Chapter 120

JAX

I woke up, reaching out instinctively for Isabella, but all I found was an empty space where she should’ve been. My heart skipped a beat, and I was fully awake in an instant. It was way too early for her to be wandering around, wasn’t it? I rubbed my eyes and looked around the room—nothing.

"Isa?" I called out, but the only sound I heard was muffled through the bathroom door.

I pushed myself out of bed and headed over, knocking lightly before opening the door. There she was, standing by the sink, her expression somewhere between confusion and amusement. “Everything okay?” I asked, stepping inside.

She looked up at me, biting her lip in a way that was both adorable and slightly concerning. "I’ve been peeing non-stop," she said, her tone baffled. "Like, I thought it was just another one of those pregnancy things, but I’ve literally been going for minutes."

I raised an eyebrow, still half-asleep and trying to process what she was saying. "Uh... that doesn’t sound right."

As she spoke the words again, I could see the realization dawn on her face. Her eyes widened, and she turned to me. “Oh my God, Jax... I think my water just broke.”

Now, I’ve faced some pretty intense situations—pack politics, business deals, even the occasional fight. But this? This was something else entirely. My heart rate skyrocketed, and I stared at her like a deer caught in headlights.

"Your water broke?" I repeated dumbly, feeling the panic set in. "What do we do? Oh crap, what do we do?!"

Isabella blinked at me, like she couldn’t believe I was the one panicking. "Jax," she said slowly, "We talked about this in the pregnancy class, remember?"

I vaguely remembered. Something about contractions, water breaking, timing them—yeah, yeah, I was there! I just... wasn’t expecting it to happen right now.

"Right!" I snapped my fingers, pretending I had it all under control. "Hospital. We go to the hospital."

She nodded, looking much calmer than I felt. “Yeah. But... I’m going to take a quick shower first.”

"Wait, what?" I gaped at her. "Shower? Now? Are you serious?! Your water just broke!"

Isabella gave me this look, like I was being completely unreasonable. "I’m not giving birth in the next five minutes, Jax. I need to freshen up first."

I threw my hands up, completely baffled. "But—but you just... your water... the baby’s...!”

She shook her head, smirking a little as she slipped into the shower. “Jax, relax. It’s not like the baby’s going to pop out right this second.”

I couldn’t even respond. My brain was short-circuiting. I stood there like an idiot until I realized—oh right, we had to actually get ready for this. "Okay, fine, shower, sure," I muttered to myself. "I’ll... wake the guys."

Leaving Isabella to her way-too-casual shower, I stumbled out of the bathroom and down the hall to wake Knox and Asher. “Hey, guys!” I shouted, banging on the door. “Wake up! Isa’s water broke!”

Asher, always the calm one, sat up immediately. "Already?" He was alert in seconds.

Knox, on the other hand, groaned and pulled the blanket over his head. “Tell her to hold it in for a few minutes.”

"Hold it in?" I shouted. "What do you think this is, a bathroom emergency? Her water broke!"

That got Knox moving. He bolted upright, blinking wildly. "Oh shit! Okay, okay, I’m up. Let’s go!"

Asher was already pulling on his clothes when he noticed me still standing in the middle of the room, pacing like a madman. "Jax, you might want to get dressed too."

Right. Dressed. I ran back to the bedroom, grabbed the first clothes I could find, and pulled them on. When I got back to the hallway, Knox was halfway down the stairs, still muttering to himself. “Bags. We need the hospital bags.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Knox was always on top of things. At least one of us had it together.

Five minutes later, we were all packed and ready—except Knox. He came running down the stairs, completely empty-handed.

"Where’s the bag?" I asked, trying not to lose my temper.

Knox blinked, looking around like he expected it to appear out of thin air. "Uh... I thought you grabbed it."

I stared at him, dumbfounded. “Are you serious right now?!”

"One job, Knox!" Asher said, rolling his eyes as he headed back upstairs to grab the damn bags.

Meanwhile, Isabella emerged from the bathroom, looking calm and collected, as if she hadn’t just given us the scare of our lives. “Ready to go?” she asked sweetly.

I was about to say yes when I realized Asher was still upstairs. “Almost,” I said through gritted teeth. “Just... give us a second.”

Asher reappeared with the hospital bag in hand, and we were finally out the door and headed for the hospital.

As we sped through the streets, I couldn’t help but look over at Isabella. She was smiling, her hand resting on her belly, and even though I was a nervous wreck, seeing her so calm, so ready, made me feel like we could handle anything. Isn't she supposed to be having contractions and agony?

Everything I'd learned in childbirth preparation classes vanished as soon as I heard her speak.