Blaze (Virtues & Lies 3)

I’m trickling through my knickers as the bathroom door slams open and both Penny and Arabella stand looking at me in the mirror.

“I think my water broke,” I sob because this is scarier than I thought it would be. The TV shows didn’t really portray it right, even the ones with the lunatic, screaming women.

“Oh shit,” Arabella spits as Penny comes to my side and starts rubbing my back.

She’s saying something or another about me needing to relax or breathe or some fucking shit that I can’t actually make sense of right now.

And all I want is Casper. I need him here. He’s good with messy human body stuff, right? He doesn’t get scared. Even if he was going green when we discussed this eventuality…

“I’ll get Casper,” Georgina says.

Wide eyes meet mine. She’s shitting herself too.

Why the fuck is she shitting herself? She’s not the one about to have her fucking vagina massacred.

“Oh my Goooooood!” I growl my pain through clenched teeth while Penny leans me over the bed. She’s still rubbing my back, but it’s not helping. If anything, it’s really irritating. I feel like I need everyone to leave me alone, give me space, but at the same time I don’t want to be on my own.

Beatriz comes back from the bathroom with a wad of towels, talking calmly at Mercia, who helps her strip the bed back.

“Cassie?” Penny calls to my bestest friend ever, who looks like she’s about to pass out. “Hey!” She snaps her fingers at her, and when Cassie doesn’t focus on her, she throws one of the dress cushions at her.

“Oh fuck.” That’s all she says. “Oh, fuckity fuck.”

“There are some bed pads in the bags over there. Help Mercy lay them out so we can get Fleur comfortable.”

“No.” I smack her hand away, snapping out of my own stupor. I try to stand, but my back is too tight, and all I can do is a stupid sumo waddle. “This could take hours. Hours, Penny. I’m not doing this here.”

“You don’t have much choice. The hospital is over an hour away.” Mercy gives me a pitied grimace. “But it’s okay, the doctor is on his way.”

“I’ve done this before.” Beatriz smiles at me.

“Oh, great,” I snark.

There’s no way I’m having my baby in this place. No freaking way!

“I need drugs.”

“No, you don’t.”

Beatriz guides me to my armchair, grabbing that motherfucking cushion and placing it on the back of the chair as she makes me put all my weight on it. She wraps my hands around the side of the arms until it feels like my back is pulling loose.

“Okay,” she says loudly as her thumbs work the dips at my lower back hard. “Everybody out.”

“What?” Arabella and I yell at the same time.

“I just want something for the fucking pain. I don’t want it to hurt.”

Arabella kneels on the actual seat, facing me. “It’s going to, but it’s okay because you’re going to have your little girl. And she’s going to be so beautiful, just like her mamá.”

“Maybe I can have some paracetamol or ibuprofen…something? Anything?”

“I’ve got some in my bag,” Cassie offers.

“No!” Beatriz snaps at her. “Mercy, get the maids to bring more towels and things. Everyone else out.”

“Yo también?” Arabella gives her puppy eyes.

“Yes, you too.” Beatriz shoos everyone out, and when she comes back to me, she stands me straight again like a woman on a mission, threading her arm through mine as she takes me about the room. “It’s going to be fine. During the war, babies were delivered at the palace all the time. My sister birthed two of her children at home.”