“Gwen, it’s Ian. Ian’s dead,” she cried.
She might have continued speaking, but I couldn’t hear through the roar in my ears.
“No,” I whispered.
This couldn’t be happening, this wasn’t real. There is no way Ian could be dead. That was impossible. The sobs at the end of the phone told me different.
“No!” I screamed, jerking the phone from my ear and hurling it at the wall in front of me. I didn’t react as it smashed against the brick. Pain, like nothing I’d ever felt before slashed through every fiber of my being.
I thought I knew about pain, having been as close to death as I had. But I knew nothing. Nothing.
Jimmy breaking my ribs with his steel cap boots? A feather touch.
My skull being broken when it hit concrete floor?
A gentle kiss. My cheek opening when a ring tore through the skin?
A cool breeze.
They were nothing compared to the agony I was going through at this moment. I heard people calling my name around me, but I couldn’t see through the pain, I couldn’t breathe through the pain. I collapsed just as strong arms caught me. Nothing registered.
“No, no, no, no,” I chanted. This isn’t happening, this isn’t real, someone made some sort of mistake.
I clung to the delusion, the desperate hope that this wasn’t real. But the pain was real. The agony of my soul being ripped apart, of my heart shattering into a million different pieces, that was real. Suddenly real pain, physical, in my stomach caused me to double over.
“Gwen!” Someone screamed my name in desperation.
I felt wetness between my legs. My baby was all I thought before I blacked out.
Cade
Cade heaved back the covers, yelling Gwen’s name as she ran out the door. He put on some jeans, glaring at the whore walking towards him. Any other bitch with half a brain would catch the look on his face and run a mile. Not this cunt.
“Let her go, baby, she needs to understand—”
He cut the bitch short with his hand on her neck and pushed her roughly against the wall. He relished the sound of her choking.
“Shut your fucking mouth, bitch. I didn’t go fucking near you last night. Didn’t touch your disease ridden body. I went to sleep alone. Now, whatever the fuck you thought when you skulked in here is something you will regret for the rest of your life.” He slammed her against the wall then roughly dropped her, following Gwen.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Bull seized him by the shoulders, slamming him against the wall, a lot rougher than he had Ginger.
“What the fuck, brother? You have a woman like Gwen, a woman pregnant with your child and you fuck around on her with that skank? You are one sick fucker,” he snarled, his voice vibrating with fury.
Cade shoved him back just as roughly. “I didn’t fuck around on her! Let me the fuck go so I can tell her that!” he bellowed, ready to kill his brother if he stopped him getting to Gwen.
Bull looked at him a beat then stepped aside.
Cade ran through the carnage of the night before, ignoring the groans as he trampled on the people passed out on the floor.
“Gwen!” he roared again, seeing her stumble out the door and into the parking lot, phone to her ear.
He got to the door, not slowing his pace, but relieved when he realized he would reach her as she stopped dead. He tried to bury the fury at what that slut Ginger had done. It was hard, the flames of anger were burning at his throat, but they were quelled at the thought of Gwen pregnant with his child.
Gwen growing his baby inside her, creating their family. He couldn’t help but smile on the inside, despite the fact he had a fuck ton of explaining to do. Gwen would believe him. She had to. She knew he would never do that to her.
His thoughts froze as a tortured “No!” filled the air. There was so much pain in that one word he broke into a sprint, watching Gwen throw her phone then double over in pain. He made it to her just in time to catch her in his arms.
“Gwen baby, talk to me, what is it?” He stroked her head struggling to keep the panic out of his voice. His concern for her, for the baby almost crippled him.
“Gwen!” he asked again, frantic, running his hands over her, searching for an injury, a cause for the horrible sounds coming out of her. Tears streamed down her face, a grimace of such raw pain covered it, he flinched.
“No, no, no, no,” she whispered over and over, her voice anguished.
“Baby tell me—” Cade was almost over the edge when her cry of pain interrupted him, she clutched her stomach and fear ran ice cold through his veins. At that moment, Lucky and Steg came sprinting over, faces grim.
“What is it, Cade, what’s wrong with Gwen?” Lucky bit out eyes frantic.
“Call a fucking ambulance. Now!” Cade screamed and he watched in horror as blood trickled down her legs.
Gwen
I woke to that beeping again. That all too familiar hospital beeping.
Great.
I cracked one of my eyes open, expecting to see Ian curled up in the corner. Then the horror of it all washed over me. The phone call, Mum’s tortured voice, Ian. He was dead.
My brother was dead.
I vaguely noticed the beeping beside me getting louder as the pain ripped through me once more. How could this be real? This couldn’t be real. Ian wasn’t dead. No, someone else was, they just thought it was Ian. It’s just a big mistake. Yes, it had to be a mistake.
I struggled to contain my breathing as Sarah, my baby doctor, rushed in looking worried. A fresh wave of horror settled over me. The pain. The feeling of my baby leaving me, dying.
No, no, no.
Tears streamed down my face as Sarah approached the bed.
“Gwen, sweetheart, I know it’s hard but I need you to take a deep breath and calm down. You hear that beeping? That’s your heart and it’s hammering away pretty hard. We need to try and slow it down a bit,” she explained calmly.
“My baby?” I asked her, my voice dead.
She took my hand and I prepared for the blow. She squeezed it and smiled weakly. “The baby is okay, Gwen. Everything is fine.”
I blinked, barely allowing myself to believe it. “But the pain, and I was bleeding—”
“You had a nasty shock and your baby wasn’t prepared for what your body was going through. Especially given the fact your blood pressure was already a little high. I know it’s scary, but thirty percent of women experience cramps and bleeding in the first trimester and considering the news you received, it’s not surprising.”
She gave my hand another squeeze.
“Now, I have your fiancé outside, he was not happy to be left there. In fact, it took three of his friends to convince him to stay in the waiting room. You think it would be okay to let him in? You know, before he ruins anymore furniture?” She grinned, writing something in my chart.
“Fiancé?” I croaked, confused.
Then thoughts of Cade came back. Cade and Ginger. My life was falling apart lying in this hospital bed. Cade didn’t deserve to see me. To see our baby. But Sarah didn’t deserve to have her office trashed by the asshole either. I opened my mouth to agree when a commotion outside stopped me.
“Fuck this, I’ve been waiting out here for almost a fucking hour. I don’t give a shit what procedure is, I’m seeing my fucking woman!” a familiar angry voice shouted as the doors crashed open.