“I love you, Vi. N-never leave me again,” I whisper softly, and her entire body stiffens.
She shifts and I slip out of her, forcing a hiss out of both of us.
When she tries to turn, I lift myself from her and lie down on the mattress facing her. “I promise you, Zane. I’ll never leave you. I need you. Now and forever.” Her gaze drops, and I can already feel the shift in her mood.
“What is-s it?” I place my finger under her chin and pull it closer to my face.
“I don’t know if I can have kids.”
The raw pain, the hoarseness in her voice, the hint of embarrassment in her words, twists my heart. “Vienna, the tumor was benign. Your treatment and recovery was very good. You have a very good chance of getting pregnant.” The vision of her swollen belly with my child as she rests on the porch recliner makes my pulse race. “Do you th-think I’ll ever love Alex any less th-than Rose and Zander’s new baby? Do you th-think I’d have tr-reated Ray any d-differently if he was Zach’s biological kid?”
Tears glimmer in her eyes as she shakes her head.
“If it happens th-that we can’t have our own kids, there’re s-so many w-ways to be a parent. And if we w-want to become parents, it d-doesn’t matter how the ch-child comes into our life. We’ll love him or h-her madly.”
Watching her teary, wide smile, my skittering pulse calms down.
I never thought I’d end up with as much happiness in life as I have right now.
* * *
My eyes open groggily, and I notice bright sunlight spilling between the window curtains. When a vibrating sound comes once more, I remember something woke me up.
Vienna and I fell asleep in each other’s arms, tangled bedsheets surrounding us, and I don’t want to leave her and this bed so soon. It’s been just over an hour since we arrived in this suite. But when my cell phone vibrates again, I can’t ignore it anymore.
I carefully step out of the bed and find my jacket. I grab my phone and notice there are two missed calls from Zach and a text from Zander.
Zander: Sorry to disturb you, bro, but we received news. Not good.
My pulse accelerates. What the heck?
Zander: It’s Lukas. He’s been hit. They’ve rushed him to St. Peppers City Hospital. Zach and I are leaving right now.
Hit. Lukas has been hit. By a bullet?
Fuck! No.
“Zane?” I must have made a noise, because Vienna jerks up from the bed. She rushes to me naked. “Hey, is everything okay? What’s the matter?”
“Lukas has been hit.” I hand her my cell phone, my mind unable to register what the hell has happened.
Lukas.
My best friend.
A man infamous as a daredevil among his colleagues.
“Zane.” Vienna lightly touches my forearm. “He’ll be okay. Should we go to the hospital?”
* * *
Vienna and I took a quick shower and dressed in silence. But now, parked outside of the hospital, my legs won’t move. I can’t bring myself to call my brothers, who are already here somewhere in the building.
Vienna patiently waits for me as I say several jumbled prayers, because I never fucking learned how to do that. “I d-don’t even fucking know how to pr-ray.”
“I don’t think there’s any wrong way to pray, Zane.” Her soft hands cover mine over the gear shift. “Let’s go.”
She makes the decision for us, thankfully, and steps out of the car.