“I’m not hungry,” Lyla mumbles, not tearing her eyes away from T to even look at Dragon’s woman.
“You need to eat for the baby, sweetheart,” Nicole urges. “And it has been a while, but I know sitting so much is not easy when you’re pregnant. Thomas wouldn’t want you to neglect yourself while he’s fighting to come back to you.”
“He is going to come back to me. He wouldn’t leave me and Tamsin alone now. He wouldn’t. That’s not who Thomas is,” Lyla responds, threads of panic in her voice as she finally looks at Nicole.
Nicole touches her hair gently, offering Lyla comfort where there is none. “You’re absolutely right. He wouldn’t leave you. He won’t stop until you’re back in his arms. That’s how the West men are.”
“I don’t want to leave him. When he wakes up, I want him to see I’m here, that I never left him.” Lyla’s words are muffled as tears run unchecked down her face.
“Oh, honey, Thomas knows that. Plus, you heard the nurse. It will take time. You go with your dad and get a quick bite at the cafeteria and stretch your legs. Thomas won’t be alone. I’ll stay right by his side until you get back. If he begins to wake, I’ll send Dragon to get you immediately,” she promises.
“You will?” Lyla says looking up at Dragon.
“Of course he will, won’t you, Dragon?”
“You know it, Mama,” Dragon responds and then looks at Lyla. “My boy has fought his entire life and that was before he had you and that baby to fight for. He’ll come back. You’ll see.”
“You really believe that?” she asks, as if Dragon’s say so could make it true. I’m not going to be the one to break it to her, but he’s the last man you should put confidence in.
“I know he will.”
She nods.
She stands up and Ford and Dragon steady her at the same time. She’s too damn young and sweet to be this broken. She stumbles to take a step closer to the head of Thomas’s bed, then bends down closer to his ear.
“I’m going to be gone just for a few minutes. I need to take care of our baby. I’ll be right back, Thomas. I promise. I’m not leaving you, sweetheart, I’ll never leave you. We have a house to build and to you have to give me more kids to fill up all those bedrooms. You promised,” she says. Her voice cracks with that last word and then she takes a shuddering breath, while tears stream down her face. She rubs them away with the back of her hand in frustration. “You better get back to me soon, Thomas. If you don’t, I’ll drag out that satchel of baseballs I keep in my room,” she says, her voice sad despite the threat. Ford puts his arms around her and helps to steer her toward the door. She stops when she gets to me and shocks the fuck out of me by hugging me. My arms go around her awkwardly. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she whispers.
I clear my throat, but I don’t know what to say. She pulls back and stretches up to kiss my cheek.
“You don’t stop, T will wake up just to kick my ass,” I grump. She gives me a smile and I hear a faint chuckle. Ford nods to me and I slap his back as they walk out.
When I look up, I feel way too many eyes on me and I decide to go out, too. It’s not like I really have a place here. I can feel the heat of Dragon and Nicole’s stare and decide it’s definitely time to get some air. I get a few steps outside before I can feel someone behind me. I walk a few more and turn the corner, but it’s clear Dragon’s not going to stop.
And I know it’s him.
I don’t know how, but I do. When I turn, he’s standing there and shit, he has tears in his eyes. He didn’t have them when he was around his woman, but they’re there now and he doesn’t seem ashamed of them. He reaches out his hand to me and I stare at it, wondering what in the hell is going on.
“They told me you saved my son’s life by donating blood—even more than you should have.”
I frown. He’s not wrong. I was fucking shaky and dizzy as hell for a bit. I don’t like that he got that little morsel of information, however. Then again, there’s not much about Dragon West I do like.
“It was nothing,” I answer uncomfortably, shaking his hand—not because I want to. It’s more because I wanted to know how it would feel.
I’m still not sure.
“I’m glad my boy made a home here if this club he’s joined has men like you,” Dragon says, and I want to laugh.