RYDER (Slater Brothers 4)(8)

“Yes!” I squealed and jumped onto Ash who was laughing as he caught me mid-air.

He swung me around then set me on the ground and gave me a tight squeeze. We waited ten minutes for Samantha’s incision to be stitched closed and for the baby to be checked over. We both turned to a smiling Doctor Harris who rid himself of his surgical scrubs when he exited the OR. He gave me a hug and bumped fists with Ash, which caused me to smile wide. Doctor Harris was fifty-five, and watching him bump fists with someone never failed to amuse me.

“This is on you, and your team,” he told us both. “You did great. The baby is breathin’ on his own, and the mother’s vitals are steady, too. We’ll admit him into ICU for observation, but he looks good. Well done.”

A fresh surge of relief hit me.

“Thank God,” I breathed.

Ash and I left the OR and headed back up to the delivery ward with an extra spring to our step. After we informed our colleagues that both Samantha and her baby were okay, we settled back behind the nurses station.

“It’s hard to believe it’s not even nine am yet,” Ash said with a shake of his head.

I nodded in agreement. “It’s goin’ to be a long day.”

“Thank God for tea,” Ash mused making me laugh.

Thank God for him. I wholeheartedly knew I wouldn’t be able to do this job without him. He was my partner in crime and we fed off each other in our field of work. I was lucky to have him in my life. Having good friends made even the darkest of times seem bright.




“Was it scary?” Dominic asked, his eyes wide.

I had just finished telling him about the code red on the ward that morning while Bronagh was upstairs in the bathroom.

I nodded and said, “It’s always scary. I hate code reds.”

Dominic nodded in understanding then glanced towards the kitchen door when we heard Bronagh descend the stairs. I reached over and touched his arm. “Don’t mention it to ‘er. I never tell ‘er about them because it upsets ‘er, but now that she is pregnant I don’t want ‘er to be scared that somethin’ like that might happen to her.”

Dominic nodded once, then turned his attention to Bronagh when she entered the room. She placed her hands on her hips and sighed, deeply. “I’m so fat.” She frowned. “It took me a whole sixty seconds to get meself off the toilet.”

I snickered while Dominic tilted his head to the side.

“Fat?” he questioned. “And here I thought you were pregnant. Man, you had me fooled.”

Bronagh gave him the finger. “Bite me, Fuckface. You did this to me.”

“You bet your phat ass I did,” he grinned, unfazed by the insult.

To be fair, Fuckface had made the transition from an insult to a term of endearment years ago, and I figured that was why Dominic never minded it.

I smiled while Bronagh moved to the end of the kitchen counter. She—stupidly—tried to jump up and sit on the counter like she had always done in the past, but now that she was pregnant it was dangerous, and hilarious, because she could never get up onto the counter without help.

“Dominic,” I mused. “Give her a hand.”

He got up, moved to Bronagh and carefully lifted her up on the counter. My sister watched him and smiled which caused him to smile too.

“Why’re you looking at me like that?” he asked, amused.

“You didn’t struggle liftin’ me, that means I’m not that fat yet.”

Dominic snorted. “I can bench press my own weight without breaking a sweat, and even halfway through pregnancy you’re still fifty pounds or so lighter than me.”

Bronagh clapped her hands together. “I hope it stays that way.”

“It won’t,” I evilly grinned. “You’ll put on another twenty pounds by the time you have ‘er with the way you eat. Dominic has been orderin’ pizza for you at least five times a week he said.”

Bronagh scowled at me while Dominic laughed.

“You know,” he began as I stirred the spoon in my cup of tea. “It bugs me that you haven’t come around to calling me Nico like the other girls.”

I grinned. “I knew you as Dominic long before you were the Nico who was hasslin’ Bee in school.”

His lip twitched. “Hassling? Please, she loved every second of my focus on her.”

“Yeah,” Bronagh said with a playful roll of her eyes. “Interaction with your annoyin’ self was what I lived for back then.”

Dominic gestured to his body. “You can’t blame yourself. You have incredible taste, sweetheart.”

Bronagh lazily swung for him, and he easily ducked out of the way, laughing softly. He got in her face before she could jump down from the kitchen counter and start a mess fight with him.

“And now,” he murmured, resting his hands on her swollen abdomen. “We’re having a baby together.”

Bronagh leaned her head forward, and nuzzled her nose against his. I smiled at the pair of them, adoring the love they had for one another. They were still opposites in so many ways, but one thing no one could deny was how hard they loved each other. It was dangerous, the dependency they had on one another, but I understood it.

I understood what it was like to love someone so deeply that you invested your soul in theirs. I had that with Ryder, and it’s why I was so broken now that it was fading away. I was slowly dying without his unconditional love, and I only had myself to blame.