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Sebastian
Business at Reed Security was booming. The newer teams were being sent out more often now that Team One was watching over Maggie and Team Three was at Cazzo’s with Vanessa. Team Two was still out of commission for the most part. Sinner had been cleared for work when he came in and demanded to be field tested. He and Burg were working smaller jobs together, but I could tell that they felt the loss of Cazzo, who was their team leader. I had no idea when Cazzo would be ready to rejoin the team and I figured it would take him a while to get in fighting shape.
After his PT everyday, Cazzo was coming into the office and helping with operations. He had taken over dealing with the teams and that left me to the busy work in the office. Cazzo was great at logistics and had been helping with it for the past two years, but now that he wasn’t in the field, he took over as the head of logistics. He had also been handling the training, and now that our month of training was over, he only oversaw our weekly training sessions.
Cazzo had just come in, so I checked in with him and caught him up on what was going on for the day, then headed back to my office. My phone buzzed, showing Derek was calling to check in after taking Maggie to her interview.
“Derek, how’s everything going?”
“Everything’s good. We haven’t seen any sign of Reiner or his men. I think we might be in the clear.”
“Stay on her. I don’t want to take any chances.”
He sighed into the phone, letting me know that he wasn’t too happy about his assignment.
“Spit it out, Irish.”
“Cap, you know I’ll do whatever you want, but we can’t afford to keep a three man team on Freckles. I’m not saying that we should pull everyone off, but we could be making money with other clients right now. The more time we spend out here, the more money we lose.”
“I can’t risk it,” I said sternly.
“You told me two years ago that when Cazzo and I stepped up and took on more responsibility with the company that we would have a say in how the company was run. We’ve been putting in our time and I’m telling you that this is bullshit, Cap. You’re going to sink the ship if you keep protecting a woman that doesn’t want it.”
“She’s mine. Since when do we not protect our own?”
“She’s not yours,” he shot back. “If she was yours, she would be in her goddamn place back at your house and at Reed Security. She walked away. What’s it going to take for you to see that?” His voice was harsh, but full of concern. He didn’t like that Maggie had walked away from me or the team.
“What the hell do you want me to do?”
“We can leave Hunter here. He seems to get along the best with her-”
“Perfect,” I grunted as jealousy ripped through me.
“Don’t start that shit again. You know Hunter would never pull anything with her. He’ll look out for her and Lola and I will come home and work with Burg and Sinner when we get a job. Then, you call Maggie and tell her that Hunter is staying with her or I can drag her ass home.”
“You’ve met Maggie, right? There’s no way she’ll go for that shit.”
“She doesn’t have a choice. If she cares about you, she’ll give you this, and that’s exactly what you tell her.”
“Fine, I’ll give her a call-”
“Shit. Cap, we’ve got a situation. I’ll call you back.”
He hung up, leaving me staring at the blank screen on my phone. What the hell just happened? Logically, I knew he had to hang up if he was going to deal with whatever was going on. I ran my hands through my short hair and took a deep breath, praying that Maggie was alright. When that didn’t work, I got up and stalked to the door, only to stop again. Having one of the specialists check in right now would be a distraction. I paced around my office like a caged lion, trying like hell not to lose my shit. I looked at my phone over and over for the next fifteen minutes, until finally, the phone rang.
“Status report,” I barked into the phone.
“Everything’s fine, Cap. Apparently, Maggie passed out and Aggie got nervous because she thought Maggie hit her head. Hunter checked her over and she looks okay.”
“Put Hunter on now.” I was well aware that I was practically shouting at them, but I couldn’t help it. I was scared as fuck right now.
“Cap, it’s Hunter.”
“How’s Maggie? And don’t give me any bullshit. I want details.”
“She’s fine.” I heard a door slam and then outside noises. “There’s nothing wrong with her that I can see, but she hasn’t looked right all day.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“When I took her to her interview this morning, she looked sick and dehydrated. When she came out of her interview, she looked even worse.”
“Would she pass out from that?”
“It depends on how dehydrated she is. I’ve been shoving water down her throat since she came to. She swears she’s fine.”
“I don’t like it. Take her to the hospital and find out what the fuck is wrong with her.”
“Cap, you know they won’t tell me jack shit. She’s not unconscious and she has a right to privacy.”
“I don’t give a shit if they tell you anything. I want her checked out. I’m leaving now. Text me the hospital you take her to.”
I hung up and gathered my keys, running out of my office with several sets of eyes watching me. They probably heard every damn word I said and were wondering why I cared what happened to her. Fuck them all. I didn’t care if I was running off to a woman that didn’t want me. I needed to see for myself that she was fine.
I made it to the hospital in record time and when I got there, she had just been taken back to see a doctor. Since the whole team was there, Derek decided that was the time to finish our conversation from earlier.
“Cap, we need to finish our conversation.”
I ran a calloused hand over my face and scratched at my beard. I never used to keep my beard quite so long, but I just didn’t give a shit lately.
“As long as Maggie’s okay, Hunter can stay and you and Lola can come back. It’ll make me feel better having Hunter here anyway. He can keep an eye on whatever’s going on with her.”
Hunter and Derek exchanged looks, but neither of them said anything.
“Do you know something?”
“She’s just dehydrated, Cap. She wasn’t eating or drinking and it caught up to her. I’m sure now she knows what a mistake that was.”
“That’s not like Maggie. She never passes up a meal.”
“You remember how it was when she was investigating the mayor’s story. She got lost for hours in her research. I’m sure that’s all it was,” Derek said, shoving his hands into his pockets. That was the biggest load of bullshit I’d ever heard.
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Maggie
“Everything sounds good. The heartbeat is strong, so I really doubt your fall did anything. Make sure you eat frequently and drink plenty of water or you’ll continue to have dizzy spells. You’re also going to need to start on some prenatal vitamins. Anything from the drugstore should be fine, but I’ll give you a pamphlet on what should be in them. You need to call and schedule an appointment with an OB-GYN. Usually, they schedule your first appointment around twelve weeks, but if you’re still having dizzy spells, you might want to go in sooner.”
“I don’t understand. Why did it take so long for the symptoms to appear?”
“It’s different for everyone. Some people don’t get morning sickness until the end of their pregnancy. However, in some cases,”
I sat there and listened to the doctor ramble on about all the things that I should care about, but really didn’t at the moment. All I could think was that I didn’t want this baby and I didn’t want to be thinking about prenatal vitamins or doctor’s appointments.
“What if I don’t want to keep it?” I interrupted. The doctor didn’t look at me with disgust like I thought she would. Instead
, she sat down next to me and gave me all her attention.
“There are clinics that you can go to. I can get the information for you, but I urge you to really think about your decision first and the repercussions.”
“You mean for the father.”
“No, I mean for you. I’ve seen women that have chosen to keep a baby because they thought they would grow to love the child, but that didn’t happen. I’ve also seen women that chose to abort the baby and then suffered extreme guilt over it. I would suggest you talk with a therapist first and try to work out your feelings. Don’t talk with family and friends about it until you’ve made your decision because they’ll try to influence you whether they want to or not. This has to be your decision.”
“So you don’t think I need to tell the father?”
“I didn’t say that. I think he has a right to know and maybe even some say in the matter, but in the end, that baby is inside you and you have to be the one that lives with whatever decision you make. Just be aware of all your options.”
She stood and walked toward the door. “I’ll have a nurse bring in all the information for you along with some recommendations for therapists.”
I stared at the ceiling and waited for the nurse to come back. I had no idea what I wanted at this point, but I knew I wasn’t ready to tell Sebastian. When the nurse returned, she gave me pamphlets about pregnancy, abortion, and therapist recommendations. There was no way I could walk out carrying all this stuff, so I shoved it all into my purse and walked out of the room.
“Maggie!” Sebastian came running over to me and engulfed me in a big hug. “I was so worried about you. Are you okay?” His eyes ran over my body and I found myself pulling at my shirt to hide my belly, even though there was nothing to see. The concern in his eyes almost had me leaning in and taking his comfort, but I wasn’t ready to let him in on this secret.
“I’m fine, Sebastian. You didn’t have to come all this way.”
He studied my face, obviously not believing me. “You look like shit. You need to take better care of yourself.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. I’d like to go home now, so if you don’t mind..”
“I’ll take you home.”
“No,” I said a little too quickly. “Sebastian, you have a security team here. There’s no reason for you to stick around right now.”
His hold loosened slightly, but he stood firm in front of me. I rolled my eyes at him and huffed a sigh. He stepped back from me and his features turned to granite. “Fine, if that’s what you want.”
I hadn’t meant to hurt him, I just didn’t know how to deal with all this right now and I needed to clear my head before I let him in on the news.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said, hoping to ease the anger pouring off him. He nodded and turned, walking out of the hospital.
“Let’s get home. Lola and I are headed back to Reed Security tonight. You’ll just have Hunter from now on,” Derek barely spared me a glance as he spoke, watching Sebastian storm out of the hospital.
“Why are you going back?”
Derek glared at me. “It costs a lot of fucking money to guard your lying ass twenty-four/seven.” He turned and stalked toward the door and then waited for the rest of us to catch up. Hunter and Lola basically ignored me as we walked to the car and everyone was silent the whole way home. It was none of their business whether or not I told Sebastian right now. Still, shame crept over me that Sebastian was going out of his way to protect me and I didn’t even have the nerve to tell him about his own baby.
Derek and Lola were packed up within fifteen minutes and headed back to Reed Security. Both of them shot daggers at me and left me standing in my living room with Hunter.
“I’ll be sleeping on your couch.”
“What? No, that wasn’t part of the deal.”
“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. With me being the only one here, I have to be able to sleep where I can still protect you.” He glanced at my stomach and then back up at me. “Especially now.”
“You won’t say anything, right?”
His eyes narrowed. “It’s not my place to, but I’ll tell you this, the longer you wait, the more pissed he’s going to be that you hid it.”
“I’m not hiding it. I just found out and I need some time to think about it.”
“Think about what? You’re pregnant. What do you need to-” He stopped and his nostrils flared as his fists clenched. “Don’t even tell me that you’re actually considering it. Without telling him?”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t tell him. I just need to sort out how I feel about it first.”
“But you’re considering getting rid of it?” He asked incredulously. “If you decide to get rid of it, let me know. I’ll just let Reiner have you. You don’t deserve Cap.”
He walked off toward the kitchen, leaving me feeling like a total asshole. Was it really so terrible that I wanted a few minutes to think about all this? Even though it was only late afternoon, I got ready for bed, totally exhausted from my day. As I laid in bed, I finally let the tears fall. Would Sebastian ever forgive me if I decided not to keep the baby? Would everyone be pissed at me and treat me like I was a piece of garbage? The way Hunter looked at me tore me to shreds. I needed to schedule an appointment with a therapist right away and sort through everything I was feeling. There was no way I could handle people judging me for a situation that had nothing to do with them.
Deep down, I knew that the reason they were mad was because I hadn’t told Sebastian immediately. Hunter, Lola, and Derek knew that I was pregnant and they didn’t like keeping my secret. They were a family at Reed Security, but they knew it wasn’t their place to say anything. Asking them to keep this secret from their boss was hard on them and risked ruining their friendships. I was causing all this tension and the sooner I made a decision, the sooner everyone could move on.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sebastian
IF I THOUGHT Maggie and I were headed toward some kind of understanding for what our future held, I was sorely mistaken. The thought that something was wrong with Maggie was a like a knife to the chest. I ran out of work so fast and broke every speed limit to get to her, needing to see for myself that she would be alright. I had ideas of her being happy to see me and falling into my arms with relief that I was there to take care of her and help her.
Instead, she pushed me away and basically told me to fuck off. How much could one man take? I thought she still wanted me. I thought we were going to work things out, but she obviously didn’t see things that way. Our time apart had apparently made her see things in a different way than I did. I was an asshole for thinking that what we had would last. Whatever was holding her back wasn’t something I could fix and the more I tried, the more I got stomped on.
When I walked out of the hospital, I got in the company SUV and wondered what the hell I was going to do from here. At what point did you give up on a relationship and admit defeat? We had over two years wrapped up in one another and I didn’t know if I could walk away from that. No matter how much I told myself that our relationship was a mistake that was doomed from the start, I remembered all the good times and immediately started to question everything. Maggie was everything I loved and hated in a woman. She wasn’t weak or a pushover. She was a woman that never gave up and kept fighting until she won. That fire inside her was what drew me to her and frustrated me at the same time.
When I saw Maggie walk out with her security team, I started my truck and followed them back to her house. That was another thing that grated on me. She kept her house all this time. It was like she had expected us to fail. I swear, in the two years we were together I never suspected she was this insecure about our relationship. She walked inside, followed by all three of the security team. After waiting another five minutes and telling myself that sticking around would only be torture, I put the SUV in drive and headed home. Derek and Lola wouldn’t be too far behind me.
I was about a quarter of the
way into the drive when I spotted a tail behind me. The full size truck pulled up close behind me and then hung back, probably waiting to be further out of the city before making a move. Pulling up Derek’s name on my phone, I dialed and mentally mapped out the road ahead.
“Cap, we’re on our way.”
“How far behind are you? I’ve got a tail.”
“We’re just outside the city. We’ll step on it.”
“Good. I’ll be crossing the river in about ten minutes. They’ll make their move soon after that. I’ll give you as much time as I can to catch up.”
“Ten-four, Cap.”
I slowed as much as I could and cursed when a second vehicle pulled up behind them. If Derek didn’t get his ass over here ASAP, this situation would hit FUBAR in a matter of minutes. I had two guns on me and a stash in the back, but that didn’t mean shit if I couldn’t get to them. The bridge was just up ahead and there was still no sign of Derek. Using my knee to steer, I readied my weapons and sped up. If I was going to get out of this shit storm, I was going to have to be prepared to deal with this on my own. As I crossed the river, I knew I had given Derek all the time I could. I had to put some space between my vehicle and the two behind me.
Slamming on the gas, I raced ahead, pushing 100 mph. Once across the bridge, I was well and truly away from civilization and on my own, which was the reason this was where they would make their move. With deep ditches on both sides, if they pushed me off the road, I wouldn’t be able to get out easily in my SUV, which was most likely what they planned. It’s what I would do. If they pinned me down, there would be nowhere to run.
They were gaining on me fast, but in the distance, I saw another vehicle coming up behind them like a bat out of hell. That had to be Derek. A jolt from behind had me bouncing forward in my seat. I pressed the pedal down further and prayed that nobody else was on this road. One of SUV’s pulled up along side me and rammed into the driver’s side. I barely controlled my vehicle as it continued to ram into me as we pushed faster down the road.
Cap_A Reed Security Romance Page 8
