Until Series(344)

“They’re at the hospital with Ma and Dad.” I kiss her temple. The ambulance door opens and I don’t even stop; I just carry her right inside, laying her down on the gurney. “She just had a C-section. I think her stitches are torn,” I tell the EMT, watching as they start to pull up her nightgown. “You wanna shut the fucking door and get a blanket to cover her first?”

“I’m okay,” Sophie says, palming my cheek.

I look down at her and shake my head. “You’re not okay.”

“I am. You found me.” Tears start to fall from her eyes again.

“I will always find you,” I tell her, kissing her forehead.

The door to the ambulance closes, and a blanket is laid over Sophie’s lap. I sit back and watch as they lift her nightgown, showing her waist and the incision from the C-section. The wound is open, and I can tell she’s in pain. I grit my teeth, not wanting to flip out and make this harder for her.

The guys clean up her wound as best as they can, and as soon as we reach the hospital, she is rushed back into surgery while I’m forced to wait for her outside. I call my dad and mom to make sure they’re okay with the girls up in the nursery of the hospital. Ma tells me that they are fine and that Kenton called as soon as we were in the ambulance to let them know that we were on our way back to the hospital.

I feel like crying in relief that the situation is finally over, but at the same time, I know going through something like this is going to fuck with Sophie’s head when she just started getting over what had happened to her when she was younger. Hell, I don’t know how I’m going to deal with it. I hate that I wasn’t able to protect her when she needed me. I vow right now that nothing else will ever touch her again. I don’t care how small or big—she will never be worried or scared as long as I walk this earth.





Chapter 15




Sophie


“Nico, why is your mom calling to tell me you’re not letting anyone see the girls?” I ask, walking into the nursery where Nico is sitting, holding Willow.

“The girls are too small to have everyone over right now,” he grumbles then smiles over at Harmony, who is now awake and cooing at her daddy through the slats of the crib.

“Honey, they’re old enough to have people over to visit.” I roll my eyes.

“They’re too small. Look, she fits in one hand,” he says, proving his point by putting Willow in one of his hands.

“Your hands are freakishly large,” I argue.

“You like my freaky hands.” He smirks before looking down at Willow as he tells her, “Your momma is a dirty girl.” He laughs when she smiles at him.

“Nico, don’t tell our daughters that,” I growl. “This is getting ridiculous.” He is so overprotective of the girls and me. I’m lucky if I’m able to go to the bathroom alone.

“Baby, I’m not ready.”

“They’re family.” I run my hand down the back of his hair, trying to get him to relax.

“They’ve seen them,” he grumbles sullenly, making me smile.

“Call your family and tell them to come for dinner.”

“My mom talks too much.” He looks up at me with puppy-dog eyes, making it hard to fight to do the right thing.

“Your mom wants to get to know her granddaughters. There is nothing wrong with that,” I tell him, walking over to pick up Harmony, who sees me and begins to fuss.

“I hate when they come over. They are all like, ‘Oh, just let me hold her for a couple of minutes,’ and then they don’t give them back when I tell them to,” he complains, looking completely serious.

I shake my head. I want to laugh at how ridiculous he’s being about this, but I can’t. He loves his girls; he’s hands-on with everything. I don’t ever need to ask for help. He’s always there the second one of the girls starts to fuss.

“Honey, you need to get over what happened. You can’t lock us away forever,” I tell him quietly. I hate that what happened to me is so hard on him. I haven’t even had one nightmare about it. He has woken up twice drenched in sweat. The minute he knows where he is and I’m there, he’s on me. I know it’s his way of reassuring himself that I’m okay, but I hate that he still thinks about it when I never really do.

“I can’t get over it.” He shakes his head. “I will never get over thinking you were lost to me and our girls.”

“I wasn’t, so please try for me and the girls to be reasonable about this.”

“I want you guys to myself. I only trust us with my most prized possessions.”