“Don’t say that,” Shay begs, knowing just how deeply this would hurt Blake. “We need to have hope. He’s strong, Sky. He’s just like you. He’ll make it out of this.”
The tears continue staining my cheeks just as they have since the second we found him. “You didn’t see him,” I whisper, hating how the words seem to get trapped in my throat. “He was in so much pain. I’ve never seen him like that before. Lucien just threw him down in a ditch and left him there. He was lucky that he had his phone in his pocket because there was no way he would have gotten out of there on his own.”
Shay lets out a broken sigh and I realize that she’s struggling to hold herself together. “One minute you’re getting rammed off a bridge and shot and now this. He has to be stopped,” she promises me. “I swear, Sky, we will not let that…that pathetic excuse of a man get away with this.”
“I don’t know anymore,” I tell her, hating how traitorous the words feel on my tongue. “It seems that every time we try to fight back, it just gets worse. Maybe we just need to cut our losses and leave.”
“Don’t you dare, Skylah Daniels. This is our home, the lives that we’ve built and I will not allow him to run us out. That’s not an option. We will not give up everything we’ve worked for. Do you understand me?”
I nod, not needing to voice my answer. I know she’s right.
“I’m just getting in the car,” she tells me. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Call me if anything happens.”
“I will,” I promise.
The phone goes dead and I sink into my chair beside Slade, realizing that my brother is probably being put under right now.
Slade’s hand falls to my back and rubs gentle circles, desperately trying to soothe me. “How are you feeling?” he murmurs.
I shrug my shoulders, wondering if that’s some kind of trick question. Surely, he knows how I’m feeling. I’m fucking devastated. “I let him down,” I whisper. “He trusted me when I promised that he’d have everything that he ever wanted and because of me, it’s all been taken away. You saw his leg, that’ll never heal well enough to allow him to play. He’ll be lucky if he’s even able to walk in six months let alone jump.”
“You don’t know that,” he tells me. “Yes, it looked bad, but we won’t know the extent of the damage until the doctor can get in there and have a good look. Who knows, maybe most of the damage was done to the muscle.”
“You can’t seriously think that?” I question with a scoff. “You heard the way he screamed when you moved him. You saw the agony on his face, the torment he was going through. That was not the face of a man who had just a bit of muscle pain.”
“I’m just trying to keep your hopes up. Don’t overthink this until we hear from the doctor.”
I shrug away from his hand and he drops it by his side. “Where does this end? He tried killing you and me and now he’s hurt Blake. He left him in a fucking ditch to die, Slade. So please tell me what I’m not supposed to be overthinking because there’s a shitload going through my head right now. Who’s he coming for next? Whose funeral is going to be the first? Mine? Yours? Your sisters’? Shay’s? Where does it fucking end?”
Slade firmly grabs my wrist, seeing that I’m close to losing it. “Calm down.”
I tear my wrist free and turn on him. “Calm down? This is our lives. Look around you, Slade. All this bullshit has been brought down on you and your family because of me. Shay and Blake have to walk on eggshells, terrified that a fucking psycho is going to come breaking through the window one night. This is all on me. I should just go and then you’ll all be safe. I wish I never came here.”
Slade grabs my hand again and with a hard tug, he forces me to my feet and keeps going until we’re breaking out into the cool night and away from listening ears.
I hardly have a chance to take a breath of fresh air before Slade pushes me up against the brick wall of the hospital and pins me there. “Are you fucking done with your tantrum?” he yells. “What the fuck is your problem? Talking shit while your brother is in surgery. Who’s that helping?”
I tear my gaze away and he grabs my chin, forcing it back to him and giving me no other choice but to listen. “You coming here was the best goddamn decision you ever made. Yes, it’s been hard and there’s been a whole lot of bullshit that followed but that shit doesn’t matter.”