Just Kidding (SWAT Generation 2.0 #1)(62)

Theo climbed the steps.

“That’s certified personnel entrance only. You’re gonna have to go around,” I said.

He frowned. “Can’t you buzz me in?”

I was already shaking my head. “Sorry, but no.”

Theo’s eyes narrowed, but just as he opened his mouth to say something, my phone buzzed.

I pulled out my phone and read the text.

Derek: There’s a woman standing at your door knocking on it and she’s not leaving. Want me to tell her to leave?

Instead of replying to Theo, I walked to my cruiser and typed instead.

Dax: No. I’ll be there in ten.

Derek: 10-4

Shoving the phone back into my pocket, I gave one last curious look at Theo who was staring me down as I left, then got into my cruiser.

Pulling up beside the curb so I didn’t block Rachelle when she left, I put it into park and got out.

“I stayed. Knocked again,” Rachelle said. “There haven’t been any more bangs but the one but… I swear to God, I saw those blinds move once. Someone is in there.”

That someone could be Rowen… but her car was gone.

But maybe she had snuck through our combined back yards and had waited until Rachelle wasn’t paying attention before driving away.

Likely she didn’t want to deal with the confrontation.

Likely she ignored the door and hoped that Rachelle would go away.

Luckily, Rachelle hadn’t gone away.

“Thanks,” I said as I pulled my keys out of my pocket. “I’ll go check it out.”

“You don’t have a dog or anything,” she said. “Do you?”

I shook my head. “No dog.”

“Oh, ‘cause I heard whimpering, too. I thought I was upsetting them when I continued to knock at first, so I stopped,” she continued, obviously not leaving. “I really do need to talk to you.”

I rolled my eyes and gestured for her to wait, then went inside.

Closing the door behind me, I flipped on the lights in the hallway.

Almost on auto-pilot, after finding Rowen’s car gone, I walked to the fridge thinking that she’d left me a note.

I hadn’t heard from her since I’d left, and since she was just here and Rachelle was here, I would’ve assumed that she would’ve left me a note.

Only, there was no note.

Which was highly unlike her.

She would’ve normally said something.

I pulled out my phone and sent a text while I looked at the fridge in confusion.

Half of the letters were on the floor, and there was only one real word that was on the fridge.

‘die.’

What the fuck?

I switched from texting to calling, and that’s when I heard the sound of my ringtone she’d programmed in for me ringing from the back bedroom.

It was as I was turning to follow the sound that I saw the collapsed form behind the couch.

I’d walked right past it on my way inside.

“Rowen!” I cried out.





Chapter 18


Underestimate me. That’ll be fun.

-Dax to Derek

Dax

“She has a severe concussion and a skull fracture,” the doctor explained as she pointed at the top of Rowen’s head where something—likely a hammer—had made contact with Rowen’s head. “We’re watching the swelling on her brain, but we don’t want to lie to you. It’s likely that this is going to require surgery. Swelling has already started around her brain. If it continues, we’re going to have to do surgery to relieve it.”

“Will she be okay? If you do the surgery to relieve it?” Derek asked.

Derek had been the first one to me as I’d come practically sprinting out of the house with Rowen in my arms.

“Dr. Aviv?” A man came into the room, holding a piece of paper.

Dr. Aviv, Rowen’s doctor, took the paper and scanned it, his eyes stopping on something before he looked up at me.

“Okay,” he said, handing the paper back. “List it in her chart. This is going to change the meds I have her on.”

The nurse nodded and received an entirely different med list, causing Derek and I to look at each other.

When the nurse was gone, Dr. Aviv looked at me, then to Derek.

“Ms. Roberts, it seems, is pregnant. Those were her labs.”

Ten words that had the power to change my life.

I opened my mouth, then closed it, unsure what to say.

Pregnant.

“Okay,” Derek took over the questioning. “What…”

That’s when Rowen’s mom walked through the door, hurrying as fast as her legs would take her.

“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice breathless. “What happened?”

Derek looked at me, then looked at the doctor.

“Dr. Aviv, this is my mother, Rowen’s mother. She’s…”

Before Derek could finish, Luke filled the door.

He didn’t come running in, but he definitely wasn’t walking, either.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Luke ordered.

His eyes weren’t on the doctor, though. They were on me.

I opened my mouth to tell him what was happening—what had happened—but just then the sweetest sound on this Earth filled my ears.