Page 33 of Come Alive
But what he had done was drain me of half my blood, poked and prodded me, and still was no closer to an answer. He hadassured me both the twins were perfectly healthy. And while I was no longer in any pain, his words didn’t ease my concerns.
“We’ll take you home, and you can just relax. You don’t need to do anything until the babies come.” Mateo rubbed my shoulders as I readjusted on the hospital bed.
“I need to talk to James, get his DNA. If the children aren’t his, he can escape thissituationhe wants no part in.” His rejection still stabbed painfully in my gut, but I did my best to ignore it.
Kazi shifted in his sleep beside me in what I knew must be the most uncomfortable chair in existence—no cushion, just hard cold plastic, barely large enough to hold an adult. At least he appeared to be healing from the stab wound.
Is this my life now?
Mateo followed my vision to Kazi before stepping around the bed, kicking out his leg, and hitting the chair. “Wake up, it’s almost time to go.”
My fist landed against Mateo’s shoulder, but he just laughed at the impact.
“You really need to work on that,mija.”
Kazi got to his feet and stretched, his shirt lifting to reveal an addictive strip of skin and offering me a lazy smile. “I told him to get me up when it was time to go.”
“No, you didn’t,” I said annoyedly. “You two have been treating me like I might implode at any moment since you stepped foot in here. Yes, I am pregnant. Yes, there are two of them. That doesn’t mean I need to be coddled. You haven’t even let me take work calls! At some point, I am going to have to dive back into Darkest Desires. We have to figure this shit out if we’re going to be…going to be…” I gulped. The wordparentsfelt like a distant nightmare.
One I had no willingness to touch or look too closely at. My adoptive parents were still traveling abroad, and I hadn’t deemed to let them know of my currentsituation.
“But what if we want to coddle you?” Kazi bent forward, tucking my hair behind my ears, and pecking my nose. The action froze me in place. “Yes, we’re going to be parents. No, none of us know how, but we’re going to figure it out.”
“Fine, but I have one request. Let me get dressed and ready to leave in peace? I will meet you in the waiting room.” I knew once we left here I wouldn’t have a single second apart from either of them.
“No,” Mateo said.
Behind him, the door slowly opened. “Yara, I’m here to help you with the release forms.”
It was the same nurse as before, the one who had given me the phone. “Eve.” I smiled at her, latching onto the chance.
This time I caught her eyes before she shifted her gaze down.
There was a single instant. One heart wrenching moment. A flash of insanity. But then it was gone as if I had imagined it entirely.
“You two go get me coffee, I’ll fill out the paperwork, and then we can all go home.” I needed a minute to myself. To calm my nerves and ready myself for the fact that they were both going to be hovering over me until I gave birth. Likely evenafterthat.
The men exchanged a look between each other before Kazi offered me a chaste kiss. “Wepromisedto behave,” Kazi stated, but it was clear the words weren’t for me, as he left.
Mateo grumbled in obvious disagreement but didn’t argue, kissing my forehead and squeezing my arm, before following Kazi out the door.
“Oh yeah”—Eve’s arrival reminded me—“thank Kazi for the phone for me. I called Izzy on it.”
“You have three minutes.” Mateo didn’t say anything else as the door shut behind him.
Less than five seconds later, Eve was at my bedside.
Her sudden appearance caused me to jump, but she caught my arm in a vice grip.
“I’m sorry, Yara, but I can’t be his doll anymore.”
And then she was covering my face, smothering me, a sweet chemical scent entering my lungs.
Doll.
It was the word that cycled and tumbled and stabbed and shot through every piece and part of myself before I succumbed to unconsciousness.
Chapter 19
