Page 144 of Fought and Freed

What did he need up here?

Shoes! He needed his shoes and keys.

Get it together, Anderson.

He shoved his feet into his boots, ran back downstairs, grabbed his keys from the hook on the wall, and raced out to his truck, quickly texting everyone along the way.

He knew Cody didn’t always have a signal at the job sites. The others were in class and wouldn’t get the message until they were done, but he didn’t want to forget to tell them.

Then, he practically flew to Amber’s mom’s house.

He ran up to the door and opened it. “Amber?”

“In my room!” she yelled.

He hurried to the back of the house where her room was and found her curled up in a ball on her bed, still in her silk nightgown.

“Why aren’t you dressed?” Skylar huffed.

She glared balefully at him. “You try getting dressed with something ripping out your insides. Help me!”

He really didn’t want to see her naked.

Please forgive me, Maddy.

Trying not to look too much, he helped Amber take off her nightgown and found what she wanted to wear to the hospital. Next, he pulled on her sweats and put on her shoes.

“God, I can’t wait to wear normal clothes again and go out,” she complained.

“You could go out now,” he pointed out.

“While I look like a beached whale?” She gave him a horrified look. “No way!”

He ignored the comment and helped her outside to the truck.

Amber’s nose wrinkled. “Where’s the Jeep? This thing is so ugly.”

“Just get in the damn thing.” He helped her up, then ran around to the other side.

As he hauled ass to the hospital, Amber moaned or screamed, depending on if she was having a contraction.

In between the wailing, she mumbled about her love for him and the things she did for him, which worried him. She didn’t sound in her right mind. Was that normal?

They reached the hospital, and nurses took Amber to the maternity ward, where they got Amber changed into a gown and up on a table.

As the contractions got closer together, Amber screamed, “Get me an epidural!”

“We need to check how close you are,” the nurses explained.

Face red, Amber started screaming non-stop.

Skylar tried to get her to stop. “There are other people here besides you.”

The doctor arrived, clearly trying to look calm and not irritated. “Please stop. Try to control the pain by using the breathing exercises you learned in Lamaze class.”

They hadn’t gone to Lamaze class, even though Skylar had wanted to. Amber thought it was stupid.

“Shut up!” she yelled at the doctor. “I’ll scream until you get me an epidural!”

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