Page 113 of Paternal Instincts
“Where does Marley live?”
Chapter 25
Quaid
Icollided with Costa in my race to leave the building. The sliding doors opened automatically as he entered, and I exited. I couldn’t stop my momentum in time, and we crashed bodily, knocking our heads so hard that a burst of white light flashed across my vision, and my teeth clacked together.
“Son of a—” Costa caught my arm before I bounced back and tumbled to the ground or into oncoming foot traffic, scurrying in and out of the building. He massaged his forehead. “Where the fuck are you going? Does parenthood scare you that much?” He laughed, but I was not in a joking mood.
Dizzy and disoriented from the collision, I scanned the bustling entranceway and unending traffic. “Where’s Jordyn?”
“Parking the car. Christ. Am I bleeding?” Costa removed his fingers from where he’d been prodding his forehead and examined them.
I touched my matching lump in sympathy. “No. Am I?”
He scanned my face. “No. What the fuck’s going on?”
“No time to explain.”
Explaining would slow me down. Instead, I snagged Costa’s arm and dragged him toward the parking garage. “I need you. Get your phone out and find me the fastest route to Dawlish Avenue. It’s not far. It’s within blocks of here. I know that much.”
I gave Costa credit. He didn’t hound me or ask excessive questions. He simply went along with everything I said.
In Aslan’s Equinox, he hooked his phone to the Bluetooth so I could follow the map he’d found. Only as I screamed out of the parking lot and nearly took out the barrier arm when it lifted too slow did he ask, “Are we running away together? I feared this might happen one day. Quaid, we aren’t compatible. I say this in the kindest, most nonhomophobic way, but I will never sleep with you.”
“That’s a shame.” I tossed him my phone. “Call Aslan. Tell him I’m sorry.”
The heat of my best friend’s gaze warmed my face. He didn’t move or act.
“Costa. Please.”
“You know he’s going to kick my ass, right? I’m absconding with his husband on the day his baby is being born. FYI, I pretend to be tough and show off my tattoos every chance I get because it makes Az sick with envy, but Quaid, Az lifts weights. Heavy ones. He’s the real threat. Not me.”
“Sweetheart, if you don’t call Aslan right fucking now, I will make your life utter hell for the next dozen years. If you think my teasing and flirting was bad before? Try me.”
He didn’t make me repeat myself and fumbled with my phone. I gave him the password to unlock it and waited until he found Aslan’s name in my contacts. The call must have connected, but I couldn’t hear more than Costa’s side of the conversation over the traffic and GPS telling me where to go.
“Hey, Az…” He cleared his throat. “No, it’s me. Costa. So, um, funny story. I’ve been kidnapped by your husband for reasons unknown. Did something happen? I’m not gonna lie. My virtue could be at stake.” Whispering, he added, “Help me. He’s using swear words.”
After a short pause, he held the phone between us. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Good grief. Put it on speaker.”
“What the hell is going on?” Aslan snapped the second I said his name.
“I know where Crowley is. I know where Flynn is. Nixon has hunted him down and is going after him, but he’s about twenty minutes ahead of me.”
A long pause persisted through the phone, then softly, he said, “Quaid… tell me you didn’t leave the hospital.”
“I had to. There was no time to waste. That boy’s life is in danger, and I can’t be sure Nixon isn’t on a warpath too. He found out his entire life was a lie. I’m not going far. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
Silence bled through the line. I took my eyes off the road to glance at the phone screen where Costa held it between us. “Az?”
“Bryn’s having a baby, Quaid.Ourbaby. You’re supposed to be here.”
A shot of panic swamped my veins. “Is… Is it happening right now? Is she delivering?”
He sighed. “No, but it might not be long. Come back. Let Ruiz and Jordyn go.”
