fall. I’m not afraid to cry, but I am afraid if I give in to the emotion, it’ll be like confirming the worst-case scenario with the universe.
“We’re taking her down to CT, Vicki,” calls out someone I assume is a doctor based on the white lab coat, the bed Kay is lying on already in motion toward the doors opposite the ones I stand in front of.
“Thank you, Dr. Holloway. I’ll stay with Mr. Nova until the results are back.”
Just like before, she shifts with me when I attempt to follow. I appreciate her for offering to wait with me—really, I do—but how can she expect me to stay behind when that’s my heart they’re taking away?
Please be okay, baby.
At nurse Vicki’s suggestion, we make a pit stop at the bathroom so I can wash the blood—Kay’s blood—off my hands. As I watch the crimson-tinted water swirl around the drain, my veins burn with the need for vengeance.
The only thing powerful enough to keep me from chasing down Liam Parker right this moment is the necessity of being here for Kay in any way possible.
Psst! Over here. My inner coach chimes in for the first time in a while. We should figure out where they do the testing and go get our girl.
Now that’s a play I can get on board with.
I crumple the rough paper towel in my hands and toss it into the garbage, ready to follow through on my new plan, but I stop short in the doorway to the bathroom at the knowing look nurse Vicki sends my way.
“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