Time to Bounce (Carter Brothers #6)

Chapter 18

I don’t know what my talent is. Maybe eating.

— Athena’s secret thoughts

ATHENA

The night had been perfect.

The morning had shown me what life could be like with Gable Carter .

Him leaving at the ass crack of dawn wasn’t surprising.

He had to work.

But this time, it wasn’t because a woman had called and told him she was coming over.

It was possibly for the same reason, but the person doing the calling had been male.

After that call, he’d looked at me with worry in his eyes and said, “ Don’t leave the house without one of my brothers giving you a ride, please. I have a feeling I know what this call is going to be about.”

“ He’s out?” I guessed.

He closed his eyes, looking sick to his stomach. “ Probably .”

“ I have that blood work appointment. The one my mother made for me,” I admitted. “ And then I have to be at work. I don’t plan on going anywhere exciting today.”

Though , I guess if I were being honest, I never went anywhere exciting.

He studied my face. “ You haven’t talked about that at all.”

I’d been purposefully trying to suppress all of it.

The thought that my biological mother had died because of a genetic disease that might take me had been… scary.

It was easier for me to compartmentalize it all, and try not to freak out too badly.

I cupped his face. “ I have been trying not to think about it, to be honest. I don’t feel sick. So it’s hard to think about being sick if I don’t feel sick.”

He studied my face, and it was only then that I saw the worry on his.

“ I don’t plan on dying on you anytime soon,” I told him softly.

He smoothed my wild hair back from my face. “ How long do you think they’ll take to get you the information?”

“ The end of the day, they said, when I called to confirm the appointment time,” I said. “ I’ll call you as soon as I hear something.”

He dropped his head to mine and his nose rested against my own for a few long seconds before he pulled away and reminded me, “ Don’t leave without having one of my brothers with you.”

I gave him a thumbs up, which he liked, and he disappeared into the bathroom with a smile.

I listened to him get ready to go and thought about how loud men were when they peed.

And wow, their bladders were massive. I’d have been straight to the bathroom this morning, no passing go. There’d be no time to talk.

I was so lost in thought that I didn’t realize he was once again standing over me until he was leaning down, both fists on the bed, to give me a kiss.

I opened my eyes just in time to see his mouth descending on mine.

I kissed him back when his lips met my own and threaded my arms around his neck for good measure.

He chuckled as he went to pull back and I didn’t let go.

“ Gotta go, honey.” He tickled me, causing me to let go with a squeak.

“ Hey !” I cried, giggling as I came to rest on his pillow.

His eyes were sparkling as he said, “ Call me when you leave there, and then when you get to work, okay?”

“ Will do, sir.”

His eyes were twinkling as he left, and since I was really awake, I headed to the bathroom to get ready for my day.

Quincy arrived with Hollis in tow an hour later, and the two of them went into the hospital with me as I had my blood drawn.

After getting confirmation that I would hear the results at the end of the day, I caught a ride with the two of them to work and began my day.

By lunch, I’d almost forgotten to worry.

But by four, with three hours left on my shift, my stomach was in knots.

Maybe I was more worried than I was willing to admit.

By five, I was convinced I wasn’t getting a call.

By five thirty, I knew I wasn’t.

Just before six, though, my phone rang.

I hit pause on my calls and answered it.

“ Hello ?” I asked, voice quivering slightly.

“ Hello , Ms . Murphy ?” a female voice asked.

“ Yes , that’s me.”

“ This is Karrah Rhodes from North Texas ODA ,” she said. “ How are you?”

“ I’m doing well, you?” I asked, despite not wanting to have small talk at all.

“ Good .” I could hear the smile in her voice. “ I just wanted to let you know that your blood work was fantastic. You’re a healthy individual and you’ll be a perfect candidate for NTODA .”

I didn’t hear much past ‘you’re a healthy individual.’

My heart soared as I thought about what that meant for me.

I wasn’t sick.

I wasn’t going to die.

The little niggle in the back of my brain the last two days—one I refused to acknowledge—was no more.

“ Thank you, I appreciate you calling.” I smiled, my heart once again light.

We hung up, and the first person I called was Gable .

“ Hey ,” he said distractedly. “ Are you okay?”

“ I’m healthy,” I answered.

He paused, and I could hear the relief in him as he let out a long breath. “ Fuck .”

“ I have an hour left of my shift,” I said. “ Gotta go.”

“ Love you,” he said quietly.

My heart stopped. “ What ?”

“ Love you,” he repeated.

Yep , it’d definitely stopped.

“ Do you think you can call 911 from 911, and someone would respond?” I teased. “ Because I feel like my heart just stopped.”

“ I said what I said, honey. Now go back to work,” he teased. “ Love you.”

Love you.

Love . You .

“ I love you, too,” I breathed.

Then I hung up.

Of course, now that I’d hung up, I couldn’t stop myself from squealing at my desk as I did a shimmy shake in my computer chair.

Which caught the attention of all my coworkers, and my boss.

Pat took her headset off and said, “ Care to enlighten us?”

“ He told me he loved me!” I called out.

Pat’s smile was breathtaking.

I loved Pat .

“ Score !” Porfirio called out.

Marta gave me a thumbs up because she was on a call.

Speaking of calls, my phone rang in the next instant, and I answered it as professional as I could manage.

“911, what’s your emergency?” I recited.

“ Oh , thank God ,” I heard breathlessly said. “ It’s me.”

It took me a couple of seconds to understand, but then I gasped. “ Maven ?”

“ I really, really hate to do this to you. I really do. But I have two problems,” she gasped.

“ What ?” I asked, already pulling up my dispatch screen.

“ Well , the first thing is, I was running by Gavrel’s place. Nastya wanted to check it out, and I knew that you wouldn’t care if I showed it to her. So I let myself in using the code via the garage door. We were both inside, and there was this man in there.” She paused. “ I didn’t see him at first as I started showing Nastya around.”

I was already typing in my brother’s address to have several units respond. I then started sending out a text message to the Carters .

Me :

Maven . Gavrel’s place. Emergency .

It was short and lacking in information, but I sent it anyway.

Everything was always shorthand when I was working.

I couldn’t help it.

“ What happened?” I asked as I watched the texts start to roll in.

The first one being from Gable .

Gable :

10-4

Hollis :

Someone let me know what’s going on when they find out. I’m at work and can’t leave.

Pepper :

She’s with Nastya .

I half paid attention to them as I listened to Maven continue to explain.

“ And so we’re walking quietly down the hall, and we get to the bedroom, and a naked man pops up off the bed, covered in tattoos, and starts running at us,” she continued. “ Nastya and I both told him to stop, but he didn’t.”

Dread started to bloom in my stomach.

“ Is everyone okay?” I asked. “ You and Nastya are both fine?”

“ We’re fine,” she emphasized, “but he’s not. He’s going to need an ambulance.”

I breathed out a sigh of relief at her words.

“ When he didn’t listen, both Nastya and I , um, shot him,” she finished. “ Then , my water broke.”

I shook my head in disbelief.

“ You’re a month and a half early!” I cried out.

“ I know!” she continued. “ I think I’m okay. But I wasn’t sure if I could leave… and this is really bad. I’m okay. Nastya is okay. The baby is coming. And this man who’s calling himself Madman is definitely not okay. I think Nastya’s bullet to his throat is going to kill him.”

I started typing away, my brain furiously working, while I also said, “ I want you both to get in your car. Keep your guns, though. Just in case.”

Normally I would tell people to be cautious, because cops didn’t like armed people when they knew there were active shootings happening.

But I decided in this case, just for their protection, I wanted them to keep it in case Madman miraculously managed to get up after being shot several times.

Me :

She’s okay. Nastya is okay. Madman was shot. Throat and chest. I told them to wait in the car. Also , Maven’s water broke.

It was Hollis’s words that had me giggling despite the situation.

Hollis :

Glad I’m already here, then!

Ellodie :

I love babies!

Shayne :

Auntie Shayne times a million!

Pepper :

Someone better come pick me up and not forget about me!

Gable :

I’m here, and she’s very wet. Someone better be willing to clean my truck after this. ** Cough , cough** Auden **cough**

Pepper :

Aren’t you at work, Gable ?

Gable :

I was, but I got off, and I was heading to get someone a celebratory cake from a certain baker who was supposed to be at her shop, not playing hooky.

“ Gable’s here.” Maven breathed out a sigh of relief. “ He’s moved me and Nastya into his truck.”

My lungs could finally draw in a breath of air.

“ Okay , I’m going to hang up then since there are officers on scene,” I tried for professional.

“ He looks so hot in his uniform, Attie . Do you want me to take a picture of him?” she teased.

I scoffed. “ Of course.”

We hung up, and I finished up my notes for the call.

Fuck .

Madman had been at my brother’s place?

And now he was shot.

Jesus Christ .

My mind was spinning as I went through four more calls.

Maven :

All right, best friend. I need you here. I’m officially five centimeters. Time to play hooky. ** Image attached**

My heart thumped in my chest as I pulled up the photo she’d attached of Gable .

He was once again in his tactical pants, black polo, and combat boots.

He had a holster wrapped around his right thigh, and it did wonderful things to his package. Almost framing it for my viewing pleasure.

His arms were crossed tight over his chest, and his muscles were bulging, and I could just see the hint of a tattoo from underneath his shirt.

Grinning , I put my calls on pause, and then went to my boss’s office.

“ Hey ,” I said. “ Do you mind if I take off an hour early? My best friend is in labor.”

Cameron looked up from his desk and said, “ Sure thing. I’ll take over until your relief gets here.”

I clapped my hands happily, then hurried back to my desk to gather my things.

Since I assumed the threat was no longer active, I didn’t bother to call anyone to tell them where I was going.