“You alpha men are all the same,” she says on a laugh, dropping her crossed arms and pushing off of the wall she was leaning against to step to my side.
“What do you mean?” I feign ignorance, which earns me another laugh. I don’t know what I expected from the emergency room staff, but she was not it.
“Aw, you’re trying to play dumb…cute.” Her hand is cool when she pats me on the back, reminding me I’m still shirtless. She increases the pressure of her touch, steering us through the emergency department and out toward the waiting room. “Now, before you go trying to pull out those dimples the world knows you have”—she circles a finger in front of my face while I think, Yeah, thanks for that, Instagram—“just know those don’t work on me either. And…don’t try to say that wasn’t your next move. Like I said”—she nods to herself—“I know alpha men.”
For the first time since Liam Parker crashed the AK victory party, I feel my own lips tug upward.
The automatic doors whoosh open, and it feels like every person waiting turns to look. To be fair, the majority of them are people I know.
There’s a cluster of my teammates huddled together on one side of the room, the camaraderie of the team proving its strength as they lend their support while a set of officers take their statements.
Across the room, Kev leans against the wall, his arms folded over his broad chest, standing guard as Trav and Grayson do their best to wear a groove in the floor in front of where CK looks to be trying—and failing—to comfort Em and Quinn—Are they upset or pissed off? Bailey, who I’m surprised to see, doesn’t seem as concerned as she scrolls through something on her phone.
Em’s the first to spot me, jumping up and almost knocking over the coffees Noah and Alex are passing out in her rush to get to me.
The floodgates open and nurse Vicki and I are swarmed, questions flying and tripping over one another in the quest for information.
If I had expected nurse Vicki to be bothered, I would have been disappointed. Nope, instead I swear she’s amused by the spectacle despite it taking forever to quiet everyone enough to relay the little information I have.
More than a dozen variations of How’s Kay? come at me. If only I knew how to answer them.
#Chapter5
Chaos.
Pure and utter chaos.
You know the phrase too many cooks in the kitchen? Yeah, well the same concept could be applied to loved ones in the waiting room. Nothing, I mean nothing is getting accomplished. Everyone talks and shouts over the other, and I can’t get a word in edgewise. Kay will be done with her tests before I can tell these crazies that’s what’s happening.
“Oh my god, Mase.” Bette’s breaths are coming out in pants as if she was running as she pushes her way to my side.
Arms wrap around my middle, and I return her embrace and exchange a dude nod with E over her head. How are they here already? So much has happened, but a quick glance at the clock on the opposite wall confirms it’s only been about an hour since Grayson called them.
“How’s Kay?” E asks at the same time I ask, “How did you get here so fast?”
I honestly have no idea why this information is important to me. Maybe I just need to distract myself with anything that isn’t my ever-growing worry for Kay; who knows.
“We took a helicopter.” E slashes a hand through the air. “That doesn’t matter. How’s my sister? Where is she?”
“They took her for tests.” This time I give in and let my hands curl into fists, my knuckles straining with the effort. “They’re concerned she might have a bleed in her brain because she was still unconscious.”
“Ohmygod.” Bette’s hands fly up to cover her mouth, tears springing to her eyes. E reaches for her and tucks her against his side while she tries to hold it together.
“The doctors should be up shortly with the results. The tests themselves don’t take too long, and they would have moved Kayla to the front of the line,” nurse Vicki informs us all.
The group lets out a breath as a whole. Not much longer for an update.
Whether it will be good or bad is the real question.
A throat clearing brings our attention around to the two officers I saw speaking with my teammates. They introduce themselves, and I realize they aren’t the same ones I remember seeing at the AK house. To be honest, it was such chaos they could have been there and I might not have seen them.
They start to explain what they’ve been doing since arriving on the scene earlier this evening, but before they can start to get our statements, Dr. Holloway returns. When his dark eyes land on our group, I recognize him immediately.
“Family of Kayla Dennings?”
E and I step forward simultaneously.
“Is my sister okay?” E’s voice wavers on the question.
“Her scans came back clear, no bleed in the brain, but she will feel the lingering effects of her concussion for a few days.”
My entire body sags in relief, Bette fitting herself under my arm the only thing keeping me from collapsing to the floor completely.
“The gash on her head took five stitches to close, but it’s close to her hairline, which should minimize any appearance of a scar.”
Stitches—she needed fucking stitches because of that asshat.
“Due to the contusions Kayla suffered from her fall and the one on her face where the punch impacted, we also took a number of x-rays.”
Nails dig into my forearm from the bracing hold Bette takes on me, but I don’t flinch. My rage surges with each reminder of all the ways Kay was hurt and serves as a balm to everything else.
“Kayla isn’t in any serious danger. However…” The somberness in the doctor’s tone has my back straightening in attention. “She will require surgery to properly reset the fracture in her cheekbone.”
It was bad enough knowing that motherfucker put hands on a woman—my woman—but to literally break a part of her…homicidal is too tame a word to describe the feelings ripping through my system.
“When will her surgery be?” Bette asks.
“Within the hour,” Dr. Holloway confirms.
“Will you be doing it?”
“No.” The doctor shakes his head. “One of our plastic surgeons, Dr. Nikols, will be performing the surgery.” He lifts his arm to check his watch. “She should be down shortly to discuss the procedure and recovery with you all and Kayla.”
That gets my attention. Does that mean…
“Is she awake?” It’s impossible to keep the hope from bleeding into my words.
“Yes.” He nods. “She regained consciousness during her tests. She’s a little groggy from the pain medicine we administered and the concussion, but she’s been asking for you.”
What the fuck? He waits until now to tell me this? What the hell are we standing around here for? I knew I should have chased after them earlier.
A familiar chuckle reaches my ears, and I can tell nurse Vicki has once again read my mind. “Slow your roll, hotshot.” Her slim fingers circle my wrist, halting my movements. “You can’t all go back there.”
Dr. Holloway takes a moment to look over the crowd standing before him, and from the widening of his eyes, you can tell he’s shocked by the sheer number of people. “Yes, that is correct. I can only allow four of you in to see her for now.”