He spent a good ten minutes scrolling through my designs, zooming in and out on several. “These are really good. Did you say you do logos, too?”
“Yeah. Scroll back up to the top and click on the logos tab.”
After scrolling through that section, he looked up with a smile. “Will you design a new logo for the gym?”
“If you’re serious, yes. But, if you’re just asking because you feel some sort of obligation to me, then the answer is no.”
“Avery, I do have an obligation to you, or at least to our child, but that’s not why I asked. The gym needs rebranding, and I like your work,” he said sincerely. “Actually, the bar and the property management businesses probably need logos, too. I think Judge already has one, but he might be interested in upgrading.”
“What do you think my man already has?” River asked as she entered the room with what I hoped was a syringe full of anti-nausea medication in her hand.
“A logo for Jackson Security.”
She laughed. “No, he has ‘Jackson’ in all capital letters on top of ‘Security’ with only the first letter capitalized, all in white. Why do you ask?”
“Avery is a graphic designer and she just showed me some of her work. I’m going to hire her to design something for the gym.”
River nodded and reached for my arm. “This is Zofran. It’s for nausea,” she said before she gave me the medicine.
“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you,” I chanted.
“That bad, huh?”
“It’s been absolutely awful. I’m having my tubes tied after this one,” I vowed.
“It’ll take about fifteen minutes for the Zofran to kick in and start working,” she explained. “Now, about this logo. I want to see what you showed Savior.”
I pointed to him. “It’s on his phone.”
Savior handed over his phone and she scrolled through my site, oohing and aahing every now and again. She tapped the screen a few times and then another phone dinged before she handed it back to Savior. “I sent the link to myself so I can show Jonah when I get home. He’ll definitely be interested.”
“Savior said you worked last night. You must be exhausted. Please don’t hang around on my account,” I told her.
She waved me off. “There have been plenty of times I didn’t leave here until three hours after my shift ended, and that was not by choice. This, I don’t mind whatsoever. Plus, he’s like family, so that makes you and your little bean family, too.”
“Well, thank you. I appreciate you staying and getting us back here so quickly. I’m starting to feel a little better.”
“Good. I’ll hang around for a little bit longer before I head home.”
“Didn’t the doctor say she was going to order some lab work?” I asked.
“She did. You have nice, juicy veins, so I pulled some blood when I started your IV to save you a stick.”
“Thank you,” I said again.
She hung around for another thirty minutes or so before she left. She also made sure to introduce us to the nurse that would be taking over for her.
Savior sat quietly in the chair in the corner of the room while I stared at the ceiling. When I couldn’t take it any longer, I said, “We have got to talk or something or else I’m going to go crazy just sitting here.”
He stood and came to sit on the edge of the bed by my feet. “What would you like to talk about?”
“I don’t care. Anything.”
“Why’d you decide to move to Devil Springs?” he asked. “I mean, why did you choose Devil Springs?”
“I wanted to live somewhere close enough to easily visit with my parents, yet far enough away that I wouldn’t know anybody in town. Devil Springs was the only place like that with good schools and low crime rates,” I said honestly.
“Why did you want to live in a town where you didn’t know anyone?”
I gave him a pointed look. “You know why.”
“Oh. The pity looks,” he said knowingly.
“You seem to know something about—”
A knock on the door interrupted me. “Hi, Mrs. Parker, I’m Dr. Cadet-Destil. I have some test results to go over with you. Sir, would you mind stepping outside for just a moment?”
“It’s okay. He can stay.”
“Okay, then. Well, we ran a few tests and you are dehydrated. Your white blood cell count is also elevated as well as other labs that we commonly see with gallbladder problems. Since you’re pregnant, I’m going to start with an abdominal ultrasound before ordering something more invasive.”
“And if it is my gallbladder?” I asked.
“Depending on what the ultrasound shows, I’ll refer you to GI or a general surgeon. It’s not uncommon for gallbladders to go bad during or right after pregnancy. So, I’ll get this ordered and we’ll go from there.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” I groaned and flopped back into the bed. My gallbladder? Really? Being pregnant with hyperemesis wasn’t enough?
“How will this affect the baby?” Savior asked.
“We won’t know for sure until we’ve clearly diagnosed the issue but, in general, gallbladder surgery during pregnancy is fairly common. Sometimes you can wait until after delivery to have the surgery, but each case is different. I can assure you, we will make sure you are aware of all the risks and benefits before we decide on a treatment plan,” she explained.
“Great. This is just fucking great,” I grumbled.
“We’re going to give you another bag of fluids. After the ultrasound, we’ll see about letting you have some clear liquids.”
“Thank you,” I said even though I didn’t mean it. I knew it wasn’t her fault, and she was trying to help me. But, damn it, I was sick of being sick.
Once she was gone, I turned my head into the pillow and cried. “Hey, it’s not that bad,” Savior soothed as he wrapped his arms around me.
“I can’t do anything,” I sobbed. “I can’t take care of my kids. I can barely take care of myself.”
“You were doing much better until this happened. It’s just a little setback. You’ll be back on your feet in no time,” he said softly and gently rocked me from side to side.
“I feel so useless,” I confessed.
“You’re not useless. You’re raising a family and growing a baby. You accomplish more than most people every single day by merely existing.”
I looked up and saw the sincerity in his eyes. He really believed what he said. Before I realized what I was doing, I leaned forward and gently pressed my lips to his, even as the tears still ran down my face.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered against my lips.
“Thank you,” I whispered back.
“For what?”
“For being here. And for being you.”
18
Savior
Several hours later, Avery was discharged from the hospital with a handful of new prescriptions and an appointment for the following day with a general surgeon to discuss having her gallbladder removed. I dropped her prescriptions off on the way back to her place and told her I would pick them up when they were ready.
When I pulled into her driveway, she was sound asleep. I quietly got out of the car and unlocked the repaired front door before I went back to carry her inside. “What are you doing?” she asked through a yawn.
“Taking you inside. Do you want to go to the couch or your bed?”
“Bed, please,” she said and snuggled against my chest.
After I placed her on her bed and pulled the covers over her, I kissed her forehead and turned to go back downstairs, but she grabbed my wrist. “Stay with me.”
The pleading tone of her voice had me agreeing instantly. “Okay, I’ll stay.”
She smiled with her eyes closed and scooted over, patting the bed beside her. I shrugged, kicked my shoes off, and climbed in the bed beside her. She wiggled closer and fit her body right next to mine with her head resting on my chest.
“I love the way
you smell,” she said dreamily causing me to laugh.
“Go to sleep, baby.”
I was in the middle of a hot as hell dream featuring Avery when something woke me. I cracked my eyes open to find her staring at me with a mischievous grin on her face. And the next second, I realized why.
I reached down and grabbed her hand that was rubbing my dick. “Avery, what are you doing?”
“If you have to ask, I’m clearly not doing it right.”
I moved her hand up and down my hard length. “Oh, you were doing it right. But we’re not doing this. Not while you’re sick.”
She dropped her head and mumbled something against my chest. “What was that?”
“My vagina isn’t sick,” she said more clearly.
I threw my head back and laughed until I felt her body start to tremble. “Fuck,” I cursed and rolled to my side so I could see her face. “It’s not that I don’t want to, but I’d feel like a complete asshole.”
“I don’t care. I’ll just lay here. Please don’t make me beg.”
“Come here,” I said and slid my hand around to the back of her neck to gently pull her to me. I cupped her cheek with my other hand and kissed her softly. I had no intention of doing anything other than kissing her, but things became heated rather quickly, as they tended to do between the two of us.
Before my rational mind could stop me, we were both naked and she was guiding me into her. She groaned loudly. “Oh, Savior, you feel so fucking good.”
I paused and said something I’d wanted to say to her since I found out she was pregnant. “I want you to call me Kellan.”
She locked eyes with me and nodded. “I want to call you Kellan.”
“Okay,” I said with a smile and started to move. It was probably the strangest sexual experience of my life. On one hand, I was terrified of causing her some kind of harm; but, on the other hand, I was enjoying every second of having her body wrapped around mine.
“Kellan,” she gasped. “More. I need more.”
“Not giving you more, baby,” I said and dropped my mouth to her breasts to lavish her sensitive nipples.
She wiggled and writhed beneath me, and then she was coming with my name on her lips. With a contented sigh, she gripped my hair and tugged my mouth to hers, kissing me through my own release.
“You okay?” I asked while I smoothed the hair from her face.
“Much better,” she smiled.
“Good. Let me get cleaned up and I’ll help you wash your hair before I go pick up your medicine,” I said.
She tightened her arms around my shoulder. “You really are a good man.”
I dropped my head and swallowed past the emotion trying to clog my throat. “I try to be.” My parents and my grandfather had raised me to be a good man and I tried to live up to their expectations every day of my life.
With that, I went to the bathroom and returned with a washcloth for her. Once we were both dressed, we went downstairs and I helped her onto the kitchen counter.
“Where’d you learn how to do this?” she asked.
“I remember seeing my dad do it for my mom when she was sick. She said no matter how bad she felt, having her hair washed always made her feel better.”
“Was she sick often?”
I shook my head. “No, she wasn’t. But somehow, she ended up getting the flu every year.”
“Can I ask what happened to your parents?” she asked carefully.
I nodded and focused on rinsing the shampoo from her hair. I didn’t like talking about it, but I’d gotten to the point where I could say what happened to them and be okay. “They died in a boating accident.”
“Oh, Kellan, I’m so sorry. Were you with them?”
I squeezed the conditioner in my hand and smoothed it over her hair. “No, I was spending the night at my grandfather’s. I usually did go with them, but fishing season had just started and it was still too cold for me to be out there that early in the morning. They were heading back to the dock when a guy on a jet ski cut in front of them. His buddy did the same thing to another boat beside my parents. Both boats swerved to miss the jet skis and hit each other. My parents were in a fishing boat which was much smaller than the boat that hit them. I don’t know all the details, but Gramps said they were killed instantly and the people in the other boat were seriously injured.”
“What happened to the people on the jet skis?”
I cleared my throat and focused on rinsing her hair. “My parents, Blake and Sienna Ward, were well known in the boating and fishing community of Croftridge. Some boaters stopped to help, while several other boaters chased down the jet skis and corralled them until the authorities got there. They were both drunk and ended up going to prison.”
Avery reached up and placed her hand on my cheek. “I’m so sorry, Kellan. Thank you for sharing that with me.”
I couldn’t find the words to respond, so I leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead before I went back to rinsing her hair.
The sound of a camera had me turning around and reaching for my knife before I realized Avery’s mother was standing behind us. “Isn’t this just the sweetest thing? I’ll even forgive you for not calling me back with an update.”
“Oh, shit. Sorry, Claire. We fell asleep as soon as we got back to the house.”
“It’s okay. I figured no news was good news, but thought I’d swing by and check on things before I went to pick up the kids. So, what did the doctor say?”
I finished rinsing Avery’s hair while she filled her mother in on what the doctor said.
“Your gallbladder? No one in our family has gallbladder problems,” she stated. “Are they sure?”
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a genetic thing, but yes, they’re sure,” Avery explained. “I have an appointment with a surgeon tomorrow to discuss when to have it removed, but based on what Dr. Cadet-Destil said, it needs to come out sooner rather than later.”
“Well, hopefully, you’ll start feeling better after it’s out,” she said cheerfully. “I’m going to go pick up your prescriptions before I get the kids. Do you need me to get anything else while I’m out?”
“No, thanks, Mom.”
Claire turned her attention to me. “You know, you could make a killing if you were willing to do that shirtless,” she said and held her hands up. “I’m just saying.”
“Mom!” Avery scolded, but then burst into laughter while pointing at my shirt. “She’s not wrong.” I glanced down to see that I had unknowingly soaked the front of my white T-shirt while I was washing her hair.
I reached behind me and yanked my shirt over my head by the collar. “Woo! Nana’s gotta go!” Claire said and headed for the door.
“Sorry about her.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me. I’m going to toss this in your dryer.”
“Do you end up washing and drying your clothes at other people’s houses or is it just mine?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, it happens way more than it should, but the women of the club are always good about helping a brother out.”
Avery stiffened and turned her anger-filled eyes to me. “I didn’t need to know all that.”
It took me a minute to realize what she meant. “Oh, I meant the Old Ladies, not the club whores.”
“You’re not helping.”
I stepped between her legs and circled my arms around her waist. “You’re the only woman I’ve laid a hand on since I moved to Devil Springs.” From the moment my eyes landed on her when she was staring into her drink at Precious Metals, the thought of another woman hadn’t so much as crossed my mind.
“Oh,” she said and averted her eyes. “Well, it’s not like I have any right to say anything about what you do or don’t do. I’m sorry.”
“Yes, you do.”
When she brought her eyes back to mine, they were filled with a mix of hope and fear. “What?”
“You want to do this now?”
“I’m not sure I know w
hat you’re referring to,” she hedged. She knew exactly what I meant.
“Do you want to have this conversation now? Because of our past, I haven’t brought it up. I didn’t want to push you, but it seems like you’re ready to be pushed a little.”
“What do you mean?” she asked and wrinkled her forehead.
“I’m not just here because of the baby,” I said softly and ran my hand up her arm until I reached her jaw. “I’m here for you, too. But you need to let me know if you’re not ready for that.”
She nodded and a tear slipped down her cheek. Taking in a shaky breath, she said, “I honestly don’t know if I’m ready. And I’m scared.”
I smoothed my thumb along her cheek and swiped away the few tears that had spilled over. “I hope you know that I would never ask you to forget him. I know I wouldn’t be standing here with you right now if he was still here.”
She started shaking her head rapidly and cupped her hand over her mouth. She jumped off the counter and ran for the bathroom. “Fuck!” I yelled and ran after her.
I expected to find her bent over the toilet, but she was sitting in the floor hugging her knees and breathing heavily. “We were separated. No one other than my parents knew about it,” she confessed. “So, there’s a very real chance that you would be standing where you are right now,” she said between breaths.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She visibly swallowed and nodded. “I’ll be okay. Just a little panic attack,” she said dismissively and wiped the faint sheen of sweat from her face. “I’m sorry. I’ve held that in for so long. I did love him, and it hurt like hell when he died, but we didn’t have the picture-perfect life everyone made it out to be—at least not at the end. In the weeks before he left, he was rarely home because he picked up extra shifts, and when he was home, he barely spoke to me.”
I had no idea what to say. Her confession didn’t change anything for me. I was still responsible for the death of an innocent man. I was still responsible for her children growing up without their father. And I was still responsible for making her a widow.
Savior (Blackwings MC - Devil Springs Book 3) Page 9
