Page 122 of Hold Me Down
“Love you, too.” I hang up the call quickly before he realizes what happened. Ser’s serious face morphs to a faux pout with her bottom lip poked out.
“Aw! Did the ice around Zeke’s heart finally melt?”
“Shut up.” I shake my head at her and look back down to Emma, who’s starting to wake back up. Her little strands of hair feel so smooth against my hand, and a part of me still can’t believe I'm actually holding her. This teeny, little baby was causing all of that ruckus in my womb? All of those jabs to my lungs, kidneys, and bladder were from these tiny feet?
“Mom and Dad are running out for dinner, and they want to know if you want them to grab you anything?”
“I'm okay. Zeke’s picking up the food Damien ordered for us.”
Ser rolls her eyes.
“Well, no wonder he’s taking so long.”
“Right? I'm starting to worry.” I adjust the blanket on Emma once she stretches her little arm out. We switched from the hospital blanket to the one Tay knitted her because it’s much softer. The other one felt like a napkin comparatively, and Damieninsistedthat she needed something ‘cuddlier’—per his words.
As if I summoned him, the door opens quietly. Damien strides in with all of his God-like glory and my heart skips a beat. That is, until I notice the red, swollen knots on his jaw and forehead.
“Damien—”
“What the hell happened to you?” Serena butts in, clearly noticing it as well. He cuts his eyes at her before softening them and looking at me.
“You don't need to worry about it, baby. Everything is fine.”
“Will you stop doing that?” I try my best to keep my voice low, but I can't stand it when he dismisses me like that. I glance at Ser, probably a little more hatefully than I intend to. “Can you give us a minute, please?” She nods once and walks out of the room, but not before taunting him.
“You're in trouble,” she teases then scurries out of the room, thankfully remembering to be easy on the door. Damien shifts on his feet and tilts his head.
“Ashia—”
“Can't you see you that I'm not some weak, scared victim anymore?” I interrupt him. “Haven't I proved that I can handle this?”
He steps over to the bed and sits beside me, then lays his hand over mine, covering the baby’s entire back.
“It’s not that I don't think you can handle things, Ashia. Iknowyou can. You just shouldn'thaveto.” He glances down at Emma, then looks back at me. “You just went through over thirteen hours of labor, you're exhausted and in pain, and you think I want to bother you with something that's already handled? You deserve this time with our baby—to feel safe and comfortable, and live in this happy bubble that we’vefinallybuilt.”
“I'm not saying I'm going to get up and storm out of here, all ready to go to battle. I just don't want to be left in the dark anymore,” I plead, and Damien’s face softens. “I do feel safe and comfortable, and nothing is going to pry me away from our peace bubble, but I still want to know. I know you’ll keep us safe. It just doesn’t hurt to know what from.”
He takes a deep breath, clearly hating the thought of upsetting me right now, but when he sighs, it’s defeatedly.
“I walked my parents down to the lobby, and just when they were about to leave, I saw Ian,” he says plainly, but there’s reluctance behind it. “I almost didn’t see him. It didn’t make sense to me. The whole fucking world stopped. I was going to confront him, but it didn’t feel right, so Dad handled him while I took the stairs to get back to you two, but Satori was already climbing them when I entered the stairwell.”
My eyes must bug out of my head, because his face twists in that sad way it does when he thinks I’m unhappy. I squeeze his hand, urging him to continue before I ask too many questions that he’ll probably answer anyway.
“He’s lying dead at the bottom of the stairs, now. Dad handled Ian, and apparently, Mom killed Michael out in the parking lot,” he continues. “Dad and Alex are handling it, and Zeke and Carter should be here any minute.”
I’m completely baffled. My mind tries to reenact the scene, but I can’t even imagine it. The last three people that wanted us dead are gone. They tried one last time to get the best of us, and theyfailed. We were in immediate danger, and somehow, everything is okay. The hospital isn’t sounding loud alarms, Damien isn’t crucially hurt, neither of us are missing, and most importantly, our peace bubble is still intact. My man handled things like he always does. Shockingly, this instance just feels like any other day of the week, and I fucking love it.
“Okay, see? Was thatsohard?” I joke, and the relief on Damien’s face could be seen a mile away. I gently move my hand from Emma’s head and cup his face, making him look me in the eyes. “I trust that you'll take care of us. You know that, right?” He leans into my hand, and those hypnotic blues pulse with different colors as his pupils grow wide.
“Yeah, I do.” He kisses my palm and nudges into it lightly.
“Good. Now we can go back to fawning over our baby.” We smile and chuckle, sinking back into our happy place…until we hear a familiar voice from the hall.
“This is a cute place. Are you and Carter next, sunshine?”
“Oh, fuck you, Zeke,” Serena shrieks.
“Only if you ask nicely.”
