The Rockers' Babies (The Rocker... Series) (26 page)

with the pain, Mrs. Thorton. She was feeling pretty bad. We can give her something for the nausea.”

“Then do it,” I told him before turning my full attention back on Lucy. Her hair was a mess and there

was Halloween makeup smeared in patches on her face. “I’m so happy to see you, baby.”

“Is Aunt Emmie okay?” Lucy glanced around, stopping when she landed on Nik. “Is she going to be

okay?”

“She’s fine, Lucy. She’s upstairs in her own room and you can see her in the morning if you want to,”

Nik assured her with a tender smile. “Mia’s sleeping in bed with her right now.”

“It’s my fault she got hurt,” Lucy whispered. “She told me to run and I didn’t. I couldn’t run away and

leave her there…”

“Oh, sweetheart.” I shook my head, not wanting her to blame herself for something she couldn’t have

controlled. “This is not your fault, and Emmie would do anything to protect you. She loves you as much as

I do. Don’t blame yourself for any of this.”

“But…”

“Mom’s right, Lu,” Jesse told her as he stepped beside me and leaned forward to kiss the top of Lucy’s

head. “Now close your eyes and rest. It’s been a long night and you’re exhausted.”

Whether it was the medicine or if she really was completely exhausted, Lucy didn’t try to protest and

closed her eye. Moments later her breathing evened out and she was asleep.

Nik

I left the ER after the doctor had come back to tell us that Lucy was okay. No broken bones in her face.

The bruising would keep her a symphony of colors the next few weeks and she had to have a stitch in her

top lip and one in her bottom. Other than that she was fine and good to go home. Layla made Jesse take her

home so Shane and Harper drove them while Lana and Drake helped Layla back up to her room.

Now, as I stood outside of Emmie’s private room on the same floor as Layla, I paused. I couldn’t go in

there just yet. Not with Mia sleeping with her mother and me still shaking with the rage that lingered even after I had smashed Vince Grady’s face into an unrecognizable mess. My soul hadn’t been satisfied with the

bloody pile Jesse had left the man. I needed to add to the damage to avenge my woman. I wanted to rewind

and do it all over again. Stomp my boot into his face, his chest, his groin. Cracking, breaking, shattering bone.

“Are you okay, Mr. Armstrong?”

My head snapped up to find the two guards standing on either side of the hospital room door staring at

me with concern. I’d been so lost in thought that I hadn’t even noticed them, which was nearly impossible

with the size of the two guards. Shaking my head to clear it of the images that were still flashing through my head, I shrugged. “It’s been a long night, man.”

The guard who had spoken to me nodded. The entire staff knew most of what had happened tonight.

Extra security had been added to the maternity floor once Emmie had been placed in her room.

“Understandable, sir. You should go on in. The nurse was just in and said that the ultrasound will be done in just a few minutes.”

That had me pushing everything else to the back of my mind, unimportant in the face of seeing the child

I had created with Emmie soon. I opened the door and took two steps inside only to stop at the sight before me.

Emmie, her eyes closed with her hair spread over a pillow that was as flat as the bed she was in. Mia

was sound asleep, snoring as she lay across her mother in a position only my daughter could perfect: her

little behind in the air, her head buried in her mother’s chest, one arm around Emmie’s neck, the other

clutching the blanket that was pulled up around her.

The sight of Emmie’s face made my stomach churn. She was black and blue and purple. The gash on

her head was bandaged but I could still remember how bad that wound had been, how it had started to

bleed at the drop of a hat every time she so much as moved the wrong way. Seeing her like this made me

want to find Grady and finish the job. That fucker didn’t deserve to live. Didn’t deserve to breathe when he had been the reason my wife was hurt and lying in a hospital bed with the fear of a miscarriage hanging

over both our heads.

Sensing me, Emmie’s eyes lifted. When she spotted me by the door she lifted her free hand, silently

asking me to go to her. I crossed the space that divided us in less than a second and caught hold of her

hand. Bending, I kissed her palm. “How are you feeling?” I asked as quietly as possible. “Are you hurting?”

“Stop worrying,” she murmured with a smile. “I’m fine. The baby is fine. They listened for the

heartbeat just a little while ago and it was strong. The tech will be here soon so we can make sure

everything is fine… How’s Lucy?”

“Nothing broken. Two stitches. Her eye is the worst, though. It’s going to be swollen shut for a few

days at least.” I carefully sat on the edge of the bed, keeping hold of her hand. “Jesse took her home.”

“A good night’s sleep will help everyone.” She yawned and I suddenly felt bone tired. There was no

way I was going home tonight, though. I’d camp out in one of the chairs beside the bed and Mia could

sleep with Em. I would climb the walls at home all night long. “You were right…”

I blinked, because I was sure that I had heard her wrong. No way had she just said I was right. Right?

“Of course I was… What was I right about, again?”

A soft snort escaped her. “About the assistants thing. But I don’t want Natalie to find them for me. I’ll

find them myself. I was thinking about turning the guest house into my office. It’s about the right size for a few more employees. That way we won’t have so many people in the house around the kids. And… I want

to hire a nanny. Someone with an Early Education background. I know we’ve already discussed that, but I

wasn’t really one hundred percent on board until now.”

I grinned, because I had known all of that. She had agreed too quickly when I had told her that was

what I wanted her to do. I was just glad that she had finally seen things clearly. Emmie was on the same

scale as Wonder Woman, she was so kick-ass. But even Wonder Woman couldn’t save the entire world on

her own. She needed Superman and Batman every now and then. “I’m glad. You have to eat and sleep

sometime, baby girl. With the added help for work and the kids you’ll be able to do more, go further with

all of this.”

When we had fired Rich Branson as our manager, turning everything over to Emmie—something that

she was doing anyway—I hadn’t really thought of all the extra hard work she would have to do. She never

complained, always seemed on top of everything. And even now she still was with OtherWorld added to

the mix. But with talks of her adding a few other bands that we knew—bands that would kill to have

Emmie representing them in any shape or form because of how great she was with us—I knew she was

going to be over-extending herself. No person could handle all of that with just one assistant who lived on the other side of the country.

It took the tech another ten minutes before he showed up. I carefully lifted Mia into my arms so that the

guy could do his job. He put the little wand inside of Emmie and moments later the room was filled with the

sound of our child’s heartbeat. My arms tightened around Mia, remembering the first time I had heard her heart beat and seen her on a screen just like I was watching right now.

The tech started asking Emmie questions and punching in some numbers as he took measurements.

“Okay, Mrs. Armstrong,” the short man said after a few more minutes while I just kept staring in awe at the screen on the ultrasound machine. “Looks like you are just a little over eight weeks pregnant. From all the measurements your due date will be June eighteenth.” He smiled as he pulled a few pictures free from the

machine and handed them over. “Congratulations on the addition to your family.”

I forced my gaze from the screen that was now blank and looked down at Emmie. Her eyes were bright,

but she hadn’t let her tears spill over yet. “So, he’s okay? Everything is okay?”

He nodded. “Looking good. Your fall earlier hasn’t affected the baby in any way.” Standing, the man

nodded at me and I gave him a tight smile before he pushed the machine out the door. “Good night.”

The door closed behind the tech and I laid Mia down in a more comfortable position beside Emmie

before doing what I had been aching to do from the moment we had heard the baby’s heartbeat. I kissed

her, devouring her lips as she clung to me. Tonight had been hell, absolute fucking hell. But the ending—

getting Lucy back, finding out that our child was still safely growing deep inside of Em—all of that was the ending I had prayed for.

Chapter 24

Lana

The phone was ringing and I was too tired to care. The cordless was sitting on the nightstand beside the

bed, but I had no energy to roll over and answer it. The last few weeks had caught up with me at last and I had been walking around like a zombie from the moment we had landed in New York three days ago.

Drake and I had stayed in California for another two weeks before finally flying home and only then

because I was told I wouldn’t be able to fly if I waited much longer. My doctor had said I wasn’t going to

be able to fly at all in the last six weeks of my pregnancy. So I had to leave then or wait until the baby was born, because there was no way I was driving from California to New York when I had to pee every twenty

minutes. It would take me two weeks to get home at that rate.

At least Layla was home now, so I didn’t have to worry about her as much. Lucy’s face was starting to

look better as well. Her left eye had lost all the swelling but was still a vibrant black and blue mixture. Jesse had told me that she was having nightmares though and most nights he crawled into bed with her so that

both of them could actually get some sleep. It was the twins that I hadn’t wanted to leave. My nephews

were still in the hospital. Their sleep apnea alarm was still going off at night and they wouldn’t be released unless they had three consecutive nights without it going off. The doctor had assured Layla that because of their early births, the twins were unlikely to come home until closer to their original due date.

I had hated leaving Layla when she was so devastated over not getting to take her babies home. She had

been an emotional wreck the last couple of weeks. Her OB/GYN was concerned with all the crying she did,

her only sign of postpartum. Considering everything she had been put through emotionally since Shane’s

wedding, I thought she was handling everything really well though. Sure she got a bit hysterical the first day Lucy went back to school, that was normal in my book. Of course Emmie had helped out with that by

putting a guard on Lucy much the same way she had for Harper. Now everyone was able to breathe a little

easier when Lucy was out of sight.

The phone stopped ringing and I breathed a sigh of relief as I relaxed against the pillows once more.

Drake was at work and I was supposed to meet him in the city for dinner later. That was hours away

though and I just wanted to sleep…

When the phone started ringing almost immediately after it stopped I pulled the pillow close and

screamed into it even as I reached blindly for the cordless. Without glancing at the caller ID I put it to my ear. “Yeah?”

“I actually have a day off!” Dallas informed me with a laugh. “I can breathe. I can breathe. Want to do

lunch?”

I raised my head enough to see the clock on Drake’s bedside table. It was ten after ten. I sighed, feeling

sleep slip away from me. I hadn’t seen Dallas since the wedding and I really missed her. We hadn’t really

hung out in forever and I missed the bitch. “Sounds like fun. I’m craving Greek anyway. I’ll meet you.”

“I’m not a fan of Greek, but since it’s for the little demon princess growin’ inside of you, I’ll force it

down.”

“Aww.” I sat up in bed. “So it’s only for your niece and not me? I feel so loved…” Dallas snorted and I

grinned. “I’ll see you in about an hour. Don’t keep me waiting, woman.”

“Hurry up, ho. I’m hungry.”

I took my time getting ready. I was really feeling the jet lag and the baby was punching me from all

angles. By the time I walked out the door of the house we had bought just a few months ago, the town car

that Drake made me use whenever I went into the city without him was already waiting. During the twenty

minute ride I caught up on my text messages. There were several from Shane, Harper, Emmie, and Layla.

Two from Lucy that I immediately answered back.

There was a text from a number I didn’t recognize so I didn’t even open it right away. Probably some

random wrong number. It wouldn’t be the first time. For privacy’s sake we all had unlisted numbers so that

crazy fans wouldn’t be able to terrorize us. Of course that hadn’t stopped at least two female fans from

getting Harper’s number and sending her threatening texts.

A few blocks from the restaurant where I was meeting Dallas, my phone buzzed with yet another text. A

goofy smile lifted my lips when I saw it was from Drake. The smile turned to a frown, then a glare when I

saw that it was him canceling our dinner date for this evening. There was a meeting.

Part of me wondered if it was yet another fake meeting set up by Bethany. That bitch was trying her

damnedest to get Drake’s attention. The rational part of me knew that Drake wouldn’t ever do anything like

that. The irrational part—the part that seemed to grow bigger and bigger with each passing day—couldn’t

help but wonder if he was tempted. I was getting huge, and Bethany was decently hot.