Chapter 79

Jordan's POV

"Sir, let go!"

I don't even realize my hands are still gripping the gurney until someone pries my fingers loose.

Kaelen's face is ghost white under the hospital lights. His lips move weakly, like he is trying to say something, but they wheel him through double doors before I can hear it.

He is gone just like that.

I stand frozen in the corridor with blood all over my hands. It has dried in the creases of my skin, under my nails, on my forearms, and on the front part of my t-shirt. I stare at it and my stomach twists so violently I think I might throw up.

A nurse appears in front of me, saying things I barely hear. Emergency surgery. Critical. Wait here. The words float past me like they are meant for someone else, until he says, "Please notify his family if you have the contacts."

"Is he going to die?" I hear myself ask.

The nurse's expression softens, which is

somehow worse. "We are doing everything we can."

That means they don't know. Panic rises so fast that I can't breathe. I fumble for Kaelen's phone with trembling fingers. I scroll down the contacts but halfway through, I think again. How would I even start to tell them that their son was shot?

I can't. I reach for mine and call the only number I know. It rings once, twice. Then--

"Jordie? Where are you?"

"Dad..." I breathe through the speaker. "I need your help." My throat closes. "There has been an accident..."

"What happened?"

"It's... Kaelen." I can't make the words come out, but I have to. "He has been shot."

"What?!"

"Please, Dad. Come to the hospital please!"

"Send me the location. I'll be right there."

I lower the phone and feel suddenly hollow. There is nothing left to do but wait. But I can't sit still. If I sit in that waiting room another second I will lose my mind. Then I remember Elise and start moving.

I find her in another wing, curled on a hospital bed, looking smaller than I have ever seen her. Her eyes lift when she sees me. For a second she tries to smile and the fear in her face wrecks me. I sit beside her quietly.

"How is Kaelen?" she whispers. "Is he going to be okay?"

I shake my head helplessly. "They are trying to save him."

She nods once and stares ahead. She looks a less in pain than before. I figure they gave her something. Her hand lies beside her. When I take it, she doesn't pull away. Her fingers are ice cold. "How are you? Is the--"

"We are about to find out," she says even though I don't finish the question.

The doctor walks in. I know something is wrong before she opens her mouth. Doctors always wear a particular face when they are about to break you and I know this one. She looks at Elise first.

"I'm sorry," she says gently. The room goes still. "There was too much trauma from the fall. You lost the baby."

Elise's fingers clamp around mine so hard, I fear she is going to break them. But I let her. I actually need that level of pain to ground me to reality.

"We are going to put you under medication and observation for a short while, just to be sure there are no complications," the doctor advices and Elise nods. "For now, you rest."

She doesn't cry, but her eyes glisten to the brim. Then she goes very still like something inside her has shut down. When the doctor leaves, her mouth trembles and suddenly she folds.

A broken sound tears out of her and she covers her face with her free hand. I move without thinking and hold onto her because she is shaking so hard. I don't know what to say. There is nothing to say, so I just stay and hold her hand.

After a long time she whispers through tears,

"I never even told him. He can't--" she gulps.

I stare at the floor because if I look at her I'll lose it. For one impossible moment I think about the child that almost existed. Kaelen's child. A future erased before any of us could touch it and somehow I grieve too, because, what if he doesn't survive either? Both of them gone?

No, I can't think like that. I tell myself, pulling back from her. I brush damp hair from her forehead. "He is going to be okay," I say, hoping as hell that's true. I squeeze her hand. "You both will be."

"Have you called his parents yet?"

"I..." I stop myself because I don't know what to say.

"It's okay, J. I will let them know."

"Thanks, Elise." She nods. "I'll go check if there are more updates on him."

I step out of Elise's room feeling hollowed out. I need air. But first, Kaelen. I barely make it a few steps before I hear, "Jordie!"

I turn. My father is running towards me, Remi right behind him. Dad reaches me first and grips my shoulders so firmly, his eyes searching my face, my arms, then my chest.

"Are you hurt?"

I shake my head. His hands move anyway, checking me as if he has to make sure for himself. Then he pulls me into him, in a desperate hug. I fold into it before I can stop myself. For one second I'm not holding anything together. I'm just somebody's son.

His voice is rough near my ear. "You scared the life out of me."

I swallow against the burn in my throat. "I'm sorry."

He pulls back enough to look at me again. Blood still stains my shirt and his expression changes. "How bad?"

"I don't know..." I shake my head.

Beside me, Remi steps closer and hugs me too. "You are okay," he says quietly.

I nod but I'm not sure I am. Dad starts to ask what happened, but a sharp voice cuts across the corridor. "Hey!"

We all turn. The driver, of course. He stalks towards us looking irritated. "I've been waiting long enough. Where is my payment?"

My father frowns. "Who is this?"

"The man who drove us here."

The driver jabs a thumb at me. "And the one who was promised compensation."

I nearly forgot about him. My father's face hardens but he reaches into his wallet without hesitation and pulls out everything he has.

"It's all I have on me. That should be good enough." He isn't nice about how he says it and the driver seems to read the room. For once.

He counts it right there then nods. "Fair." He looks at me. "You are lucky I have a conscience. And no one died in my car." With that he turns and disappears.

Remi stares after him. "What kind of people have you been dealing with?"

I don't answer even though it's the same question my father has. I don't know where to begin.

Time passes slowly. No one comes to give us updates. Every time the surgical doors swing open my pulse detonates. Then finally, a surgeon appears. We are all on our feet before he speaks.

"Kaelen Ashford's family?"

I step forward before thinking. "Yes." Then, "Close friends. I brought him."

The surgeon glances between us. "The bullet missed major organs by inches." My knees nearly buckle. "He lost a lot of blood, but we controlled the hemorrhage. Surgery was successful."

He is alive. I breathe. He is alive. I grip the back of a chair because suddenly the world tilts. Dad catches my arm. The surgeon continues, "He is in ICU and still critical, but stable."

I think I may cry. I come close, but I don't. "Can I see him?" I ask immediately.

The surgeon hesitates. "ICU is restricted to immediate relatives."

"He has none here,” I say too fast. "They are hours away and I..." my speech fails.

Dad steps in. "He was with my son when he was shot. Please..." He adds quietly. "He needs to know someone is with him through this."

Something in the doctor's face softens. He exhales. "I might make an exception for a minute, but--"

"Excuse me?" The voice slices through the moment, turning everything ice cold.

I turn and my blood runs cold. Kaelen's father. His mother is beside him, looking pale and fear stricken. They must have flown straight here after Elise called.

He looks from me to my father, then back to me.

And explodes. "Why is he making decisions about my son?" he demands.

"Mr Ashford..." the doctor stiffens. I open my mouth but nothing comes.