Page 97 of Time to Bounce

ATHENA

Ten minutes later I was sitting at Maven’s bedside explaining what happened as she breathed her way through a contraction.

“So who was the guy at your brother’s place?” she asked in confusion.

I shook my head. “I have no idea. Maybe some rando, or maybe someone somehow related to Madman.”

“Fuck.” Maven said. “That’s not good.”

“No,” I agreed. “I didn’t think it was.”

We stayed silent for a few seconds as the next contraction rolled through.

“He’s hurt, your Gable.” Maven whispered as she squeezed my hand, not because she was trying to comfort me, but because I’d somehow become her birthing partner since her husband kept slipping out to take phone calls from his father and brothers. “He doesn’t understand what he’s asking.”

I didn’t believe her words any more than Maven did.

“Oh, shit.” Maven moaned. “Go get that asshole before I break your hand.”

“I’m right here,” Auden said as he hurried back into the room. “I’m sorry. Apparently, shit went down other than my brother getting stabbed.”

My head whipped around toward him. “Like what?”

Auden sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “The man that y’all shot at Athena’s brother’s place wasn’t Darryl Horton, obviously. He’s the one who attacked Athena down the road. You’ve gotten all that, right?”

Both Maven and I nodded, though Maven hadn’t let up on my hand.

“Well, apparently before the stabbing happened, he said a few choice words about Garrett,” he said.

“Garrett?” Maven hissed out.

Why wasn’t her stupid epidural working?

“Yes,” Auden moved toward the other side of Maven’s bed and pushed her hair out of her face. It was such a sweet gesture that it made my heart ache. “What do y’all know about when Garrett was hurt years ago?”

“When he was undercover?” Maven asked. “Not all that much.”

“Garrett was undercover trying to gain some information on the gangs in Dallas. He’d been undercover for about four months when shit went down that got him stabbed,” he explained. “Some baby doc—whose now family—from the hospital saved him after another gang member stabbed the ER doc trying to help them. Turns out the ER dude stabbed was the baby doc’s fiancé. She saved Garrett’s life despite him having just played a part in getting her fiancé stabbed.”

“I imagine he had nothing to do with getting the doctor stabbed,” I replied, trying to think about anything but the way my bones in my hand were likely turning to dust.

“No,” Auden agreed. “He really had nothing to do with it at all. The doc was stabbed in the chest. Took out his left lung and went into his heart. It took him a long time to heal from that, but when he came back, he wanted nothing to do with the gang division, or the undercover work that he and Gable were doing.”

I didn’t blame him.

“Is that how he got his face scar?” I asked curiously.

“No, that came after.” He grimaced. “Kid with a knife trying to get out of going to jail.”

“So what does this have to do with today?” Maven asked as a nurse came in, a smile on her face.

None of us smiled back at her.

“I’m just gonna do a real quick check…” She disappeared under the blanket covering Maven’s lower half as soon as she had her gloves in place.

She came back out seconds later with a smile. “Eight, now. Should be any time now. Can I get you anything?”

Maven shook her head, and the nurse left with a promise to be back in ten minutes.

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