Ryder - Caveman Insticts Book Three

by Gower, Hazel

  Was Ryder in trouble? Would he go to jail because of me? I stared into his eyes and tried to pry what I wanted out of them, but he didn’t give what I wanted away. Ryder looked tired. He had dark black bags under his eyes and his face looked like he hadn’t shaved since I’d come into the hospital. He had a decent beard going, but I wasn’t sure I liked it. His posture seemed limp and his usual cocky confidence was nonexistent. “Are you in trouble because of me? Is Dad in trouble?”

  Ryder shook his head. “Don’t worry about any of that. My family lawyers and I have it sorted out.” He brought my hand up and kissed my knuckles. “I may have to find another job.” He shrugged. “I’m a Silverman, so I don’t really need to work. I have plenty of money. I could start my own business, or do whatever I wanted. So don’t worry about anything besides getting better.”

  Nibbling on my lower lip, I tried to see if what he said was true, or he was just trying to not make me feel bad for all the trouble I caused. He winked, smirked, and kissed my hand again and I relaxed.

  “What about me and the man I…” I trailed off unable to say out loud what I’d done.

  His laugh was hollow but it did put me at ease. “Oh, my feisty little vixen, the man you killed is not even a blip in what’s gone on. The police accept it was done was in self-defense. The only thing they’re pissed about is he was moved from the room by your father.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, because I was sure that it wasn’t my dad who moved the man, but saw the flash in his eyes and shake of Ryder’s head. They had a story, and right now wasn’t the time. Before I could say I understood a nurse rushed in apologizing for being held up. She checked my drip and asked how my pain was and then told me my doctor would be in any moment.

  Almost as soon as the nurse left, the door opened and a man in his late forties came in with a white coat. The doctor. This was confirmed when he smiled a kind smile down at me, and picked up my chart off the hook on the end of the bed. “Hello, Divinity. It’s good to see you awake. I’m Dr. Linkon and I’ve been the head of managing your case. You are a lucky woman. You had a brain bleed that we stopped when you came into us. We’ve had you in an induced coma to make sure there was no more stress or anything to cause further damage for a week. Yesterday afternoon we slowly brought you out of the coma. How are you feeling?” He leaned forward and produced a small light that he flashed in one eye and then the other. He then did a pattern with it, nodded and put it back in his pocket.

  “I feel better than I thought I would feel when I woke, but I now know I’ve been in a coma and a week has passed, so, I guess I feel like shit. I hurt.” I was in a lot of pain, too much considering I’d already had a week of healing.

  He chuckled. “You won’t feel very good for a couple of weeks. You broke two ribs and fractured three others. Also, your left wrist is broken, three fingers on your right hand, your left ankle is fractured and your right knee was dislocated. You’re in bad shape.” He gently patted my arm. “The positive is the baby is healthy.”

  “Say what now?” I choked out.

  “Er…” He darted his gaze over to Ryder and I looked just in time to see Ryder give a swift nod. I narrowed my gaze and darted it from Dr. Linkon to Ryder. “Miss Stamon, I’m sorry. We needed to know if there was a possibility you were pregnant before we did x-rays or anything else that could harm the fetus. Your fiancée said it was possible, so we did a blood test and confirmed it. Congratulations. You and your fiancée should be expecting a new addition in a little less than eight months.”

  I felt my mouth fall open and I then snapped shut as I realized my stupidity. Then I backed up, what did he mean fiancée? I shot a glare at Ryder and snarled when I saw him grinning like a loon. Of course he would be happy about this. He wasn’t the one who would have to squeeze a watermelon out of a hole of the size of an orange. The fiancée part I was sure Ryder and I had already discussed. I didn’t see the ring on my finger. I looked down at my hands and sighed. Not that any rings right now would fit on my chubby fingers. They were all swollen sausages, my left hand in a cast and three fingers were wrapped with a splint on my right. My ring finger might have been undamaged, but with a cast around my wrist and some of my hand and arm it was too big to have a ring on it.

  Realizing I hadn’t replied to the doctor, I darted my gaze back to his and forced a smile on my face. “Thank you. Thank you for everything you’ve done to help me heal. Thank you for making sure to ask about me being pregnant. I would have been devastated if I found out I’d lost a baby because of some medical procedures. Thank you.” What I said was true. This baby was a surprise, but I welcomed any new life, especially one I created with someone I had come to love.

  This time when I gazed at Ryder, I felt no anger or annoyance, only hope for our future.

  The next time I woke up it still took me a moment or two to remember where I was, but when I did, I was surprised to see three women sitting in chairs by the bed, talking. A young woman maybe a couple of years younger than me with jet-black hair and a round face with big green eyes smiled at a woman a little older with strawberry blonde hair. “Who needs a nanny when I have Gillian for a mother-in-law? I swear between her and the rest of the family I only see and hold my baby when I feed him.”

  The strawberry blonde laughed. “Ha! I hear you on that. My daughter has more outfits than me. I don’t think she’s worn the same item twice.”

  A girl with brown hair who looked close to the same age as the jet-black haired girl sighed. “It’s so fun buying all the babies’ outfits.” She beamed at both woman. “Your babies have made me totally clucky, but also helped me get my fix. The awesome thing is I get all the good stuff like dressing them in cute outfits and cuddling, but hand them back when unpleasant things like diaper changes are needed. Its win, win for me, I love them and then give them back and focus on uni.”

  As I stared at them and listened, I wondered if they had the wrong the room. I didn’t know any of them. They weren’t who I expected to see when I awoke. Clearing my throat loudly I got their attention. “Hello. Have you got the wrong room?”

  All three women stopped talking, turned to me, and smiled, their gazes holding pity, concern, and a good dose of interest as they stared at me. “We have the right one. You’re Divinity?” the strawberry blonde asked.

  “Um, yeah. I don’t know you three, do I?” I narrowed my gaze and wracked my brain for anything on the three women before me and came up with nothing.

  The brown-haired girl waved her hand as if shooing a problem away. “You don’t know us yet. I’m Jade and I’m married to Stephan, Ryder’s cousin.” She pointed to the jet-black haired girl. “That’s Bailey, and she’s married to Richard, another of Ryder’s cousins. The strawberry blonde Annabelle is married to Carl, Ryder’s uncle. We came to keep you company while the guys drag Ryder away to force him to eat, shower, and sleep. Now you’re awake we can all take turns, not just your father and Ryder, so you’re not alone. You also have a guard out at your door too. Gillian and Carol and my mother-in-law Evelin were going to be here, but we thought it best it be us. We know how you feel over the Silvermans. Trust me when I tell you I know how they come in and take over. We didn’t think you were ready for the mothers yet.”

  I nodded as I studied the women. Jade and Bailey barely looked old enough to be married, and I was sure I heard Bailey say she had a baby. I furrowed my brows. She’d explained why Ryder wasn’t here, but she said my father took Ryder’s shift and stayed with me when he wasn’t around. So where was my dad now? Did I still need the guard? My mind swirled with questions and I was glad it was them and not Ryder’s mother or aunts. “Nice to meet you,” I mumbled.

  “We wish we were meeting you under better circumstances.” Annabelle stated and darted her gaze to the other two women. She took a deep breath. “We wanted to check to see not just how you’re doing physically, but mentally. We know how crazy the Silverman men get over their woman, and we just wanted to see if we could help so you didn’
t have to lie to Ryder, er if you do, do that.” She groaned. “Let me explain, when I was giving birth to my twins I learned to down play my pain, because even though my hubby is a doctor—so he knew that delivering his children would hurt— he freaked out about me being in so much pain. The nurses had him removed twice before I learned.”

  Bailey giggled. “She’s right. I don’t think I walked for like a week after Sebastian’s birth. I ended up needing stitches.” She shivered. “Anyway, I got carried around because all I said was, ‘It hurts to walk’. Which made Stephan’s caveman side come out.” She grimaced. “I hope you get what we mean.”

  “I get it. Ryder grabbed the nurse and made sure I received pain relief the first time I awoke.”

  Jade moved a little closer. “What happened to you was crazy.”

  It was insane. I had a feeling when I wasn’t doped out on pain meds and being distracted by people I would freak out about it too.

  “I was almost kidnapped, but my bodyguards saved me.” Bailey said. “Um, we also wanted to come by because we heard what you did, and how you fought and well, um…” She looked down and then her gaze caught Jade’s and Annabelle’s.

  “We want you to consider teaching us some moves and self-defense. We want to learn how to defend ourselves.” Annabelle babbled out. “We heard you even escaped too, or would have.”

  I was shocked at what I was hearing. How and who did they hear all this from? “How? Who?”

  Bailey smiled, lighting up the whole room. At first glance she was a shy, plain looking young woman who, and then she smiled and she became stunning. “Ryder. He told us. He’s so proud of you. Your father and brother are too, but, well, your dad stays away from all us. He’s, er, not much of a talker, but we can tell he’s proud though.”

  It sounded all jumbled and took me a second to catch up. I wasn’t sure about what they said about escaping myself and even teaching them self-defense. My confidence had taken a beating. My body, too. Closing my eyes for a moment I wished my mother was alive. I could really use her love right now. Hell, I’d even settle for my father. That thought made me realize that I just needed a parent’s love right now. I opened my eyes. “My dad, where is he?”

  Jade shrugged. “We don’t know where he is when he’s not here. I know your brother Arron is staying at Ryder’s parents’ house. I can go get someone to call him.”

  “Yeah, please.” I was getting really tired. The little talk I’d just had had taken what little energy I had. I fought my lids to stay open and not shut. I’d sleep. “Thanks for visiting. It was nice to meet you and I’m glad I woke up to you and not your mother and sister-in-law’s.”

  “It was nice to meet you even, so briefly. I’ll go tell them to call your father.” Jade patted my arm before she left the room.

  “Nice to meet you. I look forward to seeing you more. My husband is close to Ryder so I’m sure we will. I’ll bring Sebastian, my baby, next time if you like.” Bailey smiled down at me and I could tell she was just one of those really nice sweet people.

  “I’d love to meet your baby, and it was nice to meet you too.” I watched her nod to Annabelle before she strolled to the door.

  “I would like to come back to visit. Is there anything you need? I’d offer to bring in my babies. Like I said earlier, I have twins. My daughter is the only girl born into the family in over a couple of centuries, at least that is what we found out from the research we did. So she is spoiled and held and cuddled almost twenty-four-seven. My son, well my mother never had a son or brothers so she just thinks he’s the best thing since sliced bread. Thank God I breast feed otherwise I’d never see my babies.”

  I couldn’t help my laugh at what I’d been hearing. It eased my worry over how being pregnant, which I still hadn’t fully accepted. It was all so surreal. If this woman could cope with twins, I could come to terms with one.

  “Anyway.” Annabelle brought me back to her. “I’m a librarian, or was before I had the kids. Um, what I’m saying is that when I come back, if you’re okay with that, I’ll bring you some reading material. What do you read?”

  “I love fiction, fantasy, sci-fi and romance. I have an iPad with a Kindle app on it. I’d really appreciate if you could get it from my dad or get my brother to get it. I left it at my dad’s. He lives on the base.”

  “Sure. I’ll get that and make sure the bag that gets packed will be actual stuff you need.”

  I sighed as a weight I didn’t even realize I had lifted off. “Thank you so much.”

  “No problem.” She came and squeezed my hand. “You get some rest and us girls will organize and make sure you have everything.”

  My lids drooped and I was losing my battle to keep my eyes open. “I know we are going to be great friends. I didn’t even know I needed to meet you guys right now, but I’m so glad I did. You’ve given me hope and have helped me. Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you all again.” My eyes closed and I knew I was about to crash. “And Annabelle…if you can steal your babies back I’d love to meet them.”

  I barely heard her reply of, “Sure,” before I lost my fight to stay awake any longer. I hoped the next time I awoke it was to my father or Ryder.

  THIS TIME I WOKE I knew where I was and was damn happy to see a face I knew and had wanted to talk to. I may not have had much time to think while being in the hospital, since I’d been sleeping most of the time, but what little I did, I knew I needed to set things straight with my father and I wanted to be with Ryder. I wasn’t letting him get away. He was mine and I intended to live with him and spend all my time getting to know him and figuring out how we worked. Knowing we were having a baby together, only made me want our time alone more.

  My dad didn’t notice I was awake and it gave me a moment to study him. He looked different, older, tired and haggard. I couldn’t remember a time I’d ever seen him like this. He was always in charge and put together, but his clothes didn’t even look like they’d been ironed.

  “Dad.”

  His head shot away from staring out the window to me. “Hey kiddo. You get in to some trouble?” He leaned in closer and grabbed my hand. “I’ve never been so happy to see your pretty brown eyes.” He squeezed my hand. “I was worried about you.” He closed his eyes and I watched him compose himself. When he opened them again he looked a little more like the father I knew. “I’m proud of you. What you did, and how you fought. I’m…I’m just so proud.”

  “Thanks.” I wasn’t sure what else I was supposed to say. My dad wasn’t one to give compliments. I was taken aback. This wasn’t what I had expected. “Um, Dad, are you okay?”

  His chuckle was hollow. “Fuck. He’s Goddamn right.” He let my hand go and the grimace of annoyance that spread over his face reached his eyes. “I met Ryder.” He raised a brow. “I also know he has probably knocked you up. How do you feel about it?”

  I was sure he meant about the pregnancy but I thought now was a good time to set him straight about everything. “Even though we’ve been together for a short time, I feel more for him than I have any other man.” I lowered my voice to whisper. “I think I might even love him.” I raised my voice again. “I mean, he’s all macho and totally not what I was looking for or would ever usually go for, but I can’t deny how drawn I am to him.” I sigh and look into my dad’s eyes that are so like my own. “He’s beyond good to me. He gives me foot, shoulder and back massages. He goes shopping with me.” I don’t miss the slip of his lips into a smile. Dad knows I’m a diehard shopper. I love a good bargain. “He listens to me and I know he hears what I say, because I find things that I’ve mentioned as gifts or he’ll take me to the restaurant or movie I mention. It’s little things too, like he happily let me relax against him and read while he watches TV, or snuggle while we watch Netflix. He may be all he-man and a bit, er, caveman, but…” I shrugged, happy when I didn’t wince. “Nobody is perfect, but to me so far he has been.”

  He sighed loudly. “So does that mean you’re happy to pregnant?�
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  I hadn’t had much time to really think about being pregnant, but funnily enough I wasn’t worried. I wasn’t even scared. Now I was thinking about it, I was actually getting excited. “What’s the difference between taking care of you and Arron and taking care of a little baby? Now I think about it, I bet the baby will be easier than you two.” I can feel a wicked grin spread over my face as I stare at my dad.

  “You’ve become a comedian since you awoke. Ha, hardy, ha.” He reached out and held my hand. “I have no doubt you will be a brilliant mother.”

  I tried but didn’t have the strength to clutch his hand. “How will you be with me not there to look out for you?”

  He groaned and his forehead rested on the edge of my bed. “Kiddo, I’m charge of hundreds of men. What makes you think I need you to look after me?”

  I nudged him with my hand and when he looked at me I raised my brow. “When was the last time you cooked yourself a meal? Do I need to even mention the yelling matches I refereed between you and Arron?”

  “Your brother is not like you.”

  “Exactly. Dad, he’s not like you. He’s not like your men. You need to treat him like your son. The more you fight and tell him no, the more he rebels. He’s a good kid, Dad.”

  Dad reached up and stroked my cheek. “If it wasn’t for my brown eyes and hair and that your mother was crazy and loved me and would have never cheated, I’d swear you weren’t mine. Actually, you remind me of her, you know. She had a heart just like yours always caring for the ones she loved before herself. I promise I’ll try harder with your brother. He’s staying with the Silvermans. They’re…they’re in your face, and hard to ignore. You’ve gained yourself a unique family.”

  “Yes, they’re very hard to ignore.” I knew then that Dad and I were good. “So tell me what happened and the ‘official’ story.” I relaxed and listened to my father’s deep timbre as he filled in the gaps I couldn’t remember and what I needed to say to the cops when they came to talk to me. If they got the chance with Ryder and his family guarding me.