Page 102 of For Your Consideration

“Close your eyes, sweetheart. I’ll wake you up when the doctor comes in,” I whispered quietly into her hair.

“Mm-kay,” she mumbled. My guess was her eyes were already closed. Both my girls were sleeping safely in my arms and I had never felt more whole.

There was a great sense of pride in being able to offer her comfort in this moment.

As promised, an hour and a half later, Sutton, Sophie, and I made our way to Iris’s room. Quinn was going to get us some coffee and then she and Knight were going to meet us upstairs. Iris was still unconscious, and they guessed it would be another few hours before she woke up.

Sutton stood at the end of the bed in the private room gripping the frame and looking at Iris lying there.

Sophie had just eaten and was now happily slapping my face and babbling. I was honestly impressed how relaxed she’d been since I got here. She hadn’t made an unhappy noise since I took her from Quinn. She reached for me the second she was done eating and Sutton happily passed her over.

“I just need her to wake up,” Sutton muttered in a low voice. It was late now and the nap hadn’t done anything for her energy. She looked exhausted and I fucking hated it.

“You heard the doctor—she’ll wake up. She’ll make a full recovery.”

“I rely on her too much. Sophie has been too much for her, and she hasn’t taken care of herself because we’ve stressed her out. She needed to spend more time with Clint. I need to get Soph into daycare or something because this—”

“Hey.” I’d made my way over to her during her ramble, the panic clear in her voice. I put my hand under her chin and lifted her eyes to meet mine. “This may have happened to her regardless and you know she loves this girl like her own. Wait until she wakes up and we’ll figure it out together.”

Her eyes softened for only a moment before they widened again. “I told you I was fine. You shouldn’t have come.” She took a step back. “Asher, you should have gone to your meeting. We aren’t your problem. I can handle this myself.”

I reached for her but she took another step back. I was faster the next time. When I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck, squeezing gently, I could feel the tension in her muscles.

“You are more important than some stupid business dinner, Sutton. You and Sophie are more important. I don’t give a single fuck about it, neither did any of the guys, and I will leave any meeting when you need me. I know you can take care of yourself. Look at all you’ve given your daughter, it’s incredible. But it doesn’t mean I can’t help. There is nowhere else I would rather be. Got it?” I held her gaze and hoped my seriousness bled through. After a few moments she released a breath and finally smiled at me.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever heard you say so much, Asher.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled her into my chest with a grunt. She wrapped her arms around me, her daughter just smiling and babbling some more.

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

“You don’t need to say that.”

She pulled back and I looked down at her. I wasn’t sure what to say but I was saved by a light knock at the door.

“Hey.” Quinn popped her head in. Sutton stepped back and waved her inside. “I have a coffee for Ash but I made an executive decision to bring you peppermint tea.”

“If you don’t like drinking hot toothpaste, I can go back and get you something else.” Knight came in behind her holding the two cups. Quinn rolled her eyes and smacked him on the chest.

“Peppermint tea is great, thank you.” She took the cup and held it. “Why did Pearson give me all that information? Don’t I have to be next of kin?” she asked, taking a seat in the chair. Knight placed the coffee on the window ledge that I was leaning on.

“Oli knows Pearson and he saw you were her emergency contact and called 911. He decided to loosen the rules for us,” I replied.

“Sutton?” Quinn asked, coming to stand in front of her. “Are you planning on staying here?”

“Yeah, for a while. You guys should go though.”

I smiled down at Sophie, trying to let Quinn deal with Sutton.

“Well, I thought Theo and I should take Sophie home to our place for a bit.”

Sutton frowned, looking at me and then back to Quinn. “You don’t have—”

“We want to.” Knight cut her off.

“Asher had a bunch of stuff delivered to our house last week for when you’re over.”

I didn’t look up at her; I hadn’t gotten around to mentioning it yet and I could feel her glare.