Page 16 of Harley's Hex
She cleaned most of the kitchen and wiped out cabinets, getting everything ready for her big grocery run. The store smelled of fresh bread and coffee, the hum of fluorescent lights masking the quiet pulse of the city outside. Harley pushed her cart slowly, trying to focus on the mundane — milk, eggs, a loaf of bread — anything to keep her mind off the tension that had been building all day about having to tell Hex about her new place.
Then she saw him.
A man in a leather cut standing in the soda aisle, scanning the shelves. Her stomach dropped. That walk, that posture, it was him—one of the Dead Rabbits who had kidnapped her in Huntsville, the one who had brought her here. She’d never forget his face, or the other three men who had shoved her into that van and taken away the peace and security that she had once felt but would never feel again.
Her heart slammed in her chest as she released the shopping cart and spun around to flee. The sudden movement triggered a sharp pain low in her abdomen. Followed by another, stronger one. Harley wrapped her arms around her belly, saying a silent prayer that her baby was okay as she ran out of the grocery store and out into the parking lot.
“Oh no, please no,” she whispered, clutching her belly. She stumbled toward her car in the back of the lot. Panic took over, sweat beading on her forehead, as her breath came fast and shallow. Harley had read enough baby books to know that what she was experiencing was possibly early contractions, and that scared the hell out of her. She was still three months from her due date—it was too early, and she couldn’t lose her baby. Not now, after everything that she had been through with Hex.
The city outside blurred. She barely made it to her car, fumbling in her purse for her keys. She knew that she had to get to the hospital, but she worried that she wouldn’t be able to drive. She called Hex and was sent straight to voicemail. He had started working at the hospital and getting him to answer the phone while he was on duty in the ER was hit or miss.
“I have to do this,” she whispered to herself. “We’ve got this,” she said to her belly, rubbing it as though for good luck. Harley drove around the corner to the hospital—just two miles in Yonkers took over ten minutes, but she had breathed her way through the pain, and when she pulled up to the ER’s doors, she didn’t bother to explain to the guard that she was possibly in labor—he could probably see the panic in her eyes.
“She’s in labor!” the security guard called before Harley could even speak. Nurses rushed out of the ER, one with a wheelchair, demanding that she sit down.
“My car,” she breathed.
“Give me your keys, and I’ll park it for you,” the security guard said. She hesitated, but knew that her options were slim, handing him her keys.
“How far along are you?” the nurse pushing the wheelchair asked.
“About six months,” she said. “I know that it’s too early,” Harley gasped. Fear and pain twisted together through her body. “Please, just save my baby.”
“We will do our best, honey,” the nurse promised. They turned the corner, and the nurse pushed her into an empty room. “I’ll get the doctor. Just stay put,” she ordered.
She sat there, crying softly to herself, and that was when she looked up to find him standing in the doorway, staring down at her. Hex. He came rushing through the sliding doors, his eyes wide with worry and panic written across his handsome face. “Harley! What happened? What’s going on?”
She tried to speak, but another contraction had her doubling over. Hex was at her side in an instant, steadying her, taking her hand into his own. His touch grounded her. “Shh, it’s okay. I’m here. I’ve got you,” he murmured, voice low and soothing. “Can you tell me what happened?” He turned around and barked an order for the nurse to find another doctor. He quickly explained that he couldn’t treat Harley since she was his woman and the baby was his. Harley wanted to protest, to tell him that she only wanted him to check her out, but she also knew that she’d need his support, and he couldn’t be both her doctor and the man she loved, helping her through the contractions.
Harley nodded weakly, fear still bright in her eyes. “I was at the grocery store, picking up stuff for the new house, when I saw one of the Dead Rabbits who took me in Huntsville. He was the one who brought me here and put me in that cage down at the warehouse by the docks.”
“New house?” he questioned.
“Yeah, and we can get to all of that later. It was a surprise. Right now, I want to focus on what’s going on with our son,” she ordered. “And the fact that my kidnapper was shopping for soda in the same grocery store where I shop. God, what if he saw me?” she asked.
Hex’s jaw tightened. “He won’t touch you. Not while I’m here. I swear. You’re safe here, Harley. Just concentrate on relaxing. Your blood pressure is probably high from the stress, and that’s not good for the baby.” The contractions kept coming, sharp and unrelenting. Harley gripped Hex’s hand like a lifeline, focusing on his voice and his presence, thankful that he was by her side. He leaned close, brushing her hair back, murmuring reminders of her strength.
“You’ve got this,” he said, voice steady, grounding. “You’re okay. We’re okay. I’m right here. Always.” Harley closed her eyes, breathing through the waves of pain, letting Hex anchor her to safety and certainty. The world outside—the fear, the shadows of the past, they all faded. Only Hex and their baby mattered, only the three of them—that was what she was focused on.
The doctor came into the room and gave her a shot of something that both he and Hex promised wouldn’t hurt the baby. They said that it would stop the contractions, and within the hour, they had slowed and eventually stopped completely. The doctor told her that she wasn’t out of the woods yet, as her blood pressure was still elevated, but it was a step in the right direction.
They moved her into the hospital room, telling her that she’d have to spend a night or two there so they could monitor her and the baby, and Harley knew one thing with clarity—she wasn’t facing this alone. Not now, not ever with Hex by her side.
“So, a new house?” Hex asked, sitting next to her on the hospital bed. He had gotten someone to finish his shift for him,insisting that he wasn’t going to leave her side, and she was grateful.
“Yeah,” she breathed, grabbing her purse from the table next to her. She pulled out the house key that she had been hiding from him and handed it over. “And you’re going to have to meet the movers there tomorrow to let them in so that my stuff from Alabama can be delivered.”
“And you were going to tell me when?” he asked.
“Tonight,” she breathed. “Everything’s been so crazy for us lately, I honestly forgot to tell you that I sold my aunt’s house down in Huntsville.”
“And you forgot to tell me that you bought a new home in Yonkers, too?” he asked.
“Honestly, I wanted to make sure that we were good, Hex,” she admitted, not missing the way that he winced at her words. “I know that your home is in Huntsville, and your club, but I love it up here. I have friends—the Royal Harlots, and they want me to join their club. I guess I’m going to have to get used to being on a motorcycle before that happens.”
“You’re getting off topic,” he said.
“Right,” she said, “I can worry about learning to ride after the baby comes. I sold my aunt’s house a couple of months ago, right after I got to Yonkers. I knew that I couldn’t stay with Brandi and Reacher forever, and the money from the sale of the house gave me security when I wasn’t sure if you would ever want to be a part of our lives.”
