Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79360 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
The soft fabric of the curtain felt rough in my hands as I pushed it back slowly, and what I saw took my breath away.
I bent over, my hands on my knees, as I tried to breathe to stop the vomit that threatened to rise up my throat.
“Seanshine.”
Her rasping voice had me straightening, and I walked on stiff legs toward the bed where Naomi was looking at me through one swollen eye.
The other was swollen shut, and she was likely unable to open it at all.
“Hey, baby,” I rasped.
“I’m fired.”
I blinked.
“Okay,” I said. “Why?”
I was trying to follow her train of thought, but all I could think about was the way her face and every inch of skin I could see was a smattering of black, blue, and purple.
Even her fingers were bruised.
And those fingers also were missing fingernails.
The nausea grew.
“Our lovely boss called and told me that the crew that took over for us was in an accident. That either I came in or we were both fired.”
My mouth thinned at her rasped words, and I wanted to kill that mother fucker. Slowly, with my bare hands.
“And you went in?” I guessed.
That had to be the reason she left.
“Yeah,” she nodded, swallowing hard when the movement caused something to hurt.
Likely everything.
She was quiet for a long minute while she composed herself, and then she turned and looked at me with apologetic eyes.
“I didn’t mean to do this.”
I moved, placing one hand on the side of her face. My fingertips barely grazed her hair, and she moved her cheek into my palm despite it having to hurt.
“I know you didn’t mean to do it, baby,” I said. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Butterfinger saved me.”
I knew that.
“Guess she’s allowed to stay.”
A quiet laugh left Naomi’s lips, and then the curtain was drawn aside.
“Sean.”
I turned to find Tommy Tom, doctor’s coat on over his fucking blue jeans, standing next to another doctor who was new and who I hadn’t had the chance to become acquainted with.
“Yeah?” I asked.
He gestured for me to come out while a nurse took my spot.
“She’s going to give Naomi some more meds to get her settled down and resting comfortably. She apparently refused anything until you arrived so she could speak to you coherently.”
That made my gut knot.
It also sounded exactly like something she’d say and do.
The minute I was out of earshot, Tommy Tom gestured to the doctor at his side. “This is Dr. Mishvele.”
I nodded at him.
“She’s fine.”
My brows rose.
He held up his hand.
“Despite the bruises, we believe that nothing is broken. She has some broken skin on her hands that were likely defensive wounds. The baby is all right, though we’re monitoring that closely just in case…”
His words were lost on me as the words ‘the baby’ replayed over and over through my head.
Tommy Tom, realizing I’d zoned out, smiled a knowing smile, and held his hand up for Mishvele to stop.
“How do you know about the baby so Sean here can get his head wrapped around it? By the look on his face, it’s likely he didn’t know about the baby.”
Mishvele’s eyebrows lifted. “Blood tests confirm. Based on the hormone levels in her blood, I’m assuming she’s at least eight weeks, if not more, along.”
My mouth dropped open.
That would mean that it had to be the very first time we had sex that she conceived.
At least that time we’d worn condoms.
Jesus.
“Okay.”
I was so fucking dumbfounded.
Had Naomi known?
I immediately shook that thought off. No, she hadn’t known. If she had, I would’ve known.
“Other than the outward appearance, she was a very lucky woman.”
Lucky…yeah, if you wanted to call getting beaten black and blue lucky.
“Thank you, Dr. Mishvele. Are they going to be moving her out of the ER soon?”
He nodded, then rattled off a room number in a unit two floors up.
Woodenly, I walked back into the room and dropped down on the side of Naomi’s bed as carefully as I could so I wouldn’t disturb her sleep.
Then I stared at her for a few long minutes, my mind going a hundred miles an hour.
It was about twenty minutes later that I was kicked out so she could be moved, and since she was going to a floor that didn’t allow visitors except during visiting hours, I wasn’t allowed to go with her until they got her settled into her room.
Meaning I had time to fume.
Chapter 22
I don’t like who I become when left alone with a bag of Butterfinger minis.
-Sean’s secret thoughts
Sean
I looked down at my woman.
She looked so broken. Bruised and hurt.
She was so still. I hadn’t heard her voice since she’d been moved, and I wanted to so badly I could taste it.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to cry out, yell about the injustice of it all.
I didn’t, though.
Instead, I calmly bent down and placed a kiss on the one area of Naomi’s cheek that wasn’t covered in ugly purple bruises before I turned and walked out.