“So that means?” I ask.
Sly holds up his hands. “Means the hole is about the size of a donut now. Once it gets about the size of a roll of toilet paper, she’ll push.”
Kara looks at him like he’s nuts. “And how do you know this? I had a damn C-section.”
“Woman, I studied up. We didn’t know my princess was gonna come so early. I know these things. I’m smart like that,” he says like how dare she ask him.
“Okay, thank you for the visual aids, Sly. I’ll just have some nightmares over here now,” I say, dropping into a chair.
I hear someone walk in behind me. “So I’m guessing
Chels is in labor, huh?”
Sly looks up, “Hey, Firecracker.”
Kara hugs her sister. “Yep. We’re all here just awaiting the arrival. I didn’t know you were going to be at this hospital today.” That’s right, she’s still rotating between places. This is her last semester.
“Oh, I wasn’t supposed to. A girl needed to switch though,” she says casually.
Sloan smiles at Jade. “Well that worked out great. You’re the pharmacy chick so you can make sure Chelsea gets good drugs.”
Everyone laughs and Slick looks up, finally noticing that Jade is here. “Jade!” He puts his phone down and runs to her.
She smiles and gives him a huge hug. “Hey, kiddo.” About that time, the little ones finally stop using Sly as a jungle gym and run to her.
Krista shoves at Slick. “My Jade.”
Lincoln jumps up and down clapping. “Jade.”
She takes her time hugging each one of them. “Look, guys, I have to go back down to the pharmacy but keep me posted on the newest Webb coming into the world.”
Sly looks up. “Will do.”
As I watch Jade turn to leave, Gia walks in, giving Jade the once over and giving a small wave to everyone else. “Hey, guys. So what’s the word?”
Jade leaves as Kara lifts her head. “Last time we heard she was dilated to 8.”
Gia drops in the chair next to me as Sly glares at her. “What took you so long to get here?”
“You woke me up. I had to get a shower and stuff.” She shrugs, studying her phone.
“Yeah, I know you had to get out of some jackass’s bed this morning. Don’t try to bullshit me.” He points at her.
“It doesn’t matter because it’s not your damn business, Sly,” she says, rolling her eyes.
“The hell it isn’t.” I can tell he’s going to say more but Huck bursts in the room.
“He’s here. Nine pounds, eight ounces and twenty-two inches long.” Everyone rushes to hug him. I step up to him. “Congrats, Big Papa.” We give each other a handshake back-slapping hug.
Slick walks up to him and gives him a fist bump. “What’s his name?”
Huck smiles. “Harmon Patrick Webb. Named after her dad and mine.”
He steps back. “I gotta go to the nursery, they’re giving him his bath and doing all of his checks. Her mom is in there with her now. I’ll let you guys know when you can go in.”
I look around the room and see all of the happy tears for this melting pot family. I look at Kara. “I’m gonna go let Jade know the news.” She nods as I turn and walk out.
“Gibbs.” I hear her voice. Damn it.
I stop and turn around. “Yeah, what’s up?”
Gia sways her sexy hips, walking over to me and pulling at the front of my shirt. “So you want me to come over tonight?”
“Nah, I gotta be at the gym early tomorrow. I’m taking Huck’s classes and stuff for a little while.” This is true, but she’s also getting a little clingy.
“Oh.” She turns to walk away but then spins back around. “You know, when we started this, I told you when you were ready to be finished to let me know. No hard feelings, just not to lie to me about it.”
I squint my eyes. “What are you talking about lying? I’ve never lied to you.”
“No, but you lie to yourself every day in the mirror. You want her, you know you do.” She waves her hands around dramatically, “No one can compare to the all mighty Jade. What, does she have a velvet pussy or something?”
I give her a “fuck you” smirk. “No, it’s platinum.” She flips me off as she turns and stomps back into the waiting room.
I run both of my hands into my hair. “Fuck.”
CHAPTER 4
JADE
One of the great things about working in a hospital pharmacy is the fact that I don’t have to see many people. I’ve never been great with crowds and I have a short-fused temper. I was never the girl who wanted all of the attention on her. The phone rings for the pharmacy and I grab it. “Pharmacy.”
“Hey, honey, you have a visitor.”
“Thanks, Lucille. I’ll be right out.”
After locking up the cabinets, I walk out to the desk. Clay is standing there, hands tucked in his pockets, leaning against the wall. I give him a small nervous wave. “Hey. What’s up?”
“Baby’s here. He’s nine pounds, eight ounces and twenty-two inches long. They were taking him to the nursery for the tests and stuff, so I came down here to let you know,” he says casually. “What are you doing for lunch?”
“Um, well, I haven’t been here that long so I probably won’t take a lunch break until supper time,” I say apologetically.
He shrugs. “Oh. Okay, well I’m gonna head back up and see if they’re in their room yet. Do you want me to let you know the room number?”
I smile and shake my head. “No, I can look it up in a little while.”
He laughs. “Oh yeah, sorry.” He steps out from the wall. “Well, I guess I’m gonna go. I’ll talk to you later.”
I give him a small wave. “Sure. Thanks for letting me know.”
He gives me a nod before leaving the room. Lucille, the lady who mans our pharmacy desk, smiles at me. “Sweetie, that boy is a fine looking one. What are you doing turning him down for lunch? Trust me, honey. When you get to be my age, you figure out life’s too short not to jump the bones of one as hot as that one.”
I slump over on the counter and let out a big sigh. “It’s a long story, Lucille. One for another day.” Pushing off the counter, I enter the code to the pharmacy door and go back to my special quiet place.
Sitting at my little desk, I start to think about those few weeks I had between UAB and UF.
“I can’t believe you didn’t call me or Mom.” Kara waves her hands around. “Or even Sloan. It just breaks my heart that you sat overnight in a hospital all alone, losing a baby.”
“I really didn’t want anyone with me at the hospital. Brett really wanted me to get an abortion, I was still up in the air about it. A night by myself actually helped. Then when I caught him cheating a few days later, I lost it. After that, it’s kind of a blur. When I knew I had to leave, Clay was the only person I knew I could call that would come and get me with no questions asked. He let me know that I’d have to tell him once he got there, but he just jumped in his truck and came to Birmingham,” I say, my head resting in my palms on her kitchen table.
Once Clay got me back into town, I had my family meet me at his place. I told them what happened, my mom cried, Kara was pissed and Sly was two seconds away from going to beat Brett’s ass. Clay promised Sly that he’d pretty much made Brett piss his pants.
Kara is still upset about what I went through, being pregnant and having a miscarriage basically alone. No one was there to care for or comfort me.
“Kara, please don’t worry about me. The Dean called in some favors at UF. I’m picking up in a few weeks at UF right where I left off. He was really upset about what happened, but there wasn’t much he could do about it there since Brett’s dad is on the board of trustees for the college. He also figured I wouldn’t want to deal with all of the backlash and drama afterward. He’s right. I didn’t want to deal with the rumor mill or the gossip. I just want to move on with my life. So here I am, moving on with my life,” I plead.
She sits down across from me now with her coffee in her hand. “So you and Gibbs?”
“It’s not like that. He’s my friend. Yes, we’ve fucked, but that’s all. I trust him. We aren’t screwing right now or anything, I’m still bleeding. No sex for me for another four or five weeks.” I try to make light of all of it. My sister gets really stressed about me. She practically raised me, I hate disappointing her.
“It’s not about hooking up with him-.”
She’s cut off by the doorbell and I glance at my watch. “Oh shit, that’s Clay. I forgot I’m going to watch a movie with him and grab pizza.”
“Just friends, huh?” she says skeptically.
I shake my head and roll my eyes. Opening the door, I take him in. Clay is a fine man. His muscular body, dark skin and brown eyes are the stuff that makes women wet their panties all over the world.
“Hey, you ready to go?” he says, leaning against the doorframe.
“Yeah, let me grab my purse.” Kara gives me a sharp look and I give her a kiss on the cheek. “Love you, Care Bear.” That was my nickname for her growing up.
She pops me on the ass. “Quit trying to suck up, brat.”
I blow her a kiss and follow Clay out to his truck.
Once we’re inside, he looks over to me. “So how’s it been going?”
I shrug. “It’s been okay. Still have my emotions running a little high. Kara is worried about me. She’s still upset and she wonders what’s going on with us.” I shake my head. “She doesn’t understand us.”
He lets out a small snort. “Tell her to join the club.”
That catches me off guard. “What do you mean?”
He lets out a loud sigh. “It’s just I wonder what we are sometimes, too. I mean, I know we agreed to just be friends, but sometimes what I feel is more than friendship.”
“Clay, I’ve dated other people and so have you. I thought we were past this.”
“You thought wrong. I was giving you space for college. I knew you didn’t need to be tied down when you went to school. I knew going into pharmacy was going to keep you busy, you didn’t need long distance drama. Then I find out you’re dating some damn baseball player. Do you know how pissed I was?”
“Where is all of this coming from?”
He pulls into a random parking lot. “I can’t do this anymore, Jade. Keeping you as a friend at arm’s length was easy, until I had to pick you up from Birmingham. Seeing you in pain and broken just killed me. I don’t want you to ever feel that again.”
He rubs his face with both hands. “I want more with you.”
I shake my head as the tears start falling. “I’m sorry, but I can’t give you that right now. I need to work on me.”
We drive in silence back to my sister’s. Once he stops the truck, he says, “Then I can’t do this,” he motions between us, “anymore. I’m sorry. I still consider you a friend, but I can’t be this close to you.”
Wiping my tears, I get out and slam the door. “Fuck!”
My hospital line ringing jars me from my memories. “Pharmacy.”
“Hey.” I hear my sister on the other end.
“Hey. How’s the baby?”
“He’s such a cutie. They just got him in the room with Chelsea.”
“Don’t get too mushy. You’ll have another one of your own soon enough. You guys are all like a damn baby factory.” My sister found out a couple of months ago that she’s pregnant with her second child.
“Touchy, touchy. So does this have anything to do with the tanned fighter who came to tell you about the baby?”
“Shut up.” I lie. “I’m just busy in here. I want to get finished up so I can sneak up there and check the little guy out.”
“Oh, mmm hmm,” she replies with doubt in her voice.
“Shit, my other line is ringing. I’ve got to go. I’ll be up there as soon as I can.” Another lie.
“Okay,” she says and I hang up the phone.
Why does he still get to me like this? I mean he’s with Gia, or that’s what she says anyway. The glare she gave me when she walked in the waiting room was enough. I don’t know how her brothers haven’t figured this out. She all but pissed on Clay to mark her territory.
The other week at Chelsea’s baby shower, she made it a point to talk about how she can’t wait to settle down and start a family. Everyone had an opinion on that except me, I didn’t say a word. They all told her she’s young, etc., etc. She looked at me as if she was waiting on my reply, but I just shrugged. I think most of the women have figured out who she’s banging, but for the most part I think the guys are in the dark.
She sent a very explicit text to Clay and got a very explicit response back. She started laughing and said, “Oh my god, Jade, come read this.” Me not knowing what it was, I looked at it and my blood boiled.
Am I right to be pissed? Probably not. I basically told him to step off. I just hope he’s happy with her. I just wanted to motor through college as quickly as possible and be done. A guy had already almost screwed that up for me once, I couldn’t let it happen again.
So it worked out. I went through the Pharmacy program faster than most. I didn’t take summers off and I loaded up on the classes. It’s amazing how much some sexual frustration can make you work so much harder.
CHAPTER 5
GIBBS
How does this happen every time I’m around her? I lose all of my fucking brain cells. I stumble and bumble through a damn simple conversation like a fucking teenager. Jade has always had me by the balls and as much as it pisses me off, I’m pretty certain that Gia is right. I still want Jade, I don’t really know that I’d say I’m in love with her, but no one compares to her.
“Hey, man, what are you in such deep thought about?” Lox says, slapping me on the arm.
“Just thinking about shit in general,” I say, exasperated.
“Hmph, I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fiery redhead and the bossy brunette,” he says with a knowing grin.
“How do you know this shit, man?”
He leans back against the wall and crosses his arms over his chest. “I actually pay attention and I listen when my wife is talking. The girls all know shit, but they don’t just readily inform us. We have to read between the lines. That’s never been the twin’s strong suit, but it has been mine.” He shakes his head. “Plus, I mean Gia is all about marking her damn territory. To the point that she’s a bitch about it most of the time. I don’t know how they haven’t picked up on it. It’s not like she’s keeping it a real secret.”
“It’s just a convenience thing for both of us. Well, it’s supposed to be anyway. I’m beginning to think she’s taking it more serious though.”
He sighs, “Man, this could really get ugly if you don’t just go ahead and quit it now. I’ve been watching for a while and to start with I think you were right, she wanted what you wanted, but now…it’s different for her. You need to take care of it before it interferes with your job. That gym is our home, and yours, too,” he says, trying to convey the seriousness of it all.
“I know, man. I’m going to go in and see the little guy quickly, then I’m going home. I’ve got shit to figure out and I’m taking over Huck’s classes as of tomorrow for the next few weeks,” I say, tapping on the hospital room door.
He nods. “All right, man. See you in the morning. We’ve got to go get the kids to the damn house before Lincoln charms every damn nurse up here into giving him candy.”
I laugh and shake my head as I walk in the room. Chelsea is asleep and I can see Huck is dozing in his chair. He looks up. “Hey, man, I guess I dozed off.”
I wave my hand. “Nah, man. You had a long night and day. I just came in to check on the little guy and then get home. I got your classes tomorrow. Anything I should know?”
“Well, not really. Only when you do that new senior’s defense group, Ms. Gilbert is going to ask to partner with you and if you let her, she’s going to cop a feel. She’s a feisty old broad.”
I snort, trying not to laugh and wake Chels up. “Okay.”
He levels his eyes at me. “I’m serious, man. I’m not fucking around. She grabbed my dick the other week, she’s all Blanche off the Golden Girls, man.”
“Huh?”
He shakes his head. “The Golden Girls was a TV show about older ladies living together. Blanche was the hoochie of the group. Lox’s grandma used to make us watch it with her. It’s a pretty damn funny show.”
I shrug. “Okay, whatever. I’ll watch my junk around Ms. Gilbert. Anything else?” I say, standing over the clear hospital bassinet and looking at the new Webb.
He stands up. “Yeah, follow me into the hall.” Once we are in the hallway, he sighs. “I think it’s time for you and my sister to call whatever y’all are doing quits.”
I’m startled. “Shit,” I say, rubbing my hand up my face.
“Look, dude, I’m not pissed. Well, I am a little, but she’s a grown ass woman. I’m fairly certain she went into this for the same reasons, but I saw her face today, man. I also happened to overhear her in the hallway.” He puts a hand up in defense. “I didn’t mean to. I’d forgotten to tell you guys something and turned around. I was just around the corner.”
“How long have you known? Since Lox just informed me that he knows, too.” This actually kinda aggravates me. I hate people knowing my business.
“I’m gonna guess since not too long after it started. I know she started scoping you out when she first came around. She talked to Chels about it,” he explains.
“Does everyone know?” I say, sounding a little more agitated than I intend.
“I think everyone but Sly and maybe Mox. But you know they have a twindar, I’m sure.”
“Yeah, I gotta handle this. I’m sorry, man. I didn’t want you guys to think that I’m just using her.”
“Man, I get it. I really do. Sly and I were just like that a few years ago. Well, we never really went back for seconds on most girls, but I get it.”
Gaining Gibbs (Marco's MMA Boys #4) Page 2
