Until Sage (Until Him 2)

“Hey, baby.” He kisses my hair then drops his mouth to my ear. “I tried to call you to let you know Jax and I were on our way back to town, but you didn’t pick up,” he says as my arms tighten around him.

“Sorry, I put my phone on silent when we got to the hospital.”

“You okay?”

Am I okay? I have no idea, but I don’t say that. I know he worries, so I don’t want to give him something else to worry about unless it’s necessary.

“I’m okay. I’ve just missed you.” I tip my head back, and his hand wraps around the side of my head and his thumb smooths over my cheek as he studies me with soft eyes.

“Missed you, too.” He kisses my forehead and my nose before brushing his lips across mine softly, touching his tongue to my bottom lip. Pulling back, he grins and I smile at him. Leading me across the room, he gives June a hug and Evan a pat on the back before taking Tia from November. She growls in annoyance that she’s once again giving up her granddaughter.

Watching him with Tia, tears burn the back of my eyes. I don’t know what I will do if I’m pregnant, but I know if I am, I will do whatever is necessary for Sage to hold his child like he’s holding his niece.

“Okay, give me my daughter.” June reaches out to him a few seconds later when Tia starts to wake up, and he laughs then carefully places her back in her mom’s arms. Tucking me back against his side, he turns us around, and the moment he does, everyone is there giving us hugs and quiet congrats on getting engaged.

“Your ring is gorgeous,” Willow whispers, taking my hand.

“When are you getting married?” Harmony asks, stepping closer and away from Harlen who’s been holding her possessively since he walked into the room much to the dismay of Nico who’s been glowering the whole time.

“I don’t know. Probably a year or so. It depends on how long it takes to plan the wedding,” I reply, and everyone starts to laugh.

“Good luck with getting him to wait a year,” April inserts, and Sophie, who is standing next to me, narrows her eyes on her son, making me smile.

Yesterday, Sophie called me to get my mom’s number, and twenty minutes after that, my mom called to tell me that Sophie called her to ask when she would be in town so she could take Mom out to show her a few venues. So I know she wants a wedding as much as my mother and I do.

“Okay, everyone out,” Evan calls, breaking into the moment, and all eyes go to him as he gets off the bed, tucking a thick white blanket around June, who is asleep with Tia resting against her chest.

“But—” November starts.

Before she can say more, Asher cuts her off by wrapping his arm around her and dropping his face toward hers. “You can visit tomorrow.”

“But I was going to stay the night,” she tells him, and his head goes back.

“No, you weren’t,” he mutters, and she frowns up at him then moves her eyes to Evan.

“You’re not staying. You can come back tomorrow,” Evan confirms, shaking his head in denial, and her narrowed eyes move between both men.

“Damn bossy men,” she huffs, stomping toward the door. “You guys are annoying.” She leaves and Asher chuckles, giving Evan a pat on his shoulder.

Fighting my own laughter, I say a quiet goodbye to Evan, not wanting to wake June or the baby, and leave the room with everyone else.

I stop Sage with a tug of his hand holding mine once we get outside. “My car is at Ellie’s.”

“We’ll get it tomorrow. It’ll be safe at Jax’s.”

“I need my bag from their house. Then I need to stop at the drugstore,” I tell him.

He frowns, taking a step toward me, dropping his voice while wrapping his hand around my hip. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just need to make a stop,” I say, not sure if I’m lying about being fine, because I’m totally freaking out on the inside.

“All right, we’ll stop, grab your bag, and then head to the pharmacy.”

“Right,” I concur, figuring I can leave him in the car and run into the drugstore on my own.

Lucky for me, the gods were feeling generous, because he was going to come inside with me but got a call right as we pulled up to the store. While he took his call, I was able to go in and quickly buy a couple tests and a few random bits from the aisles I walked down. I hid the test at the bottom of my bag, telling myself I wasn’t really keeping anything from him; I was just waiting until I had something to say before I brought the situation to his attention.