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“Miri?” A soft knock accompanied the voice on the other side of the door.
“Come in,” I groaned.
The door pushed open and in an instant, Cat dropped to her knees next to where I slumped over the toilet.
“Oh my God, Miri. What happened?”
“I don’t feel so good,” I said right before I dry heaved into the bowl. Cat reached out and felt my forehead.
“You’re burning up. Is it…?” Her eyes flicked down to my still-flat stomach.
“I-I don’t know.” I clutched my midsection and curled up on the floor, crying out in pain.
“Miri, this isn’t good.” Cat leapt to her feet. “I’m getting help. Just… just stay there.” My best friend bolted from the room. I could hear her shouting for help. While she was gone, I grabbed the heating pad I had plugged in earlier out from under the sink, and pressed it to my face and neck, getting my skin nice and hot. When footsteps and voices grew louder, I chucked the pad back under the sink and shut the cabinet door.
“See? Do something!” Cat cried from behind George’s large figure as he loomed in the doorway. I groaned as convincingly as I could and hunched further into myself, hands protecting my belly.
“Miri,” George said, stepping toward me with his hands up, like I was a wounded animal. “What’s going on?”
“I-I…” I drew in a long breath and let out a heartbreaking moan. “Oh God. I’m pregnant,” I whispered. “The baby.”
George blanched and wasted no time scooping me into his arms. He carried me out of the bathroom and down the hall while barking commands. “Scratch, go get the car. Drake, grab your gun and get the elevator! Move!”
Controlled chaos broke out
in the penthouse, each man carrying out his orders quickly and efficiently. Cat was somewhere out of my line of sight, sobbing. I swallowed back the guilt I felt for deceiving my friend. I hated hurting her, but I had to get to Jag. If Cat knew what I was planning to do, she’d never allow it. She’d narc to George in a heartbeat if it meant keeping me safe, no matter how much I begged and pleaded with her.
Minutes later, we were all piled in the big black SUV, headed for the nearest hospital. I did my part, moaning and clutching my stomach the entire way. At this point, I was so nervous, my skin was legitimately clammy and my hands were trembling. Cat was beside herself and George had a pinched look on his face.
“No, asshole, take her to Seaton.”
“Shut the fuck up, Scratch. I’m driving.”
The two men in the front were arguing about which direction to go.
George wedged his huge body between the front seats. “Shut the fuck up! The bullshit stops here. Go to Seaton,” George growled, his voice frightening enough to raise the hair on the back of my neck. “Jag would want the best. Seaton is the best. Now shut your damn mouths and fucking drive.”
Drake hung a right and took the on-ramp for Loop 1 north. The big vehicle accelerated quickly, its powerful engine rumbling as the SUV easily surpassed the eighty-five mile per hour speed limit.
“Slow the fuck down!” George barked, startling both Cat and me. “You fucking crash and hurt either of these women, you’d better be dead in the wreckage or I’ll kill you myself.”
Holy shit. I had no clue how scary George could be. It was both horrifyingly eye opening and somehow comforting at the same time.
“We’re almost there, Miri.” Cat’s hand ghosted down the side of my face and another stab of guilt pierced my heart. I was the shittiest friend ever. “Just hold on. The baby will be fine.”
The exit for 35th Street flew by and the SUV barely stopped at the bottom of the ramp before executing a sharp right turn, tires squealing. A minute later we jerked to a stop in front of the emergency room and in the blink of an eye, I was being lifted out of the backseat by strong arms. George brought me right to the intake desk and demanded I be seen immediately.
The flustered clerk picked up the phone and called for a nurse. Less than five minutes after arriving, I was on a stretcher, being hurried down the hall. The staff kept my entourage in the waiting room, refusing to allow any one of them to accompany us past a pair of ominous-looking doors. I said a quick prayer of thanks for that tiny bit of luck.
All I needed was two minutes alone and I could slip out of the hospital and make my way to the second level of the parking garage where my rental car was waiting, keys in a magnetic box beneath the front tire. I learned from Jag, offer a few extra dollars and you could get whatever you wanted. That, or threaten people with bodily harm, though violence was more Jag’s thing than mine. Money did the trick in this instance.
The orderly put me in a room. “I’ll find a nurse to see you,” he said as he left.
The second he stepped out I bolted from the bed. The hall was bustling with people, not one of them paying any attention to me. The orderly who brought me in wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Walking fast but not enough to draw attention to myself, I wound through the back halls of the emergency room to the main hospital and didn’t stop until I was in the car.
Hands shaking and nerves frayed at the chance of being caught and prevented from getting to Jag, I put the car in gear and followed the GPS on my phone. Just the thought of seeing Jag again had my stomach calming down for the first time since he left.
No, I didn’t know exactly where Jag was, but I would search every house until I found him. Doing something besides sitting on my ass waiting for news, had me feeling better than I had in days.
