“What’s up, baby?” he yelled. “Busy here.”
“Zane, it’s me,baby,” I growled. “I’m at your place and your woman’s water just broke.”
“The fuck are you doing there, Bax?” he demanded.
“Fuck if I know. I showed up and passed out in your foyer, apparently.” I tried a joke. “I go to you in my times of need, brother.”
“Her water broke?”
“That’s what she says. Looks to me like she pissed on the floor, but what the fuck do I know?”
“I DIDN’T PISS ON THE FLOOR!” Mara yelled. “Give me that, you asshole.” She snatched the phone from me. “It’s me, Zane. Yes, my water broke, and yes I’m sure. Yes, you need to come get me right the hell now and take me to the hospital…I don’t know, he just showed up half an hour ago, hammered, knocking on the door, and then he fell into the foyer and passed out for a minute…yes, Zane, it’stime, like right the fucknow. I need to go to the hospitalright now, so get your ass home.” She hung up, then, hitting the End button and tossing the phone onto the counter.
“What do I do?” I asked.
She reached for my hand. “Help me up.” She grabbed at my hands as I held them out to her. “And if you look at me when my pants are down, I’ll kill you, and then I’ll have Zane kill you.”
I stared at the ceiling as I hauled her to her feet. “Hold on to my shoulders if you need to. I won’t look.” I made a show of clapping my hand over my eyes.
Mara’s grip was fierce as she clawed at my shoulder for balance as she struggled to bend enough to get her pants up, and when she was finished she was gasping for breath. “Okay, okay—I’m good.” She pushed me out of the bathroom. “Now help me to the truck.”
I walked backward, holding on to both of her hands, helping her make her way slowly toward the front door. A contraction hit her halfway there, and she rocked forward into my grip, keening through gritted teeth, her fingers digging into my hands with a force I wouldn’t have thought her capable of.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, this isn’t good,” she breathed, once it passed. “They’re a lot closer together. I’m for real about to have this baby.”
Panic rifled through me. “Can you try to at least wait till Zane gets here?”
She barked a bitter laugh. “Yeah, I’ll just hold the baby in. No problem.”
“Thanks, because that’s not something I want to see, you know?”
“Anything for you, dear brother,” she said, faking a simpering niceness. “Just help me to the goddamn truck.”
We made it to the truck, and I helped her up into the passenger seat. She dug the keys out of her purse and tossed them to me before I closed the door.
“Drive,” she barked. “Hospital. I have to—I have to get to the hospital.”
“Hell, no,” I snapped back. “I’m still drunk. I’m not drunk-driving my brother’s pregnant wife fuckinganywhere.”
“Then get ready to help me deliver your nephew.”
“It’s a boy?”
“That’s what they’re telling me. Zane wanted it to be a surprise, though, so don’t mention it.” She eyed me. “You really can’t drive right now?”
“Mara, this is me doing you a favor. I couldprobablymake it safely, but I ain’t taking that chance. If it was my life I was gambling with, maybe. This is you, and that baby you’re baking.” I shook my head and shrugged. “So, no, babe. I can’t drive. Sorry.”
She exhaled shakily. “Shit.” She dialed Zane and held the phone to her ear for a minute, and then ended the call, cursing when he didn’t pick up. “Must be driving.” She twisted sideways and started sliding out of the truck. “Help me into the back seat. I need to lay down.”
I helped her out and then into the back seat, laying her down across it. Her hands were on her belly, her head resting on her purse. “Think about holding that sucker in, Mara. No baby time until Zane gets here.”
“Don’t call my baby a fucker, you fucker!” she shrieked, as another contraction hit her, faster than the last one.
This shit was happening fuckingfast.
“Sucker! I said SUCKER, with an S. Jesus. Chill.”
She lifted up on her elbows to glare at me. “Do NOT tell a woman in fucking labor to fuckingchill, Baxter Badd.”
