Ryan Renewed: New York Ruthless: Book 5

4 Months Later

I grab the tomatoes from the refrigerator and hand them to Mikey. “I wish I could help chop them for you,” I chuckle, rubbing a hand over my gigantic pregnant belly. “But it’s kinda hard to reach the counter top.”

He slides a hand onto my behind. “You just go sit your beautiful ass down and leave dinner to me. Besides, you need to keep up your strength for later. I mean it is date night.” He arches an eyebrow at me.

Being heavily pregnant has not dampened my sexual appetite one bit, and in fact pregnancy hormones have made me hornier than ever. Group sex isn’t quite as easy or straightforward as it used to be, but I have to give it to my boys, they sure are creative.

“I can’t wait,” I purr.

He squeezes my ass in his large hand before bending his head and kissing me. The sudden and unexpected splash of water at our feet makes both of us pull back and look down at the floor.

Instinctively, I place a hand on my stomach. “Oh, God!”

“Did you just squirt because of how good my kiss was, or…” Mikey asks, his eyes wide.

I punch him playfully on the chest. “My waters broke, dumbass.”

“Fuck!” he breathes.

“Come on, Mikey. This is not a drill. You’ve been in training for this for nine months. What do we do?” I ask, completely forgetting everything in my birthing plan except for the fact that I am not going to hospital. No freaking way!

“Shane!” Mikey hollers and a few seconds later Shane comes running through the door closely followed by Liam and Conor.

“The babies,” I say.

“Her waters just broke,” Mikey adds.

“Call Brooke and get her out here now,” Shane say calmly to Conor as he walks over and takes my hand. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you somewhere comfortable.”

“You think she’ll get here in time?” I ask, starting to panic now. We’re having a last weekend at the lake house before the babies arrive. We should be in the city for this.

“We got plenty of time,” Shane assures me. “You got any contractions yet?”

“I don’t think so,” I say with a shrug. “I’ve been having twinges all day but nothing that I’d call a contraction. But I have no idea what one feels like.”

“Let’s just get you to bed,” he says and we walk out of the kitchen with Liam hovering anxiously behind us while Conor calls my OB-GYN and Mikey cleans the kitchen floor.

“No needles, Shane. Promise me,” I say as we walk through the house.

“No needles.”

“Even if I’m screaming in pain. Do not stick one of those things in me! You got it?”

“I got it,” he assures me.

“I will never let you touch me again if you let anyone stick me with a needle.”

“I won’t,” he smirks at me.

“What’s so funny?” I ask.

“Just thinking about how much fun I could have teasing you while you tried to keep that promise.”

“You’re an arrogant asshole, have I ever told you that?” I grin at him.

“Many, many times.”

“I love you though.” I suck in a breath as a sharp pain slices through my abdomen.

“I know,” he says before he sees me wincing and his brows furrow in concern.

“Fuck, that hurt!” I hiss.

“Then that was a contraction, sweetheart. Come here.” Before I can protest, he scoops me into his arms and carries me to the bedroom before laying me down on the bed.

“Brooke is on her way,” Conor says as he walks into the room.

“Let’s meet some freaking babies,” Mikey shouts excitedly as he walks in straight behind him.

He high fives Liam and the two of them start to chatter like excited toddlers while Conor comes to sit on the bed beside me.

“You know those two are going to fall to pieces the minute they see me in a little pain, right?” I say to Shane and Conor.

“Yup,” Conor nods his agreement.

I’ve been in labor for eight hours now. I’m tired. I’m in pain. I’m hot. And everything anyone does to help cool me down or soothe me just makes me want to rip their head off. Why the hell did I decide on no decent pain relief? Oh, yeah. Needles.

“You’re almost fully dilated, Jessie,” Brooke says, her voice soft and calm. “I’m going to need you to push soon.”

She looks around the room at my four anxious husbands hovering nearby and rolls her eyes.

“Hey, I know this is exciting, but there are kind of too many people right here in the loading dock area, you know what I mean?”

“Sorry, Doc,” Mikey mumbles.

“Two of you is perfect. One each side of Jessie to give her what she needs. Okay?” Brooke offers.

“You two take the first one and we’ll take the second,” Mikey says to Conor and Shane.

“They’re babies not taxi-cabs, Mikey!” I hiss as a contraction squeezes my abdomen, and he slopes away from the bed.

“Okay, firecracker,” Shane says softly as he brushes my damp hair from my forehead and places a cool cloth there.

“Thank you,” I whisper as my contraction subsides. “I’m sorry, Mikey.”

“Don’t apologize,” Brooke admonishes me. “You’re about to give birth to two babies, honey, You scream and curse as much as you want to. Right?”

“Right,” the boys agree.

I swear, pushing a baby’s head out of my vagina is the most intense pain I have ever experienced in my life. I squeeze Shane’s and Conor’s hands so tightly I worry I might break their fingers, but then it would be nothing compared to squeezing out a giant-headed Ryan baby.

“One final push, Jessie,” Brooke says as Shane and Conor tell me how well I’m doing and brush my hair from my sweaty face.

“Argh!” I scream, making a sound I didn’t even know I was capable of and then it happens. Our beautiful baby is out.

“It’s a girl,” Brooke cheers as our daughter takes her first breath and her cries fill the air. Mikey and Liam are there, cutting the cord and helping Brooke clean our baby girl up a little so she can lie on my chest. Conor and Shane stay by my side as tears of pure happiness run down my face.

“Look at her, Momma.” Brooke holds up the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life and I swear my heart is about to burst out of my chest with pure joy.

She hands her to Mikey who places her on my chest and I wrap my hands around her tiny, perfect body as I stare down at her perfect face.

“Ow!” I hiss as another contraction squeezes my uterus in a vise.

“I got her,” Conor says as he lifts our daughter and cradles her in his arms. Shane kisses my forehead before he follows Conor, and Mikey and Liam take their places.

“One more baby and we’re all done,” Brooke says with a reassuring smile.

“Didn’t you say the boy was bigger than the girl?” I swallow as I look at Brooke.

“Uh-huh, but that doesn’t mean the birth will be any different.”

“Unless he has a giant head,” I breathe as the pain starts to subside for a few glorious seconds.

“His head is perfectly proportionate to his body. Now let’s do this,” Brooke says and I swear she was a cheerleader in high school.

I hang onto Mikey and Liam’s hands and scream as another contraction hits.

“Should it really be hurting this much, Doc?” Mikey asks.

“Have you ever tried to push a coconut out of your penis, Michael?” she snaps.

“No.” He winces, his free hand instinctively flying to his crotch.

“Isn’t there anything you can give her to stop the pain?” Liam asks.

“No. It’s too late for pain relief now,” Brooke replies.

“I feel sick,” Mikey mumbles.

“I thought you were the one who was all prepared for this birth?” I pant as he turns a strange shade of gray.

“Fuck!” Liam breathes out as he wipes sweat from his brow.

“Yeah, I think we’re going to need a rotation,” Brooke says, turning to Conor and Shane. “I’m not sure these two are prepared for this next part. Can one of you step back in?”

“Yeah, Shane will take care of you, baby,” Liam says, kissing me softly before he and Mikey step away from the bed.

Shane walks back over to me and takes my hand in his while Conor is holding our daughter.

I cling onto him, my fingers digging into his forearm as another wave of pain sears through my body. I’m so damn tired. Every part of my body is screaming in agony.

“It hurts,” I whimper.

He brushes my sweaty hair back from my damp forehead. “I know, sweetheart,” he says softly. “All the best things do.”

I suck in a breath and close my eyes.

“But you are the toughest person in this room and you got this, Jessie.” He squeezes my hand in his. “I’m gonna be right here every second. Okay?”

“Yeah,” I gasp as another contraction almost floors me.

“It’s time to push again, Jessie,” Brooke says and I nod my understanding because to speak feels like it would take up far too much energy. A few seconds later, Conor is at my side again and I look up to see Mikey holding our daughter as Liam stares at her adoringly.

“I guess I’ll just take the next one,” Conor says with a wink.

“Fuck!” I screech as I give another huge push.