Vengeance (8 page)

“I can’t believe we are both pregnant.”
Sam smiles.

“I know.” I force a smile back.

Jax is wheeled back into his room then, and I leap to my feet. The doctor walks over and smiles weakly.

“We got the bullet out and stopped the
bleeding,
there is damage to his heart. We really don’t know how well he will recover until he wakes.”

“Can I see him?”

“Yes, give us a moment.”

When the nurses disappear, we all go in. Mack shuts the door and looks around.

“We don’t have long. They do
obs
every half an hour.”

He pulls out a bag and glances down at the small, round treasure he holds in his hands. He is wearing gloves, careful not to touch it. He slides it into Jax’s hand and his body jerks. I tense and stare with fascination.

“Holy crap.”
Layla breathes, speaking for the first time in hours.

Jax’s body continues to jerk violently, and I watch as color returns to his skin. After a moment, his eyes flutter open, and I yelp. I touch his cheek and force back my tears.

“W-w-what?”
He croaks.

“We don’t have long to explain Jax,” Mack says quickly. “Ben came on the ship, shot you and Jade called me in to heal you with the treasure. You are in the hospital, and we only have minutes to get you out.”

Suddenly, the door opens and a nurse begins stepping through it.

“Close your eyes.” I hiss at Jax, who quickly shuts his eyes.

The
nurses comes
over and takes his blood pressure, staring oddly at the machine as she does.

“His pressure has improved so quickly, I have never seen anything like it.”

“He is a fighter.” I whisper, still trying to look distraught.

“Hmmm.”

She walks out, and I know she is going to get a doctor.

“We have to go!”

We help Jax stand, and he is still dazed. He looks over at me and shakes his head.

“Are you ok?”

“I am ok. We will talk soon. Can you walk?”

“Yeah, I feel really good.”

Mack snorts. “The joys of the
treasure,
put this on.”

Mack pulls a shirt out of his bag and Jax rips out the drip in his arm. He quickly pulls the shirt on and we group around him as we walk out of the room. We managed to get to the lower floor before alarms go wild.

“Run!”

We run out the door and into the car park, sliding into Mack’s car. He zooms off, and when we are far from the hospital, we all breathe a sigh of relief.

“Jesus.” PJ mutters.

“Wow, that was kind of scary,” I murmur, taking Jax’s hand. “Are you ok?”

He moves and nods.
“Yeah, a bit stiff but otherwise ok.”

“Show me your shoulder.”

I unravel his bandage and gasp, nothing but a small red mark is left on his skin.

“Wow.”

“Yeah it works quickly, but Jax you are immortal now. I can change it if you want but…”

“No.”

I look at Jax. “You want to stay immortal?”

“After that, yeah I do, I would like if you would consider touching it too.”

I moan. “Jax, I have been gifted once. Can I think about it?”

He nods. “Fine, but expect me to be all over you until this shit with Ben is sorted.”

“Are we going back to the island?”

“No, we are going to the house. We need to draw him out. You and Lilly will be under CONSTANT supervision, but hiding is not going to get rid of him.”

“I would rather Lilly stay on the island Jax.”

“She won’t like that.”

“Just for a little while; a few months at the most, I will go backwards and forwards.”

“And you don’t want to go and just let me deal with this?”

“No, I don’t want months without you again Jax.”

He nods but doesn’t argue. He knows it is pointless.

“Ok, I will get some calls in and work it out.”

“So, I guess it is home we go.”

“We got a long drive guys, get some rest.” Mack says.

I thank
God
the man has a huge car, seven seats and heaps of room. Layla and PJ are curled up on the back seat, and Jax and I are in the middle. Sam is up front with Mack.

“Thanks daddy, for everything.”

“Yeah, cheers Mack.”

“No problem. There is one thing though Jax; this curse undoes all other curses you have. So you will no longer be able to change.”

I beam, thank
God
.

“That’s ok. Being undead is far better than being a monster.”

“Just know it is something you two will have to discuss, because as of this moment Jax, you will no longer grow old, and
Jade
will.”

I huff. “I will think about it later.”

“While we are on the subject, Lilly can be cursed also and will continue to age until she is eighteen.”

“Oh…ok.” I mutter.

“We will talk later.” Jax whispers, squeezing my hand.

“You scared me back there.” I choke.

He pulls me into his arm. “I got you, we are all good darlin.”

CHAPTER
5

I wake in pain, actually, the pain wakes me; a sharp stabbing pain in my stomach. I have felt this pain before, when I was in labor with Lilly. My head is on Jax’s shoulder, and his breathing is steady and deep. The car is silent. I peer over at Mack, who is still driving. I sit up and groan; Jax doesn’t stir. Mack looks into the review mirror and his eyes narrow.

“You ok baby girl?”

“I…think I just lay still for too long.”

He nods.

“Are you ok daddy, do you want me to drive?”

He laughs quietly. “No
angel,
thanks.”

“Does Jack know what happened?”

“He does, I called him.”

“And Lilly is ok?”

“She is fine, they haven’t had any issues.”

I nod, relief floods me. I lean back against the seat and try hard to close my eyes again, but the pain is worsening. I sit back up and lean forward; this isn’t right.

“Angel…” Mack says again.

“I…am in pain daddy, can you pull over?”

He does, swiftly. We are on a dark road; it is quiet and dead. I open the door and get out, then fall to my knees. The pain shoots through my stomach, and I wail. Mack is by my side in seconds, and the car door opens beside him. Jax gets out and leans down, still blinking the sleep from his eyes.

“Hey, what is going on? You sick?”

“She is in pain.” Mack says, stroking my hair.

“Where baby?” Jax asks.

“My…stomach.”

I watch the two exchange glances.
“How bad?”

“It’s bad,” I wail. “I feel like I am in labor.”

Jax pales. “But…you are only half way.”

“I think we need to get to a hospital.”

“No, they will be looking for us.” I whisper, gripping my stomach.

“We need to risk that.” Mack says, standing.

“How far off are we Mack?”

“About sixty miles.”

Jax lifts me and puts me back into the
car,
PJ, Layla and Sam are all awake now.

“What is happening?” Layla asks.

“She is in pain, stomach. I think it is the baby.”

“What?” Layla asks, leaning over and stroking my hair.

“It’s like…when I had Lilly.”

“Are we going to a hospital?” Sam asks, leaning over the seat and touching my head. “Love, what is the pain like?”

“Like labor.”

“Is your stomach tightening?”

“Yes.”

“No waters breaking?”

“No.”

“We definitely need to get her some help.”

“I’m on it.” Mack says when we are back in the car; he speeds off quickly.

Jax holds me, and I wail for the next hour. When we arrive at the hospital, I am panting and gripping his shirt with fury. This is not right. I know it. I can feel it. A nurse comes out and puts me in a wheelchair, before rushing me in. Ten minutes later, a doctor has me on an examination table. Jax is standing beside me; pale faced.

“She is eight centimeters dilated, the girl is in labor.”

“It’s too early!” I scream.

“We need to try and stop this before those waters break.”

The doctor walks out quickly, and a nurse comes back in with lots of injections, she pumps them into me, and I am connected to drips. Jax stands beside me, still not speaking. The nurse and doctor talk frantically between each other, and then both turn to me. They walk over, with grim expressions.

“Love, if we can’t stop this labor, and this baby comes out…the chances
are
he or she will die.”

I wail again and Jax curses beside me.

“What are the chances?” He growls.

“At this age?
Next to none.
If by some small and I mean SMALL miracle that baby lived, the damage growing up would be huge.”

“So what are our options?”

“We try and stop the labor; if we can’t…she will have to deliver.”

“Jesus.”

“I will leave you for a moment.”

They leave and Jax grips my hand; I am sobbing into the pillow.

“Hey we will be ok.”

“I don’t want my baby to die.”

“Shhh, I am here, won’t leave you.”

An hour passes, then two, then three and the labor doesn’t stop. As I am wheeled into delivery, I feel numb. I can’t believe this is happening to me. The doctor said stress; sometimes it can cause premature labor.
Stess
…stress killed my child? I push and scream for eight hours, and then our baby is delivered into the world.
A boy, a tiny boy.

We are allowed to hold him, kiss him, take photos, but all I want to do is make it go away. Jax is as numb as me, silent tears thunder down his cheeks as he holds his son. He had stopped breathing the moment he came out. I sit numbly as the nurse takes hand and foot prints, and then our baby is taken away. Just like that, taken from our arms.

Jax crawls into bed with me, and there we cry until there is nothing left. I am taken back to my room, with an empty stomach. I woke this morning with a baby, and now…he is gone. Nothing in the world could describe the crippling, fierce pain in my heart right now. The nurse gives me something to knock me out, and within minutes, I am out.
Away from the pain and torment.

“Oh Jax.”
I hear a voice say.

I don’t open my eyes. I can’t. I don’t want to.

“He…he…was so small
momma
.”

“Oh son.”

It’s Amber.

“I…she…what will we do?”

“Shhh, it will all be ok son. “

I drift back out and into the land of darkness again. The second time I come
around,
I flutter my eyes open and see Jax still sitting beside my bed. Mack and Sam are here also. When Jax sees my eyes, he leaps up. He is pale, red eyed and looks horrible. I must look the same.

“Hey, hey…”

He takes my face, and I shove his hand away, he steps back shocked.

“Don’t touch me.”

He looks confused, as though he has no idea why I would be mad.

“Get out, leave…this is
all your
fault. Stress, stress killed your son. Stress killed him, and that is
all your
fault. You left me without contact and lied…this is
all your
fault.”

I scream the words at him; he takes two steps back, horrified. He turns and walks out of the room and I begin wailing again. Mack is in my bed in seconds, holding me in his arms and rocking me. I sob into his shirt until once more I have nothing left.

“Shhh, we are here.”

“I am going to leave you for a while.” Sam says gently, stroking my hair.

When she is gone, Mack pulls back and looks down at me.

“Angel, this isn’t Jax’s fault.”

I begin sobbing again. “I know,
God
, I know. It just hurts so
much Daddy
.”

“I know it does, I know.”

“My baby is gone, my baby.”

“I know.”

My mother comes rushing in then, followed by Lilly. When did they get here? Her eyes are red and puffy; she bounds in and stops when she sees Mack.

“Oh, Mack.”

“Hi Grace.”

“Is she…ok?”