Sacred Vow (Angels Halo MC Next Gen #5) - Terri Anne Browning Page 0,26

me a few of her own clothes over until I could get my things from my parents’ house.

Mila: Lyric will drop them off in 15.

Relieved that I would at least have something clean to wear to school, I walked back to the bathroom and took a quick shower, not bothering to wash my hair. But as I got out, another cramp hit me. “Fuck,” I cried, bending in half from the pain.

Wetness gushed out of me, a few drops hitting the white tiles on the floor and smearing across my thighs. I blanched. This was definitely not just a little spotting now.

I told myself not to panic, but that didn’t stop it. Scared, I stumbled naked and wet into the bedroom. “Maverick!” I yelled, my voice trembling from fear and anxiety.

He jerked upright in bed, his eyes wide and alert. “Babe?” When he saw me, he jumped to his feet. “River, what’s wrong?”

“I-I’m bleeding. And I’ve been c-cramping,” I stuttered, tears blinding me. “I think…I’m losing the baby.”

He picked me up and sat me on the end of the bed. “Give me two minutes,” he said, kissing my forehead.

I sat there watching him pull on clothes. He came back to me with one of his T-shirts and some sweat pants. But before he could help me into them, there was a hard knock on the front door.

“That’s probably Lyric,” I told him. “Mila was sending me over some clothes to wear to school.”

He nodded, helping me into his clothes before picking me up again and carrying me through the apartment. Shifting me in his arms, he opened the door just as Lyric lifted his arm to knock again. There was a small gift bag in one hand that must have held the borrowed clothes, but once he saw the tears streaming down my face and how tense Maverick was, the smile on Lyric’s handsome face disappeared.

“What’s going on?” he demanded.

“You got your SUV?” Mav barked instead of answering.

“Yeah, but—”

“She’s bleeding, man. I need to get her to the hospital.”

“No!” I cried, shaking my head frantically. “Not the one here.”

“River,” Maverick gritted out. “You need medical assistance.”

“I know,” I sobbed. “B-but we can’t go to the hospital here. It will get back to my dad and he’ll know and then Ben will arrest you and…and…and…” I was starting to gasp as my anxiety made it harder and harder to breathe. A part of my brain was screaming to calm down, this was just a panic attack, but I couldn’t.

Lyric lifted his free hand. “It’s okay, River. We’ll drive a few counties over.”

“Fine,” Maverick gritted out. “But if you get worse, we’re stopping, no matter how close we are. I’ll deal with your dad and Ben if it comes to that. But I’m not going to risk something happening to you, baby.”

I couldn’t get my voice to work, so I only nodded.

While Maverick carried me down to the SUV, Lyric ran inside to grab Mav’s phone and keys since he’d forgotten them. It only took a few minutes, and then we were on the road. Lyric called Mila, telling her what was going on, but when she said she was going to follow us, Maverick convinced her to stay home and cover for me with school and my dad.

Not even thirty minutes into the drive, another cramp hit me. It was so painful, it robbed me of oxygen, and I curled into a ball on Maverick’s lap in the back seat. It was only the third cramp of the morning, but each one of them had gotten worse and worse. “Drive faster!” he roared, his fingers trembling as he stroked my hair back from my face. “It’s okay, baby. You’re going to be fine.”

“Th-the b-baby,” I cried, burying my face in his neck. I knew in my soul that I was losing the baby. The cramp had pushed more blood from me, and I didn’t need to look down to see that it had leaked through the sweat pants and onto Maverick’s jeans.

“Shh,” he soothed in a choked voice. “Don’t think about that.”

But how could I not?

Just the week before, I’d nearly aborted our baby. And now I was losing him or her. Guilt engulfed me like a physical vise. Was this my punishment for even thinking of getting rid of something so precious?

Pressed up against Maverick, I felt the vibrations as he spoke, but I was crying so hard I couldn’t hear anything he or Lyric said. When we started to