Page 67 of A Deceitful Pact

“Where is she?” I hear Sawyer bellow, and he almost knocks Eleanor off her feet when he skids into the room.

“Fuck.” His eyes stretch wide, and he rushes straight to me, kneeling beside me and grabbing my hand.

“What happened? Did you fall on your tummy?” His hand touches it protectively, and I see the look Eleanor and Harriet give each other.

“Riley, are you feeling okay now?” He takes my head in his hands.

“I thinkIshould be the one asking the questions, Sawyer,” Dr. West reminds him. “There are a lot of people in this room. Why don't we give Sheriff Hale some space?” He glances up at Eleanor, Harriet, and Hayden, who are now standing by the window, and when he looks at Sawyer, I shake my head.

“He can stay.” I take hold of his hand and give Eleanor Chambers full ‘you heard it here first’bragging rights.

Dr. West ushers everyone out, except for Sawyer, who aids me in getting up and sitting in my chair.

“I promise I’m fine,” I assure Dr. West once he’s closed the door.

“I’m sure you are. Fainting during pregnancy is very common, especially when expectant mothers don’t listen to their bodies.” He rests his ass on the edge of my desk and crosses his arms like he’s about to lecture me.

“How many hours do you work a week?” he asks.

“I don’t know, forty-five?” I shrug.

“Lies,” Sawyer intervenes. “She does at least fifty, and that ain’t even counting all the work she does from home.”

“I’m the sheriff, it’s not a nine-to-five, and I’m working on an important case,” I defend myself.

“You're a mother before anything else.” Dr. West explains, and when Sawyer stands beside him, folding his arms too, I scowl at him.

“Have you been under any extra stress lately?” Dr. West continues his questioning.

“Maybe a little, but nothing I can’t handle,” I lie, because knowing that there are girls out there suffering is driving me crazy and making me doubt all my decisions. I’m scared that my attempts to protect Lily and get more evidence are cutting them off from resources that could help find them.

“Well, I think you need to rest. Take a week off, and see how you feel. You're almost twenty-eight weeks, there's always the option of maternity leave.”

“I don’t want to take leave that early.” I press my hand into the base of my spine while I stretch, and the good, hard jab I get to the ribs lets me know my baby girl’s just fine.

“I want you to come to the office so we can take a listen to the baby's heartbeat, we'll take some blood just to be sure.Then go home.” He emphasises his last three words.

“Great idea, Doc.” Sawyer nods his head before holding out his arm for me. “Shall we?”

* * *

“What are you doin’?” Sawyer looks furious when he comes into my room and sees all the paperwork spread out on my bed.

“I’m just looking at some maps and calculating some options,” I tell him innocently.

“You're workin’, which Doc told you not to do.” He places my tea down on the bedside table and starts gathering up all the map sheets I’ve printed out.

“Come on, Riley, you passed out today. You need to switch off from all this, even if it’s just for a little while.”

“Do you think I made a bad call?” I ask, feeling my emotions take over. “Do you think hiding Lily was the best option? We could have called in the FBI on this, they have much better resources.”

“You had to hide her to protect her.” He gives up being mad at me and sits on the bed beside me.

“They’ve probably moved the girls she was with to a new location when they realized she was gone. I wanted all this done by the time she got here, and I’m running out of time.” I slide my hand over my belly and feel like such a failure.

“Hey, there ain’t no ‘I’ in team, we’reallworkin’ on this. We’re gonna get that evidence.”

“I don’t want my little girl growing up in a world where men like them exist.” I dance my fingers over the ridge of my stomach, knowing that it makes her respond. I need another reminder that she’s okay, because Sawyer’s right, today was scary even if I’m trying to convince everyone that it wasn’t.

---