Chapter Twenty-Nine
Please don’t die. Please don’t die.
The mantra runs through my mind over and over as I watch the life drain from his face in the rearview mirror. He’s murmuring words that I can’t make out, and I split my concentration between the road in front of me and what I’m looking back at.
“Quinn, tell me what’s happening.” He doesn’t. He stays quiet as the fear of god runs through me. Suddenly I’m awake. I can focus, and that’s all I need to do. Nate needs me to drive this car and get him to the doctor who will save his life.
The time ticks down on the ETA to the hospital, and with every passing moment, I pray he makes it. I pull up outside what looks like an office block rather than a hospital. “Are we in the right place? Quinn?”
“We’re fine,” he says calmly as he gets out. “I need to help Nate.”
As I round the car, there’s a man in a white doctor’s coat approaching us, pushing a gurney alongside a nurse. He ignores me and goes straight to Quinn as another gurney comes racing out, too.
“Gunshot wound. Lodged in his thigh. I suspect it’s hit the artery.” Quinn gives a clear and concise run down as if it’s not his brother he’s talking about.
“Rita, we need him prepped for surgery. Type and crossmatch, FFP and page Doctor Neals.”
The shirt I’ve been wearing since the warehouse blows open and I pull it around my body as I watch the doctor take Nate away. I follow quickly after, struggling to keep up with Quinn. The pain my body’s been struggling through creeps back to life, lighting up my nerves, but the sound of another car drawing in pulls my attention. I turn and watch as Andreas is hauled out of it, one of Nate’s team from the warehouse pushing him towards the doctors. Confliction is brief, and I head back for Nate without another thought. They wheel him directly to a waiting elevator, but it closes on me as I walk in the door.
“Um, I’m with them. I need to get to wherever they’re going.” The woman behind the desk of the reception table looks up at me, and I see the expression on her face change as she takes me in.
“Are you family?” she asks, raising her brow and tilting her face to give the impression she’s talking down to me.
“Yes. Which floor?” I won’t have this woman stand between Nate and me.
“Twelfth floor. You can take the elevator over there.” She points behind her, and I manage a smile.
When I exit, the corridor is clean, neat and nothing like any hospital I’ve ever been in. Glass walls, private rooms and plush seating.
“Excuse me. I’m here with the man who was just brought up.”
“Yes, Ma’am. If you’d like to take a seat. His brother will be out in a moment. Can I get anyone to see to you?”
“No, thank you.” I head to the area she’s indicated and take a seat. There’s a sofa in the corner of what I make out as the family room. I take off my boots and tuck my legs under me, pulling the shirt around myself so I’m still decent, and wait.
Quinn comes into the space a few moments later. “Is he alright? What’s happening?” I splutter out, legs dropping back to the floor as I try to stand. He holds a hand up at me, a scowl on his face.
“He’s in surgery. We’ll find out soon.” His eyes don’t make it to mine, and I’m struck by how different he is to the man I first met in the casino. He had a charm about him then. Now, I can see the raw emotion brimming under the surface like he’s trying to wrestle something into submission. Pain lingers in his eyes.
It’s a pain I’m familiar with. Seeing your brother hurt can be terrifying.
He starts to pace. The room isn’t long, so he walks in and out, past the reception desk, turns and comes back. He has something in his hand, something clinking quietly as it turns. It’s distracting in a way, a hypnotic movement keeping pace with the slow movement of time.
My eyes try to close, dropping down as I fight the exhaustion my body is wrestling with. But I can’t risk missing news of Nate. Hell, I don’t even know what happened to Andreas.
“Quinn?”
He stops his pacing and looks at me, impatience at my interruption clear on his face.
“Is my brother alive?” I blurt. Until now I’ve been so focused on Nate but seeing the look in Quinn’s eyes pulls my attention to my blood family. He huffs and snarls at me, irritated at my questions.
“He’s here. In recovery. Through and through to the shoulder.”
“Thank you.” The relief isn’t as clear as it should be. Now I’m torn between wanting to find Andreas and staying for Nate, although why I care a damn for Andreas now I don’t know. He watched them attack me, rape me. What family does that? My body throbs with pain and my head pounds as I contemplate the last few days. Nothing will be the same again, not for any of us.
So many questions drift through my foggy brain. I’m so tired it’s hard to make sense of them all. If only I could sleep.
The woman from the desk stands in front of me. “Is he alright? Did anything happen?” I might not have been asleep, but I certainly checked out for a while.
