Everyone was suddenly in a flurry of activity. Jet and Ayden, Rule and Shaw, all flew out of the bar without bothering to pay the bill. I looked at Nash in surprise as he waved the outrageously good-looking bartender over with a flick of his fingers.
“Why is everyone freaking out?” I didn’t understand the sudden rush and hasty departures.
Rowdy materialized and pulled a bunch of bills out of his wallet that was attached to his pocket with a chain and handed it to the bartender.
Nash put a hand on my wrist and helped me to my feet. I was a little bit wobbly, so I put an arm around his waist.
“She’s early, the baby. Cora wasn’t supposed to be due until closer to the end of the month. Man, she’s gonna be bummed out her dad isn’t here.”
He pulled out his phone and started firing off text messages.
“How many weeks is she?” I slipped easily into a role that I was comfortable with. Jealous, slightly drunk, not-quite girlfriend made my skin hurt.
He looked at me like I was speaking another language.
“She’s probably fine. She’s just petite and the baby is probably pretty big considering the size of the dad. If your friend is at least thirty-seven weeks, that’s considered full term, and she and the baby will be fine.”
He hustled me out of the bar and I balked when he stopped by the Charger and not the Jetta.
“You were doing shots with Ayden, so I know you had to be drinking more than you’re used to. I don’t want you driving, so I’ll take you home and we can get your car tomorrow.”
He put the key in the door and I looked up at him in a mixture of appreciation and fear. I really wished he didn’t make it so easy to like him … more than like him, really.
“I know you’re worried about your friends. I can call a cab.” His eyes got dark like they did when he was feeling something strongly.
“Saint …” His voice was scratchy and gruff. He ran his thumb over the curve of his chin, which made me quake. “I worry about you just as much. I’m not sure when that happened, but it did. I’ll get you home and then go to the hospital.”
I gulped and silently nodded. He helped me into the car and we took off into the night. He was tense; I could feel it, and while I could rattle off a million and one medical reasons that things would probably be just fine, I knew that wasn’t what would make him feel better. He already had one person he loved slipping away from him; the thought of losing another was probably torture. I reached out a shaky hand and put it on his arm where it was resting on the stick shift. The muscles were rock-hard and had a fine tremor in them.
“Nash.” He looked over at me and I could see the fine lines of worry bracketing his mouth. “Do you, uh, want me to go to the hospital with you?”
They were all a family, all loved each other, leaned on one another. I was an outsider. True, the hospital was my home away from home, I was way more in my element there than I was in this car trying to offer this brooding man comfort. But it was the right thing for me to do. I could see it when his eyes shifted back to periwinkle, and his arm where I was touching him softened a fraction.
“Yeah. I really do.”
“All right. Let’s go, then.”
The wheels under the powerful car squealed, and I got tossed to the side as he wheeled it around in the middle of the street and headed across town toward the hospital. This was a surefire way to have me sobering up way more quickly than I would have if I just went home to sleep it off.
He parked and I had to practically run to keep up with him as he headed for the front doors. It was a good thing I was tall or else I got the feeling he would have just dragged me along behind him. His hand was hard on mine and I could feel nervous moisture coating his palm. He was headed for emergency, so I had to dig my heels in and yank him to a grinding halt.
“Labor and delivery is this way. They probably moved her over there already.”
He grunted and begrudgingly let me take the lead. I didn’t miss the questioning looks I got from the night staff as I skated by holding his hand. He was the kind of guy that attracted attention anyway, and given the fact they were still all gossiping about my disastrous date with Dr. Bennet, this didn’t bode well for me not being the topic of conversation anymore.
The crew was all gathered in the waiting room, minus Rule. Nash nodded at the guys, who were pacing back and forth, but went to the girls for the info.
“What’s happening?”
Shaw was twisting her hair around her finger and her green eyes were huge in her face.
“She’s early, but not too bad. Thirty-six weeks. Rome was freaking everyone out. I think he’s having a little episode, so his mom came and got Rule to keep him in line. The doctor was scared of him.”
Nash snorted and I had no problem imagining the scene between Rome and the doctor, considering I knew exactly how intimidating the big ex-soldier could be.
“Anyone call Joe?” He looked at me and clarified: “Cora’s dad.”
Shaw nodded. “Rome did on the way in. You might want to call Phil.”
Nash went tense next to me and his eyes went back to dark. I knew his dad was like a fill-in parent to all these guys. The tattoo shop he had created had become their home. The idea of a new life coming into the world while he was on his way out had to gall and burn. I squeezed Nash’s hand and he looked down at me.
“I’m gonna go talk to the staff and see if I can get any insider info. Okay?”
He gulped a little and his mouth turned down.
“I’m gonna make a call.”
He looked so sad, so torn, it pulled at my heart way harder than watching some girl throw herself at him had. I reached up a hand and put it on his cheek. There was a tic there that had more than my nurse’s instincts firing up, wanting to take care of him. That wasn’t good. I wanted to be insulated, wanted to have enough space that there was no chance that this man could hurt me again, and I felt that safeguard slipping further and further away.
I went and inquired about the patient and the baby. I used my employee status to get more info than they would give the motley crew gathered in the waiting room. By the time I met back up with Nash, everyone looked solemn and stressed out. Babies took a long time to come into the world and it was going to be a long night for all of them.
“She’s doing great. She still has a ways to go before she is really in the thick of labor. The baby’s vitals are strong, so I think everything is going to be just fine. I would say just settle in and wait. The baby clearly has her own agenda and doesn’t know there are rules she should be following.”