One More Time

I pressed my lips to his and kissed him softly, chasing his words away with my tongue. He seemed surprised but didn't fight it. In that moment, he was all that I had left in the world. Without my dad, I would have died, but Eli had stepped up. He'd put someone else's life – my life – before his own. It wasn't something I ever would have expected when we were together the first time.

When I pulled away, I leaned my face against his, relishing and taking comfort in his presence.

“I know he wasn't a good guy, Eli. Whatever happened, I don't need to know,” I said. “I know you're a good man. You're not like him. I know you wouldn't have had anything to do with his death unless it was to save me.”

He stroked my cheek as the sirens drew ever closer. Help had arrived. I knew Eli would be just fine, but it was still hard having him peeled away from me, even if I knew he was being taken to the hospital. I watched him being escorted to one of the waiting ambulances.

One of the EMTs took a close look at me – especially my head – and suggested I get checked out as well. I still felt sick to my stomach and lightheaded. Maybe, the guys really had given me a concussion. I had too much riding on the future to not go, just in case. The last thing I wanted or needed was a permanent brain injury.

I had a future with Eli to look forward to, after all.

***

“It's a good thing you pay your babysitter well,” I teased.

It took several hours, but Eli had gotten stitched up and released. His wound really did look worse than it was, and they didn't even have to keep him for very long. I, on the other hand, was still being looked over. Waiting for CT scans to come back and whatnot. I didn't think I was going anywhere anytime soon. No, I was laying in the hospital bed with the love of my life sitting beside me, and we were both alive. I felt entirely grateful and entirely happy.

At times like that, I forgot that my dad had been killed. Not by Eli, but by Titus. The man lying dead on the ground with Cal. I wasn't sure what happened, but power struggles can be a dangerous thing. I'd probably never understand it, not fully. All I knew was that once my dad died, the fight between the rest of the club for his chair was on.

It was a mentality I just didn't get. Right now though, it didn't even matter.

“Yeah, there goes one night's salary, easily,” he laughed.

Eli kissed my hand as he watched over me, his dark eyes hardly looking away. It was almost like he was afraid I might disappear if he looked away.

“I'm sorry,” I said. “I'll help you with that.”

“We'll figure it out, I'm just glad you're alive.”

“Me too.”

Eli leaned down and kissed my forehead gently. I closed my eyes, breathing in his scent, and relaxed my body into his. It felt nice to be free and open with him, to not have anything holding us back from being together. The future was unknown, but I already loved his little girl and one day, we could talk about having kids of our own. Once we figured our crap out, anyway.

I already figured Eli and Aubree would move in with me sooner or later. Maybe, we'd even see about upgrading to a two-bedroom apartment in my complex. Something with more space for our suddenly growing little family.

My reverie was broken by the sound of a knock on the door. Dr. Andrews stepped into the room, giving me a bright smile. I'd worked many nights with him in the ER, but it felt weird being the patient for a change, rather than standing by his side looking over somebody in my current position. He looked overly cheerful for it being the middle of the night.

“Hannah, we have the results from your CT scan,” he said. “Good news, no concussion or brain damage. Everything looks normal.”

I sighed. “Thank God,” I said. “I figured it was just that hamburger from Petey's messing with me. But, you never know.”

“Well, the good news is that the baby is just fine too,” the doctor continued.

Eli's hand squeezed mine tightly, but I froze. I literally froze, eyes wide, stomach churning, staring at the doctor as if he'd grown a third head.

“Wait, what?” I said. “I'm not pregnant –”

“According to the blood work, you are,” he said. “I just assumed you knew, I'm so sorry to blurt it out like that.”

“I took a test this morning, it was negative.”

“Blood or urine?”

“Urine,” I muttered.

I hadn't wanted to go through all the trouble of a blood test when I was pretty sure it was going to be negative. Sarah had agreed with me and ran the test.

“False negatives are common with urine tests, as you know. But, blood tests are almost always accurate,” Dr. Andrews said. “So, I guess this is congratulations.”