Oh, God, there’s so much volume in her voice.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I’m about to deliver a baby.
I have no business doing this. I’m part of a criminal organization. We lie. We steal. We cheat. We kill our rivals. My hands are dirty. I’m chest deep in filth. I have no right being part of something as special as bringing a baby into this world.
“If she pushes too hard the head will deliver quickly and tear the scar. Put your hand over the top of the baby’s head and control the speed. Slow it down for her.” I apply gentle pressure to the top of the baby’s head. “That’s it.”
The baby’s head emerges and the obstetrician walks me through suctioning the nose and mouth before instructing me on the delivery of the shoulders. A moment later the baby’s body is out and he takes his first breath before the wailing begins.
My hands are trembling when I cut the cord between the two clamps. I’ve assisted in all kinds of traumas and my hands have never been this shaky. “The cord’s tough.”
“That’s what everyone says the first time they cut one.”
The obstetrician pats me on the back. “No stitches needed. Good job, Dr. Breckenridge.”
I congratulate the patient and her husband and then go to the locker room to change before leaving. I take a minute to sit on the bench and reflect on what I just did. I delivered a baby. It was the scariest and most amazing thing I’ve ever done in my life. I did a good job at it. And I may have even liked doing it.
The patient’s husband was so happy. Beyond thrilled. He couldn’t stop kissing his wife and telling her how much he loved her. Is it like that for everybody? Even Fellowship members? Did Sin feel that way when Bleu gave birth to their boys?
Ellison’s face is the only one I can see when I imagine being in the delivery room, while she gives birth to our child as my wife. But that won’t happen if Ellison gets away. She’ll give sons and daughters to one of my brothers.
I think about it the whole way home. Ellison as my wife. The mother of my children.
And then I consider the alternative. Ellison as someone else’s wife. The mother of someone else’s children.
Her claiming is only a few weeks away but there’s time to come up with a way to make us work. I have to. Because the alternative isn’t something I’ll survive.
I pull into the drive and go into panic mode the moment I see the black sedan in the driveway. Who the fuck is here?
I jump out of my vehicle and run toward the house. Fuck. The front door is unlocked which sends me into an even more frantic state. “Ellison!”
“In trauma one.” Her voice is calm but it does little for my anxiety.
I bolt to the treatment room and come to a dead stop when I see Logan sitting on the side of the bed with Ellison standing between his legs looking at a wound above his eye. “What the fuck is this?”
Ellison cuts her eyes at me. “Our first patient.”
She steps away and takes off her gloves. “I think it’ll heal quicker with a few stitches.”
I thought I was coming home to a naked Ellison in our bed waiting to be fucked. Not this shite.
I go to Logan so I can evaluate the laceration over his brow. “Lie down on the bed so I can have a better look under the light.”
Ellison grabs the overhead exam light and adjusts it so it’s shining directly on the cut. “Three stitches. Maybe four. We’ll see.”
I get up from the stool and motion for Ellison to follow me. “Can you help me find the chromic sutures?”
“You don’t use nylon for facial lacerations?”
“Do you really think a brother is going to come back to have sutures removed?”
“Since you’re asking I would guess not.” Ellison points to the shelves of supplies. “I stocked this room with chromic.”
“Not the size I need. Come help me find a five-oh in the supply room.”
I lead Ellison to trauma two and shut the door. “I really want to put you over my lap and spank your arse hard. You weren’t supposed to open the door to anyone while I’m not here. We talked about that and you agreed. It’s the only reason I let you stay here today instead of taking you to Sin and Bleu’s.”
“I know—and I didn’t plan to open the door—but Sin called ahead to let me know Logan was coming for treatment. I didn’t have a choice.”
The fucker knew I’d probably be gone to clinical. He called Sin so he could get into the infirmary while I wasn’t here. I don’t like that one damn bit. “How long has he been here?”
“Maybe ten minutes.”
Ten minutes alone with Ellison. A lot can happen in that amount of time. “Did he touch you?”
Ellison looks away. “No.”
Inexperienced liars can’t look you in the eyes when they lie. Fact. And that means he touched her. “You’re going to have to become a better liar than that if you’re going to make me believe you.”
She sighs. “He put his hands on my hips—and squeezed them—while I was cleaning his laceration. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Not a big deal? Are you fucking kidding me? The horny bastard put his hands on you.”
“Whoa.” Ellison puts up her hand. “You act like Logan has wronged you in some way.”
“He has. You are mine.”
Ellison’s eyes narrow. “Am I really?”
“Fuck, yes.”
“If I were really yours, he’d know I was. I wouldn’t have been put on the block for claiming.”
“Is that so?”
“Fuck, yes.” The little shite is mocking me.
I bolt toward Ellison and yank her into my arms. Hard. Our kiss skips slow and sweet and proceeds directly to heated. Urgent. Carnal. “If you weren’t mine, would you let me do this?”
“Fuck you, Jamie Breckenridge.”
“Not yet, baby.”
I yank open her jeans, shove my hand into her knickers, and plunge my fingers deep inside her pussy. I move them in and out—stroking the roof with my curled fingertips—making her moan. “If you weren’t mine, would you let me do this?”
“Fuck you.”
“Not yet, baby.”
I take my fingers out of her and bring them to my mouth for a taste. “If you weren’t mine, would I do this?”
“Fuck. You.”
“Is that what you want, Mac? For me to bury my cock deep inside you?”
“Yes.” No hesitation.
“Then zip up your pants and let’s go stitch this motherfucker so we can send him on his way and get down to it.”
Ellison grabs my jaw and squeezes hard so my lips pucker outwardly. “You’re going to beg me to let you put your cock inside me.”
I love the fire I see in my girl’s eye. I want to play with it. See it burn out of control. “I think it’ll be the other way around.”
“I guess we’ll see.”
r /> Too bad I have to wash my hands before stitching Logan. I wouldn’t mind him smelling Ellison on me. I wouldn’t mind him wondering what we were doing. I wouldn’t mind him figuring out I’ve had Ellison. Or that I’m having her every chance I get.
I’m gloved and ready to go when Ellison passes the loaded needle holder to me. “Five-oh chromic.”
“Thank you, Mac.” Ellison grins when I use her behind-closed-doors-only nickname.
I lean over Logan and pull his wound together. “Looks like it should heal well, but you should probably expect a small scar since it’s across your eyebrow.”
“Worth the scar.”
“How’d this happen?”
“Practicing skills for the takeover.”
“Will be here before we know it.”
“I’m ready for it to be over so I can make my claim on this beautiful woman.”
I push the needle through Logan’s skin and inwardly chuckle when he yells out in pain. “I only inject local for pussies. Do you need something for the pain?”
“Fuck, no.” Logan winces when I drive the needle through the other side of the laceration and bring the edges of skin together.
“Good. ’Cause that would be humiliating to let Mac see you puss out.”
Logan grips the edge of the mattress on the bed. “Have you been brushing up on your skills, cousin?”
He knows damn well I won’t be in on the action. Bastard’s trying to make me look weak in front of Ellison by pointing out that I won’t be in on the fight. But he hasn’t considered that she wasn’t raised Fellowship and doesn’t share the same opinions as our women. She said she was happy I wasn’t going to be in the middle of the fight. She doesn’t see me as weak because I’ll have a medical instrument in my hand instead of a gun.
“I’ve been playing doctor a lot lately. Does that count as brushing up on my skills since I’m the appointed physician?”
Ellison fights the grin tugging at the corners of her mouth by biting her bottom lip. She loses the battle and turns her face away from Logan.
“Are you okay, Mac?”
Ellison nods. “Mm-hmm.”
“Not getting queasy, I hope?”
She clears her throat. “No, Doc. I’m fine.”
Bleu’s ringtone “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” plays from Ellison’s pocket. “I’m fine here if you want to step out to get that.”