Snake's Addiction(19)

“Stop it, Snake. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“No? Then what is it? You don’t want a kid anymore? Are you scared she’s no longer going to love you but love someone else?”

He purposefully pushed Ripper until it finally came spilling out.

“He could have killed her, all right? How am I supposed to give a shit about it?” Ripper stopped talking as several people turned to look at him. He’d gotten up to start yelling. Snake stared up at him, pitying the man.

“Your son is a baby. What happened to him isn’t his fault.”

“I nearly lost her, Snake. Do you have any idea how hard that is to handle? I could have lost her, and I don’t know if I’ve got what it takes to live with that.”

“Come on. We’ll get through this together. Judi could have died, but she didn’t, and you need to remember that. She’s alive and well.” Snake stood, leaving behind his rancid coffee. “You’re not eating the food. It’s not even fit for dogs.” Taking the lead, Snake made his way toward the neonatal unit. No one put up a fight as they moved toward the second room. After the baby was taken off oxygen and remained stable, he was moved up to the second room. Lexie was in the room. She wasn’t holding the baby, just sitting watching him.

“What are you doing here?” Ripper asked. “I thought you were with Judi?”

“She didn’t want me to be there. She asked me to come and check on your son.” Lexie smiled up at Snake. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

“Look at him, Ripper.” They were alone. The room only had one other baby, and there wasn’t anyone else in the room.

Snake stood beside his brother, watching the little guy. He was fast asleep. His arms were up as he slept, completely innocent. There was nothing bad about him or evil. He’d not tried to kill Judi. A medical condition had nearly done that.

“He’s beautiful,” Ripper said.

Signaling to a nurse, he waited for her to come. “Don’t you think it’s time he got to see his dad?”

“Would you like to hold him?” the nurse asked.

Ripper removed his jacket, going to the sink, washing his hands. Snake took a seat as Ripper sat down. The nurse reached in and held the little guy in her arms. Snake watched as she placed the little bundle into Ripper’s arms. “You need to support his head and body. There, I think he knows his father has him.”

The nurse left the room, making sure the baby had a blanket around him before leaving.

“His eyes are open, Snake.”

“He’s saying hi.”

Snake didn’t leave, watching as Ripper held his hand against his son’s. “He’s holding my finger. Look at that, Snake.”

Smiling, he glanced toward the window to see Lexie wheeling Judi into the room.

“You’re holding him?”

“I am, baby. I’m afraid this time you’re going to have to watch me hold him.”

“I don’t mind watching. You’re holding him. I’ve not got a problem.”

Snake stayed in his seat for the next hour. Only when he remembered the list in his pocket did he leave the room. He washed his hands, going to the reception desk.

“I don’t suppose you could tell me where I could find Jessica?” He missed her and wanted to spend some time.

“She’s gone to lunch.” One of the nurses spoke up, looking frazzled as she went through several files in her arms.

Slapping his hand on the counter, he left, making his way up to lunch room.

****

Jessica stared down at the newspaper while she took a bite of her ham salad bagel. She didn’t want to risk food poisoning from the chicken that looked like rock. Staring at the newspaper, she didn’t read any of the words. It had been five days since she’d last seen or heard anything from Snake. She really shouldn’t have been surprised. He wasn’t the kind of man who could stick to anything, no matter what he said.

Like a fool, she’d gotten tested at the hospital, and she already had all of her paperwork back. She was on the pill and would be safe to have sex soon, not that anything was ever safe. The doctor she’d gone to had ranted about how only having no sex was safe sex. She’d gone a year without any sex. There was no way she was going to go another year. Even if Snake didn’t want to fuck her, she’d find someone else.

She wasn’t going to turn into one of those women who named their vibrators or bought cats, lots of cats. No, she was going to have lots of sex. It didn’t help that she’d still not heard anything from Lydia. What she had found out was that she’d quit her job in town where she worked as a sales assistant in an accessory shop.