Tainted Forever (Tainted Knights 5)

Coffee in hand, I walked into the birthing center of the hospital where Lucy had planned on having the baby from the moment she found out she was pregnant. The place was like a fortress, and I had to show ID to get through. Luckily, my friends had already put me on the list of guests who could be allowed entrance. I still had to step through a metal detector and then be wanded down before I was allowed to proceed to the room Harris texted me earlier.

In front of the double doors to the labor and delivery floor, Marcus was already standing at attention, along with the guard I remembered normally shadowed Emmie’s daughter, Mia. Seeing me, the man who had been a part of Lucy’s life for as long as I’d known her opened the door for me.

A closer look at him made me realize he was gray under his normal tan, the only outward sign he was nervous. The guy loved Lucy, and I figured this was going to be hard on him, especially since he was out here while she was inside somewhere, going through the pains of labor.

Moments later, I was inside the spacious private room where Lucy would eventually deliver baby Hayat. Lucy was sitting on a workout ball, her hips shifting from side to side. Harris’s long legs were stretched out in front of him as he sat behind her on a rolling chair, rubbing her back. There was an IV hooked to Lucy’s hand, some kind of monitor I didn’t understand attached to her stomach, and a pained look twisting her beautiful face.

Kin sat in front of her, showing her how to breathe through the pain, but I wasn’t sure how much help that was because Lucy looked like she was in agony.

As I entered the room, the three of them looked up. “How is it going?” I asked as I set down the drink carrier filled with coffees. “We going to have a baby soon?”

“Not even close to soon,” Lucy grumbled, her body seeming to droop, and I could only guess her contraction was over for the moment.

“She’s only dilated to a three,” Harris explained. “This will probably take a while.”

“Good thing I got extra shots of espresso in all the coffee, then,” I said with a grin, passing him his cup and then taking Kin’s and mine so I could sit beside her.

She took her cup, sipping it like it was liquid gold, and moaned when she realized I’d gotten her the chocolate mocha with caramel drizzle just the way she liked it. I sat back, dropping my arm across the back of the surprisingly comfortable couch, watching her enjoy her coffee. “Did they make it right?”

She nodded. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”

Her blue eyes met mine, and fuck, I wanted to kiss her so damn bad. If I hadn’t screwed everything up, I wouldn’t have hesitated. But I didn’t have the right to kiss her freely now, and that realization made my chest feel like it was being squeezed in a vise. Instead, I pushed a few strands of hair that fell from her ponytail back behind her ear and reminded myself it was my own fault.

“I’m surprised your dad isn’t already here, Lu,” I told her a few minutes later, after she’d gone through another painful contraction.

“We’re waiting to tell everyone I’m in labor until I’ve progressed a little further. I don’t want Daddy freaking out the entire time.” Kin fed Lucy a scoop of ice chips, and she started crunching on them. “Let him sleep through most of this.”

“But Emmie knows?”

“We had to call her so she could get in front of security issues and keep the paps from trying to sneak their way in.” She pressed her lips together, disgusted. “That’s all I need—for one of those assholes to sneak in and get a picture of me with my legs spread and my baby’s head crowning.”

“Gross, Lucy,” Kin said with a snort.

“Ah, fuck,” Lucy groaned, her face a mask of pure pain.

Kin thrust her coffee into my hands and then grabbed both of Lucy’s, helping her focus and breathe through the worst of the pain. Harris rubbed her back the entire time. Sitting there, unable to do anything to assist, I felt useless. But at the same time, I didn’t want to be anywhere else but with the three of them.

Hours passed, sunlight began to peek through the windows, and suddenly, Jesse Thornton was there and making the room feel suffocating. I stayed back, keeping quiet in the corner of the room while the Demon freaked out with every small sound that left his daughter’s throat. I didn’t know who I was more concerned about—Lucy, in so much pain from the labor, or Jesse, who looked like he was going to pass out at any moment. He was sweating just as badly as his daughter, his face ravaged by worry.

Not long after the Thorntons arrived, the Cutters made an entrance. With all the people filling up the room, I knew it was only a matter of time before the staff started kicking out the nonfamily members, and I wasn’t ready to leave my friends yet.

But no one told me to go, and I stuck around, thankful to be a part of this crazy experience with them.

And to be with Kin.

She was amazing with Lucy and even got Jesse to calm down and laugh a few times. But those moments were short-lived, and when she wasn’t helping Lucy breathe through her contractions, she tended to come back to sit beside me. She looked exhausted, but damn was she still beautiful. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright with lack of sleep, and her hair was now in a messy bun because her ponytail had fallen twice already.

I would have been content just to sit there and look at her for a million years.

I was a little relieved, however, when the doctor came in and announced it was time to push. Lucy’s pain was escalating, and those moans she was making every time the contractions hit were making me sweat. I didn’t like that she was in so much pain. I wanted to take it all away from her, and I could tell Harris was about to lose his mind if this wasn’t over soon.

I was ready to sprint out of the room, but Jesse didn’t want to leave, and I was wondering if Devlin and I were going to have to physically drag him out of the room.

“Daddy!” Lucy suddenly snapped. “I’m about to have my bottom half exposed for the entire world to see. Please, for the love of gods, just go before you see something neither one of us can come back from.”

Jesse’s face paled, and he nodded. “Okay, Lu. Okay. I’ll be out in the waiting room. If you need me, just scream.”

“I’m about to scream now,” she cried. “I’m not pushing this baby out until you are out of this room.”