Torn (3 page)

“Brody Davis, ma’am. I’m, uh, Leila’s…”

I cut him off. “He’s the father of my child
and my ex. I know Jaxon has told you about him. He’s the one who
made the arrangements for your flight here.”

Douglas chimed in first. “Well, thank you for
that. I’m not sure either of us would’ve been in any shape to make
the drive. It was kind of you.” He turned to me. “We came straight
to you while we waited to hear from the nurse who was taking care
of Jax.”

They knew nothing either. Dammit. My insides
were twisting with worry.

“Mr. Henderson, if you will—”

“Please call me Doug, Leila.” He smiled
sweetly at me.

“Of course, if you’ll go out to the nurses’
station and have them page Barb Kelly or Dr. Drake Thomas and tell
them I sent you. That should speed up the process.”

“I’ll take care of it. Y’all stay with
Leila.” Brody crossed the room and shut the door behind him.

“Do you know anything more than he was shot?
Like where was he? What was he doing?” Ashley asked then suddenly
stopped. “Oh my, listen to me going on and on. I didn’t even think
to ask you why you’re in this bed. Are you okay, sweetie?”

“I’m fine, but my friends, who happen to be
nurses and doctors here, are administering over-care. I got upset
about Jax and I passed out. Ooh, uhhhh. Sorry, gimme a minute.” I
winced as I rolled to my side.

“Doug, hit the call bell,” Ashley
directed.

“No. No, I’m okay,” I gritted out.
“Contraction. One minute.”

Ashley grabbed my hand, squeezing gently as I
worked through the pain. After a few minutes my breathing returned
to normal and I was able to lie on my back again. Smiling at her, I
tried to remember where we left off. Right, she wanted to know
about Jaxon’s whereabouts.

“I spoke with Jax earlier today and he was
vague about where he was and what he was doing. He only said they
thought that someone within the club was doing something they
shouldn’t be. He never said who, or what,” I explained.

Ashley looked over at Doug and they exchanged
an odd look. Their eyes widened, and their brows scrunched; it was
like they were having a silent conversation.

When Ashley turned back to me, she asked,
“How are things between you two? The last time Jax actually told me
anything, y’all were having some difficulties.”

Now there’s the understatement of the
century. Deep breath. Tell the truth. These people were practically
my in-laws. “Things are really complicated right now. I think we
are starting to figure things out, but with Brody in the picture,
it always gets…hazy.”

“I certainly didn’t mean to pry, dear. I just
know he loves you very much. He’s been beside himself with guilt.
Worrying over what he had done by pushing you away.”

“Funny how that’s not important right now.
I’m focusing all my energy on him getting better. We’ll figure the
rest out later.” I didn’t want to seem rude, but I had regrets of
my own. That was a conversation for Jaxon, not Jaxon’s parents.

“Of course you will,” Doug said. “Jax will
pull out of this, he’ll fix his mistakes, and y’all will welcome
this little miracle together.” Doug stressed
together
.

The door opened. Barb, Drake, and another
doctor, who looked familiar but I couldn’t place the name,
entered.

“Good evening, are you Jaxon’s parents?” Barb
asked.

“Yes, we are.” Doug offered his hand. “Doug,
and this is Ashley, Jaxon’s mom.”

“How is he, Drake?” I asked, not able to hold
it in any longer. Drake looked to Jaxon’s parents before
answering.

“Please. She has every right to know.” Ashley
reached for my hand.

“Okay, first I’m Dr. Thomas and this is Dr.
Robbins. We’ve been working on Jaxon since he was brought in. He
came in with two gunshot wounds,” he explained as Ashley’s grip
tightened. “One to the right breast area closer to his underarm, it
was through and through and didn’t hit anything vital. The other,
well it was worse.”

Spit. It. The. Fuck.
Out.

“Drake? Please. What?” I begged for answers I
didn’t want to hear.

“The other gunshot wound entered the stomach
first then lodged in his spleen. He lost a lot of blood and coded
twice on the table, but we were able to get him back, stabilize
him, and remove the bullet. We made the necessary repairs and gave
him four units of blood. But he is still critical. The next
twenty-four hours are going to be the deciding factor. In my
professional opinion, he’s damn lucky. If he can pull through the
next day or so, then he should be okay.”

“Oh sweet baby Jesus.” I sagged back in the
bed. “Couldn’t you have led with that, you asshat?”

Ashley whipped her wide eyes to me. “Leila,”
she admonished.

“Lei, we both know you wouldn’t have listened
to the rest of what I was saying if I started off with that. I
can’t say he’s okay, because he’s not. He’s still critical. Damn,
girl, you are so frustrating.”

“I would have listened,” I insisted.

“Liar,” both Barb and Drake called out at the
same time.

Ashley’s and Doug’s gazes bounced around the
room, trying to determine what was happening here.

“Sorry, I should’ve said something before.
These are my best friends, Barb Kelly and Drake Thomas. We also
happen to all work together.”

“Well, that makes more sense.” Ashley sighed
in relief, clearly thinking I was a raging bitch.

“Drake, when can we see him?” I pleaded.

“He’s in recovery. It will be about an hour
before we move him into ICU. I’m not sure if you’re up for it, Lei.
Barb filled me in.” Drake waved his hand at my stomach as he sat on
the end of my bed. “Honey, you gotta take it easy.”

“I’m fine. I just passed out.” He glared at
me. “Okay, okay. I might’ve had a few contractions, but seeing him
will help me relax, Drake. Please.”

“It’s up to his mom and dad, but you know the
ICU rules better than anyone, and you know it’s going to be a while
before he’s coherent.”

I squeezed Ashley’s hand. “May I?”

“Of course, dear. We’ll get you a
wheelchair.” She looked at Drake, who nodded in confirmation.

“First, OB’s coming in to check you since
you’re still contracting. We need to make sure you’re not dilating,
Lei.” Barb had to open her big mouth.

“Fine, but make it quick.”

Barb nodded and rolled her eyes at me as she
spoke into her earpiece, connected to her walkie, requesting an
OB-GYN to my room.

“Sweetie, we’ll give you a little room and
we’ll wait out in the hall.” Ashley stood and reached for Doug.

“Thank you.”

Thirty minutes later the on-call OB had come
and gone. I was only dilated one centimeter, which meant I could be
released. Brody had returned and insisted on taking me home after I
went to see Jaxon.

Earlier, Brody had called and made
reservations for a room at the Belmond for Jaxon’s parents. The
hotel was just around the corner, on Meeting Street. He also
arranged a car service to be on standby for them at all times.

When I questioned him, he simply hung his
head and said it’s what he would want someone to do for his parents
if they were still alive.

My heart broke a little seeing what thinking
of his parents did to him, knowing he wished they were around to
see their grandchild.

*****

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity,
Barb came in with a wheelchair. “You ready, hooker?”

Taking a deep breath, I answered, “Yeah.” She
dropped the side rail on the bed, grabbed my hand, and tried to
help me down. “Stop it, slutasaurus, I can get my fat ass out the
bed all by myself.”

“You know one of these days, I’m gonna let
your fat ass fall,” Barb clamped a death grip on my hand, “but it
won’t be today.”

We quipped back and forth down the hall like
it was any normal night in these halls. She slowed outside of the
ICU. “You sure you’re ready?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“No, but I don’t have a choice, do I?” Barb
waved her badge over the security keypad, granting us access. The
large white doors swung open, revealing the long corridor of the
intensive care unit. We turned left into a short pass-between at
the nurses’ station that divided the unit.

That was when I saw him for the first
time.

His room was directly ahead and the glass
door was open.

“Stop.”

“You can do this. I know you can.”

Tears fell down my face, but I couldn’t look
away. I had seen thousands of patients intubated and on a
respirator. I had also seen tons of people right after
cardiothoracic surgery. None of those or a thousand more could have
ever prepared me for what seeing Jaxon would do to me.

I bit the inside of my cheek, nodded a few
times, took a deep breath and wiped the tears away. Words would not
come.

Barb stopped the wheelchair outside of the
room and helped me out. “Do you want me to go in with you?”

“No…thank you. I need to do this by myself.”
She hugged me tight before walking away, and left me alone in the
room with the man who stole my soul. The man who, in my eyes, had
been invincible.

My tough biker had a machine breathing for
him. Tubes, IVs, machines, bandages, it was all too much. My
strength crumbled as I threaded my fingers into his. “Jax, baby,
I’m here. You have to fight right now. You are the strongest and
most stubborn man I have ever met. You have to come back to
me.”

Tears threatened but I swallowed them back as
his nurse came in the room. “Hi, I’m Jeremy, I will be taking care
of Jaxon until tomorrow morning. Barb told me you are his
fiancée.”

“Yeah.” I glanced toward the foot of the bed
where Jeremy stood.

“Okay, I will give you a minute with him,
then I’m gonna give him his meds. Do you have any questions?”

“Not right now. I’m still trying to process
all of this, but thank you, Jeremy.”

He left the room, slowly pulling the glass
sliding door closed. I turned my attention back to Jaxon. I looked
from IV bag to IV bag then back to his handsome face.

I got as close as I could to the edge of the
bed and placed his hand on my belly. “Do you feel that? She’s
telling you to fight. Fight for us, Jaxon. We are here waiting on
you. You can’t leave me like this. I wasn’t living until you showed
up and forced your way into my life.” A sob escaped. “I need you,
Jax. I can’t do this without you. My life doesn’t make sense
without you in it.”

“Lei, we need to go so Jax can get his meds.”
I heard Barb’s voice before I realized she was standing behind me.
“Let’s get you home so you can get some rest, honey. You can come
back in the morning. His parents will be here. Brody just texted
you. He’s downstairs in the ER waiting.”

“Give me just a minute,” I said. Leaning
forward, I carefully kissed the side of Jaxon’s face and whispered,
“I will be back in just a little while, baby. I’m going to get some
rest but I won’t be long.

“I love you, Jaxon. Don’t you dare give up on
us. I need you.”

Chapter Three

Brody

As I watched Jaxon’s mother beam at Leila’s
protruding stomach, I couldn’t help but feel resentment. I wanted
so much for that to be my mother with us, feeling our daughter move
around. Part of me wanted to walk out of that hospital and say
screw Jaxon and his parents, but I couldn’t. I’d never walk away
from Leila again, especially not now. We had come so far and had
gotten past so much in the last few weeks. Walking away now would
hurt her, and that was something I swore to myself I wouldn’t do
again.

I had been so close to getting back
everything I wanted, Leila and my daughter. We’d had a moment the
other day, and while I shouldn’t have kissed her, I don’t regret
it. I do regret slipping into bed with her after consuming too much
scotch. That was a dickhead move on my part.

But now, everything had changed. One hundred
percent of her attention was and would be focused on Jaxon. Yeah, I
felt like an asshat for being jealous of a man who clung to life
with two bullet holes in his body, but for Christ’s sake, was I
wrong to want my family?

The ride home was eerily quiet. She was in a
distant place far from our current situation. The somber look on
her face tore me in two. I wanted to comfort her and tell her
everything would be okay, but I’d be lying. Everything wouldn’t be
okay.

Realizing we were home, she lifted her chin
and took off her seatbelt as I made my way around the car to help
her out. She took my hand, letting me pull her up out of the low
seat. Ruger greeted us at the garage door, alerting Jane of our
arrival. She rose from the living room couch and padded across the
cool hardwood.

“How is he, honey?” Jane asked Leila.

“Right now he’s still critical. He probably
will be for the next day or so. His parents are with him and they
promised to call if anything changed,” she said, sounding
exhausted.

“Let’s get you to bed,” I said softly. “It’s
almost three in the morning.”

“Yeah, you two get some sleep. I will take
Ruger with me so he doesn’t wake you up too early, ’kay?” Jane
offered.

Looking to Lei before I agreed, she nodded.
“That would be wonderful, thank you.”

“Of course, my boy. Good night, sweetheart.
Try to get some sleep.” She wrapped her thin arms around Leila and
pulled her in close, whispering something I could not hear. Tears
filled Leila’s dark brown eyes.

“Let’s go to bed. I’ll grab you a bottle of
water and meet you up there.”

“Thanks, Brody.”

Jane patted my arm as she passed with Ruger
trailing her. They slipped out the back door into the night. I went
into the kitchen and grabbed Leila’s bottle of water. Exhausted, I
headed toward the bedroom.

Entering the room, I found her curled up
around the massive body pillow that I had purchased for her just to
spite Jaxon. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew she was
crying. I could hear the sniffles she tried to hide.