Josie paced the hallway of the hospital. Levi, Zac, Ellis, and Luca waited in chairs. Reese stood tall, arms at his sides, being there as the punching bag when Josie needed it.

She couldn’t stop seeing and hearing it all go down.

The metal thuds. The gunshots. The words. Watching the way Reese walked forward at a man with a gun because he wanted to save Steph. The screams of the guys. The fighting. And then the silence when they saw the blood on the ground. Steph cried to her over and over about not feeling good. Josie thought it was just her panicking or being in shock. But the blood…

Josie touched the corners of her eyes.

Reese gave the orders for Brett, Jason, and Hawk to stay put in the storage unit with the guy with the gun.

The words were etched into her mind.

Reese grabbing the guy’s shirt.

If that baby is hurt, I’m going to keep you alive and torture you for years… you have no idea of the pain that is coming your way…

The words made Josie shiver.

She’d never seen Reese like that before.

Now he just stood there, watching her every move.

After making his threat to the guy, Reese scooped Steph up off the ground and started to run. Someone called an ambulance and it met them at the front of the storage unit. Josie rode with Steph. While she was in and out of consciousness, the EMTs talked to each other in what sounded like a different language. The only thing Josie could do was hold Steph’s hand and tell her how much she loved her.

Josie walked to the end of the hall and turned on her heels. She met eyes with Reese from down the hallway. He was hurt too. She knew what she’d said him. The way she blurted it out that she blamed herself for letting him into her life.

She started to move toward Reese, needing him. She hated herself that she needed him. She needed him to hug her. To love her. He was the one who saved Steph. He put himself right in the middle of the mess that wasn’t exactly his business. Josie was the one who found the drugs on Starla. She was the one who gave him her bag to hold so she wouldn’t get into trouble. And look where that led everyone…

Trying to find the right words - or maybe just the truth - Josie licked her lips.

She was within a foot of Reese when a set of doors opened.

Out came a doctor who called her name.

Reese quickly turned. “Go, sweetheart. Hurry.”

As Josie walked, Reese stayed right next to her.

The doctor looked at them both. He lifted his eyebrows when he saw Reese. Not a shock to see one of the MC guys at the hospital. They probably had an entire wing dedicated to them by that point.

“How is she?” Josie asked.

She touched Reese’s hand and he slipped his fingers between hers. He squeezed.

“She’s okay,” the doctor said.

“The baby?” Reese asked.

“The baby is okay.”

Josie turned and put her head to Reese’s chest, crying.

“She’s getting fluids and rest right now,” the doctor said. “We checked everything and she’s okay. She’s going to need to be on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy though. She’s very stressed and tired.”

“We all are, Doc,” Reese said.

“Yeah, well, you’re not pregnant. If she was ten minutes later, we’d be having a different conversation.”

“Can we see her?” Josie asked.

“Of course,” the doctor said. “Immediate family only.”

“That’s us,” Josie said. “Both of us.”

The doctor nodded. “Right. I cannot stress enough that she needs rest. Lots of rest. I can give you all the medical terminology you want, but I’ll keep this simple… if she tries to make too much movement, she’s going to end up in trouble. And you know what I mean by trouble.”

“We get it, Doc,” Reese said. “Her ass is going to be in a bed until that baby comes. I’ll make sure of it.” He looked down at Josie. “I’ll make prospects watch her.”

Josie offered a weak smile.

They were led to a hospital room where the doctor opened the door and let them in and let them have privacy. Everything about the hospital and the room bothered Josie. She remembered what it was like with her father. Except when they came to get her then, the news wasn’t good. At all.

When she saw Steph in the bed, tears filled her eyes again. She was propped up a little, a bedsheet over her growing belly. Her eyes were shut but they slowly opened. She turned her head and smiled.

“Hey.”

“Steph,” Josie said. “Oh, Steph…”

“How do you feel?” Reese asked.

“Tired. Scared.”

Reese touched her hand. “No need to be scared, Steph. Everything is taken care of.”

“Is he…”

“The cops took care of everything. He’s gone. With what he did to you and all those drugs, he’s gone forever.”

“The doctor said you need to be on bed rest,” Josie said. “No more working or anything for you.”

“What about the baby? The nursery? I need to make money…”

“No, you don’t,” Reese said. “Focus on the baby.”

Steph swallowed hard. “I don’t get this. It’s so much…”

“I know,” Josie said. “But we do one thing at a time.”

“He showed up and just grabbed me,” Steph said. “I felt weird at my friend’s house. I felt sick. I felt watched. Everything was just…”

“That guy was a bad man,” Reese said. “He hurt someone else too. But he’s gone.”

Steph nodded. “Okay.”

“Why don’t you shut your eyes?” Josie asked. “Everything is okay now. I promise.”

“We’re all going to take care of you,” Reese said. “Family. No matter what. Family.”

“Thank you,” Steph whispered. She slowly shut her eyes and put her hands to her stomach.

Josie watched as Reese backed up and ran a hand through his messy hair. She stood up and faced him, looking up into her outlaw’s eyes. She put her hand out and nodded for Reese to take it. She made her way toward the door and they exited the hospital room as quietly as they could.

“She’s going to be okay,” Reese said. “The baby too.”

“Yeah. Just a scare.”

“I need to go and talk to the guys for a second and make a phone call.”

“About that guy in the storage unit?”

Reese didn’t answer. He just slipped away and walked through a set of doors. Josie then stood there alone, her back against the wall. She tried to envision what life would be like now. But, again, taking her own words, she could only do one thing at a time. And right now, the first thing was to stand there and wait for Reese to come back to her.

When the doors opened, and Reese appeared, there was a sense of relief that went through her body.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Reese said. “I told everyone to take off. Prospects are going to be at your place, waiting. Not sure if Steph is getting out of here today or not, but I’m staying until they make me leave.”

“Me too.”

“Good. We’re stuck together.”

She touched his hands and swallowed hard. “You lied to her.”

“What?”

“Steph. You lied to her.”

“About what?”

“That guy. You said the cops came and took him away.”

“He got his justice.”

“That was your phone call?”

“Do you really want to know this?” Reese asked.

“This time, I do. He could have killed Steph. And the baby…”

“Believe me, sweetheart, he’s gone for good. Brett, Jason, and Hawk took care of it.”

Josie felt a sinking in her chest, but that was how this life went.

“And, yeah, I lied to her. Because she needs to rest. She’s tied into this MC deeper than she realizes. Someday she’ll get it. For now, she needs to make sure that that baby is safe.”

“Thank you for all of that,” Josie said.

“I made a promise…”

“Reese, I didn’t mean what I said to you.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Reese…”

He gently touched her face. “You meant it. Because that’s life. That’s this life. You’re going to live with it for the rest of your life.”

“This wasn’t your fault. You saved us. I didn’t mean it the way it came out. It’s just everything we’ve been through coming together. What happened to my father and to Lasz… and now Steph getting pregnant…”

“I know, sweetheart,” Reese said. “You have to know how much you mean to me. I would die for you.”

“I believe that. Which bothers me. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I don’t plan on having you lose me, Josie. But the time we have together, we have to be together. This situation was just fucked up.”

“What’s going to happen to Starla now?”

“You’re worried about Starla?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t think she ever meant harm.”

“That’s a club decision. I’m not worried about it now. All I care about is you and me, sweetheart. We’re here. Steph is safe. The baby is safe. The problem is over.”

“Now you’re lying to me, Reese. Because the problems for the club are never over.”

Reese grinned. “True. But right now, it’s quiet. That’s what we need to take advantage of, the quiet.”

“In a hospital…”

“Could be worse,” he said as he slipped his arms around her waist. He pulled her close and kissed her forehead. “Could be so much fucking worse.”

“You’re right. I could be in love with an outlaw.”

“I think that already happened, sweetheart.”

“Damn. I’m in big trouble.”

Reese moved his lips to hers and stole a kiss. “Damn… I think we’re both in big trouble…”