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Hudson and Rhys share a look between them, one that says they need to talk about me not taking this seriously enough. Rolling my eyes, I step away from them both.
“Don’t start,” I say, raising both hands in front of me. “I know the look you guys just shared. I’m fine. The babies are moving like normal and I have no other signs of going into labour anytime soon. False contractions can happen and they aren’t harmful to me or the babies.”
“How do you know they’re false? If they’ve been going on for almost twenty-four hours, it may be best to go get checked out,” Hudson replies, stepping closer to me like I’m a feral animal to be tamed. “We could call the after hours nurse line.”
“No,” I state firmly, shaking my head back and forth vehemently. “I am okay. Please trust me.”
Rhys glances at Hudson again and then sighs. “Okay, Lay. We’ll trust you, but we need that to go both ways. You should have told us the contractions were starting.”
“I did say that the babies movements and braxton hicks contractions were normal and would become more painful as the babies grow,” I point out to Rhys. “I have that appointment on Friday and we can check then. For now, let’s get dinner served so we can all eat once Adam is out.”
“But—” Hudson stops at my look, clenching his jaw tightly. “Okay. I don’t like it, but okay.”
“Thank you,” I reply, turning on my heel and stepping towards the kitchen.
“Lay?” Hudson murmurs behind me, his steps quickly eating up the space between us. “Can you at least do something for me?”
My demeanour softens at his sad look, the frustration over their overbearing reactions melting away. “I might be able to.”
“Will you at least track the contractions? I think it might help with your appointment, but it will also give us a sense of how frequently it’s happening in case something changes,” Hudson explains, cupping my cheek with his hand.
Softening into his touch, I breathe out the rest of my frustration. “Yeah, I can do that. Thank you for looking out for me. I don’t know what I would do without all of you.”
Hudson kisses me with so much tenderness, I almost sigh and pop my foot out like a rom-com main character. If there’s one thing these guys know how to do, it’s soften me up. They anger me to no end some days, yet they always have the best of intentions which makes the anger fade away.
I step away from Hudson, glancing at a sappy looking Rhys over his shoulder and smiling. Making my way to the kitchen, I pull out four plates and turn off the oven. The baked ziti might be a little more dry now, but at least it will still be hot for all of us.
Rhys comes up behind me, kissing me on the back of the head. “We’ll always take care of you, Lay. You’re never getting rid of us or our overprotective natures.”
“I know, I know. I’m lucky to have all of you,” I say with a sigh, leaning back against him. “Just as you’re all lucky to have each other as well. Our family is a little strange, but I think it’s exactly what we all need.”
Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Alayna
Ala
Thebrightsunpeakingthrough the blinds in the bedroom wakes me up from my very broken sleep. It's been two days since Adam was attacked by his receptionist and the house has been in utter chaos since then.
Once Rhys was informed what happened, he and Adam have been coming up with the best plan to best protect Adam. This included doing a police report to at minimum create a paper trail of what happened. Including the security footage in the report has also strengthened his report in case Jade tries to accuse him of doing anything to her and then firing her for rejecting his advances. Apparently Rhys has seen more than one case where the victim turned out to be the assailant, hence the paper trail with evidence.
Hudson keeps disappearing to god knows where while all of this has been going on as well. Every time I ask him, it's met with vague excuses and lies. It's like he's slipping away from me and there's absolutely nothing I can do to stop it. He refuses to let me in on what's going on with him.
A stray tear runs down my face, soaking into my pillow. My world seems to be falling apart, bit by bit in front of my face and I can't figure out how to hold any of it together. None of this is what I envisioned for our family when I decided to keep the babies. What the fuck am I bringing them into? Not stability. Not a loving and happy home. I'm bringing them into danger, lies, and relationships that seem to be falling apart all over.
Rhys is consumed with work and keeping us safe despite his promise to me. He even cancelled coming to my appointment tomorrow because he needs to close out an account or something like that. I was too pissed to keep listening, honestly.
Adam is distant as he works through his trauma, though he still checks in and reminds me he loves me. I don’t fault him for needing time, he’s probably the only one of the three that I’m not mad at.
Then there’s Hudson and he is— Well, I don't fucking know what Hudson is doing. It's not good, I know that much.
Add in the constant bombardment of death threats, disgusting mementoes, and daily reminders from Kevin that he's waiting to strike and watching me always. It's a regular fucking tornado meets a hurricane of shit storms.
Another cramp or contraction hits, unlike the others however, this time the pain steals my breath away. Grabbing my phone, I quickly put it into the contraction monitoring app. It feels like it lasts forever, but when I check the app its just under a minute in length.
Fuck, this is not what I need to deal with today. The guys are all at work and the last thing I want to do is take them away from that for a false contraction. Besides, Ashe said the bar would be ready for me to view today and I really fucking need that good news. I need something to make me smile.
