Loving Nicole (Savage Brothers MC #3)(52)

“Where’s my…where’s Nicole?” I ask the nurse on duty.

“She called in, apparently she has a fever. She’s not allowed to visit with Dom like that. His immune system is too weak.”

I nod, absently thinking of Nicole sick. Then I hear what she called baby C. She must have him confused with another kid. I guess it happens, but I don’t especially like it. I walk over to sit down by him. There’s a lot of changes just in a week. He’s still so tiny, but even I can tell his color and other things are better. I wish like hell we could take those damn wires and tubes out. I reach my hand in to place my finger against his tiny palm. He tries to wrap his around it, he can’t, but the slight movement makes me smile.” I look down at the note card in front of his case-like thing. They call it an incubator, but I don’t really care for that term.

Dominic West.

My heart stutters. She named our baby after one of my men. It’s a good name, a really f*cking good name. It’s one I would have picked. Nicole had to know I would. Why did she change it? I want to ask, but right now just knowing she did is enough. I sit and talk with my son the rest of the time, apologizing for being an * and promising to do my best to get his family back together. I missed the little guy. How does someone so small own all of you even before he takes a breath?

I’m too wound up when I leave the hospital. I need to check on Nicole. I know she might not want to see me, but I know Dance and Carrie are spending the weekend at Dance’s mom’s house. I don’t want her to be alone and sick. I run by the store and pick up some Sprite and canned soup, store it in my bags and head out.

I pull into the driveway thinking back to that first day I met Nicole. Her sassy mouth and the way she put those barely there shoes on her feet. As I walk towards the small paved step, in front of the kitchen door, groceries in hand, I recall that first kiss…that first taste of her. The way her ass felt in my hands, the way her mouth attacked mine and her breath against my skin. The woman owned me from that minute on and not one second since then have I ever wanted anyone else. She’s it for me. Fuck, she always will be.

I knock on the door, wondering if she will answer it. She had to have heard my bike. I’m about to give up and leave, when it opens. Nicole is standing there with her hair a mess, her eyes watery, her nose red and her face flushed. She’s wearing a giant gray t-shirt that comes to her knees that says, Country Till I Die on it—which really doesn’t sum her up at all. I smile as I take in the shaggy socks on her feet. Some things never change.

“Dragon? Is everything okay?” She asks, surprised to see me.

I feel like a fool for standing there and I’m unsure of what to say, so I hold up the Sprite and the bag I’m carrying, like a dumb ass.

“I thought you might be hungry.”

She freezes for a minute and looks at me. She’s studying me, I’m not sure for what. I hope she finds it. I need for her to find something in me she wants.

“The thought of food makes me cringe, but I wouldn’t mind some Sprite. My stomach is a mess,” she says backing away from the door.

I feel like I’ve won a victory, just being able to get through the door. I hope like hell I get the chance to win another one.





Chapter 32




Nicole


The last thing I expected to see was Dragon standing at my door. I’m sick as a dog, I can barely breathe, I’m depressed because I couldn’t see the baby tonight and I look like hell. When I opened the door and Dragon was standing there, part of me wished a giant hole would swallow me up. I would have rather looked good, but I feel so bad I can’t drum up the energy to do anything about it.

I’ve missed him. Is it possible to be mad at someone and want to kill them, yet hurt from being away from them? It feels like a piece of me is missing, and I don’t have the strength to turn him away tonight. Instead, I stand back and open the door wider. He comes in with a lopsided grin, but it has none of the cockiness that Dragon usually has. He goes into the kitchen, finds a glass and puts some ice in it, before filling it with soda.

His large hand brushes my forehead as he hands me the glass.

“You’re burning up, Mama,” he whispers and his breath fans my hair. I close my eyes, absorbing his touch. God, I miss him.

“It’s just a cold.”

He kisses the top of my head and my heart literally hurts. It’s an exquisite pain.

“Have you taken anything to bring the fever down?”

“I was getting ready to.”

“I’ll get it. You go lay down on the couch.”

“But…”

“Do it, Mama. Let me take care of you tonight, please? No strings, I just need this.”

Something about the look on his face and the change in his tone, grabs my attention. I nod and go back into the living room. I curl up in one corner with an afghan over me and take another drink, before sitting it down.

In a little while Dragon comes in the living room carrying a tray.

“Dragon, I told you. I’m just not hungry.”

“We’ll try and get a little down you. You don’t want to get sicker. Dom needs you.”

I freeze. Dragon hadn’t really been back to the hospital since I put Dom’s real name up.

“I didn’t realize you knew,” I say and I’m thankful for my fever because I probably would have flushed with guilt otherwise.