Opening the door I found Dad, Shane, and Nik standing there while a man in a doctor’s coat and two nurses stood behind them. “I just want to go home,” I told Dad.

He grimaced. “I know, baby. But you need X-rays at the least.” He reached for my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere, okay? I’ll be right here with you the whole time.”

Chapter 23

Layla

If I had to wait one minute longer I was going to climb the fucking walls.

It was after midnight and I knew that Jesse was downstairs with Lucy by now. Shane had rushed out the door about ten minutes ago, keeping me from asking more questions. If he thought that was going to stop me from asking questions or seeing my baby he was out of his mind. I’d already told the perky little nurse that I needed a wheelchair. I wasn’t supposed to be on my feet yet, but that didn’t mean it was going to stop me from getting downstairs to my child.

Drake stood by the door, obviously standing guard. He didn’t want me to get out of bed but if he even dared to stop me I would make sure that he and Lana only had one child. I might be sore from the C-section but that wouldn’t keep me from kneeing him in the balls.

Lana was already helping me put my shoes on—a pair of slippers that I’d packed in my suitcase weeks ago. I’d started packing the second I’d hit the six-month mark, wanting to make sure that we were ready for anything. Harper held my robe, waiting for the nurse to get back so that they could help me up and she could slip it on me. Neither woman had tried to talk me out of going downstairs. They understood my consuming need to get to Lucy.

The door opened, knocking Drake in the back of the head and ass. He stepped forward, rubbing at the spot on his skull as the nurse wheeled in the chair. “Here we go, Mrs. Thorton.” Her smile was gone, had been since I had told her that my daughter was downstairs and needed me. I might not like the nurse very much, but she hadn’t protested when I told her I wanted to go downstairs to be with Lucy.

Drake cursed under his breath as the nurse and Harper assisted me into the chair. I won’t lie, it made me hurt like hell, but I sucked it up as I settled into the wheelchair and covered my lap with a folded blanket. “This isn’t smart.”

“Get the fuck out of the way, Drake,” Lana snapped. “You’re wasting time here.”

“Angel…” When she just stood beside me glaring at him, he sighed and opened the door for us. Harper pushed me through and toward the elevators. “Jesse doesn’t want to upset you, Layla. You should get back in bed and wait for him to bring Lucy up.”

“I’m not waiting another minute. Even if she doesn’t need me, I need to see her.” To make sure she was okay, that she really was with Jesse and not still trapped in the nightmare this night had turned out to be.

The elevator opened and Harper pushed me inside while Lana and Drake stepped in behind us. It took three minutes to get downstairs and to the ER. We didn’t stop to ask anyone where Lucy was. There was no reason to. The two huge men standing outside of a private exam room was like a neon sign telling us exactly where she was.

Recognizing us, the guard on the right opened the door and Harper pushed me into the room. It was crowded inside and I didn’t see Lucy right away. Shane and Nik were standing on either end of the bed while two nurses rushed around the room doing who knew what. A doctor was standing beside Jesse whose face was a dark storm cloud of emotions while he listened to whatever the doctor was saying, but his eyes were solely on Lucy who was lying on the bed.

“I can’t determine if her cheek is broken until we get the X-rays back but her lip is going to need a stitch or two,” the doctor was saying. “But what concerns me the most is the swelling around the eye. I think we should do an MRI to make sure everything is okay.”

I gasped at what the doctor was saying, making Jesse’s head snap around. His eyes darkened even more when he saw me but I could tell it was with concern and not anger. He took three big steps and then he was crouching in front of me. “She’s going to be okay… Just don’t upset her when you see her.”

I blinked back my tears and nodded. When he straightened and stepped aside my eyes went straight to the bed to find Lucy looking at me. My hands covered my mouth as I tried to stifle the cry of distress that escaped me. Her face was one big bruise. Eye, lip, cheeks. She didn’t even look like Lucy right then.

Trembling, I reached for Jesse’s hand and pulled him down to me again. When my gaze met his, my eyes were wet but hard. “Did you kill that fucker?” I whispered.

A small smile lifted one corner of his lips. “As good as.”

“Good.”

“Mom…” At that one word I pushed Jesse aside and Harper wheeled me over to the bed before I actually got up to get to her. Lucy rarely called me Mom. It slipped out every now and then and I was okay with that. I was her sister just as much as her adoptive mother. I wasn’t going to pressure her to do something that didn’t feel natural for her. But when she did call me Mom it melted something inside of me.

As soon as I could reach her I caught her hand and brought it to my lips. “Oh, baby. My sweet baby. How are you feeling?”

Her right eye, the only one that could open, blinked a few times. “Is this what it feels like to be high? I don’t think I like it. What I can see of the world is spinning and it’s making me sick.”

I frowned and glanced at the doctor who grinned and shook his head. “Just a little morphine to help 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.”