I wake up to the sound of the main door closing. I’m naked, and my hair is a knotted mess from epic sex earlier. God, I really needed that. I feel like I’m floating I’m so at ease and relaxed.

“Mac?” My voice heavy with sleep.

Grabbing the sheet, I hold it to my chest and slide out of bed to see what he’s doing.

Just as I reach the doorway, I stop, my brows furrowing as a sharp pain presses into my abdomen. Dropping the sheets to the floor, and my eyes widen as a warm trickle drips between my legs like a crack in an old pipe.

“Yeah?” Mac replies.

I look up at him in a white panic. He’s fully dressed and looks like he’d been somewhere.

“Mac…um.” I look down to the floor, and water suddenly gushes down my legs. “Oh no, my water just broke.” My voice wavers.

“Oh fuck!” Both of his hands swipe through his hair, his eyes on the mess around my feet. “Okay, don’t panic,” he breathes heavily.

“Don’t panic, got it.” I’m totally panicking.

He pulls out his phone with one hand, using his free hand he swipes it back and forth over the top of his head frantically.

“Zeek, it’s happening, brother!” Mac hollers into the phone, obviously panicking. “Ok. Got it.” He hangs up and is by my side in seconds. “Let’s get you cleaned up and get some clothes on you.”

“What are we doing?”

“Getting you cleaned up and to the hospital,” he mutters. I don’t argue, but fear inside my chest whispers Veer’s name.

Going into my room, he grabs a towel from the bathroom, his shirt from the floor, and some clean panties and jogging shorts from my drawer.

He positions the shirt over my head, and I raise my hands to pull it on. I feel fine, so far there’s no pain. He bends down and starts wiping my feet and legs down gently; drying me off. Tossing the towel over his shoulder, he holds a pair of my dark blue boy short panties open for me to step in.

“One foot at a time,” he instructs, and I do. I let him dress me, because him taking care of me is a feeling I’ve never felt before. Cherished; if I have to label it.

Reaching out, I run my fingers through his hair, a smile on my face despite the slight pain starting to reside in my lower back.

“I’ll be right back. Don’t move.” His voice firm as he stands.

“Where the fuck am I going to go?” I laugh sarcastically.

He jogs into his room, and I rest my head on the door jamb. Practicing breathing like I’ve seen in the videos. In. Out. In—

“Ok, every time you have a contraction, press this,” Mac interrupts my deep breaths.

He hands me a fob looking thing with a red button in the middle.

“What’s this?” I take it from him. It’s lightweight and looks like something that would go to locking a car.

“It will time your contractions precisely.”

My mouth parts and I look up at him with doe eyes.

“You got this for me?”

“I made it,” he shrugs, a boyish grin fitting his face.

“Really? You made this?”

My eyes fill with unshed tears, he made it. He freaking made me a device.

A sharp pain throbs in my back and I press the button like I might break it. My knees buckling beneath me. Ok, it’s getting worse. I take a deep breath, my body shaking from the pain.

Mac’s hands are quickly on my hips, the smell of him blanketing me.

“Ok, just breathe through it, baby.” His voice almost soothing. I nod, inhaling through my nose, but it’s not helping with the pain at all. The videos lie, the books fib. This shit hurts!

The front door opens and Zeek, Jillian, Felix, Alessandra, Machete, and Raven are all standing there staring at me. The whole crew, all here for me.

Jillian rushes to my side, the sight of another woman comforting.

“If her water broke, we need to get her to the hospital now!”

“Shit!” Zeek turns where he stands, looking at the floor for answers.

Raven hustles to my other side, wrapping her arm around me. She smells of bleach oddly.

“Come on, let’s get you down to my car.”

Mac steps in, pushing their hands off me.

“I got this, just—just lead the way,” he barks at the women. Both of the girls look at each other before cautiously stepping out in front of us and heading toward the elevators. Mac is protective and panicking. It’s cute.

My finger bites down on the device as another contraction rips through me like an earthquake splitting concrete.

My jaw clenches, and I groan, trying to keep up with the crowd, I have to force my feet to walk through the pain.

“Let’s take the back way, we don’t want people staring,” Zeek states in a calm voice, his boots stomping onto the floor loudly.

Hunched over from the last contraction, Mac keeps his arm tucked around me tightly. I feel like nothing can get between us, that we’re safe. Inside the elevator, it smells like stale smoke, and there’s glitter sprinkled all over the floor. The song “Him & I” by G- Eazy & Halsey plays.

“I like this song,” Alessandra states, and everyone just gives her an odd look.

“What?” She shrugs with doe eyes, and Felix just chuckles.

Mac leans down, his eyes in line with mine while rubbing my back.

“I got you, and I’m not letting anything or anybody take you out of my sight, Pocahontas. Do you understand?” His determined eyes stare into mine deeply. I could drown in them, like a little girl twirling in a forest caught on fire. Embers and ash blanketing around him.

He is so serious, it makes me nervous that someone is actually attempting to take me from him.

He presses his lips to my sweaty forehead, and I close my eyes. Taking it all in.

I’m escorted outside a back entrance, the air outside making me hot and irritable. Pressure slowly builds in my abdomen, and I stop where I’m standing. My bare feet burning on the hot asphalt.

“Another contraction,” I breathe heavily.

I grit my teeth and press the button on the device Mac gave me.

“Come on!” Zeek waves us on.

“Fuck off!” Mac shouts at him, his hand on my face while I push through it. “You got this, baby. Take a deep breath, here.” He fists my hand. “Squeeze it as hard as you need.”

Intertwining my fingers with his, our eyes silently locking as I tightly grip his palm.

Pressure builds, my body feeling like it’s being ripped apart from the inside. Sweat drips down my face, my chin trembling from the terrible pain.

Before I know it, the contraction has passed, and we’re moving toward the car.

Mac helps me into the back of the seat, Raven and Machete are in the front, and Zeek and Jillian climb on Zeek’s bike with Felix and Alessandra. That’s when I notice a couple of other motorcycles revving up beside them.

“What are they doing?” I ask, looking at the men and women climbing on the motorcycles.

“Escorting us, making sure we don’t have any surprises before we get you to the hospital.”

I look at Mac, surprised at the great lengths everyone is taking to get this baby safely into the world. I clench my eyes shut. I won’t cry.

“Are you having another contraction?” Mac whispers in my ear.

I shake my head.

“I just… I’ve never had anyone do so much for me before.” A tear slips from my eye, and I quickly swipe it away. My mother and father have done things for me because they’re my parents, but they’ve never shown such loyalty. Not like this.

He presses his forehead against my clammy temple, his arm wrapping around me and pulling me close. I lean into him, drinking him in like a cold glass of water.

“Get used to it, I’m… I’m claiming you, Pocahontas and I’m going to give you everything I can.”

Wrinkles form on my face. “Claiming?”

“Yeah, claiming you as my ol’ lady.”

Raven gasps, and they look at each other in knowing.

“It just kind of happened.” He smirks.

He lays his hand on my belly.

“You make me quiet and loud at the same time. Fast and slow, hard and soft. When I’m not with you, I feel nothing and though that used to be my normal, I find it scary as fuck now. I need you and this baby in my life.”

My eyes bounce back and forth between his. Our fingers interlocking into one.

The car pulls into the emergency drive of the hospital, and everything happens so fast.

Motorcycles roar and park all around us, shielding us from any citizen.

Mac gets out of the car, and just as my feet hit the pavement, he’s swooped me up and is jogging us inside the hospital doors.

Inside the hospital, a whoosh of air from the opening doors blows my sweaty hair from my face, the smell of stale hospital food and anesthetic filling my lungs.

A young nurse runs to us, a stethoscope bobbing around her neck.

“How far apart are the contractions?” she asks.

Another nurse brings a silver and blue wheelchair and Mac sets me in it, pulling out his phone.

“Five minutes apart,” he informs.

“OK, so about five minutes,” the nurse mutters.

“No! I said five minutes, and that’s what it is!” Mac corrects sharply, and the nurse looks at him like he’s lost his mind, but I have to keep from smiling.

“Easy brother.” Machete rests his hand on Mac’s shoulder.

“What’s – what’s your name?” The nurse shakes her head from Mac’s outburst and readies her pen on a clipboard.

“Simone Ray,” I grit through a contraction, my nails piercing the rails of the wheelchair. Closing my eyes, I try to breathe through it, but I’m going to call bullshit on this whole breathe through the pain crap. It’s not working, and the pain is getting so much worse I’m about to hurt someone.

“How far along are you dear?” the young nurse asks me.

“Uh, thirty weeks.” I have to think as the pain nailing me in the stomach is distracting. I open my eyes, looking at the woman with dark curly hair and bright red lipstick. Her face pale as she stares back at me.

“That’s early.” She blinks at me as if I have all the answers as to why I’m having the baby pre-mature, but I don’t. In fact, her blank stare only makes me terrified that something is going to go wrong.

Mac steps in front of me, my shield from horror. “Yeah, so let’s do something about it besides stand here and stare!” Mac barks, making the nurse jump in her place.

“Right, call the doctor,” she tells the front desk. “And let’s get her hooked up to see where we are.” The nurse starts to push me away from the group and I drop the button and reach for Mac’s hand. I don’t want him to be far, I need him close. He grips my hand and doesn’t let go.

We’re pushed into a small room down the hall. There’s a bed, machines along the wall, and on the right side of the room there are two windows overlooking the parking garage. Mac helps me onto the bed with stiff white sheets, and nurses from all over hook me up to wires and devices. It’s as if everything moves in slow motion as they undress me and run about the room getting me ready for the doctor. But, my hand stays in Mac’s the whole time, our eyes never breaking.

“I’m scared,” I mouth. It’s too early, what if she’s not ready? What if I’m not ready?

He drops to his knees, his chin resting on our locked hands.

“Everything is going to be fine. I know it, you have to believe it too. Little Peach is going to be just fine, and so are you.” He squeezes my hand, his fierce eyes looking darker than ever. As if the fire in his eyes has been doused and ashes float about his irises. He’s scared something is going to happen to me or the baby and to be honest, I am too.

“So, you’re just shy of eight months?” a male voice asks entering the room.

Looking to the door a man with thinning hair and a white coat looks at the chart the nurses have put together.

I nod, my stomach tightening with another contraction. Pursing my lips, I blow a breath of air and try not to rip Mac’s fingers apart.

The doctor scratches his wrinkled face, his dim blue eyes shining with concern. My heart skips a beat, this isn’t good. I shouldn’t be in labor.

“Ok, let’s see what we have.” He grabs a stool in the corner and positions himself between my legs. Shifting on my back, I stare at the ceiling lined with tiles. I hope he can’t tell I had sex not but a few hours ago. Wait, is that what made me go into labor? “Bend your knees, placing your feet at the end of the bed,” he instructs, interrupting my thoughts.

Clearing my throat, I do as I’m told, my sweaty palm squeezing Mac’s. The doctor inserts his fingers, and it takes everything I have not to push. Squeezing my eyes to the point I see swirls of colors, I wait for him to pull his fingers out of my cervix.

“You are one-hundred percent effaced, and fully dilated, dear.” His words make my chest sink with more fear than I can take in.

“What does that mean? Can we stop the labor?” My voice wavers, but I know the answer to my question based off the books I’ve been reading. I’m having this baby early.

“I’m afraid not.” He shakes his head, a nurse steps up beside him helping place gloves on each of his hands.

He confirms my fears, pending doom makes my heart race, my eyes filling with warm tears.

Suddenly a very sharp pain squeezes my entire stomach, as if Freddy Krueger himself is inside my uterus clawing to get out.

“OH MY GOD GET IT OUT!” I scream, my face red, and eyes as wide as saucers. “Give me some medicine for the pain. I need it. Get it,” I demand, snapping my fingers. My whole body slicked in a cold sweat and my hips are numb from so much agony.

“Simone, it’s too late for that, I need you to sit up, okay?” His controlled voice is not helping me panic any less.

I glance at Mac, and he’s already helping me sit up before I can silently consult with him about what we should do.

“OK, I need you to give me a couple of big pushes.” The doctor rests his hands on my knees, focusing on my vagina.

“Wait, it’s too soon to push. These things take hours. I read that.” I shake my head, needing more time. This is moving too soon. Too fast.

Suddenly another sharp pain slices through me, cutting my excuses off. My hips bare down, and I push without me even having to think about it.

“Yeah, not happening tonight, dear. We’re having this baby now. Now push harder!”

Squeezing Mac’s hand like a vise, I push so hard my toes curl into the bed. Sweat drips down my face, and my pelvis feels like it’s being ripped apart. Out of breath, I relax, panting for air. I can’t push another second.

“I can’t breathe, I can’t catch my breath. It’s so hot in here.”

“You’re doing great!” Mac encourages, his face pale as he dabs my forehead with a white cloth. Where’d he get that?

“Oh yeah, if I’m doing so great she’d be out!” I snap at him, pushing my hair from my face. I can’t do this, it hurts so fucking bad. I feel like my pelvis is a wishbone at Thanksgiving dinner.

Mac presses his lips to my temple and kisses me, his mouth lingering on my skin. That one kiss brings me back down to earth, and I finally take the breath I’ve been needing.

“OK, one last push Simone, and you get to meet your baby girl.”

This is it, the moment I’ve been waiting for. This moment is the one that has led everyone here, and even people I care about to their death. My heart aches thinking about Gatz and Kane. They lost their lives for this little girl’s first breath, and it will not go in vain. I can do this. I will have this baby, and she will be beautiful, smart, and loved more than anything.

This little girl was the best thing I ever did for myself. She made me a mother and a warrior. She’s stopping the wave of falling dominos and giving us a new life.

Then again, I wouldn’t have come to this point without Mac. He’s cared for us both, protected us, and loved us. He’s put himself before his club, and himself. I trust him more than I’ve ever trusted anyone. We need him in our new life, to show us the path of being strong, and free-willed.

“Yes.” I nod. Mac looks at me with bewilderment.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Yes, I’ll be your ol’ lady. We’ll be your girls.” I smile, and Mac smirks the most handsome, sexiest, mischievous grin I’ve ever seen.

Making me and my baby girl his is the best thing I could do for us.

“Let’s do this, babe.” He presses a chaste kiss to my cheek, and I nod in agreement.

“Come on, Momma, let’s push!” the doctor hollers, tapping my leg.

Taking a big breath, tears streaming down my face. I push, I push so hard I see stars, my legs shake, searing pain slices through my pelvis, and all of a sudden, a huge relief pulls from my insides and I fall back onto the bed out of breath.

The sound of the cutest girly cry fills the room, and I can’t stop the tears from falling down my cheeks.

“Oh, she is beautiful, Momma!” the doctor congratulates. My eyes hazy, I breathe in, but it’s shallow and not quite filling my chest. I try again but feel nothing but a burn in my lungs.

“Simone?” Mac is in my vision, but he’s blurry and unfocused.

“Something… something’s wrong,” I whisper, gasping.

“Ok, Mom’s in distress, I need you to step back, Dad.” The doctor pushes Mac out of my face, and I hear metal falling to the ground. A table being knocked over, and commotion all around me. A nurse puts a clear mask on my face, pumping oxygen as fast as she can, and suddenly the doctor is yelling, “She’s losing blood!”

I reach out, wanting Mac’s hand. Needing it to bring me back down to earth but feel nothing but air. “She needs her daddy, where’s Mac,” I say into the oxygen mask, half conscious. But nobody answers me. Everyone’s moving around, panicking and I can’t move, or can’t think. There’s nothing, and I slip into a blanket of darkness.