“I don’t want it like this, Jess. You have no idea what your leaving did to my brother. You owe him the courtesy of listening. Now, if you need anything, let the prospect who will be outside your door know. And there won’t be any crawling out of windows here. I’ll have a guard there too. Can I get you something to eat?” he asked, trying to play nice at the end. I glared at him. He sighed and left. I slid a chair under the door handle then sat down on the bed.
How was I going to get out of this? I should have never come here. They made sure not to leave me with a phone, so I couldn’t call Dolly. As I sank deeper and deeper into my own despair, I couldn’t see a way out of this. If I stayed for long, they’d find out the rest I was keeping from them. I couldn’t let that happen.
I don’t know how long I lay there, growing more and more desperate and fearful. It took a moment to realize I was crying and not just crying, I was keening out my pain. I tried to get up to go to the bathroom. Maybe no one would be able to hear me there. I didn’t want them to know how much this hurt. I stood up and the room whirled. I fell to the floor. I couldn’t catch my breath. My head was spinning along with the room, and I felt like I was going to puke.
From a distance, I could hear yelling and pounding on the door. I tried to get to it, but I couldn’t move. I sank down to lie flat on the floor. My heart was beating out of my chest. Something was seriously wrong. I needed help. I tried to call out, but nothing came out of my mouth either. Finally, I gave up and let the darkness take me. At least it would be peaceful. Something I hadn’t had in months.
Ajax:
I don’t know how long I rode around on my bike, fighting the urge to go back and shake some sense into Jessica. She had me so pissed off; I couldn’t see straight. How could she think I wanted someone else? That I’d cheated on her and with her sister. She wouldn’t believe me when I explained what really happened. She was talking about being in danger and leaving so someone else could protect her. Fuck that! I’d be the one to protect her. Now and forever.
After feeling a bit calmer, I decided to head back and see if I could get her to talk to me. I didn’t want to have us at odds, or for us to have to hold her essentially there against her will. That didn’t sit well with me. I’d barely pulled in and walked inside the clubhouse when I heard shouting from down the hall. I took off running. Standing in the hall, down from my room, were most of my brothers and the old ladies. I saw the panic on their faces.
“What’s wrong?” I asked frantically. Madisen swung around and came at me.
“What’s wrong? My friend is in that room being held as a prisoner. She started to cry and scream and when we tried to get inside, the door was blocked. Now she’s gone totally quiet! If something has happened to her, I’ll never forgive any of you. Do you hear me? It’s all your fault for acting like you did that she ran in the first place. I should have kept my mouth shut when she called and found some other way to get her some protection.” Madisen was sobbing. Rebel wrapped her in his arms. She struggled but he held her tight. She was almost eight months pregnant and very emotional right now. I pushed my way through the throng to the door. Bull met me.
“Why can’t you get inside?” I asked him.
“I think she put something under the handle. It won’t turn even though I unlocked it. I told Tate to take a look through the window and see what he can tell us. She went dead silent a minute ago. I’ll tell you, Ajax, the sound of her crying almost tore out my guts. That girl is in pain.”
His phone rang before he could say more. He quickly answered it and put it on speaker. “Talk to me, Tate.”
“Pres, I can see her. She’s lying on the bedroom floor. She’s face down and not moving. There’s a chair jammed up under the door handle. Do you want me to break out the window and go inside?”
“No! I’ll do it. Give me a minute,” I told him. My heart was in my throat. Why was she on the floor and not moving? She wouldn’t have done something to herself, would she? I ran through the clubhouse and outside. I found him outside her window. He had a rock ready. I took it and smashed in the window. Busting out the shards of glass, I hoisted myself up on the windowsill and crawled inside.
I could see her on the floor like he said. Before running to her, I yanked the chair out from underneath the handle and yelled they could come in. Then I ran over to her and got down on the floor beside her. I felt for a pulse. I prayed until I felt one. I breathed out a sigh of relief.
Gently, with help from Rebel, I rolled her onto her back. Her face was deathly pale. Her breathing was shallow and the dark circles under her eyes were even more prominent than I remembered. I ran my hand through her hair and down her cheek.
“Baby, it’s Kellan. Please, open your eyes. We need to know what’s wrong. Did you fall? Are you hurt somewhere? God, come on, Jess, wake up,” I begged her. Payne crouched down beside us and began to feel her arms and legs. I could hear someone in the background calling an ambulance. He finished checking out her extremities and moved to feel her ribs. As he ran his hands down her ribs to her stomach, he came to a screeching halt. His surprised eyes looked up at me.
“What is it, Payne? Did you find something wrong?”
“No, I don’t think so. But I want you to feel something.” He took my hand and laid it on her stomach where he’d just been touching her. I went to ask him what I was supposed to be feeling when it dawned on me.
Jessica had always been fit and though she thought she had a tummy. She didn’t have much of one. However, now I could feel what was definitely a little tummy and it was hard. I looked up at him speechless. I was afraid to voice what I was thinking. He nodded at the unverbalized question in my eyes. I whipped my head around.
“How long until that ambulance gets here?” I practically screamed.
“Ten minutes or less. Why? What did you find?” Rebel asked me. He was holding Madisen.
“I’ll tell you later. We need to get her checked out. It would be faster if we took her.”
Bull reached down to stop me from picking her up. “I know you’re worried, but let’s not move her too much until we know what’s wrong. You and Payne obviously found something. What is it?”
“I think she’s pregnant,” I told them. A gasp went up around the crowded room. I didn’t want to get my hopes up that I was right, but what else could explain her stomach?
“Why do you think she’s pregnant?” Jocelyn asked. She had her arm around Devyn. They had their babies while Jessica was gone. All three were asleep in a room specifically for them here in the compound. I saw they had a monitor with them.
“Her stomach isn’t flat like it was before and it feels a little hard,” I told her. She pushed through the others and kneeled to feel for herself. She sucked in her breath and looked at me.
“It feels like it. That’s what my stomach felt like. Damn, we need to get her checked out. It could be just pregnancy hormones and stuff that made her pass out.” She tried to reassure me. I wanted to believe her, but a part of me was terrified it was serious and I’d lose not only her but our baby. A baby I had no idea about until a minute ago. Would God be that cruel? To let me find her again only to lose her and our child. If I did, I’d never be able to recover. I’d have to crawl into a bottle and never come out, but not until I took care of her no-good bitches of a stepmom and stepsister.
I sat there in a haze, talking to her, trying to get her to open her eyes. I vaguely heard Bull clear the room. Payne stayed with me. He had the most medical training out of all of us. What felt like forever but was probably only ten minutes or less, I heard the sirens of the ambulance pulling into the compound. A minute or two later, in came two paramedics accompanied by the police.
We briefly filled them in on finding her collapsed and thinking she might be pregnant. They quickly got her assessed and, on the gurney, then headed to the ambulance. I was right on their heels. At the ambulance, one of them was about to tell me I couldn’t ride with them when the other shook his head and told me to get in.