Solitude (Cunningham Security Book 4)

by A. K. Evans

  I was currently wearing a short, form-fitting, ultra-violet cami dress while asking for Ava’s opinion. I figured one last purchase of a dress like this would be all I’d have left for this year because it was early October. It was still in the sixties, but within the next week or two, the temperatures would start dropping and tiny dresses would no longer be an option.

  “If I had your body,” she sighed. “You look incredible.”

  “Thanks, Ava. And I don’t want to hear any of that. You are gorgeous, girlie,” I shot back as I turned and assessed myself in the mirror one last time. “Alright, I’m going to get this one.”

  While she waited for me to change out of the dress and back into my clothes, she wondered, “Why are we still single, Jojo?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I wish I had that answer. I mean, we’re cute and fun. We have good jobs and we like people. I can’t figure it out, but something’s got to give soon. I’m going on the world’s longest dry spell.”

  “I hear that. Let’s hope we can meet someone this weekend because I’m getting desperate,” she said.

  After getting my clothes back on, Ava and I went to the cashier to pay for our dresses. As she was ringing up my purchase, my phone rang. I fished my phone out of my purse and saw Kendall’s name on the display.

  “Hey sissy, what’s going on?”

  “The babies are coming,” she cried. “Dom and Ekko just got here a little bit ago and she’s already halfway to the finish line.”

  I gasped. “Oh my goodness. Okay, I’m coming right now. Tell her to wait!!”

  Disconnecting the call, I tossed my phone back in my purse and looked to Ava. “Dom and Ekko are at the hospital. The twins are on their way. Can you drop me off at Rising Sun Medical Center?”

  “Absolutely.”

  I paid for my dress before Ava and I hustled through the mall to the opposite end where we had parked. We hopped in her car and sped off.

  Once we pulled into the hospital parking lot, Ava pulled right up to the front door. I grabbed my bag out of the back seat and yelled, “Thanks so much. I’ll call you later.”

  “Send me pictures!” she shouted just before I closed the door.

  I took off running through the door and right up to the information desk.

  “Hi, um, my sister-in-law is here. She’s in labor with twins. Ekko Moore.”

  “Okay, hang tight a minute while I look her up,” the woman behind the desk said.

  “Jolie,” I heard the familiar deep voice come from behind me.

  My body went tight, and I slowly craned my neck toward the sound that made me weak in the knees.

  Just as I suspected, Lorenzo was there. I hadn’t seen him since the wedding five months ago. He still looked as good as ever.

  “They’re on the fourth floor,” he offered. “I’m heading up there now to wait.”

  I gave him a quick nod and glanced back at the woman. “Thank you.”

  Lorenzo and I walked to the elevators and I was beyond uncomfortable. He was one of my brother’s closest friends, so it wasn’t like I could just tell him to go. All I could do was hope that Ekko’s labor progressed quickly and that she had the babies soon. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to wait in the same room with Lorenzo for hours.

  The elevator chimed and the doors opened. Nobody was inside, which made everything that much worse. I stepped inside and moved to the back corner. When I turned around, Lorenzo was looking at me with disappointment written all over his face.

  “I’m not going to bite you,” he muttered as he turned around and pushed the button for the fourth floor.

  I gave his back an assured look. “I know that,” I returned sarcastically.

  His body didn’t move, but he snapped his neck to the side so he could look back at me. “Still angry with me, I see,” he pointed out.

  “I’m not angry,” I insisted.

  “You’ve been angry from the minute that song ended at your brother’s wedding.”

  It wasn’t anger.

  It was hurt.

  Frustration.

  Embarrassment.

  I wasn’t going to tell him that, though.

  I shook my head and corrected him, “I wasn’t angry with you. I was pissed at myself for thinking I was someone worthy of getting to know before being judged once again, especially by someone my brother holds in such high regard.”

  His brows pulled together. It was evident to me he must have been really good at his job as a private investigator because if I didn’t know any better, I might have actually believed he had no idea what I was talking about.

  “Jolie—” he started, but was cut off by the doors opening.

  I didn’t wait around to listen to what he had to say and walked past him off the elevator. Thankfully, I caught sight of Kendall within seconds. Kendall was a nurse at the hospital.

  She saw me and started walking toward me when her gaze went behind me, stopping her in her tracks. I felt his heat at my back. Kendall knew what happened the night of the wedding because by the end of the night, I was hammered and spilled my guts to her.

  Since she stopped walking toward me and Lorenzo was too close, I started putting one foot in front of the other and went to my sister.

  “How is she?” I asked.

  “In a lot of pain,” Kendall began. “And tired. But she’s already at eight.”

  “How’s Dom?”

  Kendall smiled. “He’s so excited right now. He hates seeing her in so much pain, but he can’t wait to meet those two precious babies.”

  “Who else is here?” I continued questioning her.

  “Mom, Dad, Levi, and Elle are in the waiting room. Colton and Memphis are on duty, but they will be coming over as soon as they’re off. Ekko called Kate to let her know. She’s still at work and said she’d stop by as soon as she finished and closed up.”

  “Can I go see her?”

  Kendall jerked her head to the side and answered, “Yeah.” She looked behind me to Lorenzo and hesitantly asked, “Are you coming?”

  I didn’t turn around to see his response, but I heard him reply, “I’ll be in the waiting room.”

  A couple seconds had passed when Kendall put her hand to my elbow and questioned, “What’s going on?”

  “Is he gone?” I whispered.

  She nodded.

  I let out a breath and my shoulders slumped. “I didn’t know what floor Ekko was on. When I ran in and asked them at the information desk, he came up behind me and told me she was on the fourth floor. We had a hostile elevator ride and now I’m here.”

  “Hostile?” she repeated curiously.

  I gave Kendall a rundown of our elevator ride.

  Her brows furrowed. “It doesn’t make any sense to me. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Jojo. I saw it when we went bowling. I saw it at the wedding. And I saw it just now.”

  “Now?”

  “Yes,” she said softly. “Before he walked away, he looked at you like it physically hurt to have to walk in the opposite direction without you. Jojo, he definitely likes you. There’s something else going on.”

  Kendall started walking and I fell into step beside her.

  “I don’t know. Unless…do you think it’s Dom? Would Dom tell him to not pursue anything with me?”

  “Not unless he had a good reason to do that. I know Dom was teasing him when we were bowling and you were pulling out all the stops to distract Lorenzo, but I really don’t think that’s it.”

  We stopped in front of a closed door. Kendall knocked before she opened it and walked in. I followed behind her. Ekko was sitting up in the bed, her legs hanging over the edge, while Dom stood in front of her. Her forehead was resting on his abdomen as she took slow deep breaths.

  “Ekko, sugar, Jojo’s here,” Dom told her.

  She turned her head to the side and let out a pained, “Hey.”

  “How’s it going?”

  “She’s feeling it in her back,” Dom explained. “It’s marginally better
when she’s sitting up, but it’s still not good.”

  I walked over to the opposite side of the bed. “What part of your back?” I asked her.

  “From the middle and down,” she answered.

  I looked over to Kendall and held my hands up. “If she’s okay with it, can I?”

  Kendall gave me a nod.

  I put a knee to the bed and leaned over toward Ekko. Putting a hand on her shoulder, I lowered my head next to hers and offered, “I’ve got magic hands, babe. Do you want me to try to help you out?”

  “Dom tried already,” she practically cried. “It didn’t work.”

  I laughed and moved my hands to the middle of her back. “Yeah, I’m not surprised. I’m a professional; he is not.”

  “I’ll do anything for some relief.”

  I got to work. Within seconds, she moaned, “Oh, Dom. After this is over, you owe me a year of Jojo-provided massages.”

  He chuckled and promised, “I can give you that.”

  “And you need to tip her well,” Ekko added.

  I grinned up at him and shared, “I knew I always liked her.”

  Dom shook his head in disbelief at me. He did it with a smile on his face, so I knew he was just happy that Ekko was feeling some relief.

  For the next hour, I did what I could to help Ekko get through the most brutal part of her laboring. When she finally got to the point where she started feeling enough pressure to want to start pushing, her doctor came in to examine her.

  I moved to the door to excuse myself when she called out to me. “Jojo?”

  “Yeah, babe?”

  “Thank you for being here for me.”

  I gave her a big smile and shared, “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything. Good luck with your pushing. I’m not going anywhere until I know if I’m going to have two little girls or two little boys to spoil.”

  At that, I walked out and made my way down to the waiting room. I knew Lorenzo was going to be there, but there was no way I was leaving. My nieces or nephews were about to be born and I was feeling like a big ball of love.

  When I stepped into the waiting room, five sets of eyes came my way. Only one of them caused a tingle to run up and down my spine, though.

  “Your sister was just in here,” my mom informed me. “She said you were helping Ekko with her labor pains.”

  I held my hands up in front of me and joked, “Magic hands.”

  “How is she doing?” Elle asked.

  “She’s feeling the urge to push, so they’re checking her now. I think our family is going to be a little bit bigger very shortly,” I announced.

  “Oh, the suspense is killing me,” my mom cried. “I can’t believe they didn’t want to know if they were having boys or girls.”

  “Well, it shouldn’t be much longer now.”

  As I looked around the waiting room, I realized I wasn’t going to have a choice. The only seat vacant within the same vicinity as my family was the one next to Lorenzo. There were other chairs in the waiting room, but I wasn’t going to cause a scene or be dramatic. This wasn’t the time or place.

  I took a seat next to him and watched my mom and dad direct their attention back to the television.

  “I’m going to see if I can find some hot tea,” Elle declared as she stood from her chair.

  I was about to jump up and offer to go with her when Levi stood. “We could be here a little bit. I’ll come with you and grab a coffee. Anybody want anything?”

  I shook my head.

  “I’m good,” Lorenzo answered.

  My dad declined, but my mom asked if they’d bring her back a hot tea.

  Once Elle and Levi were out of the room, I realized that my parents were talking to each other, but I could barely hear them. I figured if I was having a hard time making out their conversation, they wouldn’t hear me if I spoke quietly.

  I turned my head in Lorenzo’s direction and spoke softly, “I’m sorry about what happened on the elevator. I didn’t need to be a bitch to you.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t call yourself a bitch,” he demanded.

  “Okay, fine. But I’m sorry. I don’t like to hold grudges and I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been holding on to one. I’m going to be an aunt soon. I don’t want to hold on to anger right now.”

  Something moved over his face, but he remained silent.

  “Do you accept my apology?” I wondered.

  Lorenzo offered a gentle nod and replied, “Yeah. I’m sorry, too.”

  He had nothing to be sorry for, but I didn’t think it was worth getting into another argument with him. Instead, I asked, “Can we be friends? At least for today?”

  “I can do that for you, Jolie.”

  I loved the way my name sounded as it rolled off the tip of his tongue. “Thank you, Lorenzo.”

  He dipped his chin. “So…magic hands?”

  I wiggled my fingertips in front of his face and admitted, “People are willing to pay a lot of money for what these hands can do.”

  Lorenzo’s jaw clenched as he stared at my hands.

  “I’m a massage therapist. When I went in to see Ekko, she was having a lot of back pain. So, I did what I could to help her through it.”

  “That was nice of you,” he remarked.

  I let out a laugh. “Yeah, but then she told Dom he had to buy her a year’s worth of massages with me and that he had to tip me well, so I made out.”

  For the first time since I’d met him, Lorenzo laughed.

  Seeing that made my belly twist. He was such a beautiful man as is, but when he laughed, he was stunning. When he stopped laughing, his eyes came to mine and they were shining for a moment. The air left my lungs at the sight of them. It was short-lived and the dark intensity replaced the look within seconds. Even still, I knew I’d never forget seeing that light in his eyes for as long as I lived.

  A few minutes later, Elle and Levi returned and the intimate moment I had with Lorenzo was gone. We all chatted about inconsequential things for a bit until the door to the waiting room opened and Dom stepped in.

  The grin on his face grew and he announced, “I’m a dad!”

  “Boys or girls?” Mom demanded to know.

  I didn’t know how it was possible, but he smiled even bigger when he answered, “One of each.”

  I jumped up out of the chair and ran over to him. Throwing my arms around his neck, I cried, “Congratulations, bro. I’m so happy for you.” He thanked me and gave me a hug. My parents moved in to congratulate him, followed by Levi, Elle, and Lorenzo. Once everyone had the opportunity to congratulate him, I asked, “How’s Ekko?”

  “Perfect. Exhausted, but perfect.”

  “What are their names?” I pushed for more.

  He jerked his head to the door and stated, “I’ll let her tell you that. Why don’t you all come down and meet my babies?”

  We followed Dom down the hall and walked into the room to find Ekko sitting there holding one of her babies in each arm. Kendall was sitting in a chair beside the bed gazing down at the precious little souls.

  “I told them we have a boy and a girl, but I thought you could tell them their names,” Dom said as he walked over to her.

  The smile on her face grew before she announced, “Meet our son, Hendrix, and his little sister, Grace. We’ve already started calling them Hank and Gracie.”

  “Can I hold one?” Mom asked.

  Dom looked to his wife and she gave him a nod. He took the baby closest to him and said, “Grandma, this is your grandson.”

  Mom immediately broke down into tears as Dad kept his arm wrapped around her back and looked at his new grandchild.

  “Jojo?” Ekko called.

  My eyes left Hank and went to my sister-in-law. “Would you like to hold Gracie?”

  With the tears filling my eyes and the tightness in my throat, I couldn’t speak. So, I nodded as I walked over to the bed.

  The second I had my niece in my arms, my entire world changed. She was th
e most beautiful little girl I’d ever laid my eyes on. The love I felt for her was something I couldn’t even begin to describe. I took my moment with her before I walked over to Elle, Levi, and Lorenzo. Elle and Levi were focused on Gracie; Lorenzo was looking at me intently.

  “Isn’t she just precious?” I finally asked the group.

  Lorenzo still hadn’t looked at her when he answered, “She is.”

  I swallowed hard and looked back down at the baby in my arms. I managed to get another minute or two of snuggling in when my dad walked over and declared, “I think I’d like to hold my granddaughter.”

  I kissed the top of her head, handed her over to him, and immediately felt the loss. Thankfully, Mom filled the void by bringing Hank over to me and settling him in my arms. I looked down at the little boy and felt my heart swell.

  “You’re the big brother, Hank,” I told him. “That means you’ve got an important job ahead of you. When you’re older, you’ll have to make sure you always protect your little sister. That’s what your daddy and your uncles did for me and your auntie Kendall and that’s what you’ll need to do for Gracie. There’s no other job more important than being the world’s best big brother.”

  Hank didn’t respond. He didn’t even open his eyes.

  I was so caught up in memorizing every feature on my nephew’s face that I didn’t instantly notice Lorenzo had walked out of the room. In fact, it wasn’t until Kendall suggested that the first breastfeeding lesson start and Levi and Elle took that as their cue to leave that I realized Lorenzo wasn’t there.

  After Elle and Levi left, I congratulated Dom and Ekko again and handed Hank over. I promised them I’d be back the next day to visit. Once again, they thanked me for being there. I pressed a kiss to the top of Hank’s and Gracie’s head before I walked out.

  Once I stepped out into the hall, I moved down the hall to the elevators. Lorenzo was there, waiting.

  “You snuck out,” I stated the obvious.