Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Chuckling at my foolishness, I lifted the phone to my ear. “ ‘Bout time you called, mister. You’d laugh your ass off if you knew the state I’d worked myself into worrying about your sexy ass. I think a punishment might be in order.”
Silence greeted me for about ten seconds before an anguished, “Ryder?” met my ear.
“Kenny?” My spine straightened as I gripped the phone so tight, I risked cracking the screen. “W-why are you calling me from Alex’s phone?”
“He… um… he’s…”
I’d never heard him sound like this, vulnerable, insecure, scared, almost childlike. It plunged an icy bolt of terror through my heart. Dread like I’d never experienced filled my insides to the brim, practically pouring out of my ears. “Just fucking say it, Kenny,” I whispered, still squeezing the phone until my knuckles cramped.
“He’s hurt, Ryder. It… it’s bad. He’s hurt bad.”
My entire world crashed around me as visions of Alex lying dead in the street after a hit-and-run bombarded my brain. “N-no…” My legs shook until my knees knocked. I tried to ask for more information. I tried to ask what hurt bad meant, but my throat ceased working. Kenny seemed to hear my unspoken question anyway.
“He was attacked,” Kenny rasped.
“Oh God.” My knees gave out, and I hit the floor as the elevator doors opened to the lobby.
“It’s so bad, Ryder.” His voice rose to a high-pitched, hysterical panting rush of words I could barely decipher. “There was blood, and he was so bruised. Oh fuck.” It sounded as though he doubled over, breathing like someone knocked the wind out of him with a fist to the gut. “I-I thought he was dead at first.”
I moaned a low, pitiful sound. Noises around me vaguely registered. Someone gasped and called for help because a man collapsed in the elevator.
Me? Were they talking about me? I couldn’t give it any brain power. Every ounce of my strength focused on understanding Kenny’s rambling and learning what happened to the man I loved.
“They took him away in an ambulance, and they wouldn’t let me come. I think, um, I think they’re going to, um, Mass Gen. My Uber will be here in two minutes.”
Massachusetts General Hospital. The closest trauma center. Fuck, did he require that high level of care? Who could have done this to him?
“Ryder?” The voice seemed to come from miles away. I blinked and looked up into the concerned face of John, my favorite doorman. Any other time, I’d have praised him for finally using my first name, but tonight I couldn’t think beyond Alex. “Are you all right? Do you need help?”
I blinked. Mass Gen. I needed to get there five minutes ago. “Kenny, I’m on my way. I’ll meet you there,” I said into the phone as I shot to my feet.
“I’m okay, John. Thank you,” I said as I sprinted from the elevator with my heart in my throat, leaving the man holding the sliding doors open with a baffled expression. I’d have plenty of time to explain my bizarre behavior later, once I had Alex back in my arms.
“Ryder?” Kenny whispered, still in my ear. I’d been so focused on running out to my car, I didn’t realize I hadn’t hung up. I’d also gotten off at the lobby instead of the garage.
“Shit,” I whispered as I ran for the stairs. “Yeah, Ken?”
I slammed through the stairwell door and sprinted down a flight of stairs toward the underground garage.
“It’s my fault.”
“It’s not, Ken. You couldn’t have known—”
“It is.” He choked out a harsh sob. “They were looking for me. It was a message for me.”
The words stopped me dead in my tracks, halfway down the stairs. “What the fuck? Kenny, what the fuck do you mean?” I screamed into the stairwell, and the echo nearly gave me a heart attack.
“I owe someone money. A lot of money. They came for me, but Alex was here.”
“Jesus Christ.” I doubled over as pain speared through my abdomen. Did someone attack Alex because Kenny owed them money? Did that kind of thing actually happen in real life? My stomach lurched, and I slapped a hand over my lips as I swallowed a mouthful of molten bile. “I-I can’t do this now. I can’t talk to you. I have to get to Alex.”
I hung up before Kenny could say anything else and practically threw myself down the final set of stairs.
The entire fifteen-minute drive to the hospital was a blur of lights, unsafe road maneuvering, and sheer panic. I’d never driven faster or with such reckless abandon in my life, yet somehow, I managed to arrive at the hospital in one piece—physically at least.
Emotionally, I’d shattered into a million panicked fragments. Not knowing what I was about to walk into had my heart stuttering in my chest and my stomach threatening to upend all over my steering wheel.