Tainted Gold (Providence Gold 3)

Once they’d wheeled Chris away, I tracked down a nurse in amongst the mayhem going on in the ER.

“Lilith James? She’s my fiancée.”

“This way,” she pulled me toward a door, and then down a hallway.

“My brother’s just parking, he’ll be here soon,” I mumbled, following blindly behind her.

All around me I could hear the bleeping of those monitors that they attach to people to see what their heart rate is and whatever else. There were also people yelling at each other to get stuff and clear spaces. It was terrifying.

“I’ll send him down to you,” she reassured me. “What’s his name?”

“Who?”

“Your brother?”

I think the shock was setting in, because I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “Which one?”

Giving me an understanding smile, she replied, “The one who drove you here.”

“Oh, Levi. Why?” The whole time I was answering, I was distractedly watching the door of the room in front of us.

What did it mean that she was in an actual room? Was that good news? Did it mean she just needed privacy?

“I’ll send him down to you when he gets here, ok? Just sit here, and someone will be out to talk to you,” she pointed at a plastic chair that I hadn’t noticed sitting next to the door.

I didn’t want to sit down. I wanted to rewind time by two hours and demand they close it up for the night. I wanted to scream and find who the fucking Rob guy was, then rip his heart out so he could feel the pain I was feeling.

I wanted Lily, and I wanted to feel my baby kicking my hand like he’d been doing for the last three months. Nothing in the world could compare to the feeling of both of the people who make up your world underneath the palm of your hand.

I don’t know how long I stood there watching the door, but it felt like hours had passed when Levi walked up to me with the nurse beside him.

“Any news?” he asked, giving me a hug.

This is where I started to struggle emotionally again. We were a close family, we were all each other’s best friends, but me and my brothers weren’t huggers. We might smack the other one on the back like men do, but we didn’t physically go up and hug one another unless it was needed.

I hated and loved that he was hugging me right now.

“I’ll go and see what I can find out,” the nurse told us, giving my arm a squeeze and walking over to the door.

“Thanks, babe,” Levi called.

In another world, I’d have laughed at him calling her babe. Levi Townsend never called anyone babe. The softest and squishiest he got was with Luna, Noah’s wife, and that’s because they’d been best friends since they were kids, and she’d been through a fuck ton. But a random nurse?

In this world though, all of those inconsequential thoughts flew through my head and landed with a thud somewhere behind ‘Didn’t-Give-A-Shitsville’. They were just random thoughts that meant nothing right now.

“Yo,” a familiar voice shouted from the end of the hallway, getting both of our attention.

Right there, standing like a wall of support and love was my family. Mom was on the phone with tears falling down her face as she looked at me and shook her head, but the rest were standing tall and firm.

They didn’t need to say anything because they knew there wasn’t anything that they could say to change what was going on right now, and that’s not why they were there, anyway. They were there to support us and make sure that no matter what, they were there to catch us.

Swallowing over the lump in my throat, I closed my eyes with relief, and let my head thud back down onto Levi’s shoulder.

“I gotchu, fam,” he muttered in my ear, repeating something that Lily had started saying as a joke recently.

She didn’t have any siblings, so mine had taken her under their wings and welcomed her into the family in the sibling way – with lots of shit. In return, whenever someone asked for a drink, or they needed something, she’d snort, do a fist bump in the air and say, “I gotchu, fam.”

“Fuck,” I croaked as I lifted my hands and held onto the sides of my head.

“Don’t you do it,” Archer’s voice warned from beside us. “Don’t you dare break. Your woman is in there with your baby, you stand tall and be her steel rod, you hear?” When I nodded, he gave my shoulder a shake and repeated, “Do you hear me?”

“Yes,” I snapped, turning around to glare at him. “I fucking hear you.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he gave me a small smile. “Well, fucking good then.”

Taking a deep breath, I moved, so I was leaning against the wall and looked back toward the door. Seconds later, Levi started snickering. When we both looked over at him, he shrugged and said, “He said steel rod. That’s so dirty.”