CHAPTER 11
Three weeks later…
An overwhelming feeling of nausea forced Adie out of bed and running headlong toward the bathroom. She threw open the door and dropped to her knees in front of the toilet, where she immediately threw up the remains of last night's dinner with Hoxson.
When she was done, she shut the bathroom door with her foot and sat on the cold porcelain floor, a surprised expression on her face. This had been the third morning in a row when she'd woken up with nausea like this, and slowly, she began to realize that something was seriously wrong.
A knock sounded against the bathroom door, snapping Adie out of her thinking.
"Yo, you in there?" called out Hoxson.
Adie quickly reached behind her and flushed the toilet before scrambling to her feet.
"Um, yeah!" she called out, turning on the sink and preparing to brush her teeth to get the stink off of her breath. "Just give me a minute!"
Once she was done, Adie stepped out into the living room of the San Francisco apartment where she and Hoxson had been hiding out for the last few weeks.
"What's up?" he asked. "You just shot out of bed like a lunatic."
For a split second, Adie debated telling the truth. But she knew that Hoxson'd had enough on his mind with trying to figure out how to take down the Mendozas. She didn't want to give him even more to worry about.
"Just…really had to go."
Hoxson flashed her a brief, skeptical expression before stepping past her into the bathroom. Adie then hurried into the kitchen to make some coffee. As it brewed, she stood in front of the large windows that looked out over the city, she couldn't help but feel like a bird trapped in a gilded cage. Now that the Mendozas had taken over, the city was too dangerous for her to travel alone. After all, Julio was likely still looking for her.
"What's the plan for today?" asked Adie, handing Hoxson a cup of coffee as he stepped into the living room fresh out of the shower, a towel hung loosely on his hips.
Adie glanced over his gorgeous physique; despite their total giving-in to their passion for one another over the last few weeks, she still hadn't gotten tired of his body.
"Same as always," he said. "I link up with the Van de Wauters in hiding, and you stay here."
"Figures," said Adie, frustration in her voice.
"Listen," said Hoxson, "I know this is shitty, but it's the only way to keep you safe. I don't want you walking those streets alone when the Mendozas are looking for you."
"It's not that I want to go for a freaking stroll around the block," she said. "It's…Starwood. It's home."
Hoxson looked away and nodded in understanding.
In the last few weeks since the Mendoza's coup, the biker bear gangs had gone from dormant to an occupying army, enforcing the Mendoza's control over the city. They terrorized the town, enforcing the will of the Mendozas who now used the town as their own personal fiefdom to rule San Francisco from afar. Things were looking dire.
And now, on top of everything, Adie was sick.
"We'll figure it out," he said. "Just got to coordinate with the Van de Wauters and the rest of the resistance in the city. Once we get our numbers high enough, then we can think about some kind of counter-attack."
"And what about the rest of your mercenary team?" asked Adie. "Can't they help?"
"If the Van de Wauters want to pay them, then they'll come right over. But they're insistent on doing the work themselves, just keeping me on the payroll."
"You guys could help because, I don't know, it's the right thing to do."
Hoxson snorted.
"If us mercs lent out our services to every charity case that needed help, then we'd be bankrupt within a year. Sorry – gotta pay to play."
Hoxson took a sip of his coffee, leaving Adie alone with her thoughts – thoughts preoccupied with everything going on. After a time, he returned wearing an all-black outfit of jeans and a t-shirt, the look finished by a pair of combat boots. His beard had started to grow back in, and the lower half of his face was dusted with the beginnings of a flame-red beard.
"I'm out," he said. "Stay put."
Before he left, however, he moved in close to Adie and kissed her gently on the lips.
"I love you," he said. "And I'm going to make sure nothing happens to you."
"Love you too," said Adie, her eyes on the ground.
With that, he left.
As soon as the door shut, Adie rushed to her phone and began looking up a nearby doctor who could take a look at her, who could tell her why she'd been feeling so sick and strange over the last few days. Luck was on her side, and she managed to make an appointment with a doctor just a few blocks down the road. After showering and getting ready, she prepared to go outside for the first time in days.
"Hoxson would kill me if he knew I was putting myself at risk like this," she said as she waited for the elevator doors to open up.
Moments later, Adie stepped out onto the streets of downtown San Francisco. The morning sun was high in the cloudless sky, and the streets bustled with activity. Walking toward the doctor's office among the people, Adie felt normal for the first time in as long as she could remember. However, she wished that she could instead be walking the quiet streets of her hometown.
Twenty minutes later, Adie was in the doctor's office and being led to an examination room. Once there, a doctor, a trim, middle-aged woman with blonde hair and light wrinkles around her eyes, asked her about her symptoms. She listened carefully, and when Adie was done, she had one question.
"Have you been sexually active recently?"
Adie crinkled her brow.
"Um, yes," she said. "Why? You think I have an STD or something?"
The doctor gave her a quick once-over.
"I don't think you're sick, but I do think that you may very well have something that's indeed ‘sexually transmitted'. But I want to run some tests to be sure. I'll be right back; just sit tight for a minute."
With that, she stepped out of the examination room.
It took Adie a few moments for her to realize just what the doctor was implying.
"Wait – pregnant?" she asked, her words bouncing around the tiny room.
The word filled her head and she immediately felt as though she was in some kind of a dream. The doctor returned moments later.
"We're going to need to do a pregnancy test to make sure," she said. "But it sounds like you've been having morning sickness. And it's been how long since you've been sexually active with your new boyfriend?"
"He's not my b-"
But Adie stopped herself, realizing that she sounded like a high-schooler.
"About a month and a half, I think."
"More than enough time then," said the doctor. "Okay – let's start."
The next hour flew by, Adie still feeling as though she wasn't quite participating in reality. By the time she got the results, and the doctor told her she was indeed pregnant, Adie felt like she just might pass out at any moment.
"You okay?" asked the doctor. "You look a little pale."
"Just…taking in the news," said Adie.
The doctor went on, telling Adie about what her next few steps as far as future doctor's appointments, and other such matters should be. But her voice sounded far away to Adie, as though the doctor were speaking from under water.
"Oh, and congratulations!"
"T-thanks," said Adie.
And with that, the appointment was over, and Adie was back on the street, a manila folder in her hands with all the information about her pregnancy. She walked down the sidewalks to her apartment in a daze. Needing more fresh air and forgetting about the danger she was in, Adie took a few turns here and there to lengthen out her walk. Eventually, she ended up on a narrow street that was far away from the bustle of downtown.
She gained a sense of her surroundings, looking up and realizing that she was more-or-less alone.
"Shit," she said quietly to herself. "Gotta get home."
But before she could take another step, the throaty rumble of an engine sounded from down the block. By the time Adie turned to see just what it was, a black, windowless van pulled up beside her, the tires screeching to a halt.
The doors flew open, and Adie's gut dropped down to her feet as she realized just who was inside – Lucia and Emil Mendoza, two burly biker bears at their side.
"There's the girl we've been looking for," said Emil.
"And ripe for the picking," said Lucia.
Adie didn't even have a chance to scream before she was pulled into the back of the van.