Bad Boy's Bridesmaid (50 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two – Jack

The highway
blurred under the car. I didn’t check to see how suicidally fast I drove.

 I passed six
cars on the right, two on the left, and weaved between any asshole who couldn’t
figure out how their fucking accelerator worked. Nothing would stop me from
getting to the hospital.

Nothing.

It was my fault.
I got her upset. I fought with her. I left. And then something happened to the
baby.

Fuck, I knew
something wasn’t right with her. The signs were there. She was tired. Weak. She
grabbed the couch for support.

What the hell
did I do?

My heart crushed
itself against my ribs. It wasn’t fair. I’d never forgive myself if anything
happened to Leah, but if the
baby
was in danger?

Fuck
.

I wasn’t a good
man. I wasn’t a role model. But goddamn it, I thought I could be a good father.

A good husband.

If I had the
chance. If Leah gave me a chance and the damn world cut me a fucking break, I’d
prove to everyone that Jack Carson wasn’t some bastard who only wanted a quick
fuck, fast cars, and no responsibilities.
Nothing
sounded better to me
than a night spent rocking my baby to sleep in my arms as I watched the late
night sport highlights.

I laid on the
horn and passed another idiot going under the speed limit in the left lane. Ten
minutes lost. It felt like ten days. I was too late to get ahold of Leah. She
didn’t answer her phone, and I hoped that meant she was already with a doctor
and not…

Not that she
couldn’t answer her phone for whatever reason.

This was
bullshit. I forced the car faster and raced the highway itself, slowing only so
I didn’t break my neck skidding off the ramp and into the city. The hospital
was less than a mile away, but the instant I peeled onto Hayes Street, red and
blue lights flashed in my mirror.

The police
cruiser whistled his siren and pulled behind my bumper.

This wasn’t
happening.

“Fuck…not now!”
I slammed a hand against the wheel. Hurt myself. That was all we needed. Broken
fingers with speeding tickets, leaving Leah alone in the hospital, terrified
for herself and the baby and…

I couldn’t stop
for the cop.

But if I ran?

At least Leah
would know exactly where I was when the hospital TVs showed coverage of the
high speed chase with the headline
Jack-ass Carson – Still At Large After
Fucking Everything Up.

I couldn’t put
Leah through that, not while she was already in pain. How long could a stop
possibly take? A minute? Two?

“Hang on, Kiss.”
I pulled over. “I’ll be there as quick as I can.”

The lights
flashed, repeatedly, but the officer didn’t haul his lazy ass out of the car.
The minute I surrendered to the law instead of Leah passed. So did the second.
The third.

I tore through
the glove box and found the insurance and registration. My driver’s license
bent in my hand. He still didn’t get out of the
fucking
car. I’d have
handed him my entire checkbook and offered a bribe for every asshole in the
precinct if it meant getting back on the road.

The instant the
officer moved, I knew I was fucked.

I watched in the
mirror as his thick boot struck against the ground. The cinders and road debris
crumbled under his feet. He already knew who he caught. Pretty sure he ran my
plates and got a hard-on just thinking of how he’d torture me tonight.

He was the same
cop who broke up the bar fight. He came after me first and made sure I was
cuffed even though I was the only one busted up. I had the blackened
eye—apparently that also meant I got the elbow to the rib and treated like some
punk-ass criminal.

Officer Burke
hated
that the charges were dropped. Now he’d get his revenge, except he wasn’t just
screwing with me. Every second he toted his ego-driven, testosterone-fueled,
authority complex over me was another second Leah waited for me at the
hospital.

She’d never
forgive me.

What was
happening to her now?

Officer Burke
leaned over the Porsche and grinned, his fingertips stroking a paint that was
too rich for his salary. He’d have to pull over a
lot
of speeders to get
that promotion. He nodded at me, his thick tongue rubbing over his teeth like
he prepared to feast on a steak.

Another treat
too rich for a man like him.

“Jack Carson.”
He snorted. “Gonna have to ask you to get out of the car.”

“Look—”

“Now.”

“I’m on the
way—”

“I don’t give a
flying fuck where you’re going or why. You’re speeding on my roads, causing a
public disturbance
again
. Get your ass out of the car.”

“I’m going to
the hospital.”

“You’re going to
jail if you don’t get out of the goddamned car!”

Son of a—

I kicked the
door open. Officer Burke hauled me behind the car and kicked at my legs. My bad
knee buckled, and it gave him just the advantage he needed to slam me on the truck
and frisk me like I was a damned convict.

“I have to get
to the
hospital
!” I spat the word, deliberating too long on a profanity
and simply leaving it out. My words didn’t sound any less disrespectful. “My
girlfriend is—”

“You think you
can do whatever the fuck you want in this city, don’t you?”

I grunted and
tried to push off the car. The metal baton in his hand extended. He whacked it
against my back and used the steel to keep me pinned.

Not the night to
do this to me.

I could have
ripped his goddamned head off if I had wanted. I didn’t need my knee, not when
I had the upper body strength to wrestle away from three linebackers and still
pitch a football forty yards down field in a laser strike.

I didn’t fight
him. I fought every instinct to battle for my pride.

I couldn’t let
my rage win. If he had
any
reason to take me in, he’d do it. It’d keep
me from Leah.

She and the baby
needed me.

For now, I was
absolutely helpless.

“Got news for
you, Carson.” Officer Burke sneered. “I’m an Ashenville fan.”

“Explains a
lot.”

“I should have
kept your ass in jail after that bar fight. Disorderly conduct. Physically
Assault. Something to teach you a goddamned lesson. You ain’t nothing special
because you can toss a ball around. And you ain’t above the law.”

“I wasn’t a part
of the fight,” I said. “And if you’d try to pin anything on me, I’ll have my
lawyer humping that police station for every cent I can get.”

“You little—”

“I’m not above
the law, but I can pay for a hell of a good defense. Write me the fucking ticket
and let me go. I’m gotta get to the hospital!”

That just pissed
him off. I figured it would. He kicked me to the pavement, and the broken curb
scraped my palms as I fell. My blood pressure spiked.

Son of a
bitch.

Rage blinded me,
but I fought myself more than the goddamned police officer. I couldn’t make a
scene. He wanted me to fight. He needed the excuse to take his aggression out
on me and use me as a fucking scapegoat.

Like everyone
else.

And maybe I
deserved it once, but not
now
. Not when someone else depended on me.
Leah was right. My reputation preceded me, and not in a good way. It colored
everyone’s perception of me. My image caused the trouble now, and I was fucked
because of it.

I stared into
the darkness, tasting car exhaust and the copper tang of blood from where I bit
my lip in the toss to the ground.

Was she hurt
too?

“You’re gonna
sit right here,” Officer Burke said. “I clocked you driving fast enough to
impound that pretty little car and haul your ass in for reckless driving.”

“Then let me
call my lawyer so I can sue your ass for keeping me from the hospital.”

Officer Burke
grinned at me, reached for his radio. He called to dispatch. “Officer
Twenty-Three Thirty requesting backup at the intersection of Hayes and Fourth.”

Fuck. Me.

I clenched my
fists, but I reached for my phone instead of raging.  The asshole’s LED
flashlight blinded me. Officer Burke grunted.

“Maybe we ought
to do a sobriety test.”

Christ, I had
one
sip
of the drink. Even if I had
two
shots, I was six-four and
over two hundred pounds. Nothing was affecting me unless I cracked the bottle
over my head as well.

Officer Burke
forced me to my feet and laughed.

“Standing on one
leg with that busted knee should be fun, huh, Carson? Can you do it?”

And not cause
damage? And not blow my career?

“No.”

“Great, I’ll
take you in for a blood-test.”

Christ. This
wasn’t happening. “No. I’ll do it. Just hurry the fuck up.”

“Easy,
Play-Maker
.
We do things slow on my field, you get me?”

Humiliation.
Rage. My fear for the baby sliced through my veins.

What the hell
was I supposed to do? If I didn’t get the hell out of this mess now, God only
knew what Leah would endure alone.

What would
happen if she lost the baby and I wasn’t there?

Officer Burke
recited the instructions for the bullshit sobriety test as another cruiser
pulled up. The second officer hurried to the scene, and I breathed a little
easier as I recognized him.

“Jack Carson!”
Officer Ryan said. “Imagine finding you in trouble again.”

If the night had
one benefit, it was Officer Ryan. He was the responding officer to my car crash
a few months ago, and he just delivered the police report to me last week. He
greeted both of us, and I took my chance before Burke could give him the details.

“My pregnant
girlfriend went to the hospital. Something’s wrong with my baby, and I’m trying
to get to her.”

Officer Burke
scowled. “He was going seventy off the ramp. I’m thinking of hauling him in.”

Officer Ryan was
a younger guy, and the ring on his finger was loose, like it was too new and he
forgot to get it resized. If anyone was going to understand a new family, I
hoped it’d be him.

“You can listen
to the voicemail I got.” I didn’t reach for my pocket but I pointed to where my
cell was. “Come on. I just want to get to her.”

“What’s her
name?”

“Leah Ruth
Williams.”

“I’ll see if the
story checks out.” He pulled his radio and called dispatch, detailing the
information. The crackles answered after a minute or so with the records. He
turned to me. “She was taken by ambulance to McGrin Regional.”

Ambulance.

Because I wasn’t
there to help her.

She had to wait
for strangers to rescue her. How much time had been wasted that might have
helped her?

Officer Burke
swore. He pointed at me. “Don’t move.”

“We should let
him go,” Officer Ryan said. “He takes this to the media, says we delayed him
while his girl had a problem with her pregnancy? Holy shit, talk about bad
press.”

Finally, someone
else’s reputation worked in my favor. Burke swore and ripped a page from his
ticket book. He signed his name and tossed it at my feet. Officer Ryan nodded.

“I’ll escort you
to the hospital so you don’t kill yourself or anyone else.”

My knee screamed
as I rushed to the car, but I refused to let it stop me. I turned, hating to
ask the question.

“Did they say if
she was okay?”

Officer Ryan
shook his head. “We can go find out. Follow me.”

The adrenaline
slowly poisoned me. I needed to run. Fight. Hold Leah. Instead I dove into my
car and, for the first time,
followed
the police cruiser with the
flashing lights.

It didn’t give
me hope.

Just the
opposite.

My heart broke
the closer we got to the hospital. She had been alone for so long.

I was probably
too late.

Chapter Twenty-Three - Leah

At least it was
over.

My fingers trembled
as I redressed, tugging the tank over my head and wishing I had worn something
other than the pink sweatpants proudly proclaiming “Sweet” over my butt.

My heart still
raced. I didn’t think it’d ever slow. More tears fell over my cheeks. The
nurses handed me a handful of tissues as they retrieved the discharge forms. It
didn’t help.

I needed Jack.

I sat on the bed
as the shouting rang from in the hall. It wasn’t polite, but I didn’t expect
him to be. My knight-in-shining armor crashed through a damn hospital as
aggressively and unsubtly as he could. Thank God no cameras were here to see
this.

I was so glad to
hear his voice, even if it echoed a nasty curse at the head nurse who refused
to give him my room number. I pulled my cell and made a note to send a basket
of various Rivets’ paraphernalia to the patient staff forced to deal with Jack
Carson’s latest temper tantrum.

Jack sprinted
into the room, limping heavily on his leg. He didn’t slow until I was safe in
his arms.

I fell into his
embrace, and he kissed me furiously, a silent apology that shook me to my core.
I clung to him, finally warm and calm. He pulled away only so he could look at
me, his words heavy, solemn, and brimming with the same fear I felt a few
minutes ago.

“I’m so sorry,”
he whispered. “I got your message…and I tried…but I was…”

“It’s okay.”

“Are you?” His
voice broke. He lowered his hand as if he were afraid to touch my tummy. “Is
the…”

“Everything’s
okay.”

Jack’s eyes
widened, a surge of blue so bright it startled me. He stared as if I would lie
to the only man I’ve ever loved.

He exhaled.
“It’s okay?”

“Yeah.”

“But you were—”

“Overreacting?”
I bit my lip. “It’s…unusual for me, I’ll grant you that.”

“What happened?”

“Women can
experience something called round ligament pain. It’s a muscle ache when their
womb is growing for the baby.” I swallowed. “For example, if they’re expanding
for the very large son of a very large quarterback.”

Now Jack looked
faint. I guided him to the bed, taking his hand and pressing it against my
tummy. He opened his mouth to speak, couldn’t, and collapsed backward instead.
I laughed, letting him have a moment while the news overwhelmed him.

“A
son
?”
he asked.

“They had a good
shot on the sonogram tonight, but it’s still very early. We’ll have to check again
in a couple weeks.”

“Do you
think…it’s a boy?”

“I think he’s a
boy.”

“And he’s okay?
You’re not…hurting?”

“I’m just a
little embarrassed.”

Jack pulled
himself upright with a core strength I envied now. He shook his head, pulling
me close for another kiss.

“Never. Don’t
you dare say you were embarrassed. Fuck, I’ve donated enough money to this
place. There should be a whole
wing
I can use. I could keep you here
with all the doctors and nurses and staff until we’re absolutely sure—”

“I’m sure your
donations are better allocated to the kids in pediatrics,” I said. “I had some
discomfort when I stood and walked, but it’s perfectly normal, if not
thoroughly frightening for a first time mom. The doctors said to keep an eye on
it.”

“Two of them,”
he promised. “You can sleep. I won’t. Not until that baby is born and safe
and—”

“Jack.” I
smiled. “I’m okay. You’ll be the first to know if there’s any problem.”

“Damn right I’ll
be.” Jack sat me on the bed so he could pace instead. His steps hit the floor
too hard, and I didn’t even want to imagine the damage he did to himself by
running through the halls.

I sighed. “Stop.
I’m not sending you downstairs to get an MRI if you tear up your knee.”

“I’ll cut the
damn thing off.”

“You might find
it a little hard to play football on one leg.” I shrugged. “You’re a big guy,
Jack, but even your tripod can’t get you out of a blitz.”

“I’m serious,
Kiss.”

“And
everything’s okay. I’m just waiting for the papers that tell me that I
overreacted.”

“You didn’t
overreact.” His voice hollowed. “You didn’t have anyone there to help you.”

“I can handle
myself.”

“You shouldn’t
have to.”

“Even if you
were there, nothing would have changed.”

He didn’t
believe me. “That’s not true—”

“I wouldn’t have
risked anything. We’d have gone to the hospital, only you would have driven
me.”

“Yeah.” He beat
at his chest with a fist. “
I
would have taken you. I’d have been there.
I’d have kept you safe and calm and
helped
you. But I wasn’t there.”

No, he wasn’t,
and I didn’t care. I was okay. He was okay.

Our
son
was okay.

That was the
single greatest news anyone had ever given me.

“I’m not holding
it against you,” I said.

Jack steadied,
though he seemed to grow, every inch of his body raging and tensed and prepared
for a battle he could never win against his own regret.

“I’ll hold it
against me.”

“Jack—”

“Leah, I’m in
love with you.”

I dropped onto
the bed. Jack knelt before me, and I was really going to need my hand back to
cover the gasp that puffed past my lips. He held my palm, both of them, and
kissed. His gaze locked on mine. I believed every word he spoke. 

“I
love
you,” he said. “I was an idiot. I didn’t know what to do because of the injury,
and I took it out on you. I was wrong.”

“You love me?”

“I went to the
party because I thought it would make me happy. Like it always used to do.”

My mouth dried.
“You
love
me.”

“They had drinks.
And they had girls. And three of them were just in my lap.”

Not the detail
to include in this apology. I lowered my voice. “But you love me?”

“I didn’t want
them. I kept thinking about you. I left you so angry and hurt. Fuck, I was
stupid. I didn’t see what I had.” He squeezed my hands. “You don’t think I’m
responsible. You don’t think you can depend on me. You’re probably right, but
I’m gonna work on it. I’m going to be there for you, for the baby, for us.”

“You love me.”

Jack nodded.
“You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. You’re the only woman who could
make
me love someone other than myself. I’m so sorry for ever making you think
otherwise.”

The exhaustion
and hormones got to me before his words, but now I was a weeping mess. I
sniffled, holding onto his shoulder while I stared at my unbelievable man.

“You know me…” I
whispered. “I have a plan for everything. I know what to do, what to say, how
to react. I can prevent any sort of disaster.”

“I’m a disaster
now?” Jack grinned.

“The worst
kind.” I touched his cheek. “I have no idea what to do when I’m around you.
There’s no plan that can guard my heart. I’d have to leave you to protect
myself from everything I feel—and, Jack, if I had to spend another moment
separated from you, I might’ve lost myself.”

“But I’m here,”
he said.

“You’re here.
And you have no idea how much you mean to me. You asked me what I thought of
you? It’s simple. You’re my
world
. You are everything I could ever,
possibly want in this lifetime.”

His smile warmed
me, chased away the fears and stress. “You love me.”

“I love you.
How’s that for a headline?”

“
Respectable,
Amazing Woman Falls For Idiot Trouble-Maker
.”

“We can spin it
to be something more positive. That’s why you pay me the big bucks.”

Jack mellowed.
He stared at me, his breathing still shuddered with adrenaline. “Marry me?”

Call in the
paddles; I was going into shock. “
Marry
you?”

“Yeah.”

“Jack, we’ve
only just said—”

“I don’t care.
Marry me.”

Wild, foolish,
impetuous man.

“It’s a little
sudden. Spontaneous.” My lip quivered. “Romantic.”

It was nothing
the old me would’ve done, but now it sounded right. For once, I didn’t think
about my answer.

“Yes,” I
whispered.

“
Yes
?”

“Yes.”

Jack leapt to
his feet. “Now?”

Oh, dear God. My
eyes widened. At least he caught himself before he got too wound up.

“Okay.” He
laughed. “We can plan it.”

“Maybe just a
little.”

“But we gotta do
something now. Something…for us.”

Getting out of
the hospital would be a start. I rested my hand over my tummy, glancing up at
him. “How about we name the baby?”

Jack went still.
“Name him?”

“I kinda…have
one in mind.”

“Just one? You
probably had some spreadsheet set up with a dozen names all alphabetized and
color coordinated—”

“Sam.”

It took a moment
to sink in. Jack’s expression twisted, aching. He spoke the name silently at
first. His eyes rose to mine.

“For my…”

I nodded. “In
honor of your little brother.”

He sucked in a
breath. “I like Sam.”

“I do too.”

“I…” He
approached again, kissing me so gently it was as if he thought I’d break.
“Thank you.”

I smiled, and
Jack helped me to my feet. His hand never left mine.

“What can I do?”
he asked.

Easy. “I want to
go home and
sleep
. Let me give these forms back and we can go.”

The nurses at
the station exchanged smirks as I wandered to the desk. The nice brunette in
pink scrubs who treated me first took my paperwork with a wink.

“We’ve all been
there, honey,” she said. “Especially with our first baby.”

“Thank you.”

“Was that your
man who brought in the police officer?”

Police
? What the
hell...of course it had to be
Jack
.

I turned,
following her nod. I was not at all surprised to see a uniformed police officer
shaking Jack’s hand. Jack thanked him for the escort.

The
escort?

I crossed my
arms. “Jack Carson, can you go
one
night without someone calling the
cops on you?”

He shrugged,
slapping the officer’s shoulder. “What can I say, Kiss? Maybe I just like a
good pair of handcuffs.”

God. The entire
nurses’ station giggled. At least they thought it was charming.

So did I.

I smiled. “Maybe
the officer would be kind enough to lend me his—”

The camera flash
disoriented me. Two men rushed through the halls of the hospital, chased by a
portly security guard who shouted for them to stop. The video camera pointed
directly at me, the handheld camera flashed at Jack.

A microphone
aimed at my face.

I stumbled,
trapped against the counter to the nurses’ station.

“Leah!” The
little worm holding the microphone guided his cameraman closer. I recognized
his squeaking voice. He was the same slime ball who called me a
slut
on
my first date with Jack. “Leah, couple questions?”

Jack launched,
but not before the sleaze edged him out and took another picture.

“Did you lose
the baby, Leah?” The reporter shouted it so everyone could hear. “Where was
Jack partying when the baby died?”

I clutched at my
tummy, suddenly terrified the doctors made a horrible mistake or they refused
to tell me some dark and awful secret. My eyes welled with tears and impossibility.
I didn’t have time to respond.

Jack charged,
his fist connecting with the asshole’s face. The sleaze was fortunate the punch
landed while he was in the hospital. He was out cold before he struck the
ground.

The camera man
filmed it all.

Jack rushing to
my side.

The nurses
shouting.

The security
guard calling for help.

And, worst of
all, he filmed the police officer breaking up the chaos. Doctors rushed to the
unconscious man, but I didn’t worry so much about the bastard who dared to
trivialize my baby’s health. I focused on Jack.

So did the
police officer.

The officer
apologized as he pulled Jack away.