Time to Bounce (Carter Brothers #6)

Chapter 20

Gen X : raised on hose water and neglect.

— Coffee Cup

ATHENA

I didn’t know where to go, so I ended up at the maternity ward instead of waiting in the hospital ER for Gable .

With him so mad at me, I didn’t want to face him right now.

I was dumb, and I knew it.

When I arrived, it was to an almost empty room.

Maven and Auden were there, as well as Garnett .

I waved at them all, but I was still on the verge of tears, so I didn’t say anything.

“ Can you give us a minute?” Maven said almost immediately.

Auden studied my face for a long moment, then dropped a kiss onto Maven’s cheek before saying, “ Mamasauce and I will join the rest of them for a quick bite to eat in the cafeteria. You probably have about thirty minutes before this room is full again.”

Maven was already shaking their head. “ It’s your job to keep them out of here, Auden Carter . I love your family and mine, but I don’t want any of them looking at my vagina.”

I couldn’t scrounge up a smile even for that.

Auden hugged me on the way past, and that overwhelming urge to cry doubled.

He let me go with a kiss on my head, and I walked to Maven’s bed. “ No baby yet?”

She shook her head. “ No . My water broke, and I’m at five centimeters, but the baby’s still really high, and I’m not effaced all that much.”

I nodded, swallowing past my tears.

“ What happened?” she asked quietly.

I drew in a shaky breath, then took the seat next to her, burying my face in my hands.

I explained everything, ending with, “ I’m fairly sure he was stabbed.”

Maven caught my hand and squeezed. “ Go down there and check on him.”

“ I don’t know if he’s here yet,” I mumbled.

“ I doubt they’d let him stand there dripping blood for long. Go check,” she said. “ Then come back up here when you know that he’s okay.”

I stood up, my belly full of nerves, and said, “ I’ll text Auden to come back.”

She was already shaking her head. “ I’m texting them all to go…”

My phone buzzed, and I checked it.

Gable :

In the ER . Got stabbed. Probably gonna need some stitches.

A sound broke free from my throat. “ He’s there.”

“ And his entire family will be, too, since he sent that in the group chat. Go ,” Maven urged.

I did, dragging my feet the entire way.

I didn’t bother going to the waiting room because I ended up getting into the elevator that already had a slew of Carters in it. Most of them had half-finished food with them, looking worried.

They were all talking at once, and I had to explain all over again what had happened, this time not being able to help the stray tear that coursed down my cheek when I was done.

“ He was s-stabbed,” I stuttered.

I’d gotten Gable stabbed.

My eyes were full of unshed tears by the time I looked up at Gable’s father.

“ It’s okay, darlin’.” Germaine pulled me under his arm. “ We all would’ve done the same thing.”

I didn’t think so, because none of the others had agreed.

But shit, it wasn’t like I was an expert at having a crazy man after me.

How was I to know?

I may be a freakin’ 911 operator fifty percent of my time, but that didn’t make me an expert on crime.

We all exited the elevator, and Germaine kept his arm exactly where it was, keeping me close to his side.

I fell into step with him, and he completely avoided the nurses’ station and went to the crowded area in the back.

“ Excuse me,” Germaine said quietly.

Everyone moved except for a couple of nurses and doctors that were clogging up the doorway.

I could hear someone speaking to Gable from inside, but I couldn’t see him.

Quincy , tired of being separated from his brother when he was hurt, pushed through them all and greeted his brother.

“ You can only have two visitors right now, Mr . Carter . Choose them,” a frazzled sounding doctor said. “ This room isn’t big enough for all these officers.”

I fully expected him to say me.

Truly , I did.

But that wasn’t what he said at all.

“ Can you bring Callena in here?” Gable rasped. “ I need her.”

The feeling of my stomach falling into my toes followed his words.

“ What ?” I heard Quincy say.

No , not say.

Balk .

“ Callena ,” he repeated. “ I need her.”

He didn’t want me there.

He wanted some woman who he worked with, pretend dated, and had been the cause of me being angry the other day when he let her into his home while I was still in his bed?

I mean, he’d said it was innocent… but was it really?

Was I just stupid?

Was I seeing more in it than…

No .

He’d said he loved me.

I’d told it to him.

Gable wasn’t the kind of person to tell someone he loved them when he had feelings for someone else.

He was a good man, unlike my previous boyfriend.

There was a reason he didn’t want me in there and wanted her.

I knew that.

Logically , I knew that.

That didn’t stop the grief and sadness from welling up inside me, and damn those tears were back.

“ You don’t want Athena in here?” I heard Garrett ask.

Gable said something that made Garrett mad, and I knew it wasn’t complimentary to me.

He was mad that I’d done this.

I understood that.

It wasn’t every day that someone else’s stupidity got them stabbed.

I pulled away from Germaine , but he tightened his hold, forcing me to stay in place.

Really , I would’ve stayed, but then Callena came barreling around the corner looking frantic, and I got an irrational urge to throat punch her on her way in there.

“ I’m going back up to Maven ,” I said softly. “ Keep me updated on things here, please?”

Germaine studied my face before turning to look over the tall heads of his children in front of him.

He could see what I couldn’t.

And maybe I didn’t want to see.

Especially when Callena managed to push herself through the throng of Carters into the room.

Another deep voice I didn’t recognize came from the room, but I didn’t stay long enough to contemplate who that was.

Instead , I tried to appear as if I wasn’t rushing on my way back to the maternity ward.

I’d watch Maven have her baby.

Then I’d decide what to do about Gable Carter later.