The Strength of the Pack (Suncoast Society #30)(76)

No, it wasn’t okay. Not only had she screwed up their plans by getting pregnant by Nate, she’d even managed to f*ck up all of them being able to celebrate their baby’s birth together.

Leo squeezed her hand and waited for her to look at him. “Do not,” he whispered, “make me call your Master and Tilly and tell them you’re not thinking straight about this.”

Oh, f*ck. Tilly. She was supposed to be catching a flight to England.

“What day is it?”

“It’s Sunday afternoon.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “2:23.”

She closed her eyes. “Tilly was supposed to fly to London tonight.”

“No, she’s delayed that and sent Leigh and Lucas without her.”

One more person’s life disrupted. More, if she thought about Lucas and Leigh and their production company. And here Lucas and Leigh had been so generous, buying the mortgage for the house after Leo’s accident so she—

“Where’s Nate?” she asked. “Can I talk to him?”

“He’s asleep right now,” Leo said. “Cherise texted me a little while ago with an update. Tilly got a room at the Ronald McDonald House up there for them to crash.”

“But the baby—”

“Cherise is with the baby,” he assured her.

More lives disrupted.

Jesse made her look at him. “Listen to me. Remember our talk that morning in the shower?”

She nodded.

“You still don’t get to check out. Shit. Happens. This was not your fault. This just as easily could have happened if it was my baby, and you don’t think I’d feel like shit that you almost died? Think again. You are not allowed to feel guilty or responsible for what happened.”

Jesse stroked her hair again. “This happens to other people, all the time. People who aren’t a fraction as well-supported as we are by our friends. We’re damned lucky, okay? We’re really lucky Tilly was there last night and following you around keeping an eye on you. You could just as easily have bled out in the bathroom before anyone realized you’d been gone too long. The doctors said last night the only reason you and the baby both survived was that Tilly loaded you up and got you to the hospital so fast. It was that serious and that close. If she’d waited for the paramedics, you and the baby might not have made it.”

She tried to breathe through her pain. “Okay.”

He reached over and hit a button, then put it into her hand and closed her fingers around it. “They gave you a pain pump for right now, since you’re awake. Probably will take you off it tomorrow.”

“Where’s Laurel?”

“Scrye and June have her,” Leo said.

“Nobody called my…” She hoped not.

Leo smiled. “Like hell. Am I in jail?” He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Nobody called your parents, or your sisters, and nobody is going to, either.”

She softly wept as the men lowered the bed’s side rails and snuggled with her as best they could.

“We love you,” Leo whispered, “and you’re a great mom. This was beyond your control.”

“And you need to ride out whatever emotions you have,” Jesse said. “Hold onto us, whatever you have to do. The doctor warned that you’ll probably have mood swings both from the effects of the hysterectomy and the C-section, not to mention the stress. Your body just went through a hell of a trauma. It’s okay to feel a little crazy and out of it as long as you’re hanging on to us. We won’t let you fall.”

How did she get so lucky? Not only these two guys, but Nate, too? And Cherise and Tilly and…

She cried even harder. “Thank you,” she managed. “I love you guys.”

“We love you, too,” Leo assured her. “And right now, since Nate’s not here, I’m stepping in temporarily as your Dom and ordering you to lean on us and let us help you through this.”

She nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“Good girl,” the men softly said.





Chapter Twenty-Seven


Nate was having a nightmare. That there was something wrong with Eva and the baby and he couldn’t get to them to help. One of those horrible dreams where he tried to run and couldn’t no matter how hard he tried. And then he was at the airshow, and the sound of the plane landing began, and—

“No!” His eyes popped open and it took him a few ragged, haggard breaths to realize he’d been asleep.

Still caught in a nightmare, unfortunately, just not the one he’d dreamed about.

“For f*ck’s sake,” Tilly groused as she reached over and flipped on a lamp. “Do you always wake up like that?”

“Sorry.” He still lay, fully dressed and on top of the covers, where he’d fallen.

He looked to see that she was under the covers on the other side of the bed, a pillow jammed between them.

“That’s for me, not because of you,” she said. “I have a habit of backing up against whoever’s sleeping behind me.” She yawned and rolled over to face him. “I didn’t want you thinking I was making a move on ya.”

She flashed him an exhausted grin before her head flopped down onto the pillow. “You get your shower first, dude,” she said. “I want a few more minutes.” She pulled the pillow into her arms. “Your phone’s on the charger. You damn Doms suck at following directions. You’re welcome.”