AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What’s the weight limit on this thing?” Korrie asked nervously. Several of the brothers snickered.
Ghost leaned down to her ear and smirked as he whispered, “We’re just shy of the max. Scared?”
If we hadn’t been packed in there like sardines, I might have smacked him across the back of the head. As it was, I could only shoot him a warning glare. My girl had finally chilled the fuck out, and he was trying to screw with her.
The doors dinged as they opened, and we poured out, a mob of leather and chains. Laughter bounced back and forth as we carried our gifts out of the confined space.
A security guard stood off to the side and gave us a dirty look. We tried to smother our laughter and appear upstanding and shit.
Several nurses were huddled at the nurses’ station as we approached, and one stepped away from the group with a furrowed brow. “Excuse me, can I help you?”
“We’re just here to see our brother and his ol’ lady. They had a baby last night. The Duprés,” Venom leaned on the counter and offered helpfully.
“And you are?” she questioned as a light red brow arched.
“We’re the baby’s uncles,” Venom said with his signature smirk and a twinkle in his flirty eyes. I really had to fight rolling mine. For a guy in his early forties, he still had women eating out of his palm.
“Okay, give me just a moment,” she said before going to the other side of the area and making a call. The way she surreptitiously cast glances in our direction as she talked made me a little nervous, so I stepped to the back of the group to be able to see down the hall both ways.
My tension eased when she came back over with a nervous smile. “You can go back to the room, but please try to keep your visit brief.”
Venom and Raptor shared a glance, then Venom looked to me. I gave a single, slight nod and held back at the rear as everyone clomped to the room.
“Is everything okay?” Korrie whispered, obviously picking up on the subtle change in the air.
“Not sure,” I said and pulled my phone out of my back pocket, belatedly thinking to check for messages after I’d missed the calls on the way here. The number of missed calls surprised me, because obviously not all had gone through on my bike. But before I could say anything, everyone was filing into the room and Squirrel’s goofy ass was blurting out, “Madame Laveaux! We didn’t know you would be here! Great to see you!”
That’s when the somber faces registered. Well, everyone but Voodoo—he looked like he wanted to kill someone with his bare hands.
Jameson was there with Sadie, which shocked me, but then again, I didn’t figure Adelaide Laveaux would travel all the way to Iowa alone. What surprised me was that he hadn’t mentioned coming up. He looked stone-faced, but there was an angry glint in his eyes.
Voodoo’s mother, Julia, was hovering over Kira, and Hawk stepped up behind her with a strong hand resting on her shoulder. His brow was furrowed in concern as she threw her arms around his waist and buried her face in his leather cut.
“What’s going on?” Venom asked cautiously as our smiles and laughter died a rapid death.
“I tried calling you all,” Voodoo ground out before running a shaking hand through his hair and casting a concerned look at Kira where she lay in the bed with a bundled baby clutched to her chest. Tears started streaming down her face, and my heart sank.
No. Please not the baby.
“I just saw all the calls and messages, bro. We were on the bikes so we couldn’t answer you. Didn’t think to text you when we got here, cuz, well, we were here. What the fuck is going on?” I couldn’t handle it and I had to know. My heart had stilled as I stared at Kira crying. Like I had a vise around my lungs, I couldn’t breathe.
Kira started to sob, and Voodoo’s hands covered his mouth as his eyes went wild. The things on the tray table rattled, and a cup tipped over. Sadie jumped in and mopped up the water with paper towels from by the sink. Voodoo’s grandmother bustled to the bed to smooth back Kira’s blonde hair, and Julia held her hand. She softly murmured to Kira.
“Someone tried to take the baby,” Jameson growled. Hawk dropped his head and pressed his thumb and forefinger to his eyes.
Several startled exclamations spouted up through our group. My chest became so painful that I wouldn’t have been surprised to look down to see it gaping open.
The baby started to cry, and my heart started again. Relief flooded me.
“What the fuck? Who was it?” Raptor asked as Venom and Hawk quietly talked to Voodoo in an attempt to get him to calm down. Hawk wrapped him up in a bear hug as Voodoo clutched his cut with shaking hands.
“They don’t know. All we know is it was a woman posing as a nurse. Security took her off, so none of us got a chance to question her. Cops were already here asking questions.” Jameson filled us in as he cast a glance at Voodoo, who was finally calming down a bit.
“How the hell did she get in here?” I asked in frustration.
“They came to get him this morning for change of shift assessments and vitals. We didn’t question it because it was the same nurse from yesterday that came to get him. From what they told us, it was when he was on the way back to the room that the other ‘nurse’ took off with him.” Voodoo was finally able to speak, thanks to Hawk.
“Jesus. I thought they had security measures to prevent that.” Hawk growled. “Don’t they wear those fucking house arrest things?”
