“Let me take care of that,” I say.
“I need to make a few phone calls, too.” Stone pulls his cell out of his pocket. “We’re staying until the next visitation window. I want Blake to know all of us are focused on him. But then we have to go put that sick fuck down. Eliminate the threat so we can focus on our boy.”
The team nods in agreement. I leave Alex with Eliot and Cade as I search for anything rentable close to the hospital. Stone wanders away in the opposite direction.
Before I find a place, the nurse announces that we can do a ten-minute visit. Two of us only. Stone and I head for the door.
“I called Pierce, the bouncer from the club,” Stone says as we follow the nurse. “I want our guys protected, and he can do the running around. Make sure they eat. Drive them back and forth to the house. All the shit we can’t do until we finish with Brambilla.”
“Good call.” I’m impressed Stone thought of that. “You had his number?”
“Put a call into the club. He happened to answer. Saved me some begging.”
I couldn’t imagine Stone begging for anything. But I guess when he has to ask for anything instead of command it, it feels like begging to him. If we weren’t walking back to see Blake, I might even laugh at the thought.
We step behind the curtain that functions as a door, and I freeze. I was prepared for the mess of tubes and wires, and the stands of beeping electronic boxes. The mess on the bed that is what’s left of my friend kicks me hard in the gut. Blake’s eyes are black, his swollen face is scraped up, and a tube in his mouth pumps air into his lungs. Thankfully, there doesn’t seem to be a head injury, maybe because the airbags did their job and kept him alive. He doesn’t even have a gown, just a blanket pulled up to his waist, covering the casts on both his legs. There’s a gauze patch taped on the side of his abdomen, a clean spot among the darkening bruises. Probably where they cut him open to remove his spleen. The coffee I drank down a few hours earlier rises with bile in my throat. Stone makes a grunting sound. I’m not the only one impacted by our friend’s appearance.
I force myself to close the distance to the bed and carefully place my hand on Blake’s bare shoulder. “We’re here for you, Blake. All of us. Just hang in there, buddy. The docs will fix you up, and the guys will be with you. You’re not alone.” Please, God. Don’t take him. We need him here. I swallow back the tears that are building.
Stone brushes his fingers through Blake’s hair. “You will get better. There is nothing you can’t endure to live. Your boys need you. So, you focus on healing. Hear me?”
If Blake could be healed by sheer willpower, he’d already be better because a tremendous amount of energy is flowing from all the guys in his direction. His family. Blake doesn’t have anyone else but them. And we will never be the same if he doesn’t make it.
The nurse pulls back the curtain and looks at me pointedly. For a short guy, he has a very strong personality. I don’t even think about arguing. Stone pauses as we pass. “Take care of him.”
“Anything and everything I can,” the guy answers. His quietly confident promise somehow helps me walk out when it’s the last thing I want to do.
Stone nods, and we march back to the waiting room. I leave part of my soul by that bed. The part Blake will take with him if he doesn’t make it.
My phone rings, and Alex hands it to me. It’s the owner of the house calling to confirm we can rent it for a month. It’s not cheap, but I don’t care. I can cover the first month and we can figure out what to do next in a few weeks. “Got you a three-bedroom,” I tell Eliot and Cade.
“We don’t need that much space,” Cade argues.
“You do,” Stone responds for me. “Because Pierce Jaramillo is going to be living with you, and when Reed finishes his bodyguard job, you know he’s coming out here. Might come sooner.”
“Pierce from the club?” Eliot asks.
“Yes.”
“Why?” Cade’s face wrinkles with confusion.
“I asked him to. I’m paying him to watch over you two.”
“We can’t afford that.” Eliot sounds so beat down.
“I’m paying,” Stone repeats. “And I’m covering your incomes until you can book jobs again. Right now, Blake is your biggest and most important job.” His tone brooks no argument.
“And Reed will take care of any business or personal issues that have to be handled back home,” I add.
“He said as much when I called him after seeing Blake in the ICU,” Eliot says.
“Your only focus is Blake.” Stone crosses his arms and widens his stance. He uses that same pose with bratty subs or fuckup Doms. There is no arguing.
I glance at my watch. “I need to get on the road.”
“I’m going with Tyler. Sooner we put this son of a bitch down, the better,” Stone says.
“Me, too,” Alex says as he steps closer to me. “First, I want to see if I can get that nurse to give me five minutes with Blake.”
