Page 10 of Blue Norther
“Hey, Colt. Decided to skip the nap?” Hayes called out from over my shoulder. The world tilted as my body turned around. Nothing I tried helped to get the words out of my mouth. I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t admit how hung up on her I still was. As soon as I turned, I saw Beau walking alongside him.
“What the fuck is wrong?” Beau asked, his eyes scanning over my face. “You look like you’ve seen a fucking ghost.”
They kept coming closer, but no matter how hard I tried to speak, the mounting pressure on my chest stopped me. My hand found its way above my heart and I grasped at my shirt.
Hayes got the message.
“Are you having a fucking heart attack right now?”
I almost wanted to laugh at how pissed he sounded.
“Sit down.” Both Hayes and Beau hooked their arms through mine and walked me to the porch. I was unceremoniously shoved to the steps by Beau, who mumbled something about getting some aspirin while Hayes got down on his haunches and looked me dead in the eyes.
“Tell me what’s happening,” he demanded.
“You’d think I was your kid brother with that tone…” I finally got out.
“You look ready to fall over, and you want me to apologize for the tone in which I’m speaking to you? Fuck all the way off. I’ll leave you here for Beau to deal with. That dipshit will kill you, for sure.”
I wished I was in the head space to laugh, because Hayes was right. Beau would try to help, and I’d be gone before I knew what happened.
“My chest. It’s tight. And it’s aching in my shoulder and my arm.”
“Fuck.” Hayes looked up over my shoulder and whispered something about Beau before looking back at me. “Alright. Looks like I’m playing wee-woo driver today. You know I’ve always wanted to turn the lights and sirens on in your truck.”
“Ain’t fucking happening,” I groaned as I flexed my left hand. The pain was getting better, but the pressure was still there.
“You want to tell me what the hell you were doing when this came on?”
“No.” I snapped. The damn ache behind my ribs was suddenly nothing compared to the burning behind my eyes. The last time Hayes or Beau had seen me cry, we were sure our brother Lachlan was going to die after a horrible accident in his mechanic’s garage left him with a crushed leg. He lived—thank God—but all of us had broken down in the hospital as we waited to hear his fate.
A large hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Is this a heart thing? Or is something else going on?”
I looked into my younger brother’s eyes. “Vi’s back,” I whispered.
His eyes went wide as his head slowly nodded with understanding. “Fuck. You just saw her?”
“She’s at her parents’ place. That’s not…” My fucking voice caught in my chest again. “That’s not all.”
“She brought someone with her?” Hayes asked. It wasn’t a secret I never wanted to let Violet go. That I wanted to fight for our marriage. That I wanted to fight for the twelve-year-old version of me who promised to always be there for her. But I walked away, knowing it was what she needed more than anything at that time. She needed space to heal, and I was the idiot who thought she would come back to me.
“No. She was by herself.” I sucked in a harsh breath and spoke the words that were causing all the pain out loud. “She’s pregnant.”
“She’swhat?!”
“She’s pregnant. Very pregnant. And it’s not—” My vision went blurry, and then before I could blink back the first tear, Hayes’ arms were wrapped around me.
“I found the—what the hell happened?” Beau’s voice demanded from behind us.
“Not a heart attack. A broken heart. Violet’s back—and she’s pregnant.”
I didn’t have to see my brother to know that his face would be emotionless as he listened to the news. Beau never forgave Vi for leaving, even though it wasn’t his place to hold a grudge.
“Fuck. Well, I finally found your fucking aspirin. Here.” I heard the bottle rattle behind me before Beau’s hand was waving wildly in front of my face. “Better to be safe than sorry.”
“Get him out a dose, dipshit. Does it look like he can fucking manage it on his own right now?”
“Right. Christ. This is so fucking weird. Violet’s back, after all this time.” Beau’s laugh held no emotion. “And pregnant. Why the fuck is she back? To rub it in your face?”
