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Aria cupped his face. “Are you sure you don’t want to go and check if they’re okay?”
Grant rolled his eyes. He’d told her how much he loved all the dogs at the shelter and wanted to take care of them, to make sure they got their forever homes.
“You don’t help me,” Grant said.
Aria laughed. “It’ll be good.”
Grant kissed her. “I’ve got a couple more hours here.”
“That’s okay. I’m going to meet Lidia for lunch, then I’ll take Wanda, Ernie, and Bruno over to the shelter and check them out. You can pick me up there.”
“Hey, Aria,” Bull said.
“Hi, Bull.” She couldn’t believe Bull, the Prez of the Chaos and Carnage MC, was her brother-in-law. She also couldn’t believe she wasn’t afraid of him.
“Grant, I need an update,” Bull said.
Her husband rolled his eyes. “Duty calls, babe. You’re deadly. We can’t have any more dogs.”
Aria agreed with him, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t go and shower lots of love onto the new dogs.
By the end of the day, Wanda, Ernie, and Bruno had two new sisters, Izzi and Lizzi. Grant chose the names, not her.
****
Four Months Later
Grant had been beaten by his dad. He’d been kidnapped and beaten. He’d gone toe to toe with his brother. He had faced scary, vicious dogs, gone against the Cartel, risked certain death.
None of that was as terrifying as watching his wife scream in agony. Getting her pregnant had been the fun part. He enjoyed that part. This was not fun at all.
“I’ve got you, baby, I’ve got you.”
“Ouch, this hurts so much…”
“You’re doing good, Aria, just a few more pushes and everything will be fine,” the midwife said.
Aria whimpered and Grant kissed her head. He wanted to take the pain away from her, to tell her it was going to be okay, but there was nothing he could do. Nothing. This was all up to her. All he could do was sit back and watch and hold onto her hands, praying it was over soon.
“I’ve got you, baby. You’re doing so well.”
She turned her teary eyes to him. “I’m so bad at this.”
“No, you’re not. You’re doing great. So freaking great. I love you, baby. I love you.” After this, he was cutting his balls off. They were not having another child. Not now. Not ever.
Aria grabbed his hands, lifted up, and then pushed. Her face went red and he saw the pain in her eyes, and he hated himself. So fucking much.
“I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you. That’s it, push. Come on, baby, push.” He had no idea what he was saying, but the midwife and doctors had encouraged him to be supportive, to try and help her through the process. He did that. But he didn’t know if he was helping or just annoying her.
Then, Aria collapsed against him and he heard the sound of a baby’s scream. The midwife lifted the baby from between Aria’s thighs, cut the cord, and then handed the baby to the nurse.
Grant watched the nurse.
“That’s a good thing, right?” he asked. “Our baby has a good set of lungs?”
Aria squeezed his hand. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, I think it is.”
