I block out the noise in the restaurant. The past two weeks have gone by in a blur. The hustle and bustle of the season is in full swing.

“Come on, let me get you home,” Liam’s sexy voice fills the air.

I grab my purse and hook it over my shoulder, place my hand in his as he helps me out of my seat. If I hadn’t found out I was pregnant a few weeks ago, I would definitely know now. I can’t keep a thing down. The aroma of everyone’s food tonight made me sick, yet I managed to eat a few bites here and there. I pray to God it stays down.

“You’ll be okay. Trust me,” Alina reassures me as she kisses my cheek. She’s been my saving grace this past week. While she should have been out here visiting, she’s been helping me adjust my mind to being pregnant. She’s a pediatrician, or at least she was up until about five years ago when she decided to retire.

“I know. Thanks for everything. I’ll see you in a week or so at the game.” Liam and I watch her, Roan, Mom, and Dad get into their vehicle and pull away.

I glance down Main Street and think over the way I’ve acted the last couple of weeks and how my emotions have been rapidly growing out of control since I found out I was pregnant.

I’ve been a complete basket case, and it isn’t Liam’s over-possessive nature, both of our more than usual sex drives, or the fact I feel as if something terrible is about to go down. My gifts have stopped. There have been phone calls and text messages coming across both of our phones late at night, but Liam takes over when those happen and reports to Dad. Life is as normal as can be under these circumstances, and yet I can’t shake this feeling. It’s eating me up inside.

“You look tired.”

I am, I want to say. If I do, he’ll be lifting me up and carrying me to the car. “I’ll be okay.”

I wasn’t kidding when I mentioned him mothering the hell out of me. It’s his demeanor; and I get it, I would do the same if he spent half of his morning puking and dry heaving over the toilet, too. My heart starts to flutter wildly. I'm a bitch. A royal one at that. And still, I can’t help the thoughts circling like evil vultures in my head.

Liam is more attentive than I deserve. He speaks to the baby, he busts his ass on the field every day, and the grit of the wear and tear he puts on his body shows the second he walks through the door at my place. Still, he demands I let him do everything for me. He apologizes when I ask him to back off. He’s wonderful, and for the life of me, I can’t get rid of the heavy weight that keeps ladling more and more out of me every day, wondering if I will ever get back to my old self again.

It’s normal to be overwhelmed, but this is too much for me at once, and it’s overpowering me in a way I can’t stop.

It’s bye week for the team, and I would have thought he’d want to jump on a plane and get out of town, even if only for a day or two. A weekend trip back home to my favorite shoe store would have been nice. It seems this big man planned other things for his week off. He insisted on getting to know the town where we are going to raise our child.

“I overdid it with you today, didn’t I?” he asks.

“Not really. It’s me. I’m exhausted, is all. Part of being pregnant,” I half lie. I could have told him no before we ventured to the Green Belt, strolling along the Boise River. “The fresh air feels great, though, which home are we going to? This back and forth is kind of ridiculous, don’t you think?”

For the first time in days, I feel a little pick-me-up. I have every intention of moving in with him. All I’m going to bring is my clothes and personal things. Everything else can stay. We can use my house for the family when they come out to visit. Which knowing mine will be weekly once the baby is born.

“Back and forth, my ass. I’ve been staying at your house for the past couple of weeks. I’m starting to forget what mine looks like.” He slings his arm around my shoulder and starts walking us toward his Rover. It’s a nice break to not have eyes staring at us or wondering how many cell phone pictures were snapped.

“I think your house would be the perfect place to raise our baby.” I stop and skim my fingertips up his team hoodie. They move on their own. Like every other part of me, they want to touch him, to be consumed by him, and to taste his skin.

“No argument today. You really must be tired.” He places his hands on my stomach.

“I’m not arguing. I’m pregnant.” I lift a brow. He’s right. “I’m sorry, I’ve been horrible to be around lately.”

“You have, but it doesn’t make me love you less. It makes me love you more. Your body is taking care of another person. You’re adjusting. Fuck, we both are. We’ll get through this like everything else.”

My eyes flutter shut when he snakes his arm around me and pulls me close.

I hardly have a moment to react before he presses his tongue to the seam of my lips and strokes it slowly with mine. It feels incredible. In this heartwarming instant, his touch, his mouth steals the anxiety right out of me.

“Everything is going to be alright. I promise. This is all new to you. It wasn’t planned. Give yourself time to adjust. I got you.”

And he does, or at least he does until we take a few steps further and out of nowhere I’m slammed from behind and knocked to my hands and knees.

“What the fuck?” Liam hollers, his strong arms going around my waist.

I panic. My heart is pounding so hard I swear the people gathering around can hear it.

“I’m sorry, Miss. I tripped.” A man gets right up in my face. The scent of alcohol wafting from him makes me ill.

“Don’t touch her,” Liam snarls, shoving the man in the back and ushering me behind him. He tilts his head to the side, glancing back at me while keeping one eye on the stranger. “Are you alright?”

Liam keeps me clutched to his back. My vision begins to blur, and my stomach starts to churn. I nod, or at least I think I do.

“I said I was sorry,” the guy slurs.

“Right, well, take your sorry ass out of here and call a fucking cab. She’s pregnant, you dumb fuck,” Liam growls. I’ve heard the man pissed before, seen him at the height of his rage, yet none of it compares to how close he is to unhinging right now.

Liam’s voice rings in my ears. I can’t breathe.

A female voice hones in above the noise in my head. “Pregnant. Well, this is the best news Idaho has had in a long time. Do you care to elaborate? Tell us when she’s due? Are you staying with the Diamonds after the baby is born?” Oh God. Is she a reporter? A Diamonds fan? This can’t be happening. Not here. Not now. Not ever.

“That’s none of your fucking business, lady.”

My stomach cramps and a cluster of sparks set off inside of me. “Liam, please…”

I sag into his back, my legs giving out, and I tumble toward the sidewalk, clutching my stomach, but I never hit the unforgiving surface. Liam has me pulled up into his chest. My body is quivering, and my stomach is cramping. It’s relentless.

“Justice.” I hear the alarm in his voice.

I can’t answer. Words are jumbled up in my head. Our baby is the only thing I can think of. I can’t breathe.

The tension in my face and limbs turns numb, and my mind whisks away. I can feel my breathing becoming more rapid, shallower. It’s in this moment that my own personal hurricane strikes. I need something to calm me down. A soothing word, a hand, anything to stop my primal urge to flee my body from my mind. What if that man was my stalker? What if he hurt me and something happened to our baby? What if?

Strong arms cocoon me in before I give in to my mind and shut down.

* * *

Pain shoots across my forehead, so powerful it has my head reeling back against something soft. I hold my breath, willing it to go away. It hurts to pinch my eyes shut as I breathe in and out slowly until it declines in its fierceness.

“My baby,” I cry. My lungs burn with each inhale I try to take. What the hell is happening to me?

“Justice, you're fine. Our baby is fine. We’re at the hospital. You had a panic attack.”

Liam. I hear the strangled fear in his voice.

“I’m sorry.” I open my eyes. It's dark, and my head won’t stop pounding. When I go to sit up, familiar hands gently push me down.

“Stop. Listen to me for once. You are not getting out of bed. Rest. I promise you are both alright.

Oh, my God. I’ve lost my mind. Everything reels inside of my skull.

I feel the warmth of someone’s hand on my forehead. My mom’s. My body begins to shudder. The failing attempt to stifle my sobs does no good. The tears fall down my face to my quivering lips.

“I’m scared. I don’t know what happened.”

“Honey, let it out if you need to. You’ll feel so much better. What happened to you was an accident. Dad checked everything out. You were in an area that’s well populated.” Mom climbs into the bed next to me, wrapping her arms around me. “I’m not going to lie to you here. You are going to be spooked until we find the person who is scaring you.”

Her voice is meant to soothe me, but it doesn’t.

I know I’ve lost it when all I can think about is this person dying, then, and only then, will I feel safe.