Page 67 of Derecho

“It’s going to kill my back. I can’t.” Fuck, I could hear the tears in her voice.

“We’ll toss in the pillows. Those blankets, too. That’s a big tub. You’ll still be able to move around, get comfortable. But I don’t like the way this storm is sounding, and I will not let anything bad happen to the two of you.”

She nodded, her face still turned away from mine. A sharp pain shot through my leg as I pushed up, but I wasn’t about to slow down. I moved around her as quickly as I could, shoving the blankets down first before wedging the pillows around the tub’s walls.

As soon as her hand released its death grip on the comb, I knew it was time to move. Time to get her into the tub.

I really needed a mattress. Something to put down on top of her in case a tornado bared directly down on us. Better for her to be under the softness of the mattress than all the sharp and deadly corners of broken wood, metal, and glass.

Shit.

“Lach?”

“Right. Time to get you in there. I’ve got you,” I said as my hand slipped under her arm.

Lainey groaned as I helped her step in, and she twisted, her back now facing me with a grunt.

“Is that good? How’s your back?

“Please.” Her bright, wet eyes met mine over her shoulder as she tried to stretch her hand back out to me. “Please get in here, too.”

“I have to be out here. If the contractions get closer together, if the baby decides to come⁠—”

“You can hop out. But right now, I’m telling you, beyond knowing you’re safe, too, from this storm, I need to be held. I’m so sorry. I wish I didn’t. I wish I wasn’t so needy. But I feel like I’m going to throw up and crawl out of my skin, and the only thing tethering me here to Earth is you being here with me.”

I was never more sure than in that moment that I was so unbelievably fucked when it came to Lainey Calloway, and what I would do to make sure she never had another goddamn tear in her eye.

“Alright. It’s okay. We’ll make it work.”

I groaned as I maneuvered over her body, careful not to step on her as I wedged myself into the far side of the tub. My arm slipped under her neck as she rolled into my chest.

Lainey’s belly pressed into mine, her head resting on my shoulder. And for the first time since that notification popped up on my damn phone, I felt the tightness of worry slip a little from my body.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her big blue eyes looking up at me.

I couldn’t have held in my chuckle even if I wanted to. “Once again, I should be asking you that.”

“This is perfect for me. But if it’s too much for you, if your leg…hurts…”

Her belly started to tighten, pulling away from mine as she groaned right over my heart.

“Okay. I think the only person we need to be thinking about right now is you. Is the comb still helping?”

She raised her hand off my chest and shook it at me, the comb straining under the weight of her grip.

“Just breathe, Lainey. You’ve got this.” My hand ran over her hip, reaching around her to press against her back. It definitely wasn’t an ideal position to be in where I felt like I was helping her at all, but if she needed my body to curl up against, I could do that. “We’ve got this.”

A strong rush of air left her lungs, and then she was back with me, her face tear-stained but smiling.

“What?” I asked, confused how the pain she’d been in suddenly left her wide eyed and on the verge of laughter.

“You called me by my name. My real name,” she whispered.

My brows pulled together, running over what she’d just said. “Don’t I always?”

Lainey’s head shook back and forth. “I’m just Trouble to you.”

My hand moved from her hip to cup her cheek. She’d dropped her eyes away, so I tipped her face back toward mine.