Chapter Twenty-Four
Brody
“Landry Cole. I need Landry Cole’s room number.” I slammed my hands on top of the nurse’s station desk. “You can glare at me all you want, just tell me what room my girl is in.”
“Brody?”
I spun around, relived when I saw Dr. Woodsen walking toward me. “Where is she? What happened? Is she okay? The baby?” I’d gotten a call twenty minutes ago that Landry had passed out, that she was still out cold. I felt like I was going to have a heart attack, every worst-case scenario running through my head.
He gestured to the side, pulling me away from the mean-mugging nurse. “Landry is fine, the baby is fine. As far as I can tell, she fainted, which by itself isn’t concerning.” He paused, scratching his beard like he was trying to buy time. “But she was also dehydrated, her blood pressure was elevated, and it took a little longer than I liked for her to come around.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, resisting the urge to slap him and make him tell me where she was. “Okay, what does that all that mean?”
“This pregnancy started out pretty rough for her, and even though she’s been doing okay lately…I’m putting her on bed rest for the remainder.”
“Holy shit. She’s going to kill you and make it look like an accident.”
He winced. “Believe me, I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.” He started ticking points off on his fingers. “She’s on her feet all day—hell, she performed a six-hour surgery this morning. Her job is stressful. She gets run down way too fast. Her level of dehydration was severe, which was also concerning, given how quickly that happened.”
“She drinks water all day. I text her reminders and she carries that bossy bottle around that spazzes out with reminders.”
“I know she does, which is why I’m so concerned.” He pulled his cell from his pocket when it started to ring. “I’ve already written out her orders and talked to her chief resident.” He took two steps back, still looking at his cell. “I’ve got to deliver a set of twins. I’ll come check on her later. I want her to stay overnight for observation.”
“Wait, you’re leaving? Did you already tell her about the bed rest?”
“I didn’t have a chance yet. Sorry man.” He waved and then took off sprinting in the opposite direction, calling over his shoulder, “Room seven twenty-eight.”
Well for fuck’s sake. I slid down the ugly beige-colored wall and took my cell from my pocket. As anxious as I was to see her, kiss her, make sure she was okay, there was something I knew I had to do first, and I knew Landry was going to flip shit.
“Hello?”
“Beau? Hey, it’s Brody. From Clashing Swell?” What if he’s still like, who? What if he has to look me up on the net? That would be embarrassing as hell.
“Uh, okay? What, uh, what can I do for you man?”
“I might be the father of your sister’s baby.” Wow. I don’t think I meant to say that. I’d planned to sort of lead up to it a little.
“I’m sorry. What?”
Yeah. Obviously that threw him for a loop. I took a deep breath and tried to slow my word vomit. “Landry and I have been seeing each other for a few months now. I know that she told you that she didn’t know who the baby’s father was. Her prick of an ex, or the new guy, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m the new guy. Well. I was the new guy.” I shrugged. “I think three months of fucking kind of brushes some of the bloom off, you know?” Shit. I did it again. Word vomit.
“Are you seriously calling me to tell me you’ve been banging my sister and that you might have been the dude to knock her up? I haven’t done shrooms in a long time, but this sounds a hell of a lot like a bad trip.”
“I’m not lying and you’re not high…I mean, I guess you’re not high.” I didn’t know how he spent his evenings. “And I’m calling because I need your help. Your sexy sister is going to try to kill me.” Was it okay to call someone’s sister sexy? I didn’t have a sister. I didn’t know the rules. It didn’t bother me when people called Talon sexy.
“You’re dating my sister. And you know about the baby?”
Beau was a lot slower on the uptake than I thought he’d be. I didn’t have time for a lengthy chat. I needed to get him on board and I needed to get to my girl. “I’m with your sister. We’re taking things slow, one day at a time type of deal, but we are living together…You know what? That’s not important. This pregnancy has been kicking her ass from day one. Our OB—”
“Our? Is the baby yours? I thought she didn’t know yet.”
“Landry is mine. And that’s all that matters right now, okay?” It’d been six weeks since I found out I was possibly going to be a father. Six weeks of craving runs and holding her hair while she puked it all back up. Six weeks of lying in bed with my hand on her tummy. Six weeks of living life together.
“Okay.”
“She is on some anti-nausea meds, and they’ve been working. She’s keeping food down and gaining some weight, but today she passed out. The doctor put her on strict bed rest.”
“She’s passed out? Why? Is she okay? The baby, is it all right?”
“Dr. Woodsen, our OB, thinks it’s all pregnancy related. She works too many hours, she’s on her feet too much. It’s all a bad combo—her body, the pregnancy, her lifestyle…it doesn’t mesh.” I was taking some liberties with what Dr. McBearded told me, but I didn’t want to get into levels of dehydration right now. “He put her on bed rest.” I rested my head in my hand, suddenly feeling more tired than I’d ever felt in my life.
“I bet she hates that.”
“I haven’t told her yet. That’s why I’m calling you. I need your help.” I glanced around the hallway, making sure she wasn’t about to sneak up on me with a knife. “I leave on tour tomorrow. I have to go. If I don’t I’ll be letting my whole band down. But the thought of leaving Landry here alone rips my heart clean out of my chest.”
“Wow.”
I shook my head. “I know. Graphic. Sorry. I’m just tired man. And worried—this pregnancy had been hard on both of us.”
“No. I meant wow, you’re in love with my sister.”
“Oh.” Was I? “I, uh, I need you to come get her in your fancy pants jet.” He didn’t say anything so I continued, as was the Clashing Swell way. “I’m going to tell her about the bed rest, but I want you to help me convince her to move home while I’m gone.”
“Home? Like to the compound?”
I nodded then remembered he couldn’t see me. “Getting her home is what’s best. She won’t be alone. And you guys have that aunt that is a PA. Here in Florida it would be Landry and her friend Grub Express.” I wouldn’t be able to leave on tour knowing that she was laid up in bed, alone, without any help. Without anyone to make her drink water, to remind her to take her meds. She needed people to keep her mind occupied and to make her laugh. To make her feel loved. I wiped at my cheeks. What the fuck? Was I crying? Good Lord. “Will you help me?”
“Yeah, man, of course. I’ll get a flight plan filed and be there in a few hours.”
“I’d throw her over my shoulder and bring her myself, but she doesn’t want people to know about us yet. And I don’t want to add any unnecessary stress to her life.” I stood, heading down the hall to room seven twenty-eight.
“I’ll keep it all to myself until I can get her home.”
“Thanks.”
“No, man, thank you for taking care of my sister. You’re a good guy, Brody.” He hung up. And I marched to my doom.