Page 73 of The Devil's Detail
Especially when Kasey pipes up. “I haven’t been asked yet. When should I come over, Tarron?”
We all look at him in surprise. He’s dead serious.
I muffle the snicker trying to escape my brain, my inner petty bitch just a wee bit excited at my elevation to family status while Kasey is still friendzoned.
Evie just shakes her head. “We’ll sort out a date, Kasey.”
He gives her a blinding smile. No wonder Marcus and Xander get annoyed with him. He is as subtle as a brick.
Then the fun really starts. A scene of total chaos unfolds throughout the afternoon. One that would never have made it into a film script. Everyone would say it’s too far-fetched.
We’re walking back from the water’s edge—Tarron carrying Rio, the boys being carried by Jackson and yours truly—when Evie stops dead. “My waters just broke.” She looks down, and sure enough, her skirt is darker, wet. And her face shows real pain.
“Can you walk?” Jackson puts down Sorley, and I place Lachlan on the sand next to me in case Evie needs extra hands. Tommy comes and stands next to them, calling Valentina—who stayed back at the house—to come and collect the children.
Evie starts to giggle. Clearly she’s lost her mind.
Jackson looks at her in amazement. “We need to get to the house. Evie, let’s go.” He tries to give her a gentle tug, but she hangs onto his arm and breathes in a pattern.
“I know what to do,” Kasey states with a sense of authority he has absolutely no right to. And I roll my eyes, loudly, as he proclaims, “I did a movie about a doctor. I helped the actress give birth.” He moves to the other side of Evie and starts to breathe with her.
“Kasey, that wasn’t real,” I state in amazement, trying so hard to hold in my laughter at his audacity. I mean, is he serious right now?
He starts to coach Evie on breathing techniques, and I can tell Jackson is a whisker away from committing murder, but at least she starts moving again.
Our progress is slow, and with the kids back at the house, I can see Tarron standing with Rio, watching us creep step by step up the beach. My panic starts to ramp up with each inch wecover, reaching a fever pitch as Evie is sweating, her hair soaked. Even Kasey is finally looking worried.
Her contractions are coming thick and fast. Tarron disappears into the house, reappearing a moment later and shouts that the car is waiting to go to the hospital and he’s called Kell and Xander. Fuck. If something happens to her, we are all dead men
“I don’t think it was this painful with Rio,” she gets out between pants.
Well that’s not good.
My heart rate is through the roof. Jackson is trying to contain his emotions, but, poor man, they are written all over his face. And they only get worse as Evie is breathing and crying as each contraction hits her one after the other.
Then she utters the fatal words: “Jackson, I need to push.”
He’s so scared, he picks her up in a honeymoon carry and runs for the house. I run behind them, leaving Kasey in the dust. Valentina takes all the kids, including Rio, to the other side of the house in case Evie starts to scream too loudly.
Jackson dumps Evie onto a settee in the big lounge and immediately leaves the room. Evie’s on all fours, swaying in agony. I watch as she looks around the room and starts laughing to herself. What the hell is wrong with her?
“Are you alright, Evie?” I ask. I’m sure worry is lining my face. “Do you need anything? What’s so funny?”
“Just thinking about all the antics this room has seen over the years. And now this, our lives come full circle.” She grins at me, sweat running from her brow.
Jackson rushes back in with cool towels and places them on her head and neck, soothing her while he works to cool her down. “Kasey, call an ambulance. I don’t think a car is going to be enough at this point,” he orders. “Do you need anything else, Evie?”
“I need to push, Jax,” she tells him through her clenched jaw.
“The ambulance is not here, Evie. You can’t push yet.” His pleas appear to be falling on deaf ears, but I’m one hundred percent with him on this—both of us are desperate for her not to want to push.
“Jackson.” She’s trying not to scream, probably trying to keep the kids from freaking out. Hell, I’m freaking out. “I need to push you better get someone on the phone Xan did it you can.” Her words come out in one long stream of pain and frustration and then she starts to strip.
Kasey’s eyes get bigger, and he gasps out in horror at my side.
“Kase,” she grits out, “I can’t deliver with my knickers on. Leave if you can’t hack it.” She’s a general commanding the troops. Deal or leave. These babies are coming.
Oh my god. I see the agony, I see the pain, I see a drop of blood.
