The door slides back with a bang and I cringe, hoping to God that the other asshole upstairs assumes that the sound was his colleague stepping in here to teach me a lesson.
Not skipping a beat, I race across the small basement and jam the key straight into Felicity’s lock, but as I’m twisting the key, I hear the voice inside my head telling me that this is my one shot to run. I spare a glance toward the spiral staircase knowing that if I were to stay and help Felicity deliver her baby, I may never get another chance like this again.
Fuck.
Felicity’s scream tears through the basement and I let out a shaky breath. If I ran and left her behind, left Roman’s baby behind, I would never be able to forgive myself, so instead, I tear her door open.
“LET ME OUT,” Ariana calls, standing at her bars and gripping onto them with everything that she’s got. “SHAYNE. FUCK. PLEASE. I SWEAR, I’LL DO ANYTHING YOU WANT, JUST LET ME OUT. I’M SORRY. HE’S GOING TO KILL ME DOWN HERE. GIVE ME THE FUCKING KEYS.”
Ignoring Ariana’s demands, I focus everything I have on Felicity as I fall to my knees between her legs. I meet her eyes as the guard remains out cold behind me. “We only have a minute before he wakes up,” I tell her. “It’s now or never.”
Felicity nods, seeming to get just a little more courage as she pushes herself up against the wall, sitting higher to get comfortable. “Okay,” she says through her erratic panting. “I need to push. Don’t drop him, okay?”
“Your baby is safe with me,” I promise her, knowing that Roman would bust my ass wide open if any harm came to this child while in my care.
Felicity reaches forward, her hands gripping the back of her thigh as she takes a gasping breath and then screams, the sound vibrating right through my chest. She pushes until she’s red in the face, takes a quick breath, and pushes again. Tears trail down her face and I feel helpless, desperately wishing for a way to make this easier for her.
The baby inches out and my eyes bug out of my head. “Holy shit,” I breathe, staring in awe as I put my hands under his head, not wanting him to drop. “He’s coming. Keep going. You’re doing it. He’s coming!”
Felicity gasps in happiness, a pained smile cracking across her lips as she takes another heaving breath and pushes again, more than ready to tear herself apart if it means getting to hold her sweet baby in her arms. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” she screams, her fingernails digging into the back of her thighs.
His whole head pops out and I gape at his little face staring up at me as a wave of relief pours over Felicity. “Holy fuck,” I laugh, my heart thundering in my chest, wishing that I could see the resemblance between him and his father but at the moment, he’s just red and covered in slime. “I see his face. It’s all squishy.”
“Squishy?” she breathes, adoration in her eyes as her heavy pants sound through the cell.
“Yeah,” I tell her, unable to look away from the gorgeous little baby, Roman’s newborn son. “Getting the head out; that’s the hard part, right?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “I … I don’t—AHHHH,” she groans as she’s hit with another contraction. She pushes again and I take hold of the baby, helping to guide his shoulders out and the moment they’re free, the rest of his body comes sailing out like a wet sausage.
My hands fumble on his slimy, wet skin as I adjust him in my arms and make sure that he’s breathing just right. I have no idea what I’m doing, but my vast array of movie experience tells me that he’s going to start crying any moment now. A smile tears across my face, taking in his beautiful features and noticing that this kid is going to be one hell of a heart breaker. Felicity was right, he really is a boy, one that his father will be more than proud of.
A second passes and then another before his tiny little cry fills the cells and I look up and meet Felicity’s tear-filled eyes. “Here,” I say, handing him through her legs and putting him into her waiting arms. She takes him greedily, crying happy, relieved tears as she looks down at her son.
I pull my stained shirt off and reach over, offering it as a blanket for her to wrap around her baby and she takes it gratefully, having absolutely nothing else in here but her own body to offer as protection.
Felicity pants as I hear the guard behind me beginning to stir. I turn around, making sure that we still have time and preparing myself to fight him off if that’s what it takes but when I glance back at Felicity, her face drains of color. “Something’s wrong,” she murmurs, her brows furrowing as she holds onto her baby just a little bit tighter.