“Evie!” Beth moaned.
She ran to Beth who was sitting on the floor by the bed, panting.
“My babies are coming.”
“Relax, Beth.”
“Don’t tell me to relax! There are burglars outside the door, and my babies are coming early.”
“Lily, where’s your phone?”
“I’m looking. It was on the dresser.” Evie saw Lily searching the floor for the phone while she examined Beth.
The sound of a gunshot striking the door drew screams from each of them.
“Lily, get down!”
Evie put her hands under Beth’s arms, dragging her to the other side of the bed, pushing the mattress and box springs off the bed so it would place a barrier in front of Beth.
“Lily, get behind the mattress,” Evie screamed at her when another gunshot came through the door.
“I have to find my phone. It’s the only chance we have,” Lily said, running her hands over the floor. “Please, God. Please, God, help us.” Evie’s heart broke at hearing Lily’s praying as she searched.
She crawled back to Beth who was crying, trying to stifle her screams. Evie pulled up Beth’s gown to exam her, seeing the crown of one of the babies’ head.
“Beth, listen to me. The first baby is coming, which means we’re going to have to do this alone. I’ve delivered a few babies, so I know what to do, okay? We can do this.”
Beth whimpered, “Okay.”
“I found it!”
“Thank, God,” Evie muttered. “I need something to cut the cord with.”
“I keep a small pen knife in my purse. It’s on the nightstand,” Lily answered. “I’m calling 911.”
“Tell them to send an ambulance,” Evie instructed her. The first baby was out now. She jerked the pillowcase off the pillow, carefully wrapping the baby in it as soon as she made sure the baby boy was breathing. She cut the cord using the penknife she found in Lily’s purse.
She looked over her shoulder to see Lily crying.
“My phone isn’t working. It must have broken when we moved the dresser,” Lily whispered in a low voice, but Evie knew Beth heard above the crying infant.
The sound of the men hitting their shoulders against the door had both of them rising to see over the mattresses; the door was practically bulging inward under the intruders’ attacks. However, Beth’s scream drew Evie back to her.
“Dammit, can anything else go wrong!” Evie said then could have kicked herself. She didn’t want to alarm Beth.
“What?” Lily dropped back down beside her.
“Hold the baby.” Evie took the baby away from Beth, giving it to Lily.
“Evie?” Beth’s faint whisper as she frantically tried to stem the flow of blood escaping her had Evie more terrified than she had been in her life.
Her training kicked in as she worked, making herself focus on saving Beth and her children, not the crashing of the door or the sounds of footsteps entering the room. She didn’t take her eyes off Beth when she heard the steps stop beside Lily. Evie began crying, knowing the next sound she heard was going to be Lily being killed.
“Please, don’t hurt the baby.” Evie cried helplessly as she heard Lily pleading to the intruder. “Please.”
As a gunshot rang through the room then three more, one after another, Evie didn’t stop what she was doing.
“Lily!” Evie heard Shade’s voice.
“Call an ambulance!” Evie screamed as the room filled with The Last Riders. “And get my medical bag out of my bedroom closet.”
A minute later, the bag was next to her.
“The ambulance is on the way,” King stated, moving away.
“Beth!” Razer tried to get to Beth, but there was not enough room. The room erupted with the men as they moved the bodies then the bed out of the way.
“Beth.” Razer’s voice broke as he managed to reach her hand.
Evie glanced up at him. She didn’t have to say anything; the blood seeping everywhere said it all.
* * *
The large hospital waiting room was filled with silence. Evie sat next to King, holding his hand tightly. She was wearing a set of scrubs one of the nurses had gotten for her when she had stepped into the waiting room, covered in Beth’s blood. The EMTs had delivered the second baby en route to the hospital.
“Do you need me to get you something?” King offered.
“No.” Evie brushed her tears away. They hadn’t even come out to tell them if the babies were doing okay.
“I’ve known some scary situations in my life, but when I heard those gunshots and couldn’t get to you and Lily…” Evie clung to his hand tighter, hearing King’s hoarse voice. She had to reassure him she was fine.
Razer sat next to her as if turned to stone while Lily and Shade sat on the other side.
One by one, each of the members of The Last Riders entered the room. Evie looked up anxiously when the door opened to see Sex Piston and her crew come in, followed by a grim-faced Stud.
The door to the waiting room remained open. There was a line of bikers down both sides of the long hallway. Not only were there The Last Riders that couldn’t fit in the room, but the members from the Blue Horsemen and the Destructors.
Evie’s eyes watered. Beth’s simple friendship with Sex Piston had created a bridge between the groups who should have been enemies. Sex Piston had been a true friend to Beth when Evie herself had failed.
The woman so filled with attitude, that drove everyone crazy and loved very few, knelt in front of Razer, placing her hand on his thigh. “When I met Beth, I thought there was no way she could be for real. No one could be that sweet or clueless. As I got to know her, I realized she was the most real person I have ever met.”
“The last month of my pregnancy, I was scared, afraid of the delivery, the pain, of being a mom.” Tears coursed down Sex Piston’s cheeks. “She told me not to be afraid, that I had to have faith that everything would be all right. Razer, we’re both going to listen to Beth and have faith that she and those precious babies are all going to be fine.”
Razer’s composure broke as he took Sex Piston into his arms, and Evie turned into King’s chest as her own tears fell.
“Evie, listen to her. Beth is going to be okay,” King murmured, trying to soothe her.
“I was a terrible friend to her,” Evie cried. The guilt of years ago had never left her.
“You saved her life—our lives,” Lily contradicted her. “Tonight, when those men came, you didn’t leave her side. You delivered her son, and the doctor told us it was your skills as a Corpsman that kept her alive until the ambulance came. Beth considers you more than a friend—she loves you like a sister—and I do, too.”
“Excuse me.” The exhausted doctor standing in the doorway eyed the rough-looking crowd waiting for news.
Razer rose shakily to his feet.
“Your wife is in recovery. It will be at least an hour before you can see her.” He motioned to the nurse. “Shelley will take you to the nursery. There are two boys waiting to meet their dad.”
* * *
Beth’s head turned on her pillow, her fingers closing on the hand holding hers.
“Razer,” she said softly.
Razer lifted his head, rising up on his elbow next to her.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to be in the bed with me,” she warned him weakly.
“Shade will knock on the door when someone is about to come into the room.”
She turned her head into his shoulder, and his hand came down to rest on the top of her head.
“If our babies aren’t okay, please don’t tell me, Razer. I couldn’t take it.”
“Our sons are in the nursery, and they’re fine. They want to wait before they bring them in, though. Your vitals are still weak, so as soon as they get higher, they’ll bring them in.”
“Boys?”
“Two sons. You did good, kitten.” His voice choked on her nickname.
“We both
did. Lily and Evie?”
“They’re waiting to see you.”
“I thought we were going to die. Lily didn’t even ask for her own life; she just asked them not to hurt the baby.” Tears broke free. “And Evie kept trying to deliver the baby. She saved us, Razer.”
“You had two angels with you. When we pulled in the driveway and saw the front door open and the lights out, we knew something was wrong. If Shade wasn’t such a good shot… he killed those bastards before I could get in the front door.”
Beth shuddered against him.
“Kitten, I’ve never been so scared in my life. When I saw you, I thought I was going to lose you.”
“Razer, you’re never going to lose me. Even if I died, I would always be with you.”