Take Me On

“Jesus. I’d say so.”

“She wanted watermelon Oreos last night. I didn’t know they even f**king made watermelon Oreos. But three o’clock in the f**king morning, I’m out looking for them.” Candace’s intense cravings had been a source of amusement for everyone at the studio.

Not for the first time, guilt ate into him for the secret he was keeping from his boss and good friend. But when was the best time to tell your boss/friend you’d knocked up his sister? Certainly not when he was half-dead on his feet because of his own pregnant girlfriend’s midnight cravings.

“And you know, I’m not complaining,” he clarified. “She doesn’t ask me to do this stuff, she just has to say, ‘Some watermelon Oreos would be awesome’, and I’m gone. Really, I can’t wait for what she wants next. It’s pretty damn funny.”

“That’s good.” Ian cranked the tab on his can and drank in lieu of saying more. Had Gabby had any wild cravings? He wouldn’t know. He’d do the same for her, though, if she stayed with him. But that would never f**king happen. Dr. Asshole no doubt had a mansion on a hill, and Ian expected her to shack up with him in his one-bedroom apartment? What a laugh.

As he lowered the can from his lips, he noticed his cell phone sitting on the counter next to the microwave. He must’ve forgotten it there when he’d heated up a pizza pocket before they got so busy.

Stepping around Brian, he retrieved it and checked the waiting text message.

And felt his knees almost give out. “Jesus. Oh, f**king hell.”

“Hey, what is it?” Brian asked.

Ian looked the guy in the face and couldn’t lie to him anymore. Not now. Not about this. “Your sister is at the hospital.”

“Wait. What?”

Ignoring him, Ian checked his watch. “Fuck, that was almost three hours ago. Brian, man, there’s a lot of shit I need to tell you but—I gotta go.”

Brian caught his arm as he bolted toward the door. “Hold up just one goddamn minute. Why is she at the hospital, and why is she telling you before she tells me?”

He needed to come clean, but there wasn’t time to get into it now. She’d told him she was headed to the ER but hadn’t let him know any results. God only knew what she was going through or what was happening. He had to get there now, and he would go through the guy if he had to. Ian yanked away, looking Brian straight in his blue eyes. There was no way of sugarcoating it. “Your sister is pregnant. It’s mine. And she’s having complications. I need to be there.”

It might very well be rage building behind that stare, but he hoped Brian was only trying to come to terms with the words he’d heard fall from Ian’s mouth like stones in a still pond. That once he did, he’d relax and take it in stride.

But then he spoke. “I really, really want to knock you the f**k out right now.” So much for hope.

“Hey, I’ll give you a free shot later, man, whatever you want, but right now I gotta go.” He let his hand shoot out to clutch Brian’s shoulder, trying to insinuate his urgency into the words. “She needs me. She wants me there. Come on, you gotta know how this would feel.”

“All right. You go.” Brian’s voice vibrated with barely repressed fury, and his jaw was tight enough that he could probably crunch glass with his molars. “And you let me know what’s going on. Then you and me? We’re gonna have a long f**king chat.”

Ian didn’t look forward to that. But whatever it took to get him out of here, to get away from the accusation in his friend’s eyes. Whatever could get him to Gabriella as fast as possible.

“Where the f**k you goin’, dude?” Ghost yelled after him as he ran through the front of the parlor toward the door. He didn’t stop to answer. Brian could tell whoever he wanted. Ian didn’t give a shit.

He broke a few traffic laws getting to the hospital, using his bike to his advantage to weave through cars. He wouldn’t do her any good dead, but every time he slowed down, his frustration reached a fever pitch. Cussing a blue streak, he finally made it through and wheeled into the hospital parking lot.

People probably thought he was insane, and he was sure he scared the lady at the front desk to death. She directed him toward the back, no doubt to get him out of her face. Another nurse pointed out the room Gabby was in, and he sprinted toward it, halting in the doorway like he’d hit an invisible wall.

She lay partially upright in the hospital bed, her gorgeous dark hair stark against the white sheets. She saw him, and her face lit up, and nothing else mattered…until the couple standing beside her bed turned and looked at him.

Shit. Obviously her parents. Even if Gabriella hadn’t looked like a younger version of the woman, the way they both stared at him as if they wanted to rip his f**king spine out was a dead giveaway.

“Ian, I presume?” her dad rumbled, moving toward him. He was a big guy, gray-suited and authoritative, and Ian contemplated backing up. But instead of delivering the punch Brian wanted to give him (and the dude did look at him a lot like Brian had), the man stuck his hand out.

“Yes, sir,” Ian said, cautiously shaking it.

“Alex Ross.”

“Pleasure to meet you.”

Mr. Ross didn’t return the sentiment, but that was all right. He was just glad not to get coldcocked. Mr. Ross nodded and held an arm toward his wife, introducing her as Gianna. Gabby watched, amusement lightening the worry in her eyes. “Well,” her dad said at last, “let’s give the kids some privacy.”

“We’ll be in the coffee shop,” Gabby’s mother told her, leaning over to stroke her daughter’s forehead. “See you soon.”

A moment later, the two of them were alone, and Ian suddenly remembered: Holy f**king hell, I hate hospitals. But the itchy anxiety wasn’t creeping under his skin this time—all that mattered was the woman on the bed, who hopefully still carried his child.

He didn’t know what to do or what to say. Now that he was here, he didn’t want to know what had happened.

“You made it,” she said finally, holding her hand toward him.

“Yeah,” he softly replied, awkwardly running his fingers through his hair as he approached her bedside. “Drove over a few cars on my way, nearly gave a couple of pedestrians heart attacks.” She chuckled, and he nearly broke. He seized up the hand she’d offered. “Baby, I am so f**king sorry. I left my phone in the break room, and I was with a client. I got here as soon as I saw what had happened. Are you okay? Is everything…okay?”

“They’re thinking so,” she said, rubbing her free hand over her stomach. Her voice sounded so sweet right then. “They did an ultrasound, and everything looked good.” She smiled. “I could see the little heart beating. Just flickering away.”

He stroked the hair from her forehead. It felt so good against his fingers, he kept doing it. “I wish I could’ve seen it with you.”

“They want to monitor my bleeding before they send me home, and we’re waiting on labs. I might be looking at bed rest if it doesn’t stop, but if it does, I should be good to go. Sometimes this just happens, I guess.”

He sighed, relief a balm to his every sense. She was so beautiful, a dark angel. Drinking in the sight of her, her emerald eyes, her lips that slightly trembled, he wanted to grab her and never let her go. “I might have, um, told your brother.”