Page 20 of Pain (Kiss of Death MC #6)

Nadine

This was nuts. It had been two weeks since the raid, and the constant police presence was suffocating.

Going outside, beyond the camo netting, now felt almost like venturing into the prison yard.

I’d never been in the yard at Terre Haute, but I was starting to have nightmares about being trapped in ours.

Except instead of being terrified of the prisoners, it was the guards who had me on edge.

I stared out the window at the camo-netted paths between warehouses.

The compound felt more like a cage with each passing day, though the women tried their best to distract their men.

The only problem was, the police weren’t even letting in the delivery people, so there were a few supplies we were starting to need.

Including food. Which, likely, was what Chief Roscoe had in mind.

“Why is your big boss man not putting a stop to this?” I grumbled, though I wasn’t really in a snit over that. I was just upset they were basically laying siege to the compound. Just not violently. Yet.

“Knuckles said he’s working on it. Apparently, Roscoe has an agenda outside the official narrative.”

“Of course, he does,” I snapped. “In the meantime, we’ve got a pregnant woman who is six weeks and two days away from her due date but is already having the occasional contraction and is twenty percent effaced. We can’t keep going like this, Pain. The stress alone isn’t good for Tillie.”

“I know, honey.” Pain and I were in an apartment on the third floor of this particular warehouse.

There was one floor above us and an area on the roof to hang out and sun or grill or just relax away from the rest of the club.

The other attached women, the old ladies, had managed to get the guys to put an above-ground pool and a hot tub on the roof for us.

We also had a prime viewing spot for the immediate perimeter around the compound.

Where we’d watch Roscoe’s boys repeatedly turn away delivery drivers with anything we’d ordered.

Not that anyone had expected it to work, but it had been worth a try.

More than anything, I was worried about the lack of a birthing kit in case of an emergency. Pain hadn’t been here to take care of that until recently and, honestly, a siege wasn’t something anyone had prepared for.

I couldn’t just sit there twiddling my thumbs while that bastard, Roscoe, effectively held us captive. There had to be some way to get out of this compound without them knowing.

“We’ve got to get ready for this baby, Pain.” We’d danced around this a couple times, and I got the sense Pain didn’t want to let himself think about having to deliver the baby here.

“Yeah,” was his mumbled response.

Silence.

“And?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

More silence.

“Pain. Are you listening to me?”

“I’m listening, Nadine. I just don’t want to think about it, OK?”

I was about to lay into him because, what the fuck, when it hit me. “You’re afraid of delivering that baby.”

“Look, Nadine. I did my OB rotation on L & D and Postpartum. I delivered exactly two babies. Why? Go on. Ask me why.” OK, he was getting a little defensive, but it was still funny as shit because I, having done my own OB rotation, knew exactly what he was going to say.

“How about I ask you a different question?”

“Yeah?” He crossed his arms over his chest, looking as disgruntled as a man could be. “What’s that?”

“How many times did you puke?”

He didn’t miss a beat. “Four times at the first birth, seven at the second. The poor mother was asking me if I was all right. After that, they let me do everything but deliver babies. They passed me because I got everything else right. That was when it was suggested to me surgery might be the way to go if I planned on working in a hospital. I was also advised to avoid small rural hospitals because they didn’t want me to be the only doctor in the building. Just in case.”

Yeah. No way I wasn’t laughing. “Oh, my God, Pain! You’re a fucking surgeon ! Surely to God a surgeon can deliver a baby.”

“Yes. I am. There is a reason I’m a surgeon.”

I thought for a minute, narrowing my eyes.

“Because… in the event of an unexpected birth, the Emergency Department takes care of it.” I chuckled.

“In fact, the only doctor in the OR who’d ever get called to help with a delivery would be an OB surgeon or an anesthesiologist.” I knew my eyes were growing wider and wider as realization hit me.

“You became a surgeon to avoid anything to do with delivering babies!”

“Exactly. L & D has a staffed, dedicated OR of their own. I’m pretty much the very last doctor who would be in the hospital after seven in the evening on the list to call for an emergent delivery.

The very last. Meaning, if I got called to deliver a baby, there were more things to worry about than just the mother and baby. ”

“Oh, Pain!” I laughed so hard tears were rolling down my cheeks, and I clutched my sides. “I n-never r-realized you w-were such a p-pussy!”

“It’s not that Goddamned funny,” he grumbled. But I could tell the endorphin release of laughter did him as much good as it had done me even if he did look disgruntled. The humor was there in his eyes when he tried to glare at me.

“It is, and you know it.” I leaned up and pulled him in for a lingering kiss. “But we still need to make plans. Multiple plans.”

He sighed, pulling me closer and kissing me more deeply. He swept his tongue in to tangle with mine and I wanted nothing more than to lose myself in the sensations.

I pushed him away gently, kissing his lips several times as I cupped his face in one hand. “Much as I want to, I can’t let you distract me from this. And I don’t think you really want to forget about it. So tell me what’s going on.”

“How the fuck do you know me so well already?”

“I pay attention. Now. Spill.”

He sighed. “Knuckles said Tonio asked for one more week. Apparently, there’s a power struggle going on in the underground and Tonio has to deal with that first. He’s also sure Roscoe is making a play for the game.

Either for himself or in conjunction with someone else.

Which is what he’s trying to figure out.

I’m keeping an eye on Tillie. And yes, she’s effacing, but she’s still well within acceptable parameters for her third trimester.

Obviously, you’re right. With the heightened stress, we need to keep a close eye on her.

But I don’t think she’s at increased risk otherwise. ”

“I still don’t like it. I’d feel better if we at least had a labor pack.”

“I’ll see what I can do. For now, try not to worry so much.”

“Really? You realize it’s been two weeks since anyone went out for toilet paper. Unless you want to start rationing it out one square at a time, you might want to look into getting some supplies sooner rather than later. When you make the TP run, see if you can find a labor pack.”

“Smartass.”

“Better a smartass than a dumbass.”

“I don’t remember you being this sassy when you were younger.”

“I wasn’t.” I smiled sweetly. “Then I became a nurse.”

“Point taken.”

We spent the next couple of hours making love. Because we could. Then Pain had to go to Church. Apparently, that was what they called their club meetings.

I went to the roof and looked out over what I could see of the property. I’d been watching for the last few days. Trying to see patterns in the patrols around the compound as well as where the unmarked cars were parked and what they looked like. They used the same cars every day, so it wasn’t hard.

Considering I hadn’t been exaggerating too much about the toilet paper, I decided I was making an executive decision. Besides, I really needed to get a birthing kit just in case. I could totally understand Pain balking. It’s why doctors needed nurses. So here I was.

Just as I’d been noticing every day since about day two of this quiet siege, there was a hole in their net, so to speak.

One of the warehouses outside of Kiss of Death territory had several large dogs.

The cops didn’t want to keep them stirred up and cause more of a problem than they said the guys in the club were responsible for, so they gave that area a wide berth.

I, on the other hand, happened to have some of the dogs’ favorite treats.

The big German Shepherds must have been trained not to bark unless there was a threat because they’d long stopped barking at me.

And yes. I might have been planning an escape, but in my defense, it was for Tillie.

If I needed to get her out of here and to the hospital, then I wanted to know for sure I could get us out safely.

With any guys outside the main clubhouse focusing on the police presence and anyone not on guard in Church, making it to my escape point was easier than I expected.

The split in the fence wasn’t obvious or big. In fact, if I’d had to sneak Tillie out this way, it wouldn’t have been easy for her to get through. Bushes lined the area which hid my exit point.

I crouched behind the foliage for long minutes. This little adventure was turning out to be more nerve-racking than I’d thought. It was warm but not overly so. And I was sweating like it was the middle of summer.

I heard a dog whine softly but that was the only sound they made. Carefully, trying not to draw attention to myself, I leaned away from the shrub to get a better look at the immediate area.

When I was certain there was no one around, I slipped the dogs their treats through their fence, then headed out of the warehouse area on foot.

Yeah. When Pain realized I was gone he was going to be beside himself, but this had to be done.

He was also probably going to spank me when I got back.

Which… I could totally get behind that. So to speak.

I walked between the warehouses, always doing my best to keep to the outskirts and away from the main road in and out. Once I was a couple blocks away from the compound, though, there was really no need to worry. I didn’t see another car or person anywhere.

There was a little diner about half a mile away and I thought that was the perfect place to settle in for ten or fifteen minutes, maybe drink a sweet tea or something, and wait to see if anyone followed me. Then I called an Uber.

I didn’t want to take too long on this excursion. I figured if I could get what I needed and get back in another hour or so, I should be fine. I’ll feel better and no one will be the wiser I snuck out. No problem!

The first place I went was a women’s reproductive health clinic.

It was a local, privately funded clinic.

I might not be familiar with the area, but bigger cities always had a place that operated on the down low.

Not performing illegal or dangerous services, but providing birth control in all kinds of various forms, as well as the home birthing kits for emergencies.

As I’d hoped, I was able to get everything I needed for a home birth with no trouble once I assured the nurse in charge there would be a qualified medical professional with my friend when she gave birth.

But honestly, once I explained the situation, the lady -- and every other person working in the place -- was ready to give me anything I wanted.

I’d have to make sure to have Knuckles tell Mr. Miles to make a donation to the place.

Like either man would listen to me. Then again, I’d been only half joking with Pain when I told him I’d gained my sass when I became a nurse.

Working at that prison only strengthened my backbone.

So maybe I could make that donation happen.

I made my way back to the compound. My phone hadn’t buzzed since I’d left so I hoped that meant Pain was still in his meeting.

I rounded the corner to the beginning of the vast area filled with warehouses, of which the entire Kiss of Death compound was only a small part, and ran straight into Chief Benjamin Roscoe.

“If it ain’t little Miss Nadine Brentner. Fancy meetin’ you here.”