Grand Love by JC Hawke

Prologue

Mase

The smellof stale smoke wakes me.

My eyes peel open, and I wince at the lights that temporarily blind me. I close them again and swallow. My mouth is scratchy and dry, and as I push myself up into a seated position, my body gets pelted by a wave of pain. I feel battered, and that smell, it’s disgusting.

Looking around the room, I notice I’m not at home. I’m in a hotel room, and not one I’m familiar with. It’s small and dated, with curtains that hang half off the runners. The window is thrown open and I get another hit of the cigarette smoke that wafts in with the breeze.

How the fuck did I get here? I was at the club with Charlie… “Fuck!”

My palms connect with the carpeted floor, and I pull myself up and to my feet, setting the room spinning.

Patting my pockets, I find my phone and see that I have a ton of missed calls. Hundreds of missed calls. “What the fuck?”

Scarlet is at the top, and I call her first, hoping she can come to get me. I move to the door while checking I have my wallet and keys in my pockets.

“Mason! What the fuck?” she whisper-shouts down the phone.

“Scar, I’m on my way home. Is Nina pissed? I don’t know what happened.”

“Are you kidding me?”

I jog down the steps and towards the exit, waiting until I’m clear of the building before telling her, “No, I just woke up in some dingy hotel. The boys must have left me.”

“Elliot said—Fuck, Mason, we’re at the hospital. It’s Nina.”

I pause on the sidewalk, my heart in my throat as my world comes to a screeching halt. “What?”

“She’s at Rosemadden, I can’t tell you why, but you need to get here. Now.”

“She’s at the hospital?” I frown, my head pounding.

“Yes! Where are you, I will send Vinny?”

* * *

We pushthrough the double doors to the ward Vinny led me to and I’m instantly jolted back three steps. Elliot’s hand flattens on my shoulder and forces me into the corridor.

“The fuck, Montgomery!” I roar.

His chest heaves as he stands, hands on his hips, shaking his head. “You stupid fucking” —his palms connect with my chest sending me to the floor when I lose my footing— “prick!”

I tilt my head to the side as I look up at him, my eyes wild. “What the hell are you doing?”

I know he wouldn’t get this wound up over nothing, and that only makes my stomach twist tighter. Something’s wrong.

“You’ve fucked it,” he spits.

“What?” I pull myself up, looking down the corridor at the few people who are staring. “Where’s Nina?”

He grabs two handfuls of my shirt in his fists and crowds me. My annoyance at him snaps, and I shrug him off. “Stop goddamn doing that!”

“You’re not seeing her,” he tells me, adamant, making me frown. “Go home.”

“Don’t be so ridiculous.” I go to step past him, and he blocks me. “Elliot, get out of the way.”

He shakes his head, his eyes full of something heated that burns a lifetime of understanding in seconds.

“Ell, get out of my way. Now,” I bite out, my body bristling with anger. I just need to get to her.

“Fuck you.”

I rear my fist back and swipe it through his jaw, knocking him back and through the double doors.

“Jesus Christ!” someone gasps.

“Mason!” Scarlet shouts. She rushes to me while Charlie stalks past me and over to Elliot. I look down at him as he rises to his feet, stretching out his neck.

I stand, body trembling as I fight to keep the scraps of my control.

“Somebody tell me what the fuck is going on?” I snap, panic taking over.

No one says a word, they just look between one another.

“Where is she?!” I demand, my voice untamed.

“I don’t think you should go in right now, Mason,” Megan tells me, and I eye the door at her back.

“What on earth is going on?” a woman asks, stepping out of a small office. “You were warned about the noise.”

“Where is she?” I ask, barely recognising my own voice. “My girlfriend. Nina Anderson, she’s here. Where?”

She turns to face me, looking at the side of my forehead before narrowing her eyes. “She isn’t taking visitors right now.”

Why are they doing this? What is wrong with her? “Please!” I beg.

She shakes her head. “You all need to go home now, you’ve been here all night and—”

I barge past Megan, and she grabs my arm. “Mase!”

“Get off!” I push her from me and push open the door, falling through and into the room. Nina is sat up in bed, the sheets clutched tight in her hands.

I breathe a sigh of relief, my eyes burning as I look at her. She’s okay. “Nina.”

“You cannot be in here; she needs to rest,” the nurse calls from my back.

I frown and bring my eyes back to Nina but she dips her head, hiding from me.

It cuts me in two.

“He can stay,” she says after a beat.

The nurse moves toward her, lifting her arm and quickly taking her blood pressure.

I step forward—

“You!” My head snaps around to Lucy, she stalks towards me until she is stood before me, her hand connects with my face before I can even see it coming.

“What the fuck!” I roar, grasping my face as I stare incredulously at her.

“Out! All of you. How dare you.” The nurse points at the door in pure frustration.

“You will never! Never! Hurt her again,” Lucy grinds out, wiping her tears and stepping in front of Nina.

“What the hell is going on?” I ask, trying to look past her at Nina.

“Can you give us a minute?” Nina says. “I promise I will keep calm.”

I struggle to hear her, and my brows drop low as I catch her sad face.

The nurse gives me a death stare. “You have a minute. If I can hear you from out there, you are out. The lot of you. Never in my forty-four years have I seen anything like it!” She leaves the room and Lucy follows her, not looking at me as she passes.

I rush to Nina’s side. “What happened? Scar wouldn’t tell me, she said she couldn’t.” I grasp her hand and she rips it away. “Baby, I’m sorry. I woke up in a hotel. I cut my head. I think I fell. I don’t know what happened last night.”

Her lip trembles, then she pulls something from under her blanket, placing it between us on the bed. She turns her head away from me.

I lift the photo, not believing my eyes. A baby, outlined in the small image. “You’re pregnant?” I ask in disbelief before a smile splits my face. “I… fuck. I’m the dad? We are pregnant?”

“No, I am pregnant. And of course, it’s yours.”

“Oh my god.” I laugh, staring at the image in wonder. She’s pregnant. “And you’re okay?” I go to take her hand again, but she pulls it away. It has my heart hammering in my chest. Something is wrong. “The baby?”

“Healthy.”

Leaning over, she pulls a bag from the end of the bed, reaching in and pulling out an envelope. She thrusts it into my chest. “Here. Congratulations.”

I pull out the contents and find four images. Bile rises in my throat as I take in the woman, legs spread and dancing on my lap, her lips mere inches from mine. “What? I don’t understand. This isn’t me.”

“Don’t!” she screams, making my entire body flinch and my body run hot. “Don’t you fucking dare lie to me!”

“I’m not. Nina, this isn’t me.” I shake the images in my hand.

What the fuck!

“Get out,” she says, barely audible.

Panic floors me, threatening to take me all the way down. “No!”

“Get out! Get out of my life and stay the hell away from me. I hate you! I hate you so much it hurts because you have me now. You have me trapped for life, and I can’t leave. I hate you, Mason Lowell, with everything inside me.”

My throat burns with her words. She doesn’t mean that. “Don’t say that. Let me fix this. This isn’t real.”

“Yes, it fucking is, Mason! It’s real. She is real. That is you.”

I shake my head, confused. What happened last night? “I don’t understand. Give me a chance to figure this out, and I can explain.”

“Explain what? How you fucked a prostitute?” My chest cracks. “Because if the picture wasn’t clear enough, the fact you never came home last night is explanation enough. Done! I am done!” Tears line her face and I feel my own start to fall. “A stripper? You might as well have fucked my mother.”

“No.” I shake my head vehemently. “I didn’t sleep with anyone. I woke alone.” I try to hold her, but she shoves me off. “Stop! Please, I don’t want to upset you. Nina. You can’t leave me again.”

She lifts her eyes to look at me, confusion and hurt washing out her beautiful face. “Nina, we are having a baby. Let me figure this out,” I beg.

“No.” She holds my eyes, defiant. Her tears flow and all I want to do is reach out and rid them. “Believe me when I tell you, this is it. I can’t do this anymore.” She tears two scan photos free and slaps them to my chest again. “Get out.”

No. “I didn’t do this. I didn’t do anything.”

“Leave!” she sobs, and it has me snapping. She can’t do this. Why is she doing this?

“Walk away from me now, Nina, without giving me a chance to explain, and I won’t ever forgive you for it. I won’t keep begging on my knees to keep you.”

My nostrils flare as I fight to keep my chin from trembling.

“You think this is me leaving you? You ended this the minute her lips touched yours. Now, leave.” I watch as she swallows, her brows dipping low. “Please, just go.”

“That’s it. We’re done?” I wipe at my face, feeling utterly hopeless.

“Yes.”

And angry. So fucking angry.

My entire body shakes as my world crumbles around me.

She’s hurting. I know how much this will hurt her.

I attentively lean in, keeping my focus on her tear-lined cheek which is forced away from me. I kiss her forehead. “You were everything I wanted and more. I promise you were enough.”

You were enough, Pix.

I leave the room and every single set of eyes in the corridor fall on me. Silence. Not one word, as I walk past them and through the double doors.

“Lowell!” Elliot eventually calls.

I snigger and face him. He stands in the doorway, chewing at his bottom lip as he contemplates what to say.

I turn and keep on walking.