Lex (Unconventional Hearts) (38 page)

“What’s up sis?” He answers his back to me
giving me a great view of his amazingly sculpted posterior.

“What!” He yells scaring the crap out of me
breaking my perverted stare.

“Alright I’m leaving in ten… Yeah, your
house, call Lincoln… Yeah I’ll have her talk to him too… No, don’t
let him go over there… Love you too.” He hangs up and angrily
presses the phone into Tank’s chest.

“We gotta hit it. My ex-wife did something to
Emma. Tasha refuses to tell me over the phone. I need to get home.
Now
!” he frantically orders and Tank leaves without a word.
Then Gage looks at me. I’m already out of bed, and searching
through his drawers for something to wear.

“Your clothes are hanging in the closet.
Either you ride with one of the men and they’ll take you home or
you come straight with me to my sister’s. I don’t have time to take
you home myself.” He’s staunch and straightforward. He’s even
crazier if he thinks I’m not going with him. I’ll go nuts if I
don’t find out firsthand what’s happened.

Ten minutes fly by warp speed, as the group
throws their tents together from outside where they slept, and
store them in the cabin. Gage hasn’t touched me or muttered a
single word. He’s haunted, his face desolate, and I’m worried about
him.

I follow him outside, he helps me onto his
bike, and within seconds, we are up the gravel path that is lined
with thick trees and on the road again. Leaving the little cabin in
the woods behind, along with it, I fear his sanity.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Lex

This isn’t good, this isn’t good at all! I
can’t stop sporadically crying. In attempt to keep my own demons
from surfacing, I try to keep a level head and harbor my wild
emotions. How could a woman be such a monster? Poor Emma! Poor
Gage!

“Lex, I think you should go home.” Lincoln
pulls me into a side hug, pressing a kiss to the top of my
head.

“I’m not leaving them. Not ever.” I cuddle
into his side. Both of our backs are resting, exhausted, against
the hospital wall. Watching as Gage grunts and stomps back and
forth outside of Emma’s hospital room. She’s sleeping and Tasha is
inside with her. I didn’t want to impose so Lincoln and I have been
running interference between Gage’s fury and the doctors, who are
just trying to help. Lincoln has already had Melissa placed in
custody and he’s supposed to be off work for the night. But it’s
Lincoln, and he won’t leave me, not even if I begged him to.

It’s now four a.m. and I’m supposed to be at
work in a few hours. I’m not going in today. After we got to
Tasha’s, Gage went ballistic. Melissa not only verbally abused Emma
all weekend, she bruised her upper arms with finger impressions,
spanked her hard enough that she has a hand imprint and she smacked
her across the mouth, cracking her bottom lip open. Emma is a mess
and Gage is ten times worse. Blaming himself as he paces back and
forth here in the hospital, waiting for the gambit of test results
to come in. Even though the doctors swore it was only superficial
bruising. Gage wasn’t listening to them and ordered every test to
be run on Emma. X-rays, blood panels, a cat scan of her brain, even
a pediatrician to make sure her female parts were left perfectly
intact.

I know this all because of Gage’s past. He
was abused by his mother, a lot worse than Emma was. He’s taking
this harder than anyone, even harder than Emma. Two hours we rode
in silence on the motorcycle. I didn’t even attempt to rest my head
against him. He was stiff and so angry, I could almost see the
waves of malice wafting off him in powerful surges. Once we arrived
to Tasha’s it was lightning speed after that. Gage crying,
apologizing to Emma who attempted to console her own father’s
meltdown. I stood back, not wanting to interfere but offering my
silent support. I was briefly introduced to Tasha on our own
fruition. Emma hugged me for a moment and was whisked away to the
hospital. I couldn’t fit into Tasha’s car along with her husband,
Gage, Emma and Maxwell; his brother. So I rode with Lincoln in his
SUV. We’ve been here ever since. I tried to make Gage eat something
because he’s not eaten since breakfast and he yelled at me and
nearly told me to fuck off. I’m trying not to take it to heart
because the only person he isn’t being snappy to is Emma. The rest
of us are having to walk on eggshells. I want to comfort him. I
just don’t know how. I couldn’t handle being thrown to the wolves
if he ruthlessly, out of anger, verbally unleashes on me. Plus, I
think Lincoln would have his head if he did. We don’t need that
stirring up even more trouble.

“Who am I to speak with, regarding Emma
Masterson?” a meek male doctor asks, addressing the group of us. I
give Lincoln the ‘you know what to do’ eye. He takes the cue and
corrals Gage to the corner as I speak with the miniature
doctor.

“I am.” I announce being the only person
other than Tasha left standing. Maxwell left about midnight. Gage’s
father, who I haven’t been introduced to yet, was here for about an
hour with his wife who stared hateful daggers at me the entire
time. Not sure why she doesn’t care for me, but I’m sure I’ll
eventually find out.

“Are you Emma’s mother?”

I shake my head. “No, I’m her father’s
girlfriend. He’s not taking this so well so I am speaking with all
the doctors and nurses.”

“Very well,” he bobs his head,
understandingly. “After going over all of Emma’s test results, the
only thing other than the physical abrasions that need no medical
attention is she’s dehydrated. We would like to keep her until
morning to get another bag of IV fluid into her. Other than that,
everything is perfect. CAT scan came back fine; all the blood tests
are within normal ranges. Overall, she’s a healthy little girl. I
will refer her to a physiologist that specializes in working with
children. It would be beneficial in cases like this for her to
speak with a professional.”

I thank the doctor, and give Lincoln the
thumbs up. He sighs, breaking away from Gage who’s pacing and
living in his own mopey world. I’m surprised he hasn’t burned a
hole through the floor with how many hours he’s walked this
hall.

Quietly I tip-toe into Emma’s room to speak
to Tasha, she’s resting back; half awake, half asleep, reading on
her tablet.

“Hey.” I whisper.

“Hey.” She hazily smiles looking up, offering
me a gentle wave.

I tiptoe in a bit further, so I’m standing
just at the end of my sleeping princess’s bed and I smile at her.
She’s cozy, snuggled up with her stuffed My Little Pony tucked
under her arm and rainbow slippers covering her tiny feet that I
picked up from the convenience store on my way to the hospital.

“Doctors said she’s okay. Only dehydrated.
They want to keep her till morning. Other than that, she’s good to
go. You are free to leave whenever. I’m staying; you might as well
get some sleep at home. Gage and I won’t leave her.” I flash my
most sincere closed mouth smile.

“Okay, you sure you don’t want to go
home?”

I shake my head, “No, I couldn’t leave if I
wanted to. I wouldn’t sleep and I’d be at home worried sick.”

“You’re good for him, you know. My brother
can be a hothead. He’s very emotional. It’s good he has a woman
like you to have a level head on her shoulders.”

I smile at her compliment. If she knew me
well enough I don’t think she’d feel the same. I’m not that great.
“Thank you. I think we both keep each other sane.”

I’m not sure where that came from, but it’s
the truth. Gage makes me feel like I can branch out and be the
person I knew I had somewhere deep inside. The person I’ve been
afraid to let out of the closet. And, apparently, I give him what
he wants — me. For what good it’s worth. If he’ll want me after
this will be the real kicker. Considering Emma was punished because
of Gage and I’s budding relationship. It sounds so much like my
mother being punished because I wasn’t the boy my father wanted me
to be; too much familiarity in this case. The thought of it makes
me sick to my stomach.

A hug jolts me from my thoughts as Tasha
wraps her arms around me. I join in and hug her back. “If you want
me to, I can text you in the morning to tell you how she’s doing.”
I offer, breaking from our embrace.

“I’d like that. Thank you.”

I retrieve my phone from my jeans pocket and
she plugs her number in. Just before she leaves, she kisses Emma on
the forehead, which awakens her for a moment.

“Auntie’s leaving, Princess. You get to go
home in the morning.” Tasha whispers to her niece.

“K...” Emma drowsily whispers and turns her
head to see me standing in her room and grins “Lex.” She tiredly
says, and waves me over.

Coming to her bedside, opposite her aunt, I
crouch down close to Emma so she doesn’t have to strain to hear or
speak to me.

“What does my fairy princess need?” I smile,
grab her little hand that has an IV in it and kiss the top.

“Are you allowed to cuddle with me? Like we
did on the couch?”

I look to Tasha and she’s beaming as bright
as the sun. Then she nods, giving me the go ahead.

“Are you sure you want big ol’ me in a tiny
bed with you?”

Emma silently answers me with the bob of her
head and a sweet smile. I unzip my boots, toss them onto the floor,
and climb into the bed beside her. She instantly rests her little
head on my chest, and I smile down at her, running my fingers
through her hair. Tasha covers us both in a white blanket and I
suddenly feel terribly sleepy. It’s been a very long emotional day.
Kissing Emma’s head, I wish her a goodnight and slowly my eyes feel
like they have bags of sand hanging from them as they begin to
close.

Gage

“Gage. Gage.” Tasha is speaking to me. I know
she is but I can’t stop pacing. Mustn’t stop. Can’t stop. If I
stop, I will meltdown. I will cry, I will lose it and then Emma
will think I’m a weak daddy who can’t protect her. And Lex will
think I’m a baby that she’ll need to take care of. Mustn’t show
weakness. Have to stay strong for my family.

“Gage!” Tasha smacks my arm and I stop and
sneer at her. Curling up my lip in aggression.

“What?!”

“Do you even know what time it is? Do you
know where you are?”

What kind of ridiculous question is that? Its
midnight and my brother just left. I’m in the hospital awaiting
Emma’s test results.

“Yes.” I bark, furrowing my brow at her.

Placing her hand on her hips, she sears me
with her penetrating gaze. I hate when she does this.

“It’s four thirty in the morning,
Gage
.” Her attitude slaps me hard in the face.

“What?” It can’t be four in the morning.
There’s no way.

“Yeah… While you were out here having your
little,” she gestures up and down my body with her hand, “whatever
this is. Your woman was talking to doctors, attempting to feed you,
and she’s now sleeping in bed with
your
daughter. I’m going
home, I’m tired and you should get some sleep too. And…” She jabs
her finger into my chest. “You need to grovel at that woman’s feet.
You snapped at her tonight. She took it.
I wouldn’t have
.
She and Lincoln also preoccupied you to keep you from getting
kicked out of this place. You yelled at a nurse and that was the
last time you were allowed to speak to any medical professional.
Get it together. I know this is hard, it brings up shit about mom.
We didn’t have a good childhood, you especially, but Lex didn’t
either and she stuck through this for you and Emma. If you don’t
end up finding a way to keep her. I will. I’ll kick you out of the
family and let her move in. Capiche?”

Now I feel like the biggest asshole on the
planet. Peering over at the clock on the wall, I see that she’s
right. Lincoln is sitting in a chair against the wall, nearly
asleep and my woman is in bed with my daughter. What’s wrong with
me? I have to be stronger!

Kissing my sister on the cheek and
apologizing, I see her down the hall to the front and say goodbye.
Coming back, I nudge Linc.

“Hey bud, time to head home.” I rouse
him.

“Yeah, but I can’t leave until Lex tells me
it’s cool.”

Sitting down beside him, I pat him,
man-to-man on the leg. “You do know that Lex is mine, right? She
loves you Linc, but I can’t say if you tried to go there with her
that I wouldn’t put up a fight. I see the way you look at her. It’s
obvious and I respect the hell out of ya for being such a great
friend. You’re a good man. I just need you to know that I’m not
going to fuck this up with her. I’ve waited too long and tried too
hard to mess it up now. It can’t be easy loving a woman you can’t
have.” As much as this might make me sound like a jerk, I need him
to know. I see it when he looks at her; he loves her. Laying it out
there for him to understand is the only way I can see this going in
the right direction.