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“She needed me.” I faced him. “No big.”
It wasn’t one, and I’d do that awkward shit again a million times over.
Wells nodded, his blond hair flopping. “I’m sorry I gave you a hard time about her before. You’re right. She has been helping you. And you’re obviously helping her. I saw that tonight.”
I didn’t realize I had too until he’d said something, and I smiled a little.
Would you look at that?
Maybe the pair of us weren’t so toxic for each other. I spun the empty bottle in my hand. “Thank you for saying that and apologizing.”
“I think you and I both know it was long overdue,” he stated, sitting back, and though I knew that, I didn’t rub it in his face. That would be an asshole move, and I was sure it was hard for him to admit he’d fucked up. It would be for me. We were all some prideful bastards. His shoulders lifted. “I think maybe I felt a little powerless when it came to you.”
“Powerless?”
He leaned forward. “Things have been fucked for you lately. They’ve been fucked for a while, and I’ve been watching you spiral not knowing what to do or how to help you. I’ve been giving you space but… Yeah, I felt powerless. I feel like I’m always able to help, but with everything with your grandma, I wasn’t. I couldn’t help, but Aspen was helping you… Yeah, I felt powerless.”
I thought about that, shaking my head. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He put his hand on my arm. “And honestly, I don’t care anymore who fucking helps you as long as it’s helping. It seems like she is.”
He was right about that, so fucking right, and that shit had snuck up on me. Suddenly, I just wasn’t doing stupid shit. I was having fun again and just having a good time. I was doing that in really simple ways too. Just walking with a girl every morning to class. Lunches and hanging out.
“I’m sure everything with her will be okay,” Wells continued. “And I’m sorry again. I owe her an apology too, which I’ll give when I see her. I was an asshole.”
“Yeah, you were.”
Wells shoved me before calling me an asshole. Maybe I didn’t need to give him a hard time, but that was what brothers did.
The rest of my brothers eventually came. My sister and the other girls were with them, and how fucking hilarious we all looked in our old-school costume shit. My friends and I certainly got a lot of attention, and Bru, Sloane and Wolf’s brother, was there too. Once again, I was the only one who’d chosen to wear fucking tights to the event. Bru had worn long boots with his outfit, and he had the same questions everyone had once they got here. He wanted to know how Aspen was doing, and I still didn’t have any answers to give.
“What exactly happened?” Sloane, Dorian’s girlfriend, asked, and my sister was a worried mess beside her. That didn’t surprise me. If I was an empath, my sister was an emotional lightning rod. She couldn’t help but feel for others when they were in pain. She had my mom’s kind heart like that. Sloane frowned. “You said she was in pain?”
I hadn’t expanded on my text to the group about Aspen’s condition. Just that I’d been taking her to the hospital because she complained of physical pain. I rubbed my neck. “Yeah. I found her in the bathroom, and she was cowering. I don’t really know from what. I didn’t want to push her. She was…”
“Hey. I’m sure we’ll get some answers.” Dorian was holding Sloane’s hand, but he used the other to squeeze my shoulder. He tended to take the leadership role in our group, so I wasn’t surprised to see him stepping up here.
It was kind of crazy how they were all here for me, but not really. I would have been doing the same, and even though my relationship with Aspen was complicated (something both my friends and I knew from previous occurrences between her and me), they didn’t question me being here for her.
And that was family.
My friends and I eventually would have set this place on fire if someone hadn’t literally come moments after my family did. I would have lit this place up, tired of waiting and being dismissed, but gratefully, a doctor came. She had a clipboard and a warm smile considering the hour.
“Thatcher Reed?” she stated to the room filled with people wearing Regency costumes. If that’d thrown her, she failed to express it. I was sure she’d seen some shit in the ER.
“That’s me.” I left my friends, and more than one of them started to come too. The first was Wells. The guy was right at my side, but I held him off.
I got this, my eyes said to him, and he nodded. If the doctor called me, it needed to just be me. I didn’t want any more complications because none of us were family.
Wells tapped my arm before drawing back with the rest of our friends. I was so glad to have his support again, and I had this handled.
“How’s she doing?” I asked the doctor. She’d obviously come for me, and I assumed to give me an update.
The doctor waved me off to the side with her clipboard. The name Dr. Kearns was embroidered with blue thread on her white jacket.
“I’m Dr. Kearns, the attending physician tonight,” she stated, and though my friends peered on from the waiting room, I kept the majority of my focus on Dr. Kearns. “I’m told you’d like an update, and as Aspen gave me permission to speak to you about her condition, I’d like to inform you about what’s going on. She told me to come out and see you as soon as we had her stable.”
She had? And she was…
