Sweet Agony (Angels Halo MC Next Gen 2)

“Whatever you need, Pops.” My gaze wandered to the door as well, but not because I was scared of being ambushed. Tavia had been in surgery for over three hours at that point. With each tick of the clock, my fear that I would never see her again only escalated.

Chapter 5

Theo

Two more hours passed without word about Tavia. Ciro left, but I barely noticed when he muttered he needed to go see about something personally. I was losing my mind, terrified why it was taking the surgeons so long. I paced the width of the waiting room until Pops barked at me to sit, but that didn’t last long. I couldn’t be still. Could barely fucking breathe.

I needed to know she was okay. Needed to see her. Touch her.

Finally, the door opened, and a nurse came in. She was wearing surgical scrubs and looked disheveled. Her face was tense as she asked if I was there for Tavia Zima.

“How is she?” I demanded, but it came out raspy.

Her lips tilted up in a smile, but it was so grim, my heart felt chilled by it. “She’s stable. There was a lot of damage, and as you’re currently wearing her blood, I’m sure you know she lost a good bit of it before we even got her open. She’s had several units of blood, and we are still pumping it back into her.”

“Will she be okay?” Pops asked, and I was thankful because my throat was too choked up to allow words to escape.

She clasped her hands together, seeming to contemplate what she should say for a moment before releasing a tired sigh. “I think you should let the surgeon fill you in on everything else. He won’t be much longer now. In the meantime, would you like some coffee? I’m sure the stuff in the nurses’ lounge is considerably better than what is in the machine over there.”

“We don’t need refreshments, thank you,” Pops told her.

“Well, the doctor will be out as soon as he can. If you need anything, I’ll be on the floor unless we have another emergency.” She twisted her lips. “And considering it’s a full moon tonight, I’m sure there will be.”

Once she was gone, I dropped into the nearest chair, my legs not seeming to want to support me any longer. Tavia was stable, but that didn’t tell me anything else other than she was alive. I was thankful for that much, at least, but it was everything the nurse had left unspoken that was making me weak-kneed.

Leaning forward, I put my elbows on my knees and thrust my fingers into my hair, pulling at the roots. She had to be okay. If nothing else, the past five weeks without her had proven to me that I couldn’t live without her. I’d been miserable, missing her so fucking much, it was like I’d had a part of myself amputated. Only, I didn’t know which part, so I was constantly living with a ghost appendage. An achy, empty spot somewhere in my body that would never be the same again.

A cup of something hot was suddenly shoved into my hand, and I lifted my head to look at Pops. “It helps,” he told me, nodding at the cup. “Drink it.”

Cautiously, I took a sip of the coffee he’d produced. It was black and smelled weak, but when I took a swallow, it was sickeningly sweet. Forcing myself to swallow what was in my mouth, I set the cup on the floor beside my feet.

“When your mom had her kidney transplant, I was a nervous wreck,” Pops said as he took the seat to my left.

“I remember.”

When I was a kid, Mom’s diabetes had fucked up her kidneys. Thankfully, her twin sister had been ready, willing, and able to give her one of her own kidneys. I remembered how stressed Pops was the day of the surgery. I’d never seen him cry before, but when the doctors finally came to tell us she was out of surgery and doing well, he’d broken down. Unashamedly, he’d cried in front of everyone, thankful she was okay.

“How long have you loved Tavia?” he surprised me by asking.

“From the moment I set eyes on her,” I told him honestly, and I felt him tense. “I didn’t touch her back then, though. She was too young. But about a month or so ago, I drove her home for Mom.”

And I’d been weak. I couldn’t keep my hands off her.

All Pops did was nod, and we both stayed quiet for a while. Thirty minutes passed before the doctor came to speak to us. His scrubs and the surgical cap on his head were drenched with sweat, and he looked even grimmer than the nurse had earlier. The look on his face had the oxygen in my lungs turning to ice, making it hard to breathe as he approached.

I started to stand, but he shook his head, motioning for Pops and me to stay seated, and he took the chair directly in front of us. “I need a breather, gentlemen, so let’s do this sitting.” He pulled off his cap and ran his fingers over his short, graying hair, but then his eyes focused directly on me. “Are you Tavia’s boyfriend?”

“She’s mine,” I confirmed.

“So, you were aware she was pregnant, then?”

“What?” Every muscle in my body seized, my heart contracting. “No, I had no idea she… Wait. Was?” The past tense hit me hard.

“I’m sorry to say she miscarried.”

Swallowing down the lump choking me, I stored that away for the moment. I couldn’t focus on the loss suddenly pressing down on me. “How is Tavia?” I asked.

&n