here. I was safe.
“You saved me,” I whispered.
Another figure hovered over me. A dark presence that somehow comforted me as the pain overwhelmed my senses. I could barely stay awake. “Don’t you dare leave me, Little Whisper,” was the last thing I heard before the entire world went black.
Kai
Seeing Breeze black and blue and fighting for her life in a hospital bed ignited a fire in me hotter than the flames that almost took her life. I hated my brother. I knew that I hadn’t fully processed my feelings over leaving him to burn, but right now I didn’t care. All I cared about was Breeze.
Chase stood on one side of the bed, and I stood on the other, both of us holding her hands. Breeze’s face was so swollen and covered in bandages that I wouldn’t have recognized her if I didn’t know that it was her in the bed. She looked so small and fragile, just a whisper of a girl.
Breeze’s mom was working, and she stopped by the room every five minutes to check on her. I overheard one of the nurses ask if she wanted to take the day off, but Mrs. Shirley declined. She said that she was going to be here at the hospital whether she was working or not, and at least this way, she could check on Breeze and keep herself busy at the same time. I completely understood.
Breeze started groaning and fluttering the eye that wasn’t swollen shut. I called out for her mom, not wanting to leave her side. I had been such a fucking ass over the last few weeks, and I would be damned if I wasn’t here for her when she woke up. Mrs. Shirley came running into the room and stood next to Chase. She reached out and stroked a small patch of skin on Breeze’s face that wasn’t purple.
“Mom,” she croaked out.
“I’m here, sweetie. We’re all here,” her mom said through tears. “Do you want some water?”
Breeze, my precious Little Whisper, nodded. Just that small movement filled with pain made me want to bring my fucking brother back to life just so I could murder him. I’d never get the image of her bloodied and blue out of my mind. I’d never forget the way Chase held his hand to the wound on her leg, trying to stop the bleeding. I’d never forget the way she passed out on the asphalt.
Mrs. Shirley held up a cup to Breeze’s mouth and let her take a sip. She winced as the room temperature water eased down her throat. “Where am I?”
“The hospital. You’ve been asleep for a while. We’re so lucky Chase carried you out of there in time. You didn’t get burned and have minimal smoke damage to your throat and lungs. Chase and Kai got you out before the fire had a chance to spread.” Mrs. Shirley’s voice broke when she mentioned the fire. “You do have a cracked rib, a stab wound on your thigh, a broken nose and concussion.”
Mrs. Shirley listed the injuries like a skilled nurse, but every item on that gruesome list made me want to punch the wall in. I didn’t even care that Chase fucking Jones got to look like the hero. I was just thankful that she was out of that damn surf shop and that Lex was no longer a problem—as fucked up as that sounded. If I had to choose between family and Breeze, I’d always choose her.
“Lex?” Breeze asked, the lilt in her tone full of questions and fear.
“He’s dead,” I answered. There was no remorse in my tone. “Got trapped in the fire. I couldn’t get him out.”
That was a lie. I probably could have done it. When Celeste told Chase that she saw Breeze leaving the competition with a guy in all black with a scar on his face, Chase found me immediately, and I called everyone on Lex’s client list, threatening them with the cops until someone could give me a clue as to where he was hiding. It wasn’t until one mentioned seeing him driving toward the Surf Shack that we got a decent lead. Chase and I kicked down the front door and stormed inside as flames filled the shop. And when I saw Lex, I acted purely on instinct, pushing over a display of heavy paddle boards to stop him. One of them knocked him out cold. I should have grabbed him. I should have saved his life. But