Page 102 of There Are No Words

“Jade!” Brady and I shouted at the same time, and I looked up at him, thanking him with my eyes that he knew how much this meant to me.

Jade came up to us, her brows furrowed. “What’s going on? Allie, are you okay?”

“Oh, not much. It’s just. . . I’m in labor,” I answered, acting nonchalant, when in reality I wanted to die from the pain I was in.

Jade’s eyes widened, and I thought they might roll out of her head. That level of shock was unmatched. “Well, what are you waiting for? You have to go to the hospital!”

“Not—” More pain ripped through me. “Without—” I tried to ignore the pain as best as I could to get out the rest. “Allmy sisters.”

“Are you sure?” Jade asked.

I darted her an intense are-you-seriously-asking-me-that-right-now look. “Yes!” I assured her.

Jade was my sister, and she deserved to be right by my side along with the rest of our family as I gave birth to this baby (read: impatient little demon child causing me the worst pain of my life).

Jade nodded and helped Brady lead me out. “I’ll drive so you can stay with Allegra,” she said, her keys already in her hand. “I parked in the lot.”

“You can follow me,” Maria said, going into take-charge mode as she lifted her dress from the floor and ran ahead of us to get to the valet attendant. “Dad, you’ll come with me. Bibi and Perla, meet us there.”

Brady helped me into Jade’s car while Jade exchanged niceties and an introduction with him.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but wonder if they realized just how much pain I was in. Because now didnotfeel like the time for that, but oh, what did I know?

Then, as Jade was pulling around to the side of the valet line to follow Maria, Brady turned toward me. His hands clasped mine as beads of sweat appeared on my forehead. How was it possible that I was breaking a sweat already?

“Remember, you want to do those breathing techniques I read about,” Brady insisted, moving his lips in a way that told me he was going to show me how to do them.

If looks could kill, he would have been dead.

Dead!

Because if I had to hear about that book—that godforsaken fucking pregnancy book—one more time, I was going to lose myshit. “If you don’t stop mentioning that boooook!” I cried out the last word as another contraction ripped through me.

Clearly ignoring me, he tried instructing, “Hee-hee-hoo.”

Hee. I would have liked to see Brady try to do this.

Hee. I hated him and what he’d done to me.

Hoo. I wanted the drugs. And I wanted them NOW.

When the contraction was over, I pulled on the collar of his shirt and pulled him very, very close to me, so close he could probably see my pores. “I want drugs. Do you hear me, Brady? When we get to that hospital, you better make sure they give me all the drugs. Because if you think I’m doing this unmedicated, then you have another thing coming.”

Whoever thought that was a good idea (we’ll pretend that was not me!) wasn’t thinking clearly.

Meanwhile, the corners of his mouth turned upward. Yes, they actually turned upward. What the hell was he smiling about? None of this was smile-worthy. This was punch-a-wall-and-try-to-wrestle-a-kangaroo aggravating. It was stressful and painful and emotional, and why, oh why, did I have to go to his pub that night? I was a horny, glutton-for-punishment, moron that was why.

That was it.

I was never sleeping with this man again.

Yep, for all I cared, we could be celibate for the rest of our lives.

Him and his stupid, beautiful, thick, lengthy cock had gotten me into this mess.

I turned to him and glowered. “I hate you,” I said simply.

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