Play for Keeps (The Devil's Share #6)(10)

“NOW, SMITH.”

When she snapped at me, I came out of my trance. I headed straight toward the doors, throwing them open. I made a beeline for the exit and was assaulted with lights and cameras as soon as I made it over the threshold. I ignored them. I grabbed the valet by the jacket. “I need our driver here with our car, right now. There is a medical emergency.” The valet’s eyes were wide. “Move.” I let him go and he got out his walkie-talkie as he headed in the direction of the parking lot.

I turned on my heel, shoving a camera out of my face, not even caring when I heard it crash to the floor. The only thing that mattered was getting Dylan to the hospital. By the time I made it inside there was a small crowd around her. Lexi had her phone in one hand and Dylan’s hand in the other.

“I’m on the phone with Dylan’s doctor, he’s meeting us at the hospital on Thirty-eighth. It’s the closest and he has privileges there.”

The love of my life had tears streaming down her face. “Cher, baby, please tell me what’s wrong. Is there something I can do? Are you in labor?”

She just shook her head. “I don’t know. It might be labor pains, or it might mean that something is wrong with the baby. It could be in distress. I just don’t know.” She hung her head again, trying to breathe through her pain.

My heart was breaking. There was nothing I could do, for either of them.

It was the most helpless, hopeless, I’d ever felt.

And I had watched my mother die.





Chapter Eight





Dylan

“Okay. Thank you.” I watched as Smith stood from the chair he’d been molded to at my bedside and shook my obstetrician’s hand. He sat back down after the doctor left and laced his fingers with mine, bringing them to his lips. “The baby is healthy?”

I smiled. The doctor and I spoke medical, Smith didn’t. “Yes. I went into preterm labor and the baby didn’t seem to be handling it well. Its heart rate dropped lower than we like to see.” I took a deep breath and let it out. “The medicine I am on will keep that from happening again. And as long as I’m not having contractions, the baby seems happy. So I’m on bed rest for the next two weeks, until I’m technically to term. They’ll wean me off the meds and see what happens. Sometimes it’s just a fluke deal and sometimes it’s not.”

He wrinkled his brow. “What do you mean, sometimes it’s not?”

“Well, sometimes a body just doesn’t get it. They could take me off the meds and I could carry her another few weeks. Or they could take me off and I could go right back into labor. There isn’t really any way of knowing. Except to try.”

“You said her.”

Crap. I winced, taking his large hands in mine. “I peeked. I’m sorry, I know we said we wanted to be surprised, but I came across the sonogram machine and I just couldn’t help it.” I bit my lip, waiting for his reaction.

“You came across the sonogram machine that was up in the closet at the studio? On the top shelf? The shelf you would have had to use a ladder to reach?”

Double crap. “Please don’t be mad.”

He chuckled. “Cher, I couldn’t be mad at you even if I tried. But I am pissed that you put yourself in danger lugging that huge machine around. Promise me you won’t do that again.”

I threw my hands up, gesturing to the room. “I can’t even get out of this bed for another couple of weeks, babe. I promise I won’t put myself in any danger.”

He put his hands on my stomach. “Hang in there, little girl, okay? Just hang in there for a little while longer. For your père.” He smiled up at me. “I knew it was a girl. I didn’t need a sonogram to tell me that, cher.”

I ran my fingers through his hair. “We need to start thinking of names. This little girl could be here in a matter of weeks. We have less time to get everything ready than we thought.”

Smith laid his head on my bed, but kept his hands on my belly. I kept playing with his hair and eventually he fell asleep.

Smith wasn’t fragile, I wasn’t afraid that he would break or that he’d start using again. But I worried about his stress level, especially when it came to me, and our baby. I knew he worried about us. I knew there were nights when he’d wake up in a cold sweat. I wished that I could tell him that everything would be all right and that everything would be perfect in the end.

But I couldn’t. Because that wasn’t life.





Chapter Nine





Dash

We were back home, lying in our bed with Halen sleeping between us. After the scare Dylan and Smith had, Lex and I both wanted Halen close. I rubbed her little back and smiled when she let out a small snore in her sleep. “She snores like you.”

Lexi flicked my hand. “I don’t snore.”

“Okay, Kitten, whatever you say.” Lexi did snore, not loudly or anything. I thought it was cute.

“I’m so glad that Dill and the baby are okay. That was scary.”

I nodded, taking her hand in mine and scooting a bit closer to her and Halen. “What is it with you chicks? Always some sort of pregnancy drama. Halen came early and now Smith’s kiddo wants to do the same?”

Lexi grinned like the cat that ate the canary. “Smith’s daughter.”