Page 102 of Cross Check Daddies
Tanner stands and walks to the side of her bed, gently brushing his hand along her arm. “You’re not doing this alone.”
Cam leans in. “Whatever you need. Whatever it takes.”
I move closer and take her hand. “We’ll figure it out. Together.”
Brooke’s voice is small. “I need a minute.”
We all step back.
“I need to talk to Jackson,” she adds, barely louder than the IV drip. “Alone.”
Cam squeezes her foot as he passes. Tanner kisses her forehead and murmurs something I don’t catch. I pause at the door. Her hand is still on her stomach, still curled around the unknown.
“You scared the hell out of me,” I whisper.
She gives me a faint, watery smile. “Yeah. I scared myself too.”
I press my lips to her fingers, then to the inside of her wrist. She doesn’t pull away.
Leo texts me just as I step into the hallway:Game’s already trending. Frostbite’s flying. You did it.
But all I think about is how pale she looked before she fell. How cold her hand was in mine. How tightly she held on.
She’s carrying twins.
She nearly collapsed under the pressure of it all.
And we let her.
Not again.
She’s not just carrying babies.
She’s carrying our future.
And none of us is leaving her side.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Brooke
Jackson sitson the edge of the bed, swinging his legs gently. His face is serious, too grown-up, eyes fixed on the blanket bunched at my waist.
“Are you okay, Mommy?”
I reach for his little hand, tuck it into mine. “I am now.”
He looks up. “You fainted.”
“I know, baby. That wasn’t fun, huh?”
He shakes his head. “I got scared.”
I squeeze his fingers. “I did too. But I’m okay. And you know what? The doctors checked and said everything looks good.”
“Even the baby?”
“Even the babies.”
