Right Side Up ((MMG Novella)) (2 page)

“I can follow you in my truck,” Zippo said.

“Garrett said we need to stick together. We have no clue where Dooley is at the moment.”

“Oh, o-okay,” Zip stammered. “I’ll just go get my things. Be right back.”

As Zippo scurried out the door, the phone rang in Gage’s hand and he tossed it over to me. Cas’ name appeared on the screen. “You better have some news for me,” I answered.

“Zippo just placed an outgoing call from MMG. We are tracing it. Whatever you do, don’t let him out of your sight,” Cas said.

“He said it was to Susannah.”

“The call was definitely not to Texas,” Cas confirmed.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m not saying anything. We’re just covering all bases. See you in a few,” he said and hung up.

“Zippo! Let’s go!” I shouted.

*     *     *

Four hours later

After discovering Zippo
had been working for Dooley all along and beating the shit out of him, he told us he had no clue where Dooley and our women were. Cas traced Zippo’s phone call to South Carolina, but could not pin down an exact location. Finally, when I thought I was going to lose my mind, the phone rang.

“It’s Bobby,” Garrett said before answering it.

Ten minutes later, we were in Garrett’s SUV, heading to who the hell knew where. The entire ride there, my mind raced.
Please, let them be okay. Let them be alive. Don’t take them from me. This is my fault. If I had been with her, none of this would have happened.

After what felt like an eternity, we pulled onto a gravel road leading to a dilapidated two story farm house. Before we could park, shots were fired. Police swarmed the house and the surrounding area. More shots were fired before everything went silent. A minute later, Garrett’s phone rang. Two minutes later, he hung up.

“They’re in the house,” he said. “We’ve been cleared to go in.”

Cas, Gage and I bolted from the car and into the house.

“Elllllisooooon,” I shouted as I hit the doorway. “Where are yooooou?”

“Max? We’re up here! Hurry!” she shouted back. Never, in all my life had anything sounded sweeter than my wife’s voice.

Cas, Gage and I pounded up the stairs and into what appeared to be a bedroom. Two policemen were already in the room. One was leaning over Zeke, who was lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood. The other was across the room. Everywhere I looked was blood. Ellison’s painful moan brought me back to the moment. She was sitting on the floor next to a bloody Piper. One of her hands was pressed to Piper’s shoulder and the other was holding her belly. Both of Piper’s hands were pressed to Reyn’s abdomen.

The policeman squatted down next to Piper and said, “I got it. You can let go now.”

The second Ellison saw me standing in the doorway, she lost it. Carefully, I squatted down beside her. I wanted to gather her in my arms, but if she was hurt, I didn’t want to cause her more pain. Cas squatted beside Piper.

“Help is on the way,” the policeman closest to us stated.

“Ellison, I know you are scared, but I need you to tell us what we’re dealing with,” I calmly said. My woman was falling apart. Her face was a purple, mangled mess of cuts and bruises. I wanted to howl, to hurt someone, but I couldn’t. I had already failed her today. The hell if I would do it again.

She sucked in a breath. “Reyn was shot in the stomach. It’s bad. Piper was shot in the shoulder and leg. She’s bleeding a lot.” She closed her eyes for a brief second. When she opened them back up, I could tell she was having trouble focusing.

“Stay with me, baby,” I coerced.

“Max, I’m in labor,” she pressed her hands to her stomach and started panting.

“Are you sure?” I was hoping maybe she was mistaken.

“My water broke right after I shot Zeke.” Before I could process her words, she grabbed her stomach and let out a low groan of pain. Then she passed out.

Gage, who had been trying to talk to Piper, suddenly lifted her into his arms and headed for the door. Panic, unlike any I’d ever known before, engulfed me.

“Ellison?” I whispered.

“Max, she’s bleeding,” Cas said.

“What?”

“Look down.” I glanced down and my heart stopped. From the waist down, my wife was covered in blood.

“Oh God no,” I said out loud. Suddenly, my head began to swim.

“Medics!” someone shouted from downstairs.

“Up here!” Cas and both policemen shouted back. Several sets of feet pounded up the stairs.

Two medics entered the room and quickly assessed the situation. “Send up two stretchers!” One shouted down. Both men squatted down next to Reyn. While one worked on her, the other asked if he could look at Ellison.

I placed my hand protectively on her and shook my head, no.

“Has your wife been shot?” he asked.

“She said she was in labor, and her water broke. Then she passed out,” I managed to tell him.

“I will do everything in my power to help her. In order to do this, though, I need you to give us some space. Do you think you can do that?”

I didn’t want to let her go
. What if she died? What if this was my last chance to hold her in my arms?

“Sir?”

“Max, let them do their job,” Cas said.

Kissing the top of Ellison’s head, I let the medics place her on the stretcher. I followed them down the stairs and out the front door. Luckily, a hospital was only a few miles away. The EMT in back with us barely had time to hook Ellison to oxygen and detect a fetal heartbeat before we were there. Right as the driver opened the back of the truck, the shit hit the fan.

“Fetal heartrate down!” the guy next to me shouted at one of the nurses on the ground. Before I knew what was happening, I was being pushed out of the way and they were running with the stretcher carrying my wife through the hospital doors. I tried to follow, but they were moving too fast.

Before I got too far, I was stopped and directed to the front desk, where they asked me to sign a bunch of papers and provide medical information on Ellison. All I kept thinking was how I should be back there with her, not out here. While I was filling out the last form, Ellison’s father, Sam, Susannah and Garrett arrived. What seemed like hours later, but was really only minutes, a nurse came through the door.

“Mr. McLellan!” she called out.

“Here!” I said.

“Come, quick! We need to get you into a gown, so you can see your son!” she exclaimed. My heart stuttered in my chest.

“He’s okay?”

“He will be,” she replied.

“And my wife?”

“Your wife has lost a lot of blood, but is holding steady.”

Minutes later, I was scrubbed down, gowned up and in the operating room, where I got to watch my beautiful boy take his first breath.

*     *     *

Six weeks later

The sound of
the garage door opening let me know Ellison was finally home. I could breathe easy again. Tonight was Reyn’s going away party. Ells and Piper wanted to make it special for Reyn, so Mac and I were left to fend for ourselves all day, while they ran errands around town. After spending the morning watching recaps of the World Cup and bonding over bottled milk, I finally took Mac upstairs for a nap. It became a tiny bit easier each time I forced myself to do this. I’d spent the last hour sprawled on the living room sofa with one ear on the monitor and the other listening for the garage door.

Ellison breezed in with a big smile on her face. “How are my two favorite guys?” she whispered.

“One of us is upstairs in dream land and the other is just hanging out watching soccer,” I answered.

“How long has he been down?”

“About an hour.”

She made her way over to the sofa and dropped down into my lap. I tensed and a look of uncertainty flitted across her face before disappearing behind a somewhat too bright smile. She grabbed my hands and pulled them around her middle. Then she dug her tight little ass into my groin. My cock twitched in response. The memory of almost losing Ellison the day Mac was born flashed through my mind and it instantly deflated. Twining her fingers with mine, Ellison leaned back against my chest and sighed.

“Guess what I did today?” she asked. Without waiting for a response, she told me. “I went to see the doctor.” This made me tense all over again. She squeezed my fingers in response. “She said I am clear and we can start having sex again.”

My chest tightened. All of the sudden I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Before I completely lost it, I lifted Ellison to her feet and ran to the bathroom, where I locked the door, turned on the water and hurled everything I’d eaten today into the toilet. I thought I had turned a corner. I thought I was doing better. Times like this let me know how little progress I had made, and how fucked in the head I really was. My wife wanted, no, needed a man who could take care of her. I wasn’t sure I could be that man anymore. The day I watched Ellison and our son almost die, something happened to me, something changed. I love her more than anything in this world. I would do anything for her. I just didn’t know if I could be with her again. Every time I kissed her or touched her, even in a non-romantic way, I was back in that room with her golden eyes staring lifelessly at me, as my son’s life blood seeped from between her legs. I was the reason they both almost died that day. I was the reason she almost lost her best friend. Had I just stayed at Kurt’s with her, instead of selfishly going to work, I could have prevented it from happening.

“Max, are you okay?” she asked from outside the door.

Closing my eyes, I rested my head against the toilet.
How am I supposed to explain this without hurting her? I can’t.

“Sorry, babe, I’ve been feeling off all day. Maybe we should hold off until I feel better,” I answered.

“Is there anything I can do?” The concern in her voice killed me.

I’d never hated myself more than I did right then. “Thanks, I’m good for now. Just give me a minute and I’ll be out.”

“Okay. I really hope you can go tonight,” she quietly said.

I heard her heels clomping across the floor as she walked away.
Shit, I had completely forgotten about tonight.
I started to call her back and explain what was happening inside my head. Then I thought about her nightmares and the pain of her bringing our son into the world before he was due and held my tongue. Ellison had been through hell and back. She deserved all the happiness in the world. Leaning back over the toilet, I vomited again.

Joss

‡

I
had a
hard time believing Reyn was moving to Virginia to live with her parents. Then again, if the horrible shit that happened to her had happened to me, I would move too. The last people I would move in with, however, would be my parents. Also, I wouldn’t move to Virginia. I would move to Hawaii or Jamaica. Reyn seemed to be doing remarkably well for someone who had been shot in the stomach. So was Piper for that matter. Susannah, however, was an absolute mess. All the money in the world couldn’t make me betray the people I care about the way Zippo had. Then there was Ellie.
I am worried about Ellie and Max.
Kurt shifted behind me and then settled back into sleep. My thoughts drifted back to Ellie.
She looked pretty in her Maxi dress last night. She even smiled and made all the right moves, but I know Ellie, and I know when something is wrong. She was too quiet…and what’s up with Max? She barely looked at him all night. Hmmmm… Should I ask Kurt to ask Max about it, or should I go straight to the source? Go to the source. It’s always better that way.
I loved seeing how much baby Mac had grown. I placed both hands on my flat stomach and smiled.
I can’t wait to see what our baby looks like.
Two, much larger hands, slid around my waist and squeezed my wrists.