Page 66 of Penalty Kill

I nodded. “I know. I was too. I didn’t know if I was going to make it through the pain, but you were there with me. You told me I could do it. Now it’s my turn.”

It clicked why she wanted me there. Just a few weeks ago, I’d been lying in a hospital bed, crying and scared.

“This will pass.” I smiled. “You told me I’d survive and I did. Now I’m telling you that you and baby boy will survive. You’ve got to be strong for him, okay?”

“Okay,” she whispered.

I looked around the room, and Reese stepped up to the other side of Chloe’s bed and rubbed her shoulder. Erik sat up straight in the chair and nodded at me. Emma came and stood next to me, putting her hand over mine.

“You have all of us here to help you, but right now you have to calm down. You’ve got to be strong,” I said and Chloe took a deep breath. Her tears stopped and her heartbeat slowed on the monitor.

Reese met my eyes and mouthed, “Thank you.”

I wasn’t sure why my words helped, but somehow, they had. In this moment, I knew there was nowhere else I should be.

21

Brandon

Word spread around the locker room when we realized Reese and Erik were missing. Olli got a call from Emma saying Chloe was in the hospital. Most of us wanted to leave and head there right away, but Coach stopped us.

“The last thing they need is the team showing up. We’ll do a shorter practice, then you can check in. Give them a chance to figure things out. I’ll update you as we go.”

I shared a look with Olli before walking over to him. Hartman hurried over too.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“She started feeling sick last night so they went in. She has pretty serious preeclampsia.”

“Oh no.” I blew out a breath and rubbed my forehead.

“What? What does that mean?” Hartman looked between Olli and me.

“It means she’s going to have to deliver soon,” I replied.

His brows pulled together. “She’s not due for like two months.”

“Nine more weeks,” Olli confirmed.

This was every parent’s worst nightmare, but there was nothing you could do to prevent it. You did everything you could to be healthy and careful, but it was just one of those things that happened sometimes.

“Can... can he survive?” Hartman asked quietly.

I nodded. “The twins were born at thirty-five weeks, so they were considered premature as well.”

But those four weeks made a huge difference in the development of the baby. I didn’t want to scare him more than he already was.

“He’ll probably be in the NICU for a while,” Olli said with a frown.

“Until his due date,” I agreed.

“That’s nine weeks.” Hartman shook his head. “This is messed up.”

That was one way of putting it.

“They’re going to need us to stay positive. It’s going to be incredibly hard, but they’ll get through it,” Olli said. “The child of Reese and Chloe is basically already a superhuman. He’ll be okay.”

I smirked. It was true. They were two of the most determined people I knew. If their baby was anything like them, he would be ready to fight.