Page 11 of Buried

With a gag, I threw myself out of bed, rushing over to the bathroom. I barely managed to drop to my knees in front of the toilet before I emptied my stomach.

River, who I hadn’t even noticed got out of bed with me, held my hair out of the way and comfortingly rubbed my back as I dry heaved a couple more times before I got sick again. Tears spilled down my cheeks. Fuck, throwing up hurtso much. And my face was fuckingthrobbing.

“You alright, darlin’?” he asked me once I was done emptying my stomach.

“It’s going to be one of those days,” I grumbled, my stomach still churning. I gagged again, but nothing came up that time. “I washoping I’d left them behind in my first trimester, but I guess not.”

“Morning sickness?” he inquired, a slight frown pulling on his face as he tried to understand what I was going through. Despite how shitty I felt, it warmed my heart.

I nodded in answer. He leaned down and lifted me against his chest, cradling me in his arms as he carried me to my living room. He gently set me onto the couch and grabbed my throw blanket from the back of it, draping it over me.

“I’m going to make you some soup. Do you have any saltine crackers?” he asked. “I heard crackers are supposed to help the nausea.”

I shook my head at him. “I ate them all the last time I was sick,” I told him, closing my eyes as vomit rose in my throat. I really didn’t want to get sick again.

I slowly opened my eyes once the nausea settled, only to see him pulling his phone out of his pocket to type out a quick text to someone. After he was finished, he slid his phone back in his pocket and placed a kiss on my forehead before he walked off to my kitchen to make me some soup.

Closing my eyes, I curled into a ball, muffling a groan in the throw pillow beneath my head when my stomach churned again.

Chapter Seven

River

Asoft smile crossed my lips as I walked back into the living room, finding Adelaide asleep again, her hands folded under her head, her lips parted the tiniest bit. At that moment, she looked like an angel, albeit a broken one but an angel, nonetheless.

Fuck, she took my breath away every time I looked at her, and she didn’t even realize it. She was so blind to the effect that she had on me. I was hers—a weapon for her to wield, a soldier to command. She was the only person I would ever bow down to.

I unbuttoned my flannel and slid it off, tossing it onto her coffee table as I walked over to the couch, gently lifting her and setting her onto my lap so I could watch TV while she slept since she didn’t have a television in her bedroom.

I would have placed her in her bed, but I wanted to be near her if something happened or if she needed me. And shockingly, despite the location her apartment was in, she had good walls that hid sound pretty well. If I ended up falling asleep, I might not hear her if she got sick again.

I was dozing off myself when Sam entered the apartment with the key that I had given him to her place in the rare case that he may need to get to her when I couldn’t. I slowly opened my eyes, and he arched an eyebrow at me in question as he set the crackers on the counter. “Tristan and Jesup have been waiting for you to come back to the clubhouse to finalize shit,” he reminded me quietly, seeing as Adelaide was still passed out.

I sighed, leaning my head back against the couch. “She’s not feeling good,” I told him. “The baby is kicking her ass this morning.”

“Baby?” Sam asked incredulously.

Fuck. I had forgotten he didn’t know.

I lifted my head again to look at him. “She’s pregnant,” I told him quietly. “And yes, it’s mine,” I informed him before he could ask.

“Holy fuck, Prez,” Sam muttered. He shook his head, laughing softly. “You almost made it to thirty without a kid, huh?”

I chuckled, shrugging lightly. I’d never wanted kids, but when I saw those ultrasound pictures and put the dates together, I’d never wanted anything more.

But it was because it was with Adelaide. I wantedeverythingwith this woman.

Adelaide suddenly gagged, jerking awake from her deep slumber. I quickly released her and followed after her as she rushed to the bathroom, throwing up again.

“You sure that this is just morning sickness?” I asked her as she flushed the toilet.

She nodded. “This is mild,” she told me, her voice raspy. “It used to be a lot worse. The doctor informed me it may come back sometimes. I’d just been hoping it wouldn’t.”

I brushed the back of my fingers over her cheek, watching as she slightly tilted her head into my touch, making a small smile touch my lips. Knowing that I was the one that could make her feel comfortable and safe gave me a strange feeling inside of my chest, one I was loving.

“I need to go deal with some shit at the clubhouse. You can stay here if you want, and I can have Sam stay with you, or you can come with me. If you come, you can rest in my room there.”

“I’ll just come with you.” She sighed and rubbed at her eyes. “Let me get a shower and brush my teeth. I reek.”

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