Officially Over It (SWAT Generation 2.0 10)

He cursed and I knew that he was getting out of bed. “Stall.”

I would. I’d do everything that I could to make sure that she didn’t get to leave.

“Okay,” Sierra said as she turned to me as she dried off her hands. “What the hell is going on?”

I gave her the shortened version of everything that had happened yesterday.

When I was done, Sierra was busy blinking owlishly at me in surprise.

“I just…wow!” she said. “That’s one hell of a story.”

But before I could reply, or she could say anymore, the doors to the NICU whooshed open and Eerie came out looking smug.

I wanted to kick her in the teeth with my dirty Crocs.

Surely, she’d catch some deadly disease from all the human feces I collected while walking around the hospital.

“You’re married,” Eerie said, eyes wide as she looked down at my hand. “I thought the other day was just a fake.”

Yeah, that ring hadn’t been fake.

Not even a little bit.

My lips thinned with anger as I said, “Yes. I am. To Nathan.”

I knew that if I was going to need to stall, I would have to pull out the big guns.

And anything that had to do with Nathan would cause her to pause.

“You’re…what?” she asked, thinking she hadn’t heard me correctly.

I looked down at the ring that I’d put on my finger this morning.

It was an old gold band that I’d gotten from my mom when I was twelve. It wasn’t anything special, and apparently my mom had found it in the parking lot. But I’d thought it was cool and kept it.

This morning as I was walking out of the bathroom, I’d seen it in my jewelry box Nathan had rescued from my trunk along with my laptop.

I was glad that I’d slipped it on now.

“I…I…” She narrowed her eyes in thought. “You’re really?”

I’d made her speechless. Aces.

My smile must’ve pissed her off because she narrowed her eyes and stiffened her spine.

“Where’s your fake ring?” she asked, lip turned into a silent snarl.

I felt real tears fill my eyes.

I didn’t bother answering her.

Instead, I raised a brow in her direction, staring her in the eyes for a few long moments. “Do you honestly think that ring was fake?”

Would Nathan buy me a fake ring?

No.

No, he wouldn’t.

Her eyes narrowed in anger and she crossed her arms over her chest before turning to Sierra.

“I’d like to thank you for the help you’ve been for my little baby Stanley,” she said, sugar sweet. “I know that you’ve been a great help to him over the past couple of days.”

I looked over at Sierra to see her staring blankly at Eerie, almost as if she wasn’t sure if she opened her mouth what would come out.

I had the same damn feelings when it came to Eerie.

I’d never liked her.

And honestly, it wasn’t because she had the man that I’d wanted in high school.

Eerie had been a terrible person, even before she’d started dating Nathan.

It was just that, when she started dating Nathan, she’d aimed that terrible venom at me wholly instead of sharing it equally with anyone that she thought was beneath her.

I still couldn’t see what Nathan had ever seen in her.

“You’re welcome,” Peyton said, startling both Sierra and me at her sudden appearance. “However, we’ve just had a faxed court order not to allow the move. I’m sorry.”

Eerie stiffened. “A court order? What?”

Peyton handed over the document in her hand just as the doors to the NICU whooshed open.

Nathan.

He’d gotten here in time.

Thank. God.

Eerie, upon seeing Nathan, smiled at him, unaware of just why, exactly, he was there.

He ignored her and looked at not me, but Peyton.

“Hello,” he said. “I’m here to visit my son.”

Eerie’s gasp of outrage filled the small space between the NICU and the elevator doors.

Peyton smiled. “I just received the court order.”

Peyton gestured at the papers in Eerie’s hand, and I heard her snap them up to start reading.

“You have no proof that it’s your son!” she cried out after scanning the document.

I had no idea what it said myself, but I hoped that it would give them enough time to get the DNA test back later this morning.

“It’s not your son,” Eerie tried again when no one responded.

“Actually.” Peyton pulled another paper out of her pocket. “This was in the labs this morning when I got here. I was confused as to what it was for, but I assume now that we’re at this stage in our talk that it was for this exact moment.” She opened the papers that were in her pocket and started scanning. “You’re Nathan?” Nathan nodded at her words. “There’s a 99% match.”

She held out the papers to Nathan, but before he could take them, Eerie yanked them out of her hand and started to screech. “This isn’t correct!”

Bullshit. It was correct.