Page 123 of Mace

“And don’t forget to eat the brownies I left in the kitchen,” she says. “There’s also a sponge cake and some cookies that Ivy made, but I’m not sure how edible they’ll be.”

“You’re something else, girl,” Nicky says.

I wrap my arm around her shoulder, tucking her to my side as we walk out to my bike. Everything feels exactly how it should be with her and with my family. It’s just my club that is wrong, and I don’t know how we fix that.

As we stop at the side of my bike, she pulls out herphone. “I just want to message Ivy and make sure she’s okay. She wasn’t feeling so good this morning.”

Her sister is due to give birth in a month, and I can already sense Maylie’s worried about her. “Sure.”

I wait patiently for a moment until she’s finished, and a response pings back almost immediately. “She’s okay,” she says, letting out a relieved sigh. “I swear, she’s going to make me grey.”

She tucks her phone into her jacket pocket. “She’ll be fine,” I say. “The last month of pregnancy is hard on the body.”

I hand her the shiny green helmet I bought her for riding with me, but she doesn’t reach to take it. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Her bottom lip slips between her teeth, and my senses go on alert. “Do you think we could take a car?”

The ripple of anxiety that works across her face says a thousand things to me that other people might not notice, but I’ve come to learn all of her nuances. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just would rather not ride today.”

Considering how much she loves riding, that sets off all my alarm bells. “Maylie, talk to me.”

She winces. “I’ve been feeling really shit lately,” she blurts out, and my stomach plummets into the floor.

“Are you sick?”

“No.” She pulls another face that I can’t read. “I just don’t want to be on the bike in case I pass out or fall off.”

“Why would you pass out?”

“Yesterday, when I was getting out of the shower, I got dizzy. Everything was whirling around me and—” She rubs at her stomach, wincing. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

Terror strangles me as she rushes over to the edge ofthe parking area, her hand covering her mouth before she bends over and retches. I’m at her side in an instant, pulling her hair back so she doesn’t puke in it, my mind in overdrive. Dizziness, nausea… how long has this been going on for? How did I not see she’s ill?

She retches over and over but nothing comes up, and she seems weak as I help her straighten.

“Fuck, Maylie. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

She straightens slowly, pulling tissue out of her pocket so she can wipe her mouth, even though she never brought anything up. I don’t miss the wobble she does, and I instinctively hold onto her, fearing she might pass out. Even in the crappy lights of the parking area, I can see how pale she is.

“I don’t need to go to the hospital.” She waves off my concern. “I’m not sick. I’m?—”

“The fuck you’re not.”

She grabs hold of my kutte as if it’s the only thing stopping her from falling down, her head leaning against my chest.

She mumbles something, but I can’t hear what she says.

“We’re going to the hospital. This is not up for negotiation, Maylie. You should’ve told me that you were dizzy and that you’ve been having symptoms. I could’ve done something.”

Her head lifts as I rant, and her smile is almost a little dazed. “You’ve already done enough.” I don’t know what that means, but ice spreads through my veins for a second. “I feel like this because ofyou.”

I recoil, horrified that I’ve done something to hurt her,to make her sick, but she doesn’t let me go far, grabbing my hand and placing it on her stomach.

“We should’ve got a bigger apartment, since we’re about to have two babies under the age of one.”

I stare at her, my mind reeling. Is she saying what I think she’s saying? “You’re pregnant?”

---