The night before flashed through my mind like a bad dream, and I opened my eyes to find Emmie holding Jesse’s hand. I refused to let my jealousy get the better of me today, so I offered to get coffee. Standing, I let myself have the small comfort of kissing her on the forehead and asked if she needed anything. When she asked for a lemon-lime soft drink, I promised her I would find her one and gave in to my need for just one more touch of my lips to the soft skin on her forehead.
The nurse that had practically been salivating at the sight of Shane the night before showed me where the vending machines were before her shift ended. Somehow I carried the four cups of coffee and the soft drink back down to Emmie’s room without burning myself. Drake and Shane were up and moving around by the time I got back.
Despite the four bags of fluids that had been pushed into Emmie through the IV in her arm, she was beyond thirsty. No sooner had I handed over her drink she had gulped it down. After years of spending time with nasty rockers she was a pro at belching and didn’t bother to keep one in after swallowing half her drink.
We were still laughing and teasing her when a nurse with short hair walked in. She took charge for about five minutes. Emmie’s vitals were taken and Shane made a run for it before the nurse started on Emmie’s IV. After explaining the doctor’s orders to Emmie, the nurse handed her a prescription for vitamins.
Really? Vitamins? As sick as Em had been, all she needed was vitamins? That really didn’t make sense to me. Apparently I wasn’t the only one confused because Jesse and Drake started to question the woman.
“Guys …” Emmie tried to intervene and I wasn’t completely blind to the nervous look on her face.
When the nurse laughed I got a bad feeling. “A baby doesn’t qualify as a serious illness, honey.”
I was sure my head had actually exploded. The word baby kept bouncing around in my head until I was sure I was going to lose my mind. No. I had misheard. That had to be the answer. A misunderstanding. I was still half asleep and exhausted from work and the emotional night before.
“What?” I heard Jesse’s strangled question.
“… the …” Drake was saying something but I couldn’t really focus on it.
Running my fingers through my hair, I didn’t even try to stop the curse from exploding from my mouth. “FUCK!”
Jesse looked wild as he charged over to Emmie’s bed. “What the fuck is she talking about? A baby?”
Emmie’s nervousness seemed to intensify and she seemed to struggle for a moment before she sighed. “I’m pregnant.”
The nurse excused herself. She could no doubt see that a war was about to break out in the room and wanted to be out of the line of fire. Smart woman. Because I was a fucking bomb about to explode.
“How is that possible?” Drake demanded and Emmie actually laughed.
“You mean you don’t know the how, Drake?”
“Don’t try to be cute, Em. You know exactly what the fuck I mean.”
When Shane entered the room and the others filled him in on the reasons for our yelling. I was shaking. Emmie was pregnant. Someone had touched her. Oh fuck. I had been okay when I had only assumed that she was involved with someone. Now that I knew it was a reality, I couldn’t handle it. The woman I loved wanted someone else.
“Who?” I wasn’t sure if I had whispered the question or screamed it at her.
“What?” Emmie looked confused by my question.
I had kind of gone numb when the nurse had announced that Emmie was pregnant. Now it was wearing off and I was cracking from the inside out. “Who, Emmie? Who is the father?” I couldn’t stop looking at Jesse, or the rage that slowly started to consume me as I realized that he had actually touched her. “Or do I already know?”
“What?” She sounded shocked.
“What the fuck, Nik!” Jesse yelled at me. “You think I would… have you lost your fucking mind, bro? She might be hot, but I would never touch her! She’s like my sister.”
“I don’t believe you.” I had seen with my own eyes how close they were. That closeness had only intensified over the last few months. “I see the way you look at her. I see how she is always clinging to you.” And it killed me a little more every time I saw it.
“Nik…” Emmie’s voice was soft, trying to soothe me. My eyes went to her. In that moment I wanted to feel absolutely nothing for her, but I couldn’t turn off my feelings. A small part of me hated her. “Nik, Jesse isn’t the father.”
The relief I felt at her words was short lived. Not Jesse, not the man that had had my back since we were little kids. But if not Jesse, then who. “Who, Em?” I was in front of her in a matter of seconds. Leaning down with my hands on either side of her body, I forced her to keep eye contact with me. I needed the truth. “Who the fuck touched you?” I yelled at her.
For a moment I saw fear in her eyes. She had no clue why I was so mad, and that only increased my anger. I wanted to scream at her to open her fucking eyes. She was so blind to how much I cared!
Before I could open my mouth to do just that, Drake pulled me away. “Stop it. Can’t you see that she is terrified of you right now?”
“Just tell me who!” I demanded.
“Why?” There were tears in her voice. “Why do you have to know so badly?”
“So I can kill him.” I screamed, fighting my own tears.
A tear fell from her eyes. “What is wrong with you, Nik? Why are you acting like this?”
“Axton?” I made a guess, knowing that the fucking douche bag had to be the only other possibility. “He was sniffing around a few months ago. Was it him? I saw him with his hands on you last night.” I tried to get free of Drake’s hold. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if I got loose. Shake the truth from her? She wasn’t going to willingly tell me. “Was it him?”
“No!” she cried.
“Who?!”
Jesse put himself between me and Emmie, his back turned away from me as he urged Emmie to tell me. “Tell him, Em.”
“Someone in this room?” If it was Shane, and I hadn’t even suspected he was after her, I would…
“Yes,” she whispered.
I struggled harder, ready to rip into Shane. No fucking way. I could almost tolerate Jesse touching Em, but Shane? No. No. NO!
I needed her to confirm it. I needed her to say who the father was. “Who, Em? Just tell me who.” I was close to tears now, my voice giving me away as it dared to crack.