Page 32 of Owning the Prez’s Ol' Lady

Exiting the delivery room, I found Joe, indeed, wearing a hole in the carpet. He was pacing back and forth, and immediately stopped when he saw me standing there.

“Is she okay?” he asked. “Is the baby okay?”

I nodded, and emotion started overwhelming me again. “They are both great. She’s the proud mama of a beautiful baby girl.”

“Girl? I had a feeling it was a girl.”

He must’ve seen the emotion in my eyes, because he was in front of me after taking two giant steps, wiping the tears away from the corners of my eyes with the pad of his thumb. “Now the bigger question is, are you okay?”

I started to open my mouth to speak, but suddenly every word failed to reach my tongue, and my entire body went weak.

“Shasta, are you okay?” he asked, though his voice sounded faint and far off in the distance.

I was in a catatonic black hole, one that was completely focused on the man who stood just inside the hospital doors, staring at me with an unmistakable devastation.

Every cell in my body sparked to life, and that familiar pull had me feeling weightless and out of breath.

Before I knew what was happening, my body swayed, and I lost all support of my knees. My body hit the ground, and the second my head connected with the concrete, everything went black.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Snyder

Seeing her in another man’s arms made me question everything. We only stopped for gas and to take a piss, foregoing food and rest, just to get to them. We rode through the night on unfamiliar roads, hyped up on energy drinks to keep us going.

I was exhausted, and sleep was creeping in, but I had to see her. She was my only purpose.

The second her body hit the floor, I was on autopilot, rushing forward until I was kneeling by her side, scooping her lifeless body into my arms.

“Shasta, baby,” I whispered, clutching her even closer.

The man next to her stiffened, and I could feel his cold stare penetrating my back.

“Who the fuck are you?” he growled. Like the dude literally snarled at me. He towered over me by at least seven inches, and he was built like a goddamn tank; his shoulders and muscles doubling the size of mine.

Within minutes, Shasta came to, her eyes blinking as she tried to focus on my face. “Snyder?” Her fingers reached up, caressing the scruff on my face, her familiar touch dismantling every part of me. “Yeah, baby, it’s me.”

“How is this possible?” she whispered. “Am I dreaming?”

“No, you’re not dreaming.”

There was a large lump on the back of her head, one that I could feel with the palm of my hand. “Nurse, we need some help here,” I shouted as a nurse rushed past.

Stopping only to assess the situation, the nurse kept going, shouting over her shoulder, “I need a stretcher!”

Two minutes later, they had Shasta loaded up, wheeling her down the hall toward the emergency room.

I was hot on her heels, but so was the big burly ape that was previously touching my woman.

They wheeled her into a room, shutting the door so neither one of us could enter. For a moment, we just stood there in silence, staring at the door as it swung shut, blocking her from our view.

That silence was broken by the clearing of his throat, and another guttural growl that was actually very intimidating. “I’m not going to ask you again,” he snapped. “Who the fuck are you?”

Sadly, I looked up at him, noting the jealousy and protection in his voice. It was obvious that Shasta had moved on, and this man was the man who had claimed her.

“Just a man from her past,” I said sadly. “One that deeply regrets letting her go.”

His eyes were a strange ice-blue and seemed to darken the longer we stared at each other.

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