Angels and Ashes (Heaven's Rejects MC Book 2) (14 page)

Rubbing my hand across my brow, I can feel the exhaustion wrap around me. Sleep hasn’t exactly been a hot commodity for me lately, but Voodoo is right that I will need some shut eye before we head straight into this shit storm.

“Any news from Hero, Prez? I know some of the guys are itching for news.”

“He texted me about an hour ago that things were progressing more toward surgery than that natural shit, but that’s the last I heard from him.”

“Keep us posted, Boss.”

“Sure thing,” I reply while I make my way toward the door. It doesn’t take me long to check in with the other guys before I start to head out for Darcy’s house. It may not be the best place to rest my head, but at least the kids will know everything is okay if they see me in one piece.

I get as far as the back door before a small hand wraps around my forearm dragging my attention back into the clubhouse. My eyes turn to see a visibly shaken Ricca standing behind me, shivering where she stands.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her gruffly.

Ricca takes two quick steps and wraps her thin arms around my neck as sobs escape her lips and tears soak into my shirt. Ricca and I have never exactly had a friendly relationship with how she became a part of this club so her death grip on me is surprising.

Shit, what’s happened?

“They’re beautiful, Dani,” I coo at the two pink bundles cradled in their father’s arms. The pale color and softness of the blankets contrast so much against the tattooed hardness of Hero, but he beams a megawatt smile while he watches his daughters sleep. Though he tried to play off his emotions about becoming a father, a glimmer of a tear still lingers on his cheek as Dani watches from her hospital bed while their daughters stake their claim on their father’s heart. While I thought Hero would look so awkward and uncomfortable, he seems at ease.

“Have you decided on the names yet?” I question when Hero nods for me to step closer and take one of the little girls into my own arms. I gently cradle her little head as I tuck her swaddled body into the crook of my arm. She is just as beautiful as her sister with a thick mop of dark hair and dark eyes—they both definitely take after Dani’s Hispanic genes. A familiar feeling of want and disappointment waft over me as I note how precious new life truly can be. What is it about the way a new baby smells that makes you want to have more all over again?
Shut up, ovaries. You have a new baby at home.
The little one stretches her mouth open in a wide yawn before squirming in the confines of her swaddle.

“I’ve had my children’s names picked out for so long that I’ll admit Hero didn’t really have a chance when it came to naming them,” Dani jokes while Hero places their other daughter back into her arms.

“Why even try when I knew every one of my suggestions would get shot down?” Hero asks with a shrug of his broad shoulders while Dani stifles a quiet laugh.

“Hero, girls are brought up from a young age to be mothers. It’s only natural that Dani have names planned out already. While you boys get army guys and guns, we get baby dolls, fake diapers, and bottles. It’s not exactly an even ground when it comes to kids.”

“I would have still liked my names to be considered,” he interjects with just a hint of gruffness to his voice.

“Our daughters are not going to be named Brandy and Whiskey so just stop where you’re going right now. Don’t even start about Thing One and Thing Two.”

“What? I thought it was funny.”

“Ignore your father, girls,” Dani says aloud to both babies. “He’s an idiot. Back to Aunt Darcy’s questions,” she playfully coos. “This beautiful angel is Embry Rose,” she says with a look of sheer, unbridled, blissful happiness plastered on her exhausted face. I gently walk toward Dani, taking care to not wake the unnamed baby in my arms. “What about this little beauty?” I remark as I slip her tiny body from my arms and nestle her against Dani’s chest.

“Monroe Isabella, after my mom’s favorite movie star and my grandmother, Izzy.”

“Such beautiful names for two very beautiful little girls. You both will have your hands full when they get older.” I chuckle as a grimace momentarily flashes over Hero’s face.

“Tell me about it,” he mumbles. “They won’t even know what a boy is until after I die. I’ll make for damn sure of it.”

A soft knock interrupts our fit of laughter and in steps her obstetrician, Dr. Bextor. The middle-aged man seems worn out, and that feeling is very warranted with how difficult it was to bring the twins into the world. Once Dani got to the hospital, her contractions were only two minutes apart, and she was beyond the point of stopping her labor with medication with how far she had dilated. Dr. Bextor assured her that he would do everything within his power to make her delivery easy, but the threat of an emergency caesarean lingered not only with Dani carrying twins, but with how high her blood pressure had skyrocketed. She was monitored closely for roughly an hour before Dr. Bextor delivered the news that she needed to be prepped for a C-section. Because they hadn’t had time to give her an epidural, they were forced to sedate Dani while Hero paced in the halls with me. His eyes were filled with terror and panic over not only losing his girls, but Dani, too. I tried to reassure him as much as I could, but words and a pat on the back couldn’t soothe the pounding of his heart while he waited for news. Thirteen minutes after Dani was taken back into the surgical suite, the nurse rushed into the hallway and escorted Hero back to the maternity ward.

His heavy steps alerted me to his approach, and when my eyes trailed up from the floor, a smile was on his face. That smile melted all my worries as I noted the swagger in his step. His news of two healthy babies and a very tired Dani was the sigh of relief we both needed. He asked me to come back into the room with him while we waited for Dani’s anesthesia to wear off and for her to return to the room so she could meet her girls. The nurses soon stripped his shirt and had him fill in for the skin to skin contact that they now recommended for newborns. While it was awkward at first to see his nervousness while he held them, it was soon melted away with Dani’s arrival. The love that filled the room when Dani’s eyes locked on the girls and she saw her newly-expanded family standing in front of her melted my soul.

“Hey, Doc,” Hero says. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did for my family.”

Dr. Bextor waves his hands dismissively before walking closer to the bed and admiring the girls. “They’re by far the most beautiful set of twins I’ve ever delivered.”

He admires the girls once more before two nurses walk into the room. “While the girls seem to be in good health and have a relatively strong pair of lungs, I would still like to place them in the neonatal intensive care because of their low birth weights. I think it would be best if we monitor their progress a little more closely to make sure they’re fully developed with their premature birth.”

Dani’s eyes well with tears as she looks to both of the tiny girls in her arms. “How long will they have to stay, Dr. Bextor? I was hoping to take them home with us.”

“I know you would, Mrs. Tobias, but while the delivery age of the most sets of twins are thirty-five weeks on average, your girls were between thirty-three and thirty-four weeks. This is only as a pre-caution to make sure that they are both ready to go home and that their lungs are fully developed. I’d also like for them to be closer to the five-and-a-half pound mark to ensure that they are growing at the right pace.”

Hero moves his hands to Dani’s shoulder, reassuring her that this is best for them all. “I want my girls to be healthy, Doc, so if they need to be in a hot box, do it.”

“Mr. Tobias, it’s the best course of action for both of the girls and the quickest route to getting them home. My nurses will take the girls down now and get them settled. You and Mrs. Tobias are more than welcome to visit as much as you would like, and that goes for after you’re discharged.”

“Thank you, Dr. Bextor,” Dani mutters. “How soon do you think it will be until I get to go home?”

Dr. Bextor sidesteps while the nurses walk around him to collect the girls. “I’d like to monitor you for a few extra days as well, Mrs. Tobias. Your heightened blood pressure is a disorder we call pre-eclampsia. Ten to fifteen percent of pregnant woman show symptoms early in their pregnancies such as higher than normal blood pressure and increased headaches, but in your case, its onset was rather late. I will say that had your friend here not called an ambulance, we might have lost both you and your children.”

“Will this shit happen again if she has more children, Doc?” Hero intensely questions.

“While your wife will run a higher risk for it to happen in subsequent pregnancies, we will know to monitor for it more closely and to educate you both on the signs and symptoms, but no, it will not prevent you from having more children.”

Both Dani and Hero sigh at the doctor’s encouraging words as the nurses begin to exit the room with the girls.

“Give the nurses a few hours to get the girls settled before you come down to the unit. Take the time for you both to get some rest because you’ll both be very busy and exhausted when we get these two home.”

Dr. Bextor shakes both Hero and Dani’s hands before exiting the room right after the nurses and then my phone vibrates in my back pocket.
Shit. I nearly completely forgot about meeting Trax here with the excitement of Monroe and Embry’s arrival.
Making an excuse of needing to get back to the house and the kids, I slip from the room, leaving the new parents to likely get their last night of good sleep and head toward the atrium on the fourth floor where I instructed Trax to meet me.

Stepping into the elevator to ride up to the fourth floor, I whisper a silent prayer to myself in hopes that Trax came through for me. I know it’s a risk trusting someone associated with the club, but Brent always talked about how Trax was the type of man that would sell his mother to the highest bidder if it would benefit him. My only fear is that he’ll sell me false information, or worse, take it back to Raze, but it’s a calculated risk I will take for answers and justice. The elevator jolts to a halt as I anxiously tap my foot waiting for the doors to open.

Just breathe, Darcy. Pay the bastard, get your information, and you can deal with the aftermath later.

Stepping through the elevator doors, I exhale a deep breath that I feel like I’ve been holding since I came up with this idea to use him. It’s now or never for the truth. I know I can’t live with never knowing, so this is just another necessary evil I need to handle on behalf of myself and kids. Peering around the corner, I don’t see a soul on this portion of the floor. I picked the atrium because I knew that it mostly housed the offices of the administration and charge nurses. A muffled sound of someone clearing his or her voice nearly startles me then I see Trax walking toward me. His scruffy face is hard-locked on me. His worn and holey jeans paired with a simple white shirt covered in grease under his cut make him so painfully odd in the beautiful space. He smells like a mixture of gasoline, cigarettes, and stale bar nachos. It almost feels like he’s the hobo amongst the beauty of this room and gives off a feeling of foreboding and wrongness.
Just get the information and get the fuck out of here, Darcy. The sooner you are away from this asshole, the better it will be.

“Hello, doll,” his gravelly voice says, cutting through the pristine silence surrounding us. “You got my money?”

Reaching into my back pocket, I pull out the money order for ten thousand dollars that I retrieved from the lock safe at home before Dani went into labor and slap it into his greasy and calloused hands. He unfolds the piece of paper to verify the amount before sliding it inside of his cut, pulling out an envelope and smashing it into my outstretched hand. My eyes narrow at the envelope in confusion.

“This is what ten grand bought me?” I question. “You’ve got to be shitting me, right? An envelope isn’t worth that kind of cash.”

He disdainfully laughs at my dissatisfaction and shakes his head at me. “You haven’t even opened the damn thing yet and you’re already bitching. You don’t want it then give the fucking thing back to me,” he says as he tries to snatch it away from me before I jerk out of his reach and press it tightly to my chest.

“You wanted that information, and I got it even though it could have killed me for the shit I had to snoop through. What’s in that little envelope will set you on the right path,” he says, pressing his finger roughly against the envelope on my chest which sends a rush of fear and disgust shivering down my spine.

“I’m gonna warn you, doll, it’s not something I think you should be dipping your dainty little hands into. It’s not a place for ladies, especially mothers.”

“You have no idea what I am capable of, Trax.”

“Not even God himself could take on what you’re facing, but I’ll say something nice at your funeral if you do decide to go through with it,” he calls out as he slips by me and heads toward the stairs. “At least I got paid beforehand. You can’t exactly collect from a dead woman.” Trax pulls open the door and lets it slam behind him, startling me.