Need You Now (Martha's Way Series Book 2) (22 page)

She gl
anced at Adam and their eyes met. He smiled at her. Not the
dreamer speed chaser smile, but the one that gave her a piece of him.
Unanswered questions or not, she was his girlfriend. They had crossed the
just fucking
phase. She was pregnant
with his child,
desperately in love with him, and her
past had just come knocking.

Only
Lily knew it was best to leave some doors closed. She was about to text Nate
back, probably with a polite
go bark up another tree you fucking
cheater
when Adam signed one last autogra
ph,
said something to the herd of women, to which they all sighed. And then he
headed over to her. Lily would bet all of her savings that all of them had wet
their panties. No need to check hers, she wasn’t drooling, at least not openly.

She
placed the phone back in her purse with a mental note to respond with a simple
Please don’t contact me again.

“Liliana!”

Adam’s
scream caught her attention but Lily became aware of everything too late. A
cacophony of sounds hit her ears like a tidal wa
ve as
a black car swirled to her left, inches away from where she stood by Adam’s
Maserati. With barely any time to react, she shuffled back, one foot caught on
a small dip in the pavement. She staggered in her heels and fell forward.

From a
distance, she
heard wild notes of hysteria from the
group of women standing not too far away. Normal reflex dragged her hands up in
front of her face. Her arms grazed along the ground and skin tore from them,
pain screamed through her palms in a horrible sting, her head
bumped her arm shortly afterwards, then her body connected
to the concrete, hard. For a split second, Lily went numb,
then
winced at the stabbing
flash of pain that needled from her knees, throughout her body. Everything
hurt. She lay on the ground, and t
ried to catch the
breath that was knocked out of her when she fell.

“Fuck!”
She was on her hands and knees when she heard Adam swear from somewhere nearby.
Then his strong arms circled her waist protectively and scooped her against
him. Adam. He was here.
He’d make everything okay.
She clung to his broad shoulders, and lifted her eyes. His features were fuzzy
but she felt safe.

“Liliana,”
he said her name delicately.

Even in
pain, his voice rippled in that seductive accent in her ear. He pulled her
against
his chest and Lily felt his heart
accelerating.

“Please
tell me you’re okay,” he whispered in her ear, stroking her hair.

Her head
hurt like hell and maybe spinning. Yes, definitely spinning, but other than
that, she felt fine. She nodded. “Help me up.”

“N
o.” His voice was stern. “I’ll call Forrest.”

A shadow
fell over them. Lily squinted until Guillermo’s face came into focus.

“Lily,”
Guillermo called out, slumping over by her side.

She
smiled and hoped it was a reassuring one. “I’m okay, just a little sor
e. Help me up please.”

Guillermo
looked at Adam for confirmation. After a slight nod from Adam, the two men
slowly helped her to her feet. Feeling dizzy and sick, she leaned a little on
Adam to gain her equilibrium. Once she felt somewhat stable, Lily stra
ightened herself, wiped her hands down the thighs of her
jeans, and tried to make herself unseen as she noticed the shocked and
concerned faces of the women who had just violated Adam.

“Go
inside with Guillermo,” Adam said, gave a chin jerk toward the
restaurant, and then stared straight ahead.

Lily
followed his gaze and surveyed who she assumed was the person responsible for
her fall. The man was of olive complexion with dark curly hair under a fedora.
Not particularly tall, but he walked with purpose
as
he approached them. Something about him made her stomach churn.

He
looked at her, Guillermo then at Adam. A mad glint lingered in his eyes.

“Adam.”
She gripped his arm, crippling with fear.

He
looked at her; his eyes were deep and dark. Adam said someth
ing to Guillermo in the language she recognized as
Portuguese and nudged her into Guillermo’s arms. He took one step forward and
looked down at the man. Everything about his vibe told Lily he was ready for a
fight. In whatever form it came.

“No
fucking int
erview,” he said, his voice dangerously
low, reserved to chill the bone marrow.

Lily
shivered.

“Get off
my property or I will call the police.”

“You
can’t continue hiding,” the man said in a shifty voice.

There
was a hint of an accent Lily couldn’t place.

“If
she’s hurt,” he glanced over his shoulder at her, then back to the man. “You’re
a dead man.”

The
stranger sneered. “This isn’t Italy; your parents have no power here.”

“Get off
my fucking property.” Adam waved a dismissive hand.

“I know
your secret,” t
he stranger said in a menacing tone.
“You can’t bury the past.”

“Go fuck
yourself.”

Lily’s
head flinched back with confusion. What the hell was going on? Feeling
overheated and dizzy, she held on to Guillermo.

“Adam,”
Guillermo
shouted,
his voice alert wit
h concern.

Guillermo
continued to speak in Portuguese. Whatever he said caught Adam’s attention and
he rushed to her side, face pale. He scanned the rest of her body then met her
gaze. Feeling a little warm, which Lily attributed to the effect he had on he
r, she smiled.

“I was
right, you do speak Portuguese,” she said, turning to Adam and flinched at the
sharp pain in her stomach. Something was wrong. “Adam.”

Everything
stopped and nothing made sense. She followed his gaze to the brown stain on her
inner thigh.
Blood.
But she couldn’t tell
where it was coming from. Something sharp jabbed into her side and Lily tried
to adjust herself but the pain…oh, the pain.

“Oh,”
Lily said. Paralyzed with shock, the world circled around as her body fell so
fast that all she could see was a blur.

Chapter Twenty

“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in
your heart.”

Winnie the Pooh

Lily’s
consciousness came
back with a start. Loud sounds
rushed into her ears. She scanned her surroundings through blurry eyes and
immediately spotted the ambulance, and the black Dodge Charger police car
responsible for the deafening sound. Uniformed men and one woman stood talk
ing, exchanging notes. She steadied her breath and tried to
calm the panic stirring inside.

Not too
far away, Adam’s brooding figure caught her attention.

Tension
oozed off his broad shoulders. He stood there…frozen. And then the man
responsible for her fa
ll spoke. The distance between
her and them was too great for Lily to hear their words.

Things
got a little out of control from there. Adam hurled himself toward the man and
gave him a sharp round punch to the chin, knocking the other man to the ground
wit
h a loud cracking noise. Adam took another step
forward, crowding over the sagged figure, ready to inflict more punishment
suited for the situation.

“Shit!”
Lily heard someone shout as the policemen, the male EMT and Guillermo rushed
toward the two men. Th
e female EMT was quick by her
side.

Lily
gasped. “Adam,” she called. Still weak and disoriented, she tried to come to
her feet only to realize she was belted to the stretcher. One of her arms had
been heavily bandaged to protect the cut she acquired from t
he fall. She exhaled and rested her elbows on the gurney to
support her weight.

Guillermo
placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder and tried to pull him away. With a hard shrug,
he pushed his friend’s hand off. Lily watched the rapid rise and fall of Adam’s
chest,
his body vibrating with anger and ready to
kill.

“You
can’t beat him up,” Guillermo said. “Then he will win and the police will be on
your ass.”

“Get off
my ass!” he said without looking at his friend. He grabbed the man’s collar and
dragged him to his fe
et, their faces inches apart.
“You hurt her, you fucking asshole. I should beat the shit out of you.” His
voice came out cracked and loud.

The man
snorted, unfazed by the threat. “Go ahead,” he challenged, and spat a mouthful
of blood on the pavement.

“Ada
m,” she called out again, pleading for him to come to her,
her voice trembling.

His body
tensed. She held her breath. After a second or two, his head turned in her
direction. Lily’s eyes fixated on his face, and her heart broke into a thousand
pieces at th
e distress of emotion that greeted her.

After
what seemed to be an eternity, he sucked in a breath, exhaled, shoved the man
off, and let his hands fall to his side as the energy escaped him. He took two
small steps back and hurried to her side.

“Hey.” A
fa
int smile touched his lips. He entwined his fingers
with hers, and gave her hand a little squeeze for reassurance.

“The
baby,” she said, giving life to the tangible fear creeping inside of her.

Someone
cleared their throat. Lily looked up at the two EMTs a
pproaching
them. A pretty brunette and a muscular man with short cropped black hair came
to stand by her side. Both looked to be in their early thirties. They nodded at
Adam with an air of familiarity.

“We have
a call into the hospital,” the man spoke in a
calm
voice. “I’m Gus and this is Mary.” He introduced himself and his partner. “We
are going to take some notes and check your vital signs. Feeling okay?” he
asked in a gentle tone.

“The
baby,” she repeated. “Is the baby okay?”

The man
known as Gus smiled
warmly at her. “We are going to
take you to the hospital. They will do a fetal ultrasound.” He glanced at Adam.
“We need to take a look at your hand.”

Adam
absently rubbed a hand over his knuckles. “I’m fine.”

Gus
nodded. “We still need to document everyt
hing.” He
glanced at the two police officers now talking to the intruder. “The police are
here for a report and in case you want to press charges.”

“We have
to take your blood pressure.” The pretty brunette smiled down at her then
focused on Adam. “You hav
e to let go of her hand for
a sec, Adam.”

He
obliged and stepped back. Mary placed the cuff of the monitor around Lily’s arm
as two uniformed men approached them and shook Adam’s hand.

“Is
Liliana going to be okay?” Adam asked. His voice was rough and stra
ined.

Gus
nodded.

Adam
glanced back at her.
“And the
baby?”

“I don’t
have that answer,” Gus answered in a controlled voice.

“You can
press charges if you want.” One of the police officers advised.

Adam
nodded and dragged his hand over his face. He glanced
at
the man standing next to the police car. “No charges. Let’s just file the
incident.”

“You’re
sure?” One of the cops asked.

Adam
nodded again.

“150
over 90,” Mary said over her shoulder as Gus jotted down the number.

Gus
lowered himself to Lily’s side. “
That’s above
normal.” His eyes limped with sympathy. He smiled at her and squeezed her
shoulder. “All right, we’re going to take you to the hospital now. Adam, meet
us there.”

“I’m not
leaving her side. I’m riding with you,” Adam responded.

Neither
Gus nor
Mary argued.

Lily
could only describe the ride to the hospital as ordered chaos. Even with the
seatbelt around her, she felt every sharp turn. At one point, Gus took a corner
too fast, sending equipment flying while Mary sat by her side, looking
unaffecte
d and writing down notes. Adam continued to
hold her hand. With the other hand, he stroked her bangs away from her face.

“It’s
going to be all right Liliana, no matter what.”

She
nodded. The words were comforting but couldn’t stop the tears from coming. Hi
s thumb stroked her cheek and brushed the tears away.

By the
time they pulled up, the hospital seemed to know what to expect. Staff were
mobilized and standing by. Adam stayed behind to talk to Gus and Mary. A nurse
around Lily’s age approached her with a
friendly
smile. “Hi, I’m Gwen,” she said, introducing herself. “We are going to take you
into a room and I’ll be back to get some information.” She glanced at the
papers in her hand. “Do we need to contact the father of your baby?”

“I’m the
father,” Adam’s
approaching voice announced.

Lily
noticed a brief look of surprise on the woman’s face, but it was quickly
masked. She had the feeling the two knew each other on a more intimate level at
some point.

Great.
Just what she needed.
A close encounter with one
of
Adam’s pretty ex-lovers, while she looked like she had been dragged by a
caveman.

“You’re
going in for an ultrasound in a little bit. Hang in there,” Gwen said with a
warm smile before Lily was rolled away to a private area in the emergency room,
and
transferred to a hospital bed.

“How
many weeks are you?” Gwen asked. She drew the curtain hanging from a track on
the ceiling closed for privacy.

“Seven,”
she answered.

Adam
slumped into a chair.

“Your
blood pressure is high. We are going to weigh you in,
check
it again and test your urine for protein.”

Lily let
out a nervous chuckle. “I’m fine. I fell. I’m fine.”

But Gwen
was already shaking her head. “These are important for detecting preeclampsia,
which could be very dangerous to you and the baby.” She g
lanced at Adam then back at Lily. “I’ll get some reading
material for you and give you a few minutes to change into the hospital gown.
We need the open side facing front.” She handed Adam the gown and slipped out
of the room.

Adam was
quick by her side. He
tore open the plastic and
pulled out the gown. His hands covered hers as she fumbled to undo her jeans.

“Let me
do this,” he advised. His voice was quiet and controlled.

With one
swooping motion, he removed her shirt, leaving her in her bra. He paused. Th
rough hooded lids, he took a cursory glance at her rising
chest.

“God,
Liliana,” he groaned.

He swore
softly. Then his fingers unsnapped her jeans and helped her slip out of them.
His gaze rested on the brown spot on the jeans for a brief second then folde
d them neatly and put them out of view.

“I’m
still bleeding,” she acknowledged. “I need something to put on.”

He
nodded, understanding her request. “I’ll tell Gwen.”

“We’re
coming in for some tests,” the nurse announced and entered in the tight space.

A ho
rde of people followed and rushed into the room. An IV was
inserted in her arm. Nurses and assistants buzzed around her, asking questions,
poking her arm for blood, checking temperature, and blood pressure.

Once
they were alone, Adam leaned forward and bur
ied his
face in his hands. Lily took a deep breath. Realizing Adam was probably
experiencing the same level of fear as she was, she exhaled, inhaled again. Her
head swam with thoughts.

What if
the baby failed to survive the fall?

What
would become of her a
nd Adam?

She’d
done the unimaginable and went down that slippery road from lust to love.

Even as
Lily tried not to let the reason for their growing closeness occupy her mind,
the reality of the situation was, without a baby, Adam would have never opened
hi
mself to her or to the possibility of them.

Their
dating was a result of her pregnancy.

Big mistake.

“You
look like shit,” she said, trying to defuse the tension in the room.

He
looked at her and chuckled. “So do you.”

She
laughed and turned her head to th
e television hung in
the corner of the room. “Thanks.”

“But still beautiful, Liliana.
You will always be that
to me.” His voice warred with emotion.

Her
heart stumbled before finding its rhythm once again. Tears threatened to spill,
but she swallowed them
back. This man, so dark and
mysterious, had managed to capture her soul, and made her forget her heart was
ever broken or that he could easily crush it again.

After
announcing their presence, two men drew the curtain. “Time for the ultrasound,”
one said.
He glanced at Adam. “You can come or wait…”

Adam
rose to his feet. “I’m coming.”

The
distance to the exam room seemed endless. Adam walked by her side. Not a word
was spoken. Fear weighed heavily in the air between them. Besides the squeaking
sound of the
wheeling bed and footsteps echoing on
the checkered linoleum floor, it was so quiet Lily could hear her heart banging
against her chest.

A door
propped open and her bed was pushed inside next to the electronic machine with
odd wires leading from it. She lo
oked around.
Cold.
Sterile.
Basic.

The
technician greeted them and explained the process of the ultrasound. Lily
nodded with understanding. She’d already gone through that about a week ago.
Adam came to stand by her shoulder, reached for her hand and broug
ht it to his lips. Then the cold object was inserted
between her thighs.