61. Hayden

By the timewe make it back to the city, I"m ready to collapse from exhaustion, but I need to see Cassidy before I can even think about doing that.

I drop King off at his place and head home to shower off the blood and burn my clothes. I do it as fast as I can and I"m sure it"s a half-assed job, but it"s all I can handle at the moment. The second I"m done, I make sure the fire"s out in the fireplace and get back in Cassidy's SUV, driving it over to Saylor's house.

I back it into the driveway, leave the backpack with the gun inside and then walk a mile down the road before calling a ride to take me to the hospital where my brother works and where he took Cassidy.

When I get there, I run through the halls until I find Sawyer standing outside a room with a chart in his hand. He looks up when he hears me coming and grins. I walk straight into his arms and he hugs me tight, holding me together and taking on some of the weight of everything that"s happened so that I can be strong for my wife when I walk through that door.

"Everything good?" he asks, letting me go.

I nod. "Yeah, it"s taken care of."

He looks down at his watch and nods. "It"s been hours. I was starting to worry you"d gotten caught or something."

"Nope, all good." I glance at the door he"s standing in front of and he steps aside.

"She"s okay," my brother reminds me, his hand clasping me on the shoulder and squeezing. "I was actually getting ready to do an ultrasound to check on the baby. Go in and get the shit I don"t want to see out of the way and I"ll be back with the machine."

I nod and take a deep breath before pushing open the door and stepping into the room. Cassidy"s asleep, her face bruised and swollen from Roman"s attack, but she"s alive. She"s safe.

And I"ll make sure she"s so fucking happy, she doesn"t have a chance to sink into her trauma from what Roman and Saylor did to her.

I pull up a chair beside her bed and grab her hand, kissing her bruised knuckles before holding it against my cheek, just needing to feel her skin pressed against mine. She stirs, her eyes fluttering open as she looks around before settling on my face. Her lips curve up into a smile that puts light in my world again. "Hi," she says, her voice hoarse and raw.

"Hi, Princess." I lean forward and brush my lips over hers gently, but there"s that spark between us and she deepens the kiss before I have a chance to. She whimpers when our tongues collide and I swallow it down. She still tastes like mine and I shudder at the thought I could"ve lost her and never had this again.

When we finally break apart, it"s only because my brother wheels a machine into the room and I force myself to pull away. I grin when her lips chase mine, and even with all the bruises on her face, she"s so fucking gorgeous I rub my chest because it hurts to look at her. She"s smiling up at me, and it makes me want to cry from how fucking happy I am that she"s okay. That we"re okay.

My brother stops the machine beside Cassidy"s bed and starts setting it up as I lean over and kiss her forehead. "Sawyer said he wanted to check on the baby."

She nods, looking nervous but excited as my brother lifts her hospital gown and squeezes some cold gel onto her stomach. She jumps and Sawyer chuckles. "Sorry, should"ve warned you."

He presses a wand against her skin and moves it around until he finds what he"s looking for. I know everything about my brother, all his little tells, which is why I notice it when he tenses before he forces himself to relax.

"What?" I bite out, knowing I"m being a dick but having zero filter after almost forty-eight hours without sleep, killing Roman, kidnapping and likely killing Saylor, and thinking I lost my wife and baby. I can"t handle any more bad news.

Cassidy starts to panic and tries to sit up, but winces and gasps from the pain as her eyes get glassy. "Is something wrong with the baby?"

"No, not wrong," Sawyer says slowly, and I can tell he"s trying to figure out how to say what he needs to. I'm so fucking over this day. I brace harder, and I want to lash out at him, even though I know whatever"s about to come out of his mouth isn"t his fault. "It"s, uh." He coughs out a word, but I can"t tell what he"s trying to say.

"What?"

"Twins. It"s twins, brother." He looks over at me, his eyes wide, like he can"t believe it. "We should"ve known. You never do anything without doing it all the damn way."

Cassidy bursts into laughter and I startle, surprised she"s taking the news this way. I should've known she would after the way she reacted when I told her she was pregnant.

When she calms and wipes the tears from her cheeks, she points at me. "This is karma for giving me fertility pills in my smoothies, asshole. Did you forget I"m a twin? They run in my family. Add in to the mix making me extra fertile and you"re lucky it"s not a whole litter."

I chuckle, shaking my head as I lean down and press my forehead to hers as Sawyer finishes up the ultrasound. This moment feels like a miracle, like something I"ve had to walk through fire to get to, and I take a breath, cementing it into my memory. "You"re amazing, Princess. You know that?"

She nods, her eyes glinting. The bruise on the side of her face shadows her happiness, and I again wish I"d made Roman suffer before I killed him. I hope he's burning in hell right now. "I know." She smirks at me before adding, "But you can keep telling me anyway."

My brother wipes off her stomach and puts the machine away. "I"ll give you two a minute," he says as he walks out of the room.

Cassidy reaches for me and I lean down, kissing her again because it"s all I want to do for the rest of my fucking life. But we"re interrupted by the door swinging open and two police officers walking into the room.

"Sorry for the interruption," the first one through the door says, "but we"ve got some questions about what brought you in, ma"am."

Both men move to stand at the end of the bed and Cassidy and I lock eyes for one heartbeat, before she blinks at them like she"s confused. "I, um." She squints her eyes like it"s hard to remember. "I don"t really remember. I think I was out for a walk, maybe?" She flutters her hand like it doesn"t matter. "Anyway, I"m pretty sure I tripped and hit my face on a rock wall in someone"s front yard. Totally clumsy and not at all something we need you guys for. Sorry to have wasted your time, though."

The second cop"s taking notes and the first one"s gaze slides to me. But then his eyes widen. "Holy shit, you"re Hayden Vaughn."

His partner"s head snaps up, and a wide grin splits his face. "No way. The Hitman," he holds up his fist for a bump and I tap it. "That goal last week against the Orcas was insane!"

The two cops start talking hockey and asking me for autographs. At some point, my brother comes back into the room and ends up taking a bunch of pictures for the guys with their phones. I"ll happily do a thousand of these if it means they don"t ask any more questions about what happened to my wife.

And now I"m even happier I stopped to shower and change before coming here because I"d have looked like I murdered someone if I hadn"t... which I did.

But that"s a secret I"ll take to my grave.

For her.

For us.

For our family.

I don"t know how long it takes, but eventually the cops leave and Sawyer closes the door behind them. "That was unsettling as fuck, huh? At least they were fans. Who knew your mediocre celebrity would come in handy?"

I flip him off as he laughs and Cassidy rolls her eyes before cringing. "Crap, don"t make me roll my eyes. It hurts. And why does sound make me feel like my brain is splitting in half and melting out of my ears?"

Sawyer moves toward her with a frown, fully back in doctor mode again. "Your concussion. You need to be monitored for at least another twenty-four hours." He looks at me with a raised brow. "I"ll take you home when my shift is over."

I nod, squeezing myself onto the bed next to Cassidy. She sighs happily and then curls herself into my side. I run my fingers through her tangled hair as Sawyer turns off the dim lights and leaves. I tighten my hold on her when I think about how I almost lost her. Them.

Fuck, twins.

The amount of shit I have to process would be overwhelming if I let it, but I just shove that shit down deep inside to deal with later.

When I close my eyes, I crash with my hand on Cassidy"s stomach, imagining our future together.

I don"t know what"s going to happen, but I do know it"s going to be fucking beautiful.