Page 18 of Hacker Christmas

“They rushed our girlfriend and the mother of our children to the ER, and we’re waiting on some news.”

Betty didn’t have time to ask any questions before Aaron’s dad beamed. “I’m getting another grandchild?” he asked.

“I’ll get an update and be right back,” Betty said.

Aaron leaned over and whispered in my ear. “You need to tell us about your childhood.” He squeezed my hand and turned in his father’s direction. “Yes, Dad, you are getting another grandbaby. We wanted to wait for her appointment tomorrow before we said anything. We’re supposed to fly out on Saturday for the premiere and then to Denver for Christmas. I plan to move in with Daisy and Neal.”

I held my breath because I didn’t know how they would take it.

But instead of thinking we were strange, Antonio Senior stuck out his hand. “Welcome to the family,son.”

I had to blink back tears. So much was happening, and Daisy wasn’t with us. Dread filled my stomach, and I wanted to scream.

Betty walked through the door with a smile. “It seems I have a lady demanding that someone let her men back with her. If you’ll follow me, I will take you to her.”

Aaron and I were both next to Betty in seconds.

“We’ll let everyone know you went back,” Martha told us as we walked through the doors.

Betty pulled back the tan curtain around Daisy’s bed. Her right arm was in a pink cast, and her left arm, into which an IV ran, was bandaged. I rushed to her side and grabbed her hand. I leaned down and gave her a kiss on the lips. Aaron also leaned down and gave her a kiss.

“You came.”

“Of course! I will always come for you. I don’t want to go through not knowing again.” Aaron leaned in closer. “I felt so helpless when they wouldn’t give us an update.”

I cut Aaron off. “How are you? How are the babies? What happened?” I had a million questions running through my head.

Daisy let her head fall back onto the pillow. “Daisy is fine. I mean, I’m fine. My new OB-GYN is here. Dr. Angel will be down shortly. The nurse said the babies looked healthy, but she wanted my doctor to double check.”

“What happened, Daisy?” Aaron asked.

She bit her lip. “Um, the guy I scened with wasn’t happy with me. He didn’t like how I got him banned from the club.”

“I’m going to kill him.” I couldn’t hold the words back. Killing him electronically wouldn’t be enough for what he did to Daisy. He put the woman I love in the hospital, and I wanted him to die.

A man who’d entered the room as I spoke said, “You won’t have to kill him. An alligator took care of him. Daisy’s lucky a patrol officer saw an object in the swamp. Officer Jacona reached her in time—an alligator was headed her way.” He turned to her. “Hi, Daisy, I’m Detective Higgins. I was wondering if you felt up to telling me what happened?”

“Can we come in tomorrow and give a report?” I wanted Daisy to rest.

“I’ll talk now. I don’t want to deal with the police station tomorrow.”

Daisy spent the next half hour explaining what happened. My vision turned red by the end of her story. He was already dead, and I wanted to kill him again. Aaron pressed his lips together, and his jaw twitched with each word. When our eyes locked, I knew he wanted to kill the guy all over again too.

Detective Higgins wished Daisy well then exited the room.

For ten minutes, Aaron’s phone had been going off like crazy in his pocket. I didn’t know how he could ignore it. I wanted to reach over and answer the phone. “Aaron, you need to get that.”

“No. I’m spending time with you. Whoever it is can wait.”

“Take it now,” Daisy said. “We’re just waiting on the doctor and my discharge papers.”

He reached for his phone, and when his eyes landed on the screen, he went pale. “That motherfucker,” he mumbled.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, I wanted us to tell the world about our relationship. My ex-agent threatened me yesterday, saying that if I didn’t take a new role, he would tell the world about us. I told him to go ahead. I didn’t think he would do it. I’m sorry this happened. The media have pictures of us.”

Daisy reached out and grabbed both of our hands. “At least they got my good side. I don’t care what the media says as long as I have you two.”

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