A Perfect Ten

  So about a week after Lake Tahoe, I walked her to my room after picking her up at our spot, sat her on the bed facing her, and I said, “There’s something I have to tell you.”

  She blinked and pulled back in surprise. “O....okay,” she said slowly. “This sounds serious.”

  I nodded. There were actually about three serious things we needed to discuss, so I took both her hands and looked into her eyes. But when I opened my mouth, something rattled the wall of the hallway just outside my room.

  “What the hell?” Caroline and I exchanged worried glances and simultaneously rushed to the door. “Blondie?” I called.

  Ham was gone to work, so it had to be—

  “Oh, shit.” She lay on the floor, half slumped against the wall and unconscious. Heart lurching in my chest, I leapt at her. “Blondie!”

  “Oh my God. Zoey?” Caroline was right beside me, falling to her knees with me, as I reached out with shaking hands, afraid of what they might find. When a pulse fluttered against my fingertips as I touched her throat and her breath fell on my arm, I sat back on my haunches with a relieved pant.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Crouching on Blondie’s other side, Caroline gently brushed Blondie’s hair out of her face.

  “The fuck if I know. I think she just passed out.”

  “But why? Do you think it’s something from her kidney transplant?”

  I glanced at her, and we shared similar expressions of worry. “Let’s get her to a hospital.” I leaned forward to scoop my arms under the limp figure on the floor. “Call—”

  “Already on it.” I looked up just as Caroline finished dialing and was pressing her cell phone to her ear.

  “God, you’re a damn fine woman.”

  She winked at me but then began to chew on her lip as she waited. “Come on, Quinn. Pick up. Pick up.”

  “No way is he going to be able to hear his own phone in that place. It’s a miracle when we hear the landline ring.”

  “Then I’ll call Noel and have him personally drive over and get Quinn.”

  “Good idea.” I grunted when I straightened with all of Blondie’s dead weight in my arms.

  “Damn fine woman, remember,” Caroline said, redialing the phone. She hurried ahead of me to open the front door. I thanked her with a quick kiss on the cheek before passing through.

  “Noel?” she started, then frowned. “Hello? Noel? Damn it.” She shook the phone and scowled at it. “Crappy connection. I wonder where the hell he is.”

  “Did you tell him you were hanging out with Blondie tonight?”

  “Yes. Thank goodness.” As I paused to rest a shoulder against the wall and try to redistribute Blondie’s weight, Caroline glanced back and stopped. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Just...okay, let’s go.” I finally had a firmer grip.

  Caroline once again surprised me with her forethought when she led us to Blondie’s car and unlocked it with a set of keys she’d snagged off the hook by the wall before we’d left the apartment.

  Blondie woke up on the ride to the hospital where we had her stretched out in the backseat with her head nestled in Caroline’s lap.

  “What’s going on?” She sounded disoriented and sleepy. “Where are we?”

  “You passed out, sweetie.” Caroline pressed her hand to Blondie’s forehead after she helped her sit up. “We’re taking you to get checked out.”

  “I did?” It was Blondie’s turn to press her own hand to her forehead. “That’s so strange. I’ve never passed out before in my life. I remember feeling woozy, so I headed to the kitchen to get a drink when the hall just kind of tipped sideways and everything faded to black.”

  “Do you think it has anything to do with your kidney transplant?”

  Blondie stared at Caroline for a moment before slowly shaking her head. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t think so. After the initial recovery, I haven’t had any side effects at all. And honestly, I feel fine now. We don’t have to go to the hospital.”

  “Tough shit,” I called back to her. “We’re already here. And we’re going to find out what the hell just happened to you.”

  “Ten?” she said, blinking at me behind the wheel of her car as if surprised to see me there. Then she glanced at the empty passenger seat next to me. “You look funny up there all by yourself.”

  “Yeah, don’t mind me, driving my two Miss Daisy’s to the store.”

  Blondie looked over at Caroline, who beamed back. “He really is getting so much better with his movie quoting, isn’t he?”

  I chuckled and found us a place to park outside the ER. But after I got out and opened the back door for my two ladies, Blondie resisted. “I don’t...really. What if we found out something is wrong?”

  “Then it’s better to find out about it now rather than later.” Caroline gave her a nudge from behind and when Blondie tumbled toward me, I grasped her hand and helped her the rest of the way from the car.

  Her fingers clamped down around mine, and panic lit her face. “I want Quinn.”

  Caroline’s phone appeared in her hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll get him for you.”

  “No, wait. You know, this is nothing. I’m sure I’m fine. Don’t call him. I don’t want to bother him at work because of some false alarm.”

  “But what if—” I started, only to shut up when Caroline sent me a warning glare.

  Blondie lifted worried eyes to me, so I cleared my throat and nodded. “Okay, we won’t bother him. Yet.”

  So, we sat in the waiting room for damn near an hour and a half with a sighing Blondie continuously telling us this was ridiculous because she felt fine.

  I was never so happy to hear someone call her name. “Thank fucking God.”

  The three of us stood and when they led us back to the room where she sat on a cot, Caroline took one side and grabbed one of Blondie’s hands, while I did the same on the other side. I gave her fingers a supportive squeeze as the nurse started to ask her the routine questions and checked her vitals.

  As the questions slowly got a little more personal, Blondie’s face quickly got a lot redder.

  “How have your menstrual cycles been?”

  And fuck. This time, I turned beet red with her. I coughed into my hand and caught Caroline snickering at me. I scowled at her while Blondie lowered her face and admitted, “They’ve been pretty light the past few months. I mean, a lot lighter than usual. I...I’m not even sure I had one last month.”

  The nurse nodded as if she suspected as much. “Is it possible you’re pregnant?”

  All three of our jaws dropped pretty much simultaneously. Finally, Blondie shook her head. “No...I...I’m taking birth control. That’s not possible.”

  The look the nurse sent her told us it was entirely possible. “Have you been sick lately? Vomited any?”

  “No,” Blondie started, only to pause. “I mean, way back in March I guess I did. I had a stomach bug, but it only lasted a day.”

  “It only takes one missed pill to get pregnant, and if you vomited a pill...” She shrugged, telling us that was that.

  “And you got nauseous on the way to Lake Tahoe,” Caroline chimed in, implying the beginning of morning sickness.

  Blondie glanced at Caroline and then me, her expression beyond panicked.

  I lifted my hands. “Well, let’s find out if she’s pregnant.”

  The nurse pulled up a plastic cup and instructed Blondie to go pee in it. While she was gone, Caroline came to me. I pulled her into a tight hug, kissing her hair. “Well, at least it might not be something life threatening,” I said, relieved out of my mind.

  But when Caroline looked up, her gaze was still concerned. “Are you sure? I mean, is it okay for her to get pregnant this soon after her operation?”

  “Oh, shit.” I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth. “I forgot about that. I don’t know.”

  Blondie returned then, so we shut up about our concerns and flanked her once more.

  Moments later, her doctor enter
ed, smiling. “Congratulations,” he said, lifting his smile to encompass both me and Blondie. “You two are having a baby.”

  Blondie squeaked out her shock. Caroline sprang toward the door that led to the hall, already tugging her phone from her pocket. “I’m getting Quinn,” she called as she fled the room.

  And I looked at Blondie before turning back to the doctor. “Well, damn, that’s impressive, since I’ve never had sex with her.”

  “I...I’m sorry.” The doctor flushed and stuttered a moment before asking, “So, you two aren’t...?”

  Both Blondie and I shook our heads. Then I looked at her. “She’s...my sister,” I finally said and gave a warm squeeze to her hand.

  “Oh! Well...” The doctor’s smile eased. He consulted his chart. “It looks like—”

  “Wait.” Blondie lifted her hand, stopping him mid-word. “I...I...no. I can’t get pregnant right now. I donated a kidney five months ago, and they said...they said I needed to wait at least three to six months before I could get pregnant.”

  The doctor winced. “Yeah...that definitely makes a difference.” He checked the chart. “And you said your periods have been light recently, plus you missed a pill in March, so you could be as far as two months along. Add that to the fact that you’ve been taking birth control the entire duration, and that puts you in a definite risk category.”

  “Oh God.” Blondie covered her mouth with both hands. She looked so scared that I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She leaned against me, clutching my arm. “So what...what’re we supposed to do then?”

  “Well...” The doctor blew out a breath before glancing over a rack full of pamphlets hanging from the wall. Then he pulled one free. “If you’re asking about termination, there’s some information about that here, places to call for locations and...and...ma’am?”

  Blondie recoiled from the pamphlet he was trying to give her and burst into tears. “Are you saying...oh God...I have to get an...an abortion?”

  “What? No.” The doctor shook his head. “Of course, no one would force you. It’s just...you might possibly have a very dangerous pregnancy, and I thought you were asking...I assumed you wanted...honestly, I was just trying to give you all the information there is so you’re fully aware of your options.”

  I lifted my hand to shut him up. Then I gently reached out and pushed the pamphlet out of Blondie’s eyesight. “Clearly, that it not an option she’s willing to pursue.” I even said in a calm, rational voice.

  But the idiot just lifted the pamphlet again and thrust it back at her. “But—”

  “Are you deaf, asshole?” I roared. “Get that fucking thing out of her face. She’s not killing her baby.”

  As soon as the shout cleared my lungs, Caroline appeared in the doorway. My eyes met hers and I knew, I just knew...I’d fucked up. Big time.

  A moment later, her pale face was gone again, completely disappearing from the doorway as she fled.

  My hands wouldn’t stop trembling as I led Blondie back into our apartment. She’d stopped crying, but she was still shaken to the core. Caroline must’ve gotten hold of someone who’d driven to the club and alerted Quinn to trouble, because he’d called my cell phone as I was taking his woman home from the hospital...without Caroline.

  I told him to meet us here so Blondie could explain everything, and then I hung up on him because I just couldn’t talk.

  Blondie had been understanding. She’d looked up at me as soon as Caroline had darted out of the hospital room, and she’d said, “You should go after her.”

  I’d merely tightened my arm around her shoulders. “You really want me to leave you here alone right now...like this?”

  With a shudder, she glanced at the doctor and then whispered, “No,” from blanched lips.

  “Then I’ll find Caroline later,” I told her.

  But shit, it was later, and I was antsy as hell. I couldn’t shake the memory of the devastated look on her face when I’d yelled that shit about baby killing.

  I was such a fucking idiot.

  “I...I’m going to go to my room,” Blondie told me, her voice small and scared.

  I nodded, but at the last second, I grabbed her and gave her one final hug, planting a kiss on the top of her head. “It’s going to be okay, kiddo. I know how determined Hamilton can get. And he’s not going to let anything happen to you or your baby, all right?”

  She looked up at me from green, tearstained eyes. “Neither am I,” she promised. “But thank you. Thank you for the reassurance, and thank you for staying with me.”

  I smiled and let her go. Seconds after she disappeared into her room, the door flew open and a breathless Ham exploded into the apartment.

  “Where’s Zoey? What happened? Is she okay?”

  “She’s in your room. She’ll tell you everything. I gotta go.”

  “Wait.” He caught my arm as I reached for the door. “Where’re you going?”

  “I have to find Caroline.” I started to pass him, only to pause and bump a fist lightly against his shoulder. “And by the way, congratulations.”

  He shook his head, utterly confused. “Huh?”

  I grinned at him as I let myself out of the apartment, but as soon as I shut the door, the worry set right back in. Fucking hell, how was I ever going to get Caroline to forgive me? I’d seen the desolation on her face; I’d hurt her badly.

  I made it to the Gamble house in five minutes, when it probably should’ve taken ten. I didn’t bother to knock but ran around to the back and eased open the rear door. When I slipped into the kitchen, I was immediately accosted.

  “You big...jerk.” Colton scowled up at me a split second before winding back his arm and punching me right in the nuts.

  I sucked in a breath as the pain exploded through my nads, making my stomach roil and try to upchuck its contents all over the floor. I went down, my knees buckling, as I choked out a short whimper.

  “What the hell did you do to Caroline?” Brandt demanded as he pulled back his own arm. When he jacked me in the eye, I barely even felt it; my junk was still hogging all the pain.

  “What the hell?” I gasped, sitting on the floor and resting my back against their kitchen counter while I cradled both my aching eye and swollen nuts.

  “You said if anyone ever upset Caroline, we should hurt him back where it hurts him the most.”

  “Well, congratulations.” I still wanted to cry from the agony, but I managed to keep the tears in. “You succeeded. Shit...because that really fucking hurt.”

  Colton finally approached me, looking worried. “Are you okay?”

  “No,” I growled. “I came here to make sure Caroline was doing fine, and you little fuckers beat the shit out of me. How do you think I am?”

  Now Brandt began to look uneasy too. “You mean you’re not the one who made her cry?”

  No way could I own up to that, so I said, “Just help me sneak back to her room so I can make this all better again.”

  The two brothers glanced at each other before they turned back to me. Then they held out their hands simultaneously, palms up.

  “What?” I said before it struck me. “Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me. You don’t really expect me to pay you after you kicked me in the nuts and gave me another fucking black eye, do you?”

  “Yes,” they said together.

  Muttering, I hiked up my hip, wincing when it caused me to jostle the family jewels. “This is fucking highway robbery is what this is. I’m a wounded man, and you’re still blackmailing me. Where’s the humanity?” I pulled out two bills. “I only have twenty bucks.”

  “That’ll do.” Each boy took a ten-dollar bill and smiled smugly at me. As they started out of the kitchen, I hissed. “Hey! Are you going to help me sneak past your brother or not?”

  “Oh, Noel’s not home,” Brandt called back to me. “He and Aspen ran to the grocery store.”

  “Motherfucker,” I muttered, slapping my foot against the floor, because damn, those tw
o definitely knew how to damage a guy and then kick him while he was down.

  With another curse, I grabbed the counter to pull myself up. I couldn’t believe I’d just gotten played by those two little punks. They kind of made me proud…in the most irritating way possible.

  As soon as I gained my footing, I gasped for breath because more blood rushed to my balls with a tender urgency. “Holy shit.” I breathed through my teeth to help abate the throbbing, but every step through the house—with me mostly clinging to the walls—was a torturous son of a bitch.

  I didn’t knock when I reached Caroline’s room. I just grabbed the handle and turned, stumbling inside.

  Caroline had slunk deep into the corner of the wall on her bed with her knees up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Tears poured down her cheeks. Both her eyes and nose were red, telling me she’d been going at it for a while.

  She gasped when she looked up and saw me. “Wha...how did you get in here?”

  “Through the door.” Forgetting my own injuries, I went to her, climbing onto her bed.

  I was such an ass. Here was my strong, feisty, scheming little spitfire, and I’d broken her. Why the fuck had I reacted so adamantly at the doctor’s office when I’d known she was in the building, when I knew this was the topic she was most sensitive about?

  “Damn it.” I crawled to her, growling when she shied away from me. “Damn it,” I said again, fisting my hands and setting them against my mouth. My heart broke. It just...completely fucking shattered. “Baby, don’t,” I begged. “Please.” On my knees in front of her, I reached for her hair but was suddenly afraid to touch her. I didn’t want to do anything to hurt her any more than I already had. “I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry.”

  She sniffed and lifted her face. “What’re you...what’re you sorry about? You...you didn’t do anything—”

  “But I said—”

  She shook her head vigorously, shutting me up. “You didn’t say anything I haven’t told myself a million times. I killed my baby. I—”

  “Don’t. Shh.” I caught her face and finally hauled her into my arms. When she went to me willingly and clung hard, I gulped in relief, so damn glad she wasn’t mad at me.