Chapter 29: When Everything Changes

THEO

Nadia was spread out on the bed, face down. I stood there admiring her body before I rolled on a condom and lifted her hips.

I thrust into her without warning, causing her to gasp. She felt so fucking good. She always did.

I could never get enough of her. I craved her and wanted to be with her as much as I could.

My thrusts were fast and hard, and Nadia moaned with each one.

“You’re so tight and you feel amazing, Nadia,” I said.

“I need more,” she moaned back.

I placed my hand on her back to push her further into the mattress, while my other hand pulled her hips up.

The angle let me go deeper, hitting the spot that was going to send her over the edge for the second time.

It didn’t take long for her to climax. Her orgasm caused her to clench around me, sending me over the edge with her.

Nadia relaxed her body as I braced myself over her. We took a moment to catch our breath before I pulled out of her.

When I went to throw away the condom, I noticed it was covered in my sperm, and my heart skipped a beat.

The condom broke.

“Nadia?”

“Hmm?”

She was already under the covers with her eyes closed.

“The condom broke.”

I didn’t care, but I was afraid that Nadia would freak out.

Last time she was calm about it, but recently it had been hard to read her.

“Seriously?”

“The bottom of it broke.”

She let out a sigh.

“It’ll be fine. If we get pregnant, we’ll deal with it then.”

“Are you sure?”

Nadia sat up and let the blanket fall from her chest, giving an unobstructed view of her breast, and I couldn’t help but stare.

“Yes. I trust you, Theo. I don’t think you’re going to run away from the child. You’ve proved that.”

I felt my body relax. I thought this was going to be another argument.

I hated that I was afraid to say something to her, but I thought this was a start.

***

“Theo. Answer your phone. It’s been ringing on and off for the past few minutes,” Nadia said.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“One in the morning,” she replied.

I looked at my phone and saw a missed call from Winston, Etta, and Beau.

I sat up quickly to call Beau back, since he was the last one to call me.

“It’s about fucking time you answered your phone. I was about to drive to your hotel. Sterling was in a car accident,” Beau said.

“Is he okay?”

“We don’t know. He’s in surgery right now.”

“Text me which hospital and I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“You can drop your girlfriend’s kid off at Etta’s. Olivia is watching the kids.”

I didn’t feel like correcting Beau or pointing out his attitude toward Nadia. It must have been bad if he was short on patience.

“Everything okay?” Nadia asked.

“Sterling was in a car accident and he’s in surgery.”

***

We made it to the hospital in twenty minutes, and Sterling was still in surgery.

“What’s taking so long?” I asked.

“We don’t know. They won’t tell us anything.” I could tell just by the tone of voice that Winston was nervous.

“He’ll be okay,” Nadia whispered, and she rubbed my back.

“Does anyone know how he got into the accident?”

“A drunk driver hit him. The driver died at the scene.”

Wren didn’t even look at me.

He was little when Mom and Dad died. They were hit by a drunk driver, and Dad died at the scene, while Mom fought for a few days in the hospital.

“Family for Hart?” a doctor yelled from the door, and we all stood up at once.

The doctor walked over to us and asked who was the next of kin.

“We all are. We are his siblings,” I said.

“Okay. He made it through surgery, but his injuries are pretty extensive. He suffered a spinal cord injury, and we won’t know if he’s paralyzed until he wakes up. There may be a chance he’ll never walk again. Other than that, he has a broken collarbone and arm and a broken cheekbone. He had some internal bleeding that we could stop, but he may be in the hospital for a while,” the doctor said.

“When can we see him?”

“I suggest coming back tomorrow. In a few hours, we would like to run some more tests when he wakes up,” the doctor replied.

“Theo and Nadia can come back to our place. We have the room, and I don’t want you staying in a hotel,” Etta added.

I looked at Nadia, and she nodded to confirm that she was fine with it.

This was going to be hard for our family. It was something we thought we would never have to go through again.

We were all sitting at Etta’s, trying to form a schedule for visiting Sterling and figuring out how we would take care of him.

“Since Theo lives further away, I think he should have the most time to visit Sterling in the hospital,” Etta said.

“I think it needs to be me or Winston,” Beau added. “We are more likely to take care of him when he gets home, and we need to be there to talk to the doctors.”

“Can I speak to you privately for a minute?” Nadia asked.

I took her to the backyard, since everyone else was inside talking over one another.

“I think you need to stay here. Nathan and I can catch a flight back. You’re needed here,” she said.

“I don’t want to leave you and Nathan.”

“I know, but your family needs you. We can FaceTime and talk on the phone every day.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Your siblings need you. Sterling needs you.”

“I’m sorry you had to meet most of them like this.”

“Don’t apologize. I’m not taking their attitude personally. Nathan and I will stay until the end of the week to help you, and then we’ll fly back home. I’ll see you in a couple of weeks when things settle down with your brother.”

“You’re amazing, and thank you for being supportive.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I’ll always support you. I love you.”

I was glad Nadia was good with me staying. If she had wanted me to come back with her, I didn’t know if I would have.