Jacked (Trent Brothers #1)(170)

“I’m not in labor,” Sarah insisted, that was until another contraction seized her.

“Humor me. Can we get someone from L&D down here?”

We shuffled Sarah closer to one of the empty bays, but she stopped in the middle of the hall. “Oh shit.”

“Oh shit?” Oh shits were not good sounds.

“I think I just peed myself,” Sarah panted.

After seeing every which way people could lose their dignity and having no threshold for being grossed out anymore, we all looked down her legs.

That was quite a bit of pee. “I think your water just broke.”

Sarah squeezed my arm harder. “No. My water can’t break until Sunday.”

We moved the last twelve feet, getting Sarah situated on a bed.

“Brett’s going to be so pissed.” She groaned while we propped her up, hissing when another contraction hit. “And I peed myself.”

I pulled the privacy curtain over the window and grabbed some exam gloves. “Well, apparently Brett Junior doesn’t care if dad’s home or not. He wants his birthday.” I tried to keep her calm and in good spirits while Kimberly got her vitals.

“You have to stay with me, Erin,” she pleaded. “If I have to deal with Brett’s mom by myself, I’ll go crazy.”

We covered her legs with a fresh sheet and I grabbed shears. No sense trying to save amniotic fluid-soaked scrubs. I sliced up one pant leg, trying to ignore her “crazy” comment while in labor. My fears were unfounded. “I will. I promise.”

Sarah calmed her breathing, thank goodness. She was actually making me nervous. “Officer Hottie won’t mind?”

“Nah, he’s busy catching bad guys.” I purposely left out the details, as I wasn’t even supposed to be aware of them, but Adam and I had made a pact that there would be no more secrets.

I knew every name, every suspect, which made me privy to information I had no business knowing, but how else could we support each other without knowing the full extent of the stress?

We needed full disclosure. It was the only way we’d make it as keeping things bottled up was a recipe for disaster.

Adam also made sure I knew exactly where he was too, most of the time. Over the last few weeks, he and several teams from different units had conducted simultaneous raids, taking out locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and two places in New York City, seizing almost a million dollars’ worth of stolen cars. Today he was going after the leader. My nerves were shot.

He told me not to worry and that he’d be fine but it didn’t make me worry any less. I knew loving a police officer came with a certain set of understood rules that I had to abide by. He willingly placed himself in danger every time he left the house.

They were rules I was quickly coming to terms with, because loving Adam was no longer an option—it was a fundamental need and vital to the survival of my heart.

This case had him working different hours of night and day. Our paths crossed here and there, and we made the most of our time together: bonding, connecting, wrapped up in each other’s arms, falling deeper in love.

And now, while he was hunting down the mastermind of the operation, I needed to tend to my dear friend who was well on her way in labor.





I DIDN’T KNOW how Sarah was holding up this long. She’d been in labor for almost ten hours and now her OB was telling her to push. I’d managed to catch a two-hour nap while she continued to dilate, but now that she was in active labor, I was exhausted just standing here, gripping her hand in mine.

Her husband Brett was on his way after managing to get an emergency flight back to Philly, but his indirect stop in Dallas was still two hours out. There was no way he’d make it in time.

This wasn’t my first live childbirth as I’d done a month-long rotation through obstetrics my first year, but it had been something I’d avoided ever since. Seeing my friend experience it though was an eye-opener, especially as she tore through the emotions from her husband so selfishly leaving her here alone to go to that seminar.

At least I was able to use some of my Psych 101, talking her down from everything from castration to murder. I imagined Adam wouldn’t miss his child being born for anything. He was on his way here and it wasn’t even his child.

Sarah breathed through the contractions and when the baby’s head was out, I was close to sharing Sarah’s tears. Our bodies were f*cking marvels, capable of mysterious and astonishing things. I felt like an interloper while all the activity flourished about, but I wasn’t here as a doctor; I was here as her friend—a friend who stuck with her through the entire process.





“DO YOU WANT to hold him?” Sarah asked after all was said and done, cooing at her newborn. Gone was the strained face of a woman birthing a child; in its place, complete serenity and adoration. The nurse had wrapped her son like a little baby burrito, down to the little blue cap.

Part of me wanted to put as much distance between her child and myself as humanly possible, but another part, a much larger part, was surprisingly curious. My fears are irrational, I told myself. After all, I knew my touch didn’t cause death. I didn’t put that antifreeze into that innocent child’s formula. I knew that. Still, just the mere thought of being accused of doing something so atrocious, of even putting myself in the position of being suspected or accused, was paralyzing.