Page 145 of Fought and Freed

This was going to be a fun few hours.

“Let me see how dilated you are.” The doctor walked to the end of the bed to examine Amber before looking over the paper sheet over her legs. “It looks like you’re about ready to push.”

Amber paled. “Not without the epidural.”

“It’s too late for that,” the doctor said and strode to the door to call in the nurses.

Just as they were getting Amber into position, Ryder and Jace ran in.

“Did we miss it?” Jace asked, out of breath.

Skylar ran over and hugged his boyfriend, burying his face in the crook of his neck. He needed Jace to calm him down. “No, but she’s fully dilated, so you’re just in time.”

“They’re not staying,” Amber groaned. “This is a couple’s thing only.”

“We’re not a couple, Amber. If I want Jace and Maddy here, then I’m allowed to have them with me,” Skylar argued.

“Absolutely not,” Amber snarled. “I will not have your whore and fag friend in here while I’m having your baby.”

Skylar looked over at the doctor, hoping she would help him out, and she looked just as stressed as he felt.

“Babe, maybe it would be better for us to go,” Jace murmured. “We don’t want to put more stress on the baby.”

“I’ll let you kow as soon as he’s born.” He kissed Jace and hugged Ryder.

As we walked over to the bed, Amber thrust out her hand for him to hold. “I can’t believe you thought I would let them watch.”

He bit his tongue to stop from replying.

The nurse in the room explained what he would need to do when it was time for Amber to push, and he took hold of one of Amber’s legs.

She screamed and clawed at Skylar’s arm as she pushed, but the pain didn’t even register as he watched in fascination as his son’s blond head crowned.

It went fast from there, and his son was born at five forty-five pm, all seven pounds and three ounces of him.

When the nurse asked if he wanted to cut the cord, he took the scissors with shaking hands and snipped the cord.

After that, they whisked him to a rolling cart off to the side of the room. He followed and watched them clear his baby’s throat, and his heart felt ready to burst at the first cry from his son.

As they cleaned him up a bit, one of the nurses smiled at him. “Do you have a name yet?”

“Ethan Jared,” he choked out.

“Shultz,” Amber added from the bed.

The nurse beamed at him. “Great name, Mr. Shultz.”

Horror filled Skylar. “We’re not married. She was a summer fling.”

“God, Skylar, do you have to tell everyone that you left me for a whore?” Amber demanded.

“Stop calling Maddy a whore,” he said through his teeth. “If I could prove you poked holes in those condoms, I’d be suing you for sexual assault.”

“That’s not a thing.” She snorted, then grimaced. “Aren’t we done yet?”

The doctor straightened from under the sheet. “There you go. No tearing.”

Skylar was sure the doctor wanted to get the Hell out of the room, but she should be used to him and Amber fighting after their many office visits.

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