“You okay, baby?” he whispered in her ear.
“I’m perfect,” she said, smiling at him. “I’m literally perfect. My life is nothing like I imagined it would be. Lonely, frightened, always looking over our shoulders. You saved me, Moose. You.”
“Oh, honey, don’t you know that you saved me, too,” he said, kissing her. She wiped her eyes.
“Sorry, I’m a bit hormonal,” she laughed.
“Don’t be sorry, sweetie,” said Christopher. “You forget that our wives had triplets. Damn. Margo and Ramey were insane during the first few months. Top that with our already insane sister, Sadie, and the island mansion was more like an island funhouse.”
“Well, I feel for all three of them. Carrying one baby is difficult, but carrying three must have been unbearable.”
“I’ve carried bigger loads on my back,” smirked Patrick. Erica raised her brows, staring at him.
“Is that right?” She stood, walking toward Gray. They watched as she spoke to her, waving her hands in the air animatedly. The woman nodded, laughing, then sent a text to the clinic. A few minutes later, Ajei walked in with a small suitcase.
“You’ve carried a bigger load, is that right?” asked Erica.
“Well, I mean, yeah. But. What the hell is that?”
Ajei took the device from the suitcase and began strapping it around the mid-section of Patrick, while Gray took a second device and did the same to Christopher. Ramey and Margo just watched, smiling to themselves. They knew exactly what the devices were.
“What is this?” frowned Moose.
“These devices simulate labor pains,” smiled Gray. “We have others that simulate menstrual cramps.”
“Labor pains?” laughed Christopher. “Come on, Gray. This won’t be any harder than getting through BUDs.”
“We’ll see, big man. Every notch is an increase in labor that a woman would experience as she dilates. It will be slow at first, then speed up.”
“Bring it on,” smirked Patrick. “I can take it.”
“Why do I get the feeling you shouldn’t have said that?” asked Moose.
“Whatever, dude. Oh!” he said, jerking his body forward. “Oh, okay. I get it. That’s nothing.”
“That was level one,” said Ajei.
As the levels were increased, the two men tried to hold back on screaming in pain. They were both red-faced, sweating, and leaning forward on their knees. When Ajei hit level seven, the two men screamed out loud, the entire room staring at them.
“That’s enough! That’s enough!” said Patrick.
“Nope, not enough,” said Gray. “You’re not even close to delivery yet.”
“I can’t believe this,” gasped Christopher. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe you went through this.” He turned to look at Ramey, and she just smiled at him.
When Gray finally hit level ten, the two men were on the floor in the fetal position, begging for mercy. She finally let them off the hook, not putting them through several minutes of non-stop labor pains.
“If you’re ever interested, we have similar devices that mimic menstrual cramps. Just let me know if you’d like to experience that.”
Able to finally catch their breath, they stood and took their seats beside their wives, hugging them fiercely. Erica just looked at the men, smiling.
“Now, what was that you were saying about carrying a heavy pack?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Early the next morning, Moose heard his phone buzzing against the nightstand. 0417. Morning training didn’t start until 0530. He grabbed the phone and gently slid from bed, covering Erica with the blanket. Stepping outside the bedroom, he ducked into the living room and began scrolling through the text messages. After the fifth one, he just called Hiro.
“I didn’t get through them all. Where are they?” he asked.