Read Club Scars for Free Online Page B

friend was filled with doubt despite Ginny’s encouragement. Stress lined her face, sweat dotting her forehead. She took Ginny’s offered hand in one of hers and held it tight.
    The next hour was the longest of Crux’s life. How in the hell did men put their wives through this shit more than once? By the time the doctor urged Kat to push he was on the verge of promising God never to touch her again if he’d just end the pain. He held her, feeling the shudder and buck of her body. Her nails dug crescents into his skin. Her screams ripped at his heart and he ground his teeth, praying and cursing God in the same breath.
    Their son’s first cry was the most welcome sound ever. He felt moisture trickle down his cheek as the doctor laid the squalling cherub on Kat’s stomach. Red, his face screwed up in a pissed off wail, the little one’s dark hair stuck up in wet spikes. He was beautiful. Kat let go of his hands to run hers over their son in a flutter of worry. Crux held his breath as she counted fingers and toes. He was perfect.
    Kat looked over her shoulder at him and he dropped a quick kiss on her mouth.
    “Oh my God, he’s so gorgeous,” she breathed.
    He had to clear his throat before he could push the words out.
    “He’s a keeper, baby.”
     
    Kat still held one hand in her sleep; his other was dangling in the bassinet. Crux smiled in the dark as Cam’s tiny fingers wrapped around his forefinger. This dad stuff was going to take some getting used to. For the time being he was happy enough just to watch the joy on his wife’s face every time she looked at their child. The rest would come. He yawned. Despite calling off work to spend the day at the hospital, he’d never been so exhausted. It had been a roller coaster day.
    Letting his head loll over the back of the chair, he closed his eyes. They were dry and gritty, like he’d spent the day in a weld booth. His tears had surprised him. It had been a long time since he’d given in to that weakness. His chest tightened. After all these years, he could still feel the sting of the fist in his hair hauling him out from behind the couch. He had kicked and screamed like a wild animal as the bastard lifted him clear of the floor. The air had whooshed from his lungs as he’d crashed through the glass coffee table. His mother’s initial concern had been for the furniture. The John had laughed. Their conversation was blurred in his memory now, but he remembered the handsome man leaning over him with a sneer, “ I’ll give the little fucker something to cry about.” The light had glinted off the jagged piece of glass as it sliced across his face. Shock and time had dulled the pain, but for some reason he could still feel the rush of blood on his skin and the humiliating warmth when he’d wet his pajama bottoms.
    Crux swallowed the knot in his throat. The words had stuck with him over the years and were an instant trigger. It wasn’t something someone ever wanted to say to his kid. He’d spent seven years in prison for using a crowbar to beat the shit out of a stranger who thought that sort of drivel was the way to get through to a child. It had been just been his luck that the fucker was an off duty police officer just like Mommy’s John. His lip curled in disgust, crooked bastards. Sighing, he pulled his hand from the bassinet to swipe over his face and rub at tired eyes. Finally, he draped his arm back over the baby bed and slouched in the chair. He needed to get some sleep.
     
    Crux’s eyes snapped open a second before Kat’s scream shattered the night. Surging to his feet with a roar, he pushed the bassinet backwards, away from the menacing form that loomed over it. He hit the man square in the chest with his shoulder sending them both crashing to the floor. Light from the hall fell across the intruder’s face and rage roared through Crux with recognition. One fist closed around that impeccable Windsor knot at his father-in-law’s throat as he reared