tried to be quiet while leaving the house. I was hoping to avoid any awkwardness with her roommates—especially Emmy—but the living room was empty. It looked like the girls weren’t awake yet, which made sense since it was still early. They’d probably slept in after all that dancing at the bar.
I just hoped they and my brothers hadn’t gotten into too much trouble.
With that thought, the first thing I did when I left was try to check my phone. But the screen was dark. The battery must’ve died. Frowning, I got into my car and hooked the phone up to the charger.
The screen lit up a second later with tons of missed calls and messages.
“What the—” I stopped, reading the last one I’d gotten from Dex.
Dex: Don’t know where you are. But you should be here. Bad shit went down after you left.
Scrolling down I saw five more from Baylor.
Bay: Arch, something happened at the bar. Give me a call as soon as you can.
Bay: Arch, did you get my text?
Bay: Seriously, man, we’re dying over here! Please call me.
Bay: Emmy’s tried to call you at least a dozen times, left messages. Archer, we’re in deep. Why aren’t you picking up?
Bay: WTF, man! Why the hell aren’t you answering your phone? Chase is hurt and in the hospital! You should be here!
Finn had sent me an address, and I already had it plugged into my GPS and was speeding toward the hospital as I listened to Emmy’s messages. Each one was a little more desperate than the last. It was clear she had been crying.
Hearing my phone ring, I picked up immediately.
“Archer,” Emmy said, “are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Are you? How is everyone?”
“We’re fine,” she sniffed. “It’s just Chase. A fight broke out, and he got hurt. No one really knew what to do, and then we couldn’t find you, and—”
“Don’t worry. I’m on my way.”
I pushed my car faster and sent up a prayer, both for my family and for God to get me to the hospital as quickly as possible. It took me under ten minutes. But the whole time I was tense with fear, terrified of what I’d find once I got there.
As I rushed through the hospital doors, my stomach dropped. The team was here and so was Bear. It had to be bad if they were all out here waiting like this.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“Third floor, room 255,” Bear said, and his voice told me more than anything so far. The man’s growl held a note of pity that I’d never heard in it before. “They’d only let family in.”
I nodded then rode the elevator up to the right floor.
A nurse directed me to the correct room, but when I went in, the sight I saw stopped me dead in my tracks. It was like something out of a melodrama. Only this was my family. And that was my brother in that bed, attached to all those machines, with his arm in a cast that seemed too big for his body. His face was paler than usual—except for the bruises all up and down one side. There were a few scratches that looked fresh and raw, too, but as he looked up from the book he’d been reading, he smiled.
“Hey Archer,” he said. “It’s about time you got here.”
“Past time,” Baylor mumbled then stood up, putting a hand on my chest as I tried to walk past him. “I texted. Emmy called. Where the hell were you?”
I shoved my hands into my pockets. “My phone died.”
Baylor just shook his head. “That’s your excuse?”
“It’s the truth,” I grit out. “Now, will you move so I can go check on my brother?”
“Chase needed you last night,” he said. “We all did, and you were nowhere to be found. We needed you, Archer.”
His words hit me like daggers. They sliced right through me until I slumped.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to let anyone down. You’re right. I should’ve been there. I should’ve been.”
Baylor studied me another moment before dropping his arm.
As I walked around him, Dex pulled me down to speak in my ear. “He’s just feeling guilty,” he said lowly.
Join the club, I thought.
“When the fight broke out, Baylor was in the bathroom, making out with some girl. He didn’t even realize anything was wrong until after it was all done.”
I nodded, walked past him, and then Emmy caught me up in a hug.
“It was awful, Archer,” she said, and I squeezed her