Page 24 of Fighting Dirty
Funny. She said that as if she thought he actually cared. “Fuck visiting hours. If my brother wants to see his baby, he gets to see his baby. The hospital can just deal with it.”
“He’s in a private room now. I’ll talk to them,” Tiffany offered.
Ryder glanced her way, his tone softening. “Do what you can, babe. If my brothers have to talk to them, it ain’t gonna be pretty.”
Reaching over, she threaded her fingers with his. “I’m sure that I can work something out.”
It didn’t take long to reach the hospital, and as soon as the elevator doors opened, Tiffany made her way to the nursing station.
Ryder texted Darkness that they were coming, and he was sitting up on the side of the bed, fully dressed when they arrived. Ven and Hickory were waiting inside the room, and there were two prospects milling about just outside his door. Wrapping one arm around Abby and her kid, Ryder eased them into the room.
With laser focus, his prez’s hardened gaze landed on the two at his side. “You got what’s mine?”
Suddenly timid and off-balance, the woman nodded. “She’s yours, I promise, babe.”
“Bring her to me, now,” Darkness commanded.
Shuffling across the room, Abby bent over so he could see the sleeping child. Darkness sent a questioning glance over the woman’s shoulder at Ryder.
Feeling put on the spot, he nodded. “When you see the eyes, you’ll know.”
He looked a touch suspicious, but hell, who wouldn’t be, given the situation. “Give her to me.”
“You can’t hold her, babe. Not with your injury still healing,” Abby tried to say, but Darkness wasn’t the type of man to be coddled.
“I can.”
Holding out the arm on his good side, he met her eyes with a hardened stare that brooked no argument. Ryder and the other brothers in the room watched as Darkness allowed his ex to tuck the child into the crook of his arm. Moving it slightly, he tested the weight of her.
“She’s tiny for a four-month-old.”
Abby’s head snapped up to look him in the face.
Darkness stared into her eyes. “That’s how long it’s been, thirteen months since we were together last in Shreveport. Thirteen minus nine is four. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Shaking her head, she whispered, “You’re not wrong.”
“You kept my child from me.” Rather than accusing, his tone was flat and disbelieving.
She croaked out a quiet, “Yes.”
Staring down in the weird-ass way that only Darkness could, he allowed the silence to stretch out until he finally said, “That ain’t gonna be some shit I just overlook.”
Glancing around nervously, Abby wrung her hands in her lap. “I know; I can make it up to you, babe. Just give me a chance.”
Suddenly, a physician walked into the room along with the senior Dr. Reynolds and a nurse. The physician Ryder didn’t know, stated casually, “Dr. Reynolds has ordered a paternity test. I’m told it was at your request?”
Darkness stared up at the white-haired man wearing thick glasses. “Did you come in here to tell me a bunch of shit I already know?”
Ryder frowned at his irritated friend. Darkness was in a truly shitty mood most of the time, but being injured had really killed off any pleasantness he once had. Ryder didn’t blame his friend for his darker than normal mood, though. He blamed the woman sitting at his side, smiling at him and pretending to care about his well-being.
Glancing at the older physician, Ryder watched him squirm. Dr. Nathan Thomas wasn’t used to dealing with men like Darkness. The only reason Ryder knew the doctor’s name was because it was embroidered on his fancy lab coat. The pompous man deflated rather quickly under his club president’s withering stare.
Clearing his throat, old Doc Reynolds motioned the nurse forward. “This is Kaylee. She’s going to draw blood samples from the three of you and—”
“You ain’t waking up my daughter to poke a needle in her skin,” Darkness growled.
Dr. Reynolds ran his fingers down the front of his suit. It was an odd gesture, and Ryder didn’t know quite what to make of it. “Blood tests have a higher degree of reliability, and they are faster—”