Thirty minutes later, I was well on my way to being drunk, and cackling with the members of Dixie Wardens, bonding over Blair's big bush. Normus was a hoot, and he reminded me a lot of my daddy. He was sweet and cuddly, like a big old teddy bear.

"I see you met Dixie." Sebastian observed as he came to a stop beside my chair.

I looked up at him, confused. "Who's Dixie?"

Sebastian nodded his head in 'Dixie's' direction. "Dixie? I thought your name was Normus."

He laughed. "It is. Dixie's my road name. Normus is my real name."

Then I couldn't hold in the laugh anymore. Seriously, my ribs ached like a son of a b.i.t.c.h, but really, who wouldn't laugh? "You're Dixie Normus?" I wheezed.

Sebastian, Normus, and everybody else in the room got in on the laugh.

"Oh, yeah. Want me to prove it?"

That was when I realized what I'd said. "Uh, no thank you. That's quite all right. I'll take your word for it."

Chapter 18.

Did a cartwheel the other day. Found out it is most definitely not like riding a bike.

-Note to self Baylee Two months later I woke up to screaming.

It was the type of scream that meant pain.

Johnny.

Lifting up, I rolled off the couch with the next breath, and ran down the hallway towards the screaming boy.

I heard larger, more prominent footsteps rushing from the opposite direction at much the same pace as my own.

We both met at the porch door, Sebastian going out first, rushing towards the screams that still hadn't abated in ferocity.

He vaulted the railing, landing lithely on his feet, before he rushed to Johnny who was curled up in a ball at the base of the trampoline.

By the time I made it down the steps and around to them, Sebastian was on his knees next to Johnny on the ground, holding him in place. "What's wrong?"

"My arm!" Johnny wailed.

It was obvious to both of us that his left forearm was broken. It wasn't aligned correctly, with one edge of a broken bone pushing against his skin forebodingly. "It's broken. Go find me a magazine and some tape." I instructed Sebastian.

Once he was gone, I went about calming his son. "Hey there big boy. It's all right. I know it hurts, but if you keep flailing your arm around like that, it's just going to hurt worse. Shhh. It's okay. I promise. There's a good boy. Did you hurt anything else?"

Johnny's eyes came from Sebastian. With the tears swimming in his eyes, as they were doing now, they looked almost exactly like the golden brown of a Miller Genuine Draft. They were gorgeous on Johnny's tanned face. His hair was a snow-white blonde that stood out greatly, compared to his golden skin.

He sure was a cutie though.

Dirt smudged his face where he must've hit his head when he'd fallen as he tried to get out of the trampoline. "Hold me, Lee." Johnny sniffled.

Not able to refuse that sweet face anything, I gathered him up carefully just as Sebastian returned with a magazine and a roll of silver duct tape.

The next ten minutes were spent stabilizing Johnny's arm, finding him shoes, and then driving to the hospital.

We were seen quickly, due to Sebastian's notoriety in the Benton community, as well as the cut that was riding over his shapely back.

The first stop was the X-ray room where Johnny started flipping out when they tried to put him on the table. Since he was in my arms at the time, I tried to calm him; he clung to me like a scalded cat while Sebastian looked on helplessly.

"Ma'am, you can hold him, just bring him over here." The x-ray tech instructed, indicating a small stool with the x-ray machine in front of me.

As they brought the metal vest over to me, they started asking routine questions.

"Is there any chance you could be pregnant?" The tech asked.

Pfft. Yeah right. Sebastian and I had been using birth control ever since we'd first had s.e.x. Well, most of the time, but my period hadn't indicated anything yet. Nor did I feel like I was pregnant. "No."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

When I hesitated, they persisted in that line of questioning. "What type of birth control are you on? Are you s.e.xually active?"

My mouth opened and closed like a guppy. "Well, condoms. And yes. Why does this matter?" I wondered.

"If you do happen to be pregnant, this could harm the fetus. It's against hospital regulations to perform this x-ray with someone that could potentially be pregnant. They always make us ask." The tech explained.

"Just let me have him. I'll do it. I can't be pregnant." He teased, but his expression was still dazed.

I pa.s.sed the weeping Johnny over to Sebastian, and backed out of the room, coming to a stop at the edge of the wall and sliding down to my knees.

"What the h.e.l.l?" I muttered.

However, the more I sat and thought about it, the more I started realizing a few things.

One, I hadn't had a period this month.

Although it was unusual for them to be off, I'd attributed the change in period to the accident that had held me from work for nearly three weeks.

But now, I had to wonder...could I be pregnant?

Would I be happy if I were pregnant?

I was happy now.

Ever since I had taken Sebastian's property patch, things had changed.

Sebastian was more open about everything that was going on.

I found myself flooded with information about the club, and not all of it was even from Sebastian. Trance spoke to me. Loki spoke to me. Porter spoke to me. Porter's wife, Minnie, spoke to me. h.e.l.l, even Silas spoke to me.

I'd attended multiple barbeques. We'd go out to lunch and have one of the guys join us. We'd be relaxing at Sebastian's home, or mine, and one of the Wardens would show up to hang.

Motorcycles became a constant and permanent fixture on my driveway.

Everyone loved my house because I had a pool that was perfect for playing volleyball in, and I had a new large deck that held a lot of people.

With the addition of Sebastian's new grill, it was a fun, safe place to enjoy a little break.

However, there were things I didn't like.

For instance, I was on the receiving end of all kinds of petty women's tongue-lashings.

The club wh.o.r.es didn't like me; mainly it was because I didn't allow any of them in my house, and because I just plain didn't like them.

I wasn't looking down on them for what they did; I looked down on them for how they acted. It was like high school all over again. All the women were rude, snappy, and hateful. They were also mean to Kettle's new girlfriend the one time he had persuaded her to come to a barbeque at the clubhouse.

And she'd never been back, which made me dislike the wh.o.r.es even more.

There were only so many times I could handle the glares and petty comments before I snapped, and if their antics kept up, my control would be non-existent. Sebastian was mine, and they just needed to get that through their hair sprayed skulls.

Another thing I disliked was how Sebastian would just...disappear. His father would call him, and he'd jump. Every single time. It didn't happen often, but when it did, Sebastian would be out the door and on the road in the next instant, expecting me to be there when he got back.

The door to X-ray opened, emitting a very exasperated looking Sebastian carrying a very angry Johnny. "I want my Monster!"

The smile that overtook my face made the scowl on Sebastian's face disappear.

"They look at the x-rays yet?" I asked as I took Johnny from his arms.

Sebastian relinquished him readily, looking a little frazzled around the edges.

I'd heard Johnny screaming the entire time they were in there, but it must've been a lot worse inside for Sebastian to look so roughed up.

"Not yet. They're making sure they have a clear one. He was moving a lot." Sebastian shook his head.

The doctor entered their room a few minutes after they were settled with the X-ray film and a grimace. He walked straight to the light that they hung the films up on and turned it on before placing the film over it.

With only one glance, I knew it was broken.

I couldn't help but cringe as I saw the very obvious separation in the bone that was supposed to be together.

"As you can see, it's broken. This is the ulna here that you're seeing. We're going to put a cast on, and you'll have a follow up with your pediatrician in 48 hours. Once that's done, they'll let you know what they want to do from there. We're just going to go ahead and do the waterproof one, since he's only three. It takes a bit longer, but I think it'll be worth it. We'll have to sedate him though. Which means we'll have to get an IV started." He said, grimacing.

I figured out that trying to give a child an IV was much like giving a cat a bath. When they didn't want to be there, it became extremely hard to do without getting your eyes gouged out.

Then the authoritative father slipped into place, and Sebastian leaned in and looked at Johnny calmly.

"You will sit still and have this done. Stop the screaming." He ordered.

With me on his lower body, Sebastian held the still straining Johnny down effortlessly.

Where before I'd been struggling to hold just his arm in place, Sebastian held one hand planted firmly over Johnny's chest, and the other holding the arm that was getting the IV still, and stared in Johnny's eyes while the needle slid in.

My heart broke at the sound of pain from Johnny, but continued to hold him until they got the IV in place, and then the medicine started to do its job.

"Wow," the nurse said, slightly fl.u.s.tered. "I cannot tell you how many times a day we have to wrap these kids in a sheet, and then have half the hospital staff laying over the top of them to get one IV in. This was a G.o.dsend having you here. Do you need a job?" She teased, eyeing Sebastian with admiration.

Sebastian snorted. "I have too many as it is, honey. I'll always be here for my son though, so you'll never have any problems from him. That I can guarantee."

"What color cast do you think he'll want?" The nurse asked before leaving.

Sebastian looked at me for direction.

"What colors do you have?" I asked.

In the end, we chose a neon orange to match Johnny's shoes that he loved so much.

When we were driving home that night, I could tell that Sebastian had something on his mind, but no matter how much I tried to coax the problem out of him, he wasn't talking.

The incident in the room wasn't spoken of again for quite some time, but as the days, and then weeks went by, I had a niggling feeling that I knew the truth. Yet I was scared to even think about it, and I put it out of my mind. Not actually admitting it was like it wasn't really true...right?

Chapter 19.

Oh, you were about to eat? Sleep? Pee? Let me play you the song of my people.

-Life lesson-tones drop at inopportune times Baylee Beep. Beep. Beep. Deedooodeedoo.

I growled as the tones dropped. I looked down at my hamburger and French fries with a deep-seated sadness. Son of a b.i.t.c.h.

"Medic three, Engine three. Gunshot victim at First National Bank on Broadway. Patient status unknown. Please standby."

"Son of a b.i.t.c.h." I cursed, placing my delicious hamburger in the fridge, hoping it would still be there when I got back.

"Noooo!" Winter yelled from the other room.

She'd just laid down for a nap.

Apparently, her daughter was teething and she didn't get much sleep the night before.

Dillon and Bowe banged through the door that led to the back patio and ran heavily towards the engine. Tai and PD were already suited out and in the truck.