He needed to clean up and be ready for when Rain woke. Austen couldn’t let the anger win. He had an amazing man counting on him. Austen turned. A group of mask-less, guilty-looking men stood behind him. Everything inside Austen exploded.
“What in the fuck were you thinking?” He tore off his gown. “He could’ve died.” Austen screamed the words at the top of his lungs while motioning behind him. “Is that what you want? Is that what you were trying to do?”
The obvious leader of the bunch—like a dumbass—spoke up. “He disappeared without letting us know where he was.”
“That’s because he’s a grown fucking man!” Austen couldn’t stop shouting. “Let me tell you.” He took a step forward, ready to fight them all. “The first goddamn thing you’ll do is apologize to all these people you terrorized. I suggest you fucking mean it, or I’ll make you disappear. You might think I’m weak, but I promise you I’m not. No one will ever find your bodies.”
“Damn. I like him.”
Austen ignored the smiling red-haired man who he had seen once at Rain’s place. “Then, when Rain wakes up, not only will you confess what you’ve done, you’ll beg his forgiveness. You better hope he gives it because you’ll never have mine after almost stealing the other half of my heart.”
“Austen.” The weak-sounding voice had Austen spinning toward the table. Rain was awake. He looked groggy and confused. “Why are you yelling?” He swallowed. “My throat hurts.”
Austen motioned for a nurse to get some water. He cradled Rain’s head. “It’s okay, baby. I’ve got some water coming.”
“My chest hurts.”
Fuck. He wasn’t ready to explain that. Plus, he fully expected the dumbasses to do that.
He looked toward a different nurse.
She immediately pushed a needle of pain meds through the IV.
“That’ll stop in a second.” He kissed Rain’s forehead. Tears filled his eyes. His anger showed its true face: terror. When he pulled away, Rain was out again. Austen straightened. He cleared his throat. “Thank you for the amazing job today. I appreciate you more than you know. Please keep me informed of any changes. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Austen headed toward a different door, choosing to go a way that wouldn’t force him to face the objects of his current hatred.
“Let’s talk, Austen.”
Austen held a finger up and kept walking. He couldn’t do this right now. Austen had never been more frightened of himself. One wrong word and he might make good on his threats. Rain would never forgive that.
Rain slowly came awake. A set of crystal blue eyes stared down at him, startling the hell out of him. His heart rate jumped through the roof. A machine blared.
“Oh, good. You’re awake.”
“What’s happened?” Austen’s panicked voice broke through his confusion. He shoved Shadow aside to get to Rain. His gaze swept every machine, studying each one before focusing on Rain. He softened. “Hey, baby. How are you feeling?”
His gaze swept Austen’s bedroom. Machines were parked next to one side of the bed, monitoring Rain’s vitals. His brothers crammed the other side of the room. “Confused.” He dragged the word out, unsure of why there was a crowd. Alarms clanged in his head when his entire family avoided his gaze.
Austen stroked his arm. “It’s okay. A blood clot broke loose after surgery, stopping your heart. I had to do CPR, but you’re good. As for the rest, I’ll let your dumbass brothers explain.”
Rain blinked at not only the hatred in Austen’s voice, but the way his brothers allowed it. “Oh no.” He didn’t know what happened, but he knew it was bad. His family never looked guilty, and Austen never looked enraged. He sat up.
“You should rest.”
Rain shook his head. “I’m fine.” He really was. While he was sore, he felt more rested than he had in ages. Austen rushedaround, fluffing pillows behind his back and using more to elevate his foot.
“I’m your shadow.”
Rain took Shadow’s hand. “I know that, sweetie.” Shadow was his person. It had always been them. They had to be perfectly in sync. That took hours of work and unwavering trust. They had to know each other’s minds like their own.
“You didn’t give us an exact date for your surgery.”
Edge’s claim did nothing to clear his confusion. “Yes, I did. I told you it was immediately after the run ended.”
“Some of us tried to say that,” Shadow said, sounding condescending in a way they only spoke to each other.
After all the fussing over him, even ensuring a cup of ice water and a bottle of pills sat nearby, Austen climbed into bed with him on his other side and cuddled close.
Rain flashed him a smile. “I thought you said you’d be the first face I saw when I woke up.”
