Page 25 of Vegas Baby
“No, I’m —”
“The paramedic.” The voice comes from behind me. I turn to see a short, slender man who has just emerged from the hallway leading into the ward. He has cropped blond hair and is staring at me, wide-eyed. And he looks very familiar.
“Usually I just go by Sebastian,” I reply amiably, turning and offering my hand. “But you might know that, since I think we’ve already met.”
He looks down at it for a moment and then back up at me but doesn’t take it.
“Yes, we’ve met. How did you … what are you doing here?” He runs a hand through his hair and the gesture is hauntingly familiar.
And suddenly it clicks into place. That hand through that hair. The night I met her.
“You were in her show,” I say. “You’re here for Kira.” Fuck. Kira is here. It was her.
His eyes dart guiltily around, confirming it.
I lumber forward and sink into one of the waiting room chairs, suddenly lightheaded. Kira is here. I realize on some level I didn’t really think she was. Because on top of the fact that I may actually get some answers … that also means Kira is having a fucking baby. Some quick mental math doesn’t make me feel much better.
I feel Michael sit down into the seat next to me.
I run my hands down my face. “Is she okay?”
“She’s … great, actually,” he replies quietly. “But I’m not sure if she’d want you to know she’s here.”
I bark out a sharp laugh. “Yeah, I caught that she didn’t want me to know where she was, what with the disappearing and never speaking to me again.” I sit up, leaning back in the chair and letting out a heavy breath. “The baby …” I don’t even know how to ask.
“Andrei’s,” Michael says quickly, getting exactly where I was going.
I press my lips together and my nostrils flare. Even hearing that bastard’s name sends anger shooting through me. “He’s not … he was deported, right?”
Michael shifts uncomfortably. It takes him a while to respond. “I shouldn’t be talking to you about this. You shouldn’t even be here.”
I shake my head. “I get that this is probably the worst timing ever, but I’m not going anywhere. I need to talk to her.”
“She’s in labor.”
“Yeah, well, I hear that can take a while. Maybe she could use some company,” I reply drily. And I’m sure as fuck not going to let her slip through my fingers again.
He rolls his eyes. “I was just going to pick up a few things for her. I wasn’t going to leave her on her own for long.”
My eyebrows bunch together yet, and I realize suddenly that Michael may be something to Kira I hadn’t expected.
“Are you two together?” Even as I ask the question, I realize I don’t want to know. That it doesn’t matter.
Or does it?
Michael gives me a weird look. “Kira and me? We —”
He looks like he’s about to say something else but stops himself. We stare at each other for a few moments. I don’t know if that’s confirmation or denial. Either way, clearly this dude isn’t going to help me. Which makes me think at the very least there’s something more than just friendship between them.
I rise and head back to the nurse. “Has the doctor restricted Ms. Luan’s visitors?” I ask her.
She purses her lips. “No.”
“And it is visiting hours, correct?”
Her eyes flick between Michael and me. Clearly, she heard every word.
“Yes. It is. But I’ll need her permission to let you back.”