Happily Ever All-Star: A Secret Baby Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,388

exhausted. “Sebastian was just admitted with appendicitis. He’s okay now, but they’re taking him in for emergency surgery. Lachlan…” She pointed up the hall, to the disaster and his wake. “Wanted to get up there. Could someone please keep an eye on Nicky?”

“Of course,” Piper said. “Go ahead up to him. We’ll watch the babies.”

“Babies?” Elle asked.

Leah shrugged. “She’s watching Sammy while we go talk to the OGBYN.” She pointed to her belly. “Triplets.”

“Shut. Up.”

“It’s true.”

Elle smacked my arm as she raced to the elevator. “Way to be, stud!”

I shrugged. “I do my best.”

“Piper, I’ll call you in like, twenty minutes, once we figure out what’s happening. Will you be okay?”

Cole hadn’t spoken, but Piper smiled. “Of course. No problem. Go help Lachlan…or sedate him.”

“That’s probably the only thing I can do.” Elle twisted the ends of her hair, streaked with vibrant reds and blues. “God only knows the chaos he’s causing.”

I glanced at Cole. He gave a chuckle.

I pitied the poor doctor assigned to slice open Charming’s little brother. Lachlan was a fun guy, but even I knew not to mess with his family.

Whoever held that scalpel was fucked.

3

Lachlan – Once Upon A Hospitalization

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I collided with a wheelchair in the hall and bashed it into the wall.

“Sorry!” I shouted to the nurses. Damn it, they looked pissed. “I’ll pay for any damages!”

If they could catch me.

Pretty sure I had never run this fast in my fucking life. At least dodging orderlies was like escaping linebackers. I leapt onto the gurney, surfed it a couple feet, and chucked it away as I rounded the corner.

Room 221.

Bast’s room.

Oh Christ.

How the fuck did something like this happen? He was only six. How did an appendix go bad at six? What kind of shit organs did I breed into him?

“I’m coming Bast!” I shouted, hoping he could hear me.

Pretty sure everyone could hear me.

I had been calling for him since the instant I burst into the hospital. The elevators were too slow, and I pounced up the stairs three at a time. Fell once and busted my knee. That’d hurt later, no doubt.

Two nurses blocked my path—tiny blonde things, scowling and pushing up their sleeves. Uh-oh. I slowed, but I held my hands out.

“Ladies, look.” I struggled to catch my breath. “There’s a little boy in there I gotta see.”

“Sir, this is a hospital.”

“I know! That’s why they brought him here!” I wasn’t about to pass-block these women, but I scooted through. At least if they touched my ass, I’d get in less trouble. “Just let me see him.”

“Sir, you’re causing a scene. We’ve called security.”

Fuck. No time for that. I twisted and dodged their grip.

“Look, I have to get to him!”

“Sir, please. Immediate family only!”

Immediate family? My teeth set on edge. I busted through their line as they grabbed me and raced into the room.

“Let me through—I’m his father!”

The room silenced.

My mother face-palmed in the corner.

A doctor turned, reading from his chart as a nurse tended to Sebastian.

Bas sat perfectly content in his bed, shirt off, a big smiley face drawn on his belly to mark where the surgeon would do the laparoscopic work.

Bast frowned. “Lachlan! My ‘pendix is busted. You’re my father?”

Oh. Fuck. Me.

I groaned. Mom called off the nurses and forced me into the room. “Lachlan Maxwell Reed, sit down before you bring this whole hospital down. Bast is going to be fine. No need to worry him.”

A nurse prepped my son for surgery. I ran my hands through my hair. Mom pushed me into a seat.

“Just behave, for Pete’s sake,” she said. “Bast doesn’t want all this fuss.”

“Sorry, little man,” I said. “You okay? Are you hurting?”

“Not anymore. They’re taking my ‘pendix out! But I don’t get to keep it.”

“That’s some bullshit.”

“Lachlan!” Mom yelled.

“Sorry. Just worked up.”

Jesus. I put my head between my knees. This wasn’t happening. Not to my kid.

He was too small for this. Too young.

“Hi, Elle!” Bast grinned from the bed. “Wanna watch my belly asplode?”

Elle gave him a smile. “You know, Bast? I think I’ll pass. We don’t want you to asplode.”

The nurse unhooked his equipment and removed the brakes from his bed.

“We have to take him now,” she said.

Mom leaned over the bed, leaving no space on his forehead unkissed.

Fuck it. I did the same.

“You’re going to be okay, little man,” I said. “Don’t you worry. I’ll be right here when you get back.”

“’Kay.” Whatever painkillers they gave him worked quick. He yawned and looked at me. “Are you really my father?”

Elle’s