Page 12 of Baby on Board

“You want in?” he rakes his gaze over my body, landing at the bump that’s protruding more each day now.

“No.” I give him a hard stare until he takes his eyes off my belly and looks at my face. “I’m looking for my husband. Rafe Landon. Have you seen him tonight?”

The look on his face is priceless. He can’t seem to make his mouth close, and his forehead wrinkles in surprise. “Husband? I didn’t know the guy was married.”

“Most people don’t. Is he here or not?”

One large hand descends on my shoulder, and he turns me away from the crowd waiting at the door. “Rafe isn’t here,” he says. His voice softer than it was before, and his eyes fill with something I read as concern. My heart catches in my throat.

“Is there something wrong?”

“We had some unruly guys in here earlier. A couple of them wanted to fight. Rafe and I had to break them up.”

“Where’s Rafe now?” My breathing quickens, and I place one arm around my belly as if I can protect Baby Landon from whatever is coming next.”

“One of the guys hit him pretty hard on the head. Jacob took him to the hospital over an hour ago.”

“Which hospital?” I demand.

“Woodhull’s the closest.”

He says something else, but I don’t wait to hear it. I’m halfway down the block before it hits me a taxi would be faster. As soon as I’m settled into one, I start making calls. No one can tell me anything about a patient name Landon and Rafe isn’t answering his phone.

Exhausted from the search, I lean back into the seat and work on catching my breath and calming myself for the baby.

If anything has happened to Rafe, I swear I will never forgive myself for walking out on him. Please, God, let Rafe be okay.

Rafe

The ER isn’t where I’d planned to spend my evening, but that’s what happens when you lose focus in a fistfight.

I thought my head was clear enough to handle work tonight. I’d pushed Jade out of my mind, or so I thought. Brick gets crazy on Thursday nights when the college kids storm the place and damn, can those little fuckers not hold their booze.

We’ve asked Jacob to block them at the door, but he likes their money too much, and their weekly fights are job security, which I need right now.

I’d taken my mind off work for one second when a girl looking like Jade sat at the bar surrounded by college guys. That had been my downfall. By the time the fight broke, I was half in, pulling bodies off of bodies until one of the guys swung back with a killer left hook and caught me right in the nose.

“It’s broke.” Jacob’s pacing the small area they have me in and studying the Xray on the wall. “Damn kids are gonna cost me a fortune in medical bills.”

“It’s fine,” I say, holding the bridge of my nose to stop more blood from pouring out. “I’ve had a broken one before and never needed a hospital to tell me what to do with it.”

Jacob laughs. “Well, this one happened on my watch, so you get a clean bill of health before you return to work, ah.”

Jacob’s a good guy. He hasn’t even asked what happened. Why I was so unfocused, I let a barely legal punk get a punch in on my face. Maybe he already knows.

I know I’ve been acting off the last couple of days, and even though Jacob and the guys said nothing, they’ve got to see it too.

“Did you call Jade?” Jacob shoves his hands in his pockets and his shoulders tense.

“No,” I answer, he already seems to understand why.

“She’d want to know.”

“Maybe.” But I’m not ready to tell her. I don’t want to stress her any more than she already is. “I’ll shoot her a text when the doctor gives me the all-clear.”

“You two have a fight?”

“Something like that.”

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