“Your little aliens are just fine, Luci, so you can stop going Winona on us.”
LUCI (The Naughty Ones Book 2) Page 10
