Nothing Left to Lose (97 page)

He laughed.
“Boy? Baby, I’m all man,” he corrected, faking hurt.

Jeez, don’t
I know it! Damn badass!
“Oh no, you’ll always be my Pretty
Boy,” I teased.

“Oh yeah? Even
when I’m old, wrinkly and grey?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah.
You’ll always be pretty to me,” I promised, stroking his bruised
face lovingly, tracing the lines and bruises carefully before
pressing my lips against his. He kissed me back with so much love
and passion that if I had been standing, it would have knocked me
clean off my feet. I closed my eyes, and all I could think about
was how this boy was mine, how he wanted to be with me forever and
how he was my perfect other half.

For ages, we
just lay on the blanket that was sprinkled with rose petals,
looking at the stars, holding hands. Nothing needed to be said.
Everything was perfect and incredible, and I knew that with Ashton
at my side, it always would be.

Anna had been
named sole beneficiary of Carter Thomas’ will. He left everything
to her – his cars, houses, money, and shares. Of course, the police
knew that it was all obtained through illegal means, so they
petitioned the courts to impound it. However, to be able to
confiscate the money, they had to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt,
that the money had been obtained by breaking the law. The trouble
was that Carter was incredibly proficient at covering his
tracks.

It took over
three years for them to build their case and prove the money had
been made through illegal businesses. Just over a half of it was
confiscated by the state; the rest had been laundered again and
again to make it appear clean even though everyone knew that it
wasn’t. Anna was, therefore, issued just over twenty-nine million
dollars of Carter’s money.

Anna being
Anna, hadn’t wanted anything to do with him, even after death. So
she gave two million dollars to each of the agents’ families that
died whilst guarding her, and two million to Jack’s family. Then
she gave just over ten million dollars to AWC, a charity called
Abused Women and Children that helped victims of domestic violence.
Her final icing on the cake? She gave five million dollars to a cat
charity because Carter had a real hatred for cats. She said he
would be turning in his grave, and had actually laughed when she
signed the bank transfer order.

Lots of other
changes had happened in the five years since Carter’s death. The
biggest change: we were now married. Just like I had promised her,
I’d taken her back to the Maldives. Our wedding had been held in
secret, on the beach, with just very close family and friends in
attendance. That was the proudest day of my life, the day I got to
change the only thing that I didn’t love about her – her
surname.

Some things
remained the same though. The press still loved us. Annaton fever
still gripped the nation but, knowing there was nothing we could do
about it, we just got on with our lives and tried not to focus on
it too much. President Spencer remained in office; he’d been
re-elected and had another three years left to serve his
country.

Anna had
finished school, so we moved to Los Angeles. For the last two and a
half years, she’d been working for a large graphic design company,
and she loved her job. My career had also taken a slightly
different path. I was now heading up a brand new specialist
department that was kind of a first base for terrorist attacks.
Testing potential locations for weak points and running through
possible attack strategies was a small part of my new job. That was
what I’d been doing nearly all day today – scouting a couple of
locations for a presidential seminar that was due to take place in
a few months.

I was in
desperate need of a coffee as I climbed the stairs and walked into
my outer office. Immediately, Raine, my secretary, jumped out of
her seat and ran towards me, looking slightly panicked.

“Ashton, where
have you been? I’ve been trying to get hold of you for hours! Your
cell phone’s off,” she scolded, following me as I carried on
walking to my office at the end of the room. I really needed to sit
down.

“I was scouting
locations, Raine, you knew that.” I laughed and pulled my cell
phone out of my pocket, looking at the blank screen. “Battery must
be dead. What’s up anyway?” I asked, throwing my cell onto my desk
and pulling out the charger.

“It’s time! You
need to go there right now!” she cried excitedly.

My heart
stopped and my mouth popped open in shock. “Now? Right now?” I
shouted, frantically searching my desk for my keys. I felt sick.
This was too early. It shouldn’t be for another two weeks. “Where
are my damn keys?” I shouted, practically pushing everything off my
desk in a bid to find them quicker.

Raine laughed
and grabbed my wrist. “They’re in your hand, silly! Just go,” she
ordered. “And make sure you call me.” She was practically jumping
on the spot with excitement.

“I will, and
thanks!” I cried, as I sprinted at full speed back through the
office, ignoring all of the stares. I jumped to the side just as
someone stepped out of their office, narrowly avoiding taking them
out because I was running so fast. “Sorry!” I shouted over my
shoulder.

I couldn’t help
the nervous excitement that was building inside, but the thing I
felt most was worry. What if something went wrong? What the hell
would I do? As soon as I was at my car, I jumped in and threw it
into drive, pulling out and snapping on my seatbelt as I drove
through the parking lot. I plugged my cell phone in to charge for a
few minutes while I drove. Thankfully, there weren’t many other
cars on the road, so I made it there in record time. The blue
lights that I’d put on top of my car probably helped with cutting
through traffic.

As soon as I
was in the hospital parking lot, I pulled into the first available
space and ran for the building, praying I wasn’t too late. In the
foyer, I pressed the call button for the elevator, but it was
stopped on seven. “Come on, come on!” I chanted, practically
bouncing on the spot and I tapped the button again and again. The
elevator wasn’t moving, so I decided to go for the stairs instead.
I took them three at a time and got to the fifth floor, grinning
excitedly as I spotted the ‘Maternity’ sign over the door.

I burst in and
squirted some sanitizer on my hands as I ran to the desk. “Hi,
where’s Annabelle Taylor?” I asked the lady sitting there.

She smiled
kindly. “Room three.” She pointed down the hall so I turned and ran
off.

As I got to the
door, I took a couple of deep breaths. I needed to be calm. Being
all super excited and scared shitless wouldn’t help Anna. When my
heart had returned to a normal pace again, I pushed the door open
and peeked in. She was sitting up in the bed, chatting to Rick, her
near guard. Her head snapped round to look at me as I walked in,
her face lighting up. She looked incredibly beautiful as always,
even in a hospital gown.

“Hey, you! I
was wondering if you were going to show up,” she teased,
grinning.

“I wouldn’t
miss this for the world,” I chirped, heading over and sitting on
the side of her bed, putting my hands on her swollen tummy, rubbing
it in small circles.

“I’ll leave you
to it now that Ashton’s here. I’ll just be outside,” Rick
announced, standing up and heading to the door.

Anna smiled and
nodded. “Thanks for staying with me.”

He grinned. “Of
course.” Rick had been guarding Anna for the last four years. When
we were together, I was sufficient as her near guard, but when I
was working, Rick took over. He was actually a great guy, and we
were all friends outside of work too.

Once we were
alone, I turned back to my wife. “You okay?” I asked, looking to
see if she was in pain or anything. She seemed like she was okay
though.

She smiled.
“Yep, it doesn’t hurt between contractions, so I’m good right now.”
I grinned and moved up the bed so I could kiss her softly. Her
brown eyes were burning into mine making me feel slightly
weightless. “You ready to be a daddy, Agent Taylor?” she whispered
against my lips.

“Hell yeah I
am,” I admitted.

We’d been
trying for this baby for the last two and a half years, practically
as soon as she left college, and finally she’d fallen pregnant.
Because of Anna’s injuries to her stomach, and scarring from her
miscarriage when she was with Carter, we’d had to try a lot harder
to conceive than most couples, but we’d finally gotten there.

“The baby’s
eager to get out of there,” she said, rubbing her stomach,
smiling.

“Yeah, you know
why he wants to get out of there?” I asked, raising one
eyebrow.

“Why does
she
want to get out of there?” she replied, smirking at me.
This was a running joke, Anna was convinced that it was a girl, and
I was convinced it was a boy. In all honesty, neither of us cared
as long as it was healthy.

“Because
he
knows I was going to finish painting the nursery this
weekend, so he’s trying to be awkward like his momma,” I teased,
settling onto the bed next to her, taking her hand.

“Maybe
she
wants to see you so she can… OUCH, SHIT!” she gasped,
clamping her jaw together and squeezing my hand tightly.

I looked at her
helplessly; I had no idea what to do to help. “Shh, it’s okay, Baby
Girl. It’ll be over in a bit,” I soothed as I rubbed her stomach
lightly.
Oh God, please let everything be okay, don’t let me
lose either of them, please!

“Shit. Ashton,
go tell them I need drugs!” she hissed, looking at me
pleadingly.

“Okay, let go
of my hand then and I’ll go sort it out,” I replied, trying to pry
her hand off mine, but she just held it tighter.

“Don’t leave
me!” she cried, breathing in pants. I nodded and slammed my hand
down on the call button, and a minute later a doctor came in, just
as the contraction was easing off. Anna slowly started to relax and
sat back, looking pale and sweaty.

“Bad one?” the
doctor asked, smiling kindly at her.

Anna nodded and
pressed her face into my chest, catching her breath. I stroked her
hair. I’d wanted this baby so much, but seeing her in pain kind of
made me wish that we hadn’t done this at all.

“Okay, well
let’s do another exam and see how you’re getting on,” the doctor
suggested, coming over to the side of the bed and lifting the
sheet. After a minute the doctor pulled back and smiled, throwing
her gloves in the trash. “You’re doing so great, Anna. You’re
almost nine centimetres. Just keep doing what you’re doing.” She
patted her leg and smiled.

I looked at my
wife proudly, she really was incredible, and I loved her more than
anything. Suddenly, Anna leant forward and grabbed my hand, hissing
through her teeth again as another contraction took hold.
Wow,
that was fast. It had been less than two minutes!
“The baby’s
impatient to meet its parents,” the doctor joked, rubbing Anna’s
leg as she squeezed the life out of my hand.

“Ouch… shit!
Ashton, you better not want any more kids after this because I’m
not doing this again!” Anna shouted loudly, squeezing her eyes
shut.

“Okay, Baby
Girl, one’s perfect. I always only wanted one baby anyway,” I
joked, trying to make her feel better. “You’re doing so great,
Anna, so great.” I stroked her hair with my free hand and kissed
her sweaty forehead.

“I need the
gas! Get me the damn gas!” she screamed, pointing at it. I winced
and jumped up, grabbing it.
Holy shit, in labour Anna is
feisty!

After three of
the longest and most painful hours of my life, she was finally
ready to push. Well, what was meant by ‘finally ready’ was that she
had been pushing for almost half an hour, and they could finally
see some progress. She had her legs up in stirrups with a sheet
draped over so we couldn’t see what was going down there. I stayed
up near her head, having the bones in my hand slowly crushed where
she was squeezing so hard. Anna was sucking on the gas and air like
it was going out of fashion. She was a little woozy and kept saying
things that made me laugh. It was kind of like she was slightly
drunk or high.

“Okay, Anna,
here comes another contraction. I need you to push real hard for me
when I say, but not until I tell you,” the doctor instructed,
peeking over the sheet and smiling encouragingly.

Anna shook her
head fiercely as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I can’t. I can’t do
it anymore. Please just get her out!” she wailed. She grabbed my
shirt and pulled me down so our faces were inches apart. “This is
your damn fault, Ashton! Do you have any idea how much this
freaking hurts?” she growled through clenched teeth. Her hand wound
around the back of my head so I couldn’t pull away.

“My fault?” I
asked, confused and honestly a little scared of her. It looked like
she was trying to kill me with her eyes.

She gasped and
nodded. “For getting me pregnant! Oh God, I need to push RIGHT
NOW!” she screamed. Her hand fisted into the back of my hair,
making me grit my teeth as my scalp started to burn. I wanted to
ask her to let go, but I couldn’t exactly complain while she was
pushing a little person out of her, my guess is I was getting off
pretty lightly with a little hair pulling.

After a huge
push and a lot of screaming, she narrowed her eyes at me. “If you
think you’re getting in my pants again after this, you’ve got
another thing coming!” She shoved the gas tube back into her mouth
and sucked on it hard, whilst glaring at me as if I was the one
hurting her.

I grinned. I
loved it when she was like this. I knew I shouldn’t like it, but
the bitchy side of Anna was kind of a turn-on for some reason. I
loved that my girl had some fight in her and wouldn’t take any
crap. “Who said I want in your pants again anyway?” I joked.