Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 39161 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 196(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39161 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 196(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
With trembling hands, I reached for my phone. I didn’t even think about calling anyone but Jax. He answered on the first ring.
“Hey, Maddog. You sleep in today?” His voice was cheerful, like he was happy to hear from me and maybe a little amused that I’d slept late. He loved it when he wore me out enough to keep me in bed half the morning and normally I did too.
“Jax?” My voice was soft and shaky. It was easy to tell something was wrong.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” Gone was the easygoing lover I’d grown obsessed with and in his place was my fierce protector.
“I’m sick.” My voice broke on the last word.
“I’ll call Blade and Doc.”
“NO!” I took several deep breaths to calm myself. “I can do it. I just panicked.”
“Because of the last time.”
“It feels the same, Jax.” I started crying then. “I don’t want to do this again! Chemo sucks ass!”
“Call your mother, Holly. I’ll get Blade to come to you now. I’ll be with there in an hour. Less if I can catch Cain before he leaves. And, baby?”
I took in a shuddering breath. “Yes?”
“No matter what happens, I’m gonna be right by your side. Every step of the way. You hear me?”
Closing my eyes I took another deep breath and let it out. I pictured Jax’s face and let his warmth fill me. “Yes, Jax. I hear you.”
“That’s my girl. I’m coming. Hold it together until I get there. We’ll figure this out together.”
“OK. I can do that.”
“I know you can. Call me back when Blade gets there. If I don’t answer it means I’ll be there in less than twenty minutes. If I answer, I’m still close to an hour away.”
Not that I understood that, but I didn’t have to. I had to know he was on the way. Which meant, I really hoped he didn’t answer when I called him back.
I got up and dressed after unlocking the door for when Mom got there. She and Dad arrived five minutes later. I sat on the couch, my forearms on my knees with my phone clenched tightly in my hands. The second Mom hurried through the door, I was up on my feet and in her arms shaking and sobbing.
“It’s going to be all right, honey,” Mom said, though she was crying as hard as I was. “We’ll figure it out and get through it together. Blade will do everything he can to help us. You know he will.”
“I’m scared, Mom.”
“I know, sweetheart. Me too. Me too.”
I sat with my mother on the couch. She had her arms around me while we both cried silently. My dad stood guard at the door, watching for Blade to approach. Fifteen minutes later, the man in question skidded to a stop in a big, black Bronco in front of my house. He’d obviously hurried over the second Jax had called him.
I dialed Jax’s number, attempting to get him on a video chat instead of a call. I needed to see his face and look into his eyes. He didn’t answer so I glanced at the time. He better be here in less than twenty minutes like he said, or I was gonna kick his ass.
“What happened?” That was Blade. Dr. Donovan Muse. He was a member of Salvation’s Bane MC in Palm Beach, but his office was about halfway between there and Lake Worth where Black Reign was located. He must have hurried straight over. I recognized his medical bag immediately and a fresh flood of tears started.
“I’m sick.” I sounded as miserable as I felt. “Like last time.”
“When did it start?” He sat next to me and reached for my face, his fingers immediately seeking the lymph nodes in my neck.
“I woke up like this. Uh, achy. I woke up in a sweat, and I have no energy. I went to bed early and slept through the night. I shouldn’t be this tired.”
He pulled out his stethoscope and put it in his ears before warming the bell between his hands. “Raise your shirt for me, honey. You know the drill.”
I did. Thankfully I’d dressed and at least had a bra covering me.
Blade listened to my heart and lungs, then took my temperature, blood pressure, and oxygen level. “Your temperature is slightly elevated, but not horribly. Did you eat a good supper last night before bed?”
“I wasn’t that hungry. I had some grapes and a banana, though. And water.”
“How about during the night?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I didn’t wake at all until Jax told me he was leaving and wouldn’t be back until this evening. Something to do with ExFil but I was too sleepy to really process much more.”
“Any abnormal bleeding? Nose bleeds or anything?”
“No.”
“OK.” He stopped, smiling kindly at me. “You know I have to take blood, right?”