Page 67 of The Crowing of Hell

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Rooster stared at the woman in the bed and felt nothing but pure hatred. Sadie lay as white as a ghostwith breathing equipment shoved down her throat. On his ride here, she’d seized again. It had taken ten minutes to bring Sadie back, but she was only alive with the help of the machines around her. During that ten minutes, Doctor Wainscott had made the decision to perform an emergency c-section. That had probably played a significant role in saving his baby.

“A boy, Sadie. You risked my son for drugs. Fuckin’ drugs. You can rot in hell, bitch. The doctors are pretty sure you’re brain-dead. Damn, I hope the fuck you are. Right now, they’re fighting to save the life of my kid. If he dies, I’ll follow you to hell and make you pay,” Rooster said.

Rooster glanced at Sadie one more time, left and headed to the NICU, where his baby fought for his life. His boots echoed on the floor as he stomped towards the NICU.

“Brother,” a voice called, and he looked up, surprised to see Shotgun approaching him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Kendara phoned me. She was going to work her way through the list of single brothers, but I agreed to come. How’s the baby?”

“Alive but critical. He’s twenty-three weeks dead on. Even another twenty-four hours would have helped strengthen his lungs.”

“He’ll fight Rooster. He’s a fighter like his dad,” Shotgun said.

“Hope so, Bro. You wanna come along?” Rooster asked.

Rooster needed his brother, wanted someone withhim. Rooster was unsure how to handle this. One of his kids was in a life-threatening situation, and Rooster couldn’t do anything to save him.

“Picked a name?” Shotgun inquired, falling into step with him.

“Yeah. Link Kenan Wilson.”

“Strong name,” Shotgun said in approval. They approached the NICU and were buzzed in when they showed their identification.

“How is he?” Rooster asked softly, aware of the sleeping babies or worried parents close.

“I’m Sarah and his dedicated nurse. Baby Wilson is holding his own. Link, yes?” Rooster nodded, and Sarah continued. “It’s going to be a shock when you see him, but everything attached to Link is for his own good. Link weighs 1.5 pounds and is thirteen inches long, which is impressive for his age. If he’d gone full term, Link would have been a big baby,” she said softly.

“He’s fighting?” Rooster muttered.

“Yes. Please prepare yourself. I’m going to ask you both to put some protective scrubs on. Then, Dad, I’ll take you to him, and we’ll have some skin-on-skin time,” Sarah said.

“Skin-on-skin?” Rooster asked as he and Shotgun followed.

“It’s good for them. We highly encourage it,” Sarah replied, showing them into a room. “Please take your boots and outer clothing off and then dress in the scrubs here. Put your other clothes in a bag, and you can store them in the lockers.” Sarah placed twounopened packets in front of them. “I’ll wait outside.” Sarah sent Shotgun a curious look.

“This is my brother. My woman called him, so I wasn’t alone. She’s at home with our three boys,” Rooster said. He caught Sarah’s glance and laughed bitterly. “It’s a long and complicated story. But Link belongs to me and my woman. Not that bitch that nearly killed him.”

Sarah offered a look of approval before leaving. He and Shogun undressed and dressed quickly before Rooster realised there was a problem with his prosthetic. It wouldn’t fit in the slippers that were provided.

“Okay, grab the slipper. There’s some string that pulls them tight. We’ll have to tie it to the foot,” Rooster said finally.

Shotgun crouched and did as Rooster suggested as Rooster shoved his clothes into the bag. Finally, he and Shotgun left the room.

“Oh, I didn’t realise, sorry,” Sarah said, spotting his leg.

“It’s okay, we figured it out,” Rooster said, shoving his belongings in the locker and, after locking it, taking the key.

Rooster thought he’d prepared himself for the first sight of Link. He was wrong. Rooster’s heart literally ripped in two when he saw how tiny his son was.

“Shit, I can’t touch him, I’ll break him,” Rooster muttered as he poked a finger into the special incubator.

Link’s eyes were closed, and his skin wastranslucent. But his little arms and legs were pumping furiously. What shocked Rooster was all the wires hooked up to him.

“We’re giving Link some meds to strengthen his lungs, and he’s on a drip. Link’s done a poo, and it was fine, but we’re monitoring him closely. Would you like to hold him?” Sarah asked.