Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
After every argument I’d had with Jess about riding in cars with teenagers because I was terrified they’d get in an accident, and now they’d been injured just as badly in our living room.
I was numb with fear.
Jesse would be okay eventually. Their wounds would heal.
We were still waiting to talk to Dylan’s doctor. He was out of surgery but still in recovery, and no one had come to speak with Curtis yet.
He was alive. The charming boy who’d taken my kids under his wing and teased them and hung with them and had designated himself as their protector was alive. I held on to that with both hands as we waited.
Turning my head, I looked over to where Curtis held Finn in his lap. One of the nurses had brought in a pair of sweatpants and grippy socks for him. I wasn’t sure where she’d gotten them, but I was grateful that he was no longer in his underwear. On the floor next to them, Draco sat with his knees bent, his head tipped back against the wall.
He’d stuck close to Curtis’s side since they’d arrived.
The rest of the club was around, but beyond Curtis’s parents, Kara, and Charlie, none of them had come into Jesse’s room. They congregated in the waiting room down the hall in case they were needed, but gave us space otherwise.
“Curt, the doctor came to the waiting room,” Charlie said, poking her head in the door.
“Shit,” Curtis said, rising to his feet. He looked around frantically with Finn still in his arms.
“I’ll take him,” Charlie said quickly as I got up. “Hey, Finn. You wanna sit with me for a couple minutes?”
I stood awkwardly, my hand still gripping Jesse’s as Curtis disappeared.
“Well?” Draco said, gesturing at me. “What are you waiting for?”
“I—”
“Go,” Charlie advised me. “I’ll stay here until you get back.”
With one last look at Jess, I hurried after Curtis with Draco on my heels. When we got to the waiting room, Curtis was already talking to a tall man in scrubs with his back to us. I slowed, watching Curt’s face for any clue about what the doctor was saying. Eventually, I reached them and stepped up next to Curt. Immediately, his arm slid around me.
“You’re sayin’ he’s gonna be okay?” Curtis asked.
“He’s in the ICU right now,” the doctor replied. “But we were able to repair all of his wounds. Now, we just need to watch and wait because infection is still a factor.”
“But you’re givin’ him somethin’ for that, right?”
“Yes, we are. Your son was very lucky. He got help quickly, and they brought him to me, and I’m very good. It’s just going to take time now. Try to be patient.”
Curtis nodded, even though I knew he wanted to ask more questions.
“Thanks, doc,” Cam said from a few feet behind us.
“My pleasure,” the doctor replied. “Giving good news is the best part of this job. Doesn’t happen often enough.”
He accepted Curtis’s silent handshake, looking down at me with a nod.
“You know where the ICU is?”
“We’ll find it,” I replied quietly.
“I understand you have another child in the hospital?” the doctor asked.
“Down the hall,” I confirmed.
“Let the nurses know,” he said kindly. “So when your son gets out of the ICU, they’ll make sure to move him to this wing if they can. Easier for you guys that way.”
“Thank you,” Draco said when the words were caught in my throat.
With another nod, the doctor turned and walked away.
“I’m gonna head up to see Dyl,” Curtis said. “You coming?”
I glanced down the hallway we’d come from, my stomach twisting.
“Go with Curt,” Farrah said from across the room, rising from her seat. “I’ll go in with the kids.”
“Charlie’s in there,” Draco told her.
“Good, I’ll have company,” she replied. She rubbed my back briskly as she passed me.
“Come get me if they wake up?” I called after her.
“Absolutely,” she replied.
“Come on,” Curtis’s mom said, urging us toward the elevators. “The ICU is on this floor. I asked when we first got here, just in case.”
“He seemed confident,” Draco said as the small group of us moved through the hospital.
“Very,” Trix replied. “Dyl’s going to be fine.”
“He said that we were lucky,” Curtis said, his hand gripping mine like a vice. “Because the ambulance got there so fast. Do we know who called?”
Cam shook his head. “I can ask Dad to look into it,” he said. “Makes no sense, since all the neighbors said they didn’t see anything.”
“You think maybe the guys who did it?” Kara asked.
“No fuckin’ way,” Curtis replied instantly. “If they were willin’ to do that kind of damage, they weren’t callin’ it in afterward.”
Trix murmured something to her husband.
“We’ll get ’em,” he replied quietly. “This is our focus now.”
The ICU waiting room only had a couple of people in it. It was kind of shocking considering the crowd we’d left behind. I wondered vaguely while Curtis talked to a nurse if they’d all move now that they knew where Dylan was. He was theirs. He’d been theirs since the day he was born, even if he’d lived in a different state.