Bleeding.
The minute my mother barged into the room and told me that Hope had been bleeding, my blood ran cold.
"What do you mean she's bleeding?" I was breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath from nearly being strangled to death by my father who seemed as shocked as I was. "I don't fucking understand."
My mother panicked in front of me, her hands red with blood, Hopes blood. "She's losing your baby Killian, we need to get her to the hospital!"
"Where the hell is she?"
"She's in the study. Hurry!"
I forgot everything else right after those words and raced out of the door but the moment I barged into the room and saw her sitting on the chair, the look of pure torture on her face as linings of blood stained her thighs and then slid down her legs, I froze. It felt like someone had cracked open my ribs and squeezed the life out of my beating heart.
Hope.
Blood.
The baby.
"Killian don't just stand there, do something!" Mother barked at me and air rushed back into my lungs, forcing my adrenaline rush.
I didn't think, I didn't rationalize, I rushed to her side, placed her hand over my shoulder, and carefully scooped her into my arms. "Killian," her body was burning hot and the rusty scent of her blood was making me light-headed. "The baby, I'm losing my—"
"Shut up. Don't say anything, just shut up."
With an inexplicable horror coursing through me, I hurried out and down the stairs and barked orders at one of the bodyguards to start up the car.
"Killian!" She was wailing in my arms now, making it harder to concentrate. "It hurts. I don't want to lose my baby."
"I said shut up, you're not losing anything!" I hadn't meant to shout at her and I wanted to apologize for that but fuck it. Get her to the hospital first then apologize with your tongue later.
I helped her into the backseat and entered.
Mother came rushing out the door. "I'll get the room cleaned up and meet you at the hospital." Panic made her movements too quick.
I simply nodded, unable to fathom anything other than Hope's wails and tears. She was calling out my name repeatedly, clutching and un-clutching my shirt as the driver drove with mad speed.
I looked down at her and found a trickle of teardrop filtering down her face. She was sweating, pale. Too pale.
"You'll be fine," I assured her as my heart ached in agony. Seeing her in so much pain made me so fucking angry that I wanted to punch my hand into a wall until it drew blood. "Stay with me okay," I commanded desperately, holding on to her tightly. "It's going to be fine."
I thought it was, I thought it was going to be okay and for some time it was, but then the car's speed suddenly slowed and when I looked up, there was a long line of traffic ahead of us.
"Sir." The driver turned to me, a pained look on his face. "The traffic is a heavy one."
"What the hell am I supposed to do now?!" I barked, staring at the line that didn't seem to be moving.
Hope made a gut-wrenching noise in my arms again and then her body began to shake. "You know what, fuck this."
I pushed the car door open.
"Sir, wait! Please, you can't do that!"
"Shut the fuck up and meet me at the hospital!" I snapped back and scooped Hope in my arms again.
She gave a light protest this time, her voice merely a whisper when she spoke. "What are you doing?"
"Getting you to the hospital. Hold on tight."
I could do it. The hospital was only two blocks away. I could do this.
Taking in a deep breath, I willed my legs to move as fast as I could without hurting her. She clutched my shirt, burying her face against it as she tried to hide her tears but I could feel it. The tears soaked through my shirt, and every sniffle rumbled in my chest as I broke into a sprint and raced at a breakneck pace, ignoring the shouts from the angry pedestrians I'd nearly knocked down in my haste.
It wasn't long before I arrived at the hospital, sweating profusely and breathing like a crazed maniac. When my legs finally stilled, I required several seconds to muster the energy to speak. "There's an emergency! My wife's losing blood!" The hand clenching my shirt suddenly loosened up and when I looked down she was unconscious, her face as pale as chalk. "Hope?" I called out, but she didn't answer me. "Hope, fucking wake up!"
Some nurses in blue scrubs rushed to my aid with a stretcher. "She's lost a lot of blood."
Before I could blink they snatched her from my hands and placed her on the stretcher and I was standing there, stained in blood, pained and confused, no idea what to do with myself as I watched them roll her away.
My mood had gone from bad to foul because these fucking nurses had left me for an hour. A long, agonizing hour, and I was dying inside, feeling sick with worry, ravaged by nervousness.
At first, I had barely moved a muscle. The shock and confusion had been so overwhelming that my body just shut down and I slumped into the chair, not caring about the bizarre looks people gave me. Yeah, I have blood on me, fucking deal with it! But now, I was up on my feet, I couldn't sit still, couldn't stop moving. I kept pacing, my eyes constantly drifting to my watch. Fuck, at some point I pulled on my hair and punched my hand into the concrete wall. It fucking hurt by the way.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
"Killian!" My mother called, rushing into the hall. "How is she? How are Hope and the baby?"
"I don't know yet, they've not said anything and it's fucking driving me crazy." I groaned and forked a hand through my hair. "I swear to God if anything happens to Hope and my child, father will pay dearly for it."
"Oh, Killian." She crooned, rubbing my arm. "Don't say that. She'll be fine, I know she will. In the meantime, you need to get cleaned up."
I shook my head. "I can't. I can't leave until the doctors tell me she's fine."
"You must. You're no good to anyone like this. I brought you a clean shirt, go into the bathroom and change." She ordered me. "I'll be here if anything happens."
I was unwilling. "But what if—"
"Go." She placed the shirt on my chest and I sighed. She did have a point. I not only looked like death but smelt like death.
I snatched the shirt and found my way to the bathroom. It was empty. I twisted the faucet, a million thoughts running through my head as I rid my hands of blood, watching it flow into the sink. Hope's blood. It still seemed like one big scary nightmare. I could lose her. I really could. Did I want to? I mean, the more time I spent with this woman, the more my feelings for her became uncertain and complicated and I hated it.
A wave of disgust swamped me. I sprinkled a bit of water on my face and cleared all thoughts as I began to unbutton my shirt, suddenly reminded of our last night; her lips on mine as she moaned my name, my cock rubbing her wet sex, the sweat, the heat—my brain hiccupped. I shook my head. Fuck, this wasn't the time for that. I tossed aside my bloodied shirt and heaved on the fresh one.
All good.
With a weary grunt of tiredness, I dragged my hand over my hair and ambled out of the bathroom, back to the waiting area where I met mother now conversing with one of the doctors.
"Doctor, this is my son, her husband," she introduced.
"How is she?" I asked, not even bothering to temper my urgency. "And my baby. Are they okay?"
The doctor smiled at us with exhaustion. "She's lost a lot of blood but we've been able to stabilize her. You arrived right on time." He turned on me. "Your wife and child are safe."
I felt the squeezing in my chest finally relieve me, replaced with something more ecstatic, something more euphoric.
"Although we've been able to stabilize her," he continued. "Her blood pressure might rise and fall within these next few days so it's best not to move her too much. This is her first pregnancy so I advise you both to take it easy from here on out, and avoid anything that could trigger a miscarriage."
The way he looked at me when he said those last words. If he was insinuating I stopped having sex with Hope then there was going to be a bit of a problem because that woman was as storage full of sex appeal.
"Today was a success, the next might not be." He concluded and I nodded, stretching my hand out for a brief handshake. "Thank you very much."
"Yes thank you very much for saving my daughter-in-law." My mother chimed and he nodded. "She just regained consciousness and will receive visitors now."
"Thank you once again." With that, he walked away and my mother turned to me, urging me to go in.
"Sure she's eager to see you."
I swallowed a thick lump in my throat and nodded before walking into the room reeking of insecticide and anesthetic.
For a moment I simply held still by the door, trying to calm myself, to calm my breathing, and wait for my rushing blood to settle down.
She was laying there so vulnerably, a thick cream cloth draped over her legs, head turned to the open window.
It was as though she had sensed my presence because she suddenly craned her next towards the door, allowing our eyes to meet.
"Killian..."
My heart skipped a beat when she called out my name.
Fuck. I couldn't be so soft in front of her.
I cleared my throat of any kind of emotion and straightened my shoulders with pride as I walked around the room. Her eyes followed me all the way and they stayed on me, both of us now silent, not saying a word, just staring.
"You look awful," I broke the verbal silence, earning a soft throaty chuckle.
"You look worse, Mr cocky asshole,"
My hand reached for hers. They were cold. I squeezed softly. "I'm just glad you're safe."
"Bet you were scared of losing the baby." She chuckled.
I was, yes I was, but what scared me most was the thought of...losing her.
"Yes, I was, very much so."
With a pale smile highlighting her face, her hand came up to brush my damp bangs away from my forehead. "Let's go home. I think I've had enough of this honeymoon."
I nodded, placing a soft kiss on her pale knuckles. "Let's do it once you're okay."
She nodded and smiled.
Well, Fuck, I couldn't deny it, I was slowly becoming addicted to this woman and for the first time in a long time, it felt right.