Page 28 of Tangled Up With You

The realization that she’d been sick even longer than I suspected and hadn’t been taking care of herself made the panic-induced rage I was feeling at that very moment even worse. I wanted to strangle her for being so careless with her health, then wrap her up and hold her in my lap until she was feeling better again.

It struck me in that moment that this was the first time in my life I had ever wanted to take care of another person. Amber hadn’t been much of a caregiver while we were together either, so the two of us had an unspoken understanding that whenever the other was sick, we’d just leave them be until they were better. It had worked for us. Or at least I thought it had. But the thought of leaving Ivy alone in her current state damn near bowled me over.

It wasn’t going to happen. She could hate me all she wanted, but I wasn’t leaving her side until I trusted that she was okay.

“It’s just a stomach virus,” she continued to argue. “There’s nothing to be done. It just needs to run its course.”

Rae snorted and rolled her eyes. “Forgive me for wanting to wait to hear what the doctor has to say.”

She and I both.

A beat of silence passed through the small enclosure, and I could feel three sets of eyes on me as I continued to pace, feeling like a caged lion.

Finally, Ivy broke it, and what she said managed to piss me off even worse. “You don’t have to stick around.” When I dragged my gaze to her I saw she was looking directly at me. “I can get a ride home when I’m finished here.” She was kicking meout. She was trying to do it politely, sure. But she was attempting to kick me out all the same.

“I’m stayin’,” I grunted before resuming my worried pacing.

“Connor, that’s really not necessar?—”

Her words cut off with a yelp when, one second I was across the room and the next I was hovering over her in that goddamn hospital bed, my fists braced in the flimsy mattress on either side of her as I leaned in so close we were practically nose to nose.

“You took a fuckin’ decade off my life. I watched you faint right before my eyes and the only thing I could think was I might not get to you fast enough to keep you from hurtin’ yourself. It took a minute for you to wake back up again, butterfly. A fuckin’minute, in which time, another seven years was shaved off the end of my life. So now you’ve cost me seventeen years. The last thing I want to do is yell at you when you’re clearly sick, so please, I’m beggin’, do us both a favor and let it go, becauseI’m. Not. Leavin’. Understand?”

“What in the fresh hell is happening right now?” Rae whispered loudly from behind me, but I was too busy staring into the eyes of the woman I realized I’d do anything for to pay the other two in the room any mind.

“Let me explain,” Lennix started. “This here is an alpha cowboy exerting his dominance. It’s something you’re more inclined to see in these small towns than in the big city like you’re used to.”

“Ah, so that’s what Zach’s doing every time we get into an argument. I thought he was only being a stubborn pain in my ass.”

“Oh, he’s that too.”

My eyes stayed locked on Ivy’s big blue gaze as we both ignored the ridiculous conversation behind us. Finally, her throat worked on a thick swallow, her words coming out softly as she said, “O-okay. You can stay.”

Goddamn right I could, I thought, but decided it wouldn’t be smart to say that out loud.

The silent stare-down was broken a few seconds later when the curtain scraped along the rod as it was pulled open and the doctor walked in. I stayed rooted to the floor right beside Ivy’s bed, bracing my feet shoulder-width apart and crossing my arms over my chest as I waited for what he had to say.

“Well, I’ve gone over your bloodwork and you’re going to be fine.”

“Told you,” she blurted, her snide expression hitting all three of us.

“That isn’t to say that what’s happening isn’t serious. You passed out due to extreme dehydration. Morning sickness is no joke, especially in the early stages of a pregnancy, so I’m going to write you a prescription for a medication that should make it easier for you to keep food and liquids down.”

The doctor’s voice suddenly sounded like he was beneath water, his words not making a damn bit of sense.

“Pregnant?” Rae squeaked.

Lennix threw her hand out in front of her. “Whoa, wait.What?”

Ivy’s hand went up like she was a middle school student asking the teacher’s permission to go to the bathroom or something. “Um, doctor, I’m sorry, but I think you might have the wrong room. I have the stomach flu.”

All I could do was stand there like a fucking statue as a record scratched in a loop in my head.Pregnant. Pregnant. Pregnantit chirped before that terrible screeching sound. Over and Over.

The man’s bushy white brows pulled together in a furrow of confusion as he lifted the chart in his hands. “You’re Ivy Young, correct?”

“Yes, but . . . I’m not . . . I can’t be . . .” She broke off on a little giggle. “That’s not possible.”

“I’m sorry.” The doctor gave Ivy a gentle look before turning that same one on me. Like we were in this together or something.What the fuck was happening? “I thought you knew. Ms. Young, you’re eight weeks pregnant.”

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