Page 42 of Rugged Hearts: Part One

Once I’m in my car and off their property, the first tear falls. Fuck him and his assumptions. I wouldn’t hurt the guys like that. The only reason I’d leave would be if the stalker threatened them. I can’t survive it a second time. Losing anyone I…Just as I pull into my driveway a wave of searing cramps hits me. I double over.What is happening?

They intensify as I hobble up my front steps and with shaky hands, unlock the door. Shutting it behind me, I try to make it to the couch but collapse on the floor, curling in on myself. The floor is good. Tears are flowing freely now, not because of Micah, but because the pain is excruciating. Like a thousand knives dancing in my stomach. My vision starts spotting. Passing out doesn’t sound too bad, at least I won’t feel the pain then, right?

34

LIAM

Thea ran out of the house like it was on fire. I look back at Micah and narrow my eyes at him. I know he had something to do with this. I don’t have the energy to deal with him right now. If she really isn’t feeling good I should check on her.I quickly tell the rest of the pack that she left and why. All of them said they should come with me, to which I said it would only overwhelm her. Thankfully they understood.

I’m now at her place, knocking on her door for the second time and waiting for a response. Nothing. “Thea, it’s Liam. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Nothing. I knock again and this time I hear a faint groaning sound. Something isn’t right. I try the handle and it opens without issue.Looking around her place, I don’t see anything. There aren’t any lights on. Another groaning sound comes from my left near the couch. Turning on the flashlight on my phone, I angle it in that direction. My grip tightens as I see Thea collapsed on the floor, curled in on herself. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Calm down, you’re no help to her panicked.Turning on the lights in the room quickly, I kneel down and assess. Her pulse is racing, breathing is steady.“Thea, can you hear me?”

A groan. I’ll take that as a yes. “What hurts?”

Her hands that are holding her stomach tighten. There’s so much that could be wrong in her abdomen—appendicitis, gallstones, the list goes on.

“I know it hurts Sweetheart, but can you please point me to where the pain is exactly?” Her eyes remain closed but her brows pinch together even more so and she moves her hand to the lower portion of her abdomen where…Of course, the mini heats. I reach up, feeling her forehead. She’s burning up. I need to get her temperature down.

Cupping her cheek, I say, “I’ll be right back.” Her hand shoots up to grab my wrist before I pull away. I look back down at her. Her eyes are now open and staring at me, pleading with me. “I’m going to prepare the tub, we need to get you in an ice bath, it’ll help the pain. Trust me?”

She doesn’t move at all for a minute before I see it, the acknowledgment in her eyes. She does trust me. That feels more significant than if she kissed me. But I don’t have time to dwell on it. I rush to the bathroom as soon as she lets me go and get the water going. Next—ice. Hopefully she has some. Though we really need bags of it but there’s no time to go anywhere else. I toss what she has in the tub and grab some bags of frozen veggies to put on her forehead once we’re in there. Now to get her there. I am fully regretting not doing more strength training.

Kneeling back at her side on the floor, I whisper, “Sweetheart, I need you to help me help you get to the bathroom. Can you walk, even just the tiniest bit?”

She doesn’t speak or even look at me. Her eyes are almost vacant, looking at nothing. It’s scaring the shit out of me if I’m honest. We can’t wait. Putting her arm over my shoulder, I grab her around the waist first sitting her up. Heaving us both to a standing position takes a couple tries but I get it and thankfully her legs are holding her up mostly. I’m bearing most of her weight as she leans on me heavily. I can take it, as long as we get to the bathroom. We’re just outside the door when she screams out in pain, nearly falling to the floor, if I didn’t have a hold of her waistshe would have. That scream is going to haunt my fucking nightmares.

“We’re almost there, a few more steps.”

She’s panting, probably due to the pain and trying to move. I sit her on the edge of the tub and gently guide her in, fully clothed. Wrapping the bag of frozen veggies in a washcloth, I hold it to her head. She didn’t even react to the cold water when she went in. What would have happened to her if I didn’t come by tonight? I don’t even know her temp. Shehasto have a thermometer around here. After a quick search of her bathroom, I find one and nudge it against her lips. They part slightly and when it beeps, I see that her temp is 103. Not as high as I thought, so the water must be helping.

We sit there in silence, with me holding frozen food to her head and reaching down to take her pulse rate every few minutes. It’s not nearly as high as when I first arrived. I half-wonder if having my scent near is helping at all. After a while I drain some of the water and fill it up with fresh cold water. It takes another couple rounds of that before her temp is down to one hundred—normal for an omega. I’m not rushing her out of the tub yet in case the mini heat comes back on. She still hasn’t reacted to the cold.

“Liam…”

It’s the first thing she’s spoken all night. It’s a little raspy but that’s okay. “Yeah Sweetheart?”

“The pain’s gone.” Her eyes meet mine. She looks absolutely wrecked.

“Want to get out?”

Nodding, she tries but her arms shake with the effort. The heat cramps and high temp would have her body feeling extremely fatigued.

“Here, let me help you.” I drain the water first and grab a towel. Getting her out seems to be trickier than getting her in. What little energy she had before has been zapped. Those wet clothes have to come off. “One sec,” I say as I run to her room andgrab a quick change of clothes. I grab the first pair of sweatpants and t-shirt I find and a pair of underwear. I notice what looks like a freezer-type bag with some clothes in her dresser but leave that alone.

Returning, I find her on her knees in the tub trying to stand. I shake my head. She couldn’t give me one minute to get her dry clothes. Leaning down, I lift her until she’s on her feet, wobbly as she is. It takes a couple tries for her to lift her leg and then the other over the tub and out. She’s sitting on the edge of the tub in soaking clothes that we need to change. I can tell she doesn’t have the energy to do it. Plus, I’m worried if she tries, she might fall backwards into the tub and likely hit her head in the process. Knowing her, she will insist she can do it. Gearing myself up to explain how dangerous it will be, she shocks me when she says, “I don’t think I can get changed alone.” She doesn’t look me in the eye when she says it. Is she embarrassed? She has nothing to be ashamed of.

Placing my fingers under her chin, I tilt her face up to me so she would meet my eyes. “We’ll do it together Sweetheart.” Emotions I can’t decipher cross her face seconds apart. Starting with her shirt, I lift it off of her as she braces against me with one of her arms. Our faces are inches apart in this position. Next after she braces with both arms on me, she hovers over where she’s been sitting so I can get her pants and underwear off, which I do in one quick motion. Last is her bra which she ends up doing before curling in on herself just a little. Up until this point I tried to be objective and respect her privacy, to be more clinical about all this. But I’ve never seen a more beautiful person in my life. My eyes trail over her luscious curves, moving from her breasts to her soft stomach that waves in and out at her hips and her thick thighs that swallow up her pussy. Her bra falls to the floor and she puts her arms to her side, now fully nude in front of me. Goosebumps are pebbling along her skin all over. That snaps me back to reality, I need to dry her off and get her dressed and warm now.

I wrap the towel around her, and it seems to be plenty big to cover her and then some. I rub up and down her back, arms, and legs, drying them. She uses the towel to dry under her breasts and the part of her stomach that sits a little on the tops of her thighs in this position. She really is the Goddess that Parker calls her.

When we’re done, she looks up at me and the shyness I expected isn’t there at all. “Can I have my clothes, Doc?” And she’s back to her snark. The relief that hits me to have her back is stark. I didn’t see what her ass looked like but one day I will be marking it red for all her brattiness.

I can’t help but smile a little hearing her somewhat back to normal. It’s so much better than earlier. I never want her to go through that again. I help her dress quickly. She seems more steady on her feet. Though she still leans on me for support as we leave the bathroom, and I have my arm around her waist in case she falls. Steering us to her bedroom, I see her look up at me questioningly out of the corner of my eye.

I all but tuck her into bed and then get in on the other side, staying on top of the covers.