Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
I reach my hand out and place it on her knee. She calms when I touch her, and I want her to know she’s okay. “Yeah?”
We’re in the heart of the city now. Traffic thickens and the city sounds around us tell us we’re not alone.
“I want to talk to you,” she says, resting her hand on top of mine. “There are some things —”
I slam on my brakes when a car in front of us comes to a sudden halt. “Of all the fucking—"
Cosette suddenly gasps and holds her belly, both hands spanning her slender waist. When she gives a cry of pain, my heart leaps into my chest. We’re fully stopped behind a line of traffic.
“What is it?”
“I—oh God, Lyam.” Her face blanches and her eyes are so wide she’s scaring me. “I—there’s some pain.” When she looks down, she panics. “I feel like… I think I’m bleeding. Oh my God, get me to a restroom. Please!”
We’re only a block away from the pastry shop. I lean on the horn to make the cars in front of me move, but they won’t. We’re jammed in between a truck and a motorcycle, and I can’t get them to move.
“Get out of my way!” I bellow at anyone and everyone. “It’s an emergency!”
A few cars inch away, but most just stand stock-still.
I slam the car into Park. Whip off my jacket, revealing my ink, and stalk toward the car blocking us.
“Lyam!” Cosette’s crying now.
I turn to face her. “I’ve got this, baby. Breathe, Cosette.”
I reach the car in front of me.
“Listen, buddy,” the driver says as he turns to face me, cracking his window a fraction. He’s bald and about fifty, and looks like he wants to punch me. I fucking dare him. “We all wanna fucking move. If you think you’re special, fucking think again.”
“Roll down your window.”
He stares at me and snorts. “I don’t think so.”
I lean in and brace my forearms on the doorframe at the base of the window, the tat of my snake clearly visible. His eyes widen when they come to rest on it. I have a reputation in these parts and I’m not afraid to use it.
“Roll down your window,” I repeat in a voice just above a whisper as I take out my favorite gun, “or I’ll shoot it open. It gets messy, then, doesn’t it? I might accidentally hit you, or your buddy, then you’ve got a fucking broken window.”
Staring at the snake, he pushes a button. The window slides down.
As soon as it’s down I reach in and grab him by the neck. His eyes nearly bug out of his head. “This is an emergency. I’ve gotta move. Get out of my fucking way now.”
His friend slams the dashboard. “Do it. Jesus, do it.”
I release him and toss a few bills on his seat. “Here’s a tip.”
I go back to Cosette and notice blood on the seat of the car. She openly weeps and turns away when I get back in the driver’s seat. I reach for her knee. “Breathe, baby,” I say again, as the car in front of us peels away. I hit the dash with my left hand and call the doctor. I tell her what’s happening.
“Meet me at the hospital, Mr. Gerard.”
We drive through the city streets as fast as I can while keeping her safe and glide into the hospital entrance within two minutes. Seconds later, I’m running in with her. She’s sobbing quietly against my shirt. I bark out orders to the hospital staff, trying to think of anything at all that might make this better.
Goddammit. I feel helpless and useless.
There are some things that even physical intimidation, millions of dollars, and brute force can’t control.
FOURTEEN
Cosette
“We’re going to the hospital,” Lyam says. “Hang in there, baby.”
I hold onto my belly as if somehow, I can keep this baby here with me. Even though I’m not that far along, I’ve already imagined having a sweet baby of my own… of our own. I’ve already imagined how it would feel seeing Lyam hold our baby, and how I would be the one to hold and rock and soothe our little one.
Lyam drives fast on a good day. Right now, it feels as if the car has sprouted wings and begun to fly. But I don’t care. I want to get there as fast as he does. He’d teleport us if he could but since he can’t, he’s doing the best he can to get me there as fast as humanly possible. God help any officer who tries to stop him right now.
When I see traffic and brake lights ahead of us at the final turn to get to the hospital, I stifle a sob. I need to get there. The urgency of the moment tells me I need to get there now.