“It’s okay, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay.” Standing, I try to lift him, but he’s too big. I keep trying as he slurs and reaches for me. I manage to get him up under my shoulder, and I drag him to the door, unwilling to leave him. He leans into me, growing heavier as we get inside.
“Help! Please, someone help!” I bellow as I stumble under his weight, and we hit the floor. “Noah?” I cup his cheeks, which are pale, his eyes closed as he sprawls over me. “Noah, my love, open your eyes. Please, hang on, I’m getting help.” Tears slide down my cheeks. “Someone, help me!” I scream louder than I ever have, and I hearrunning footsteps, followed by gasps of horror and screams as someone calls for an ambulance.
Gripping Noah’s face, I bend over him, blocking their view and protecting him. “Help is coming, my love. Just hold on, okay? I’m right here. It’s going to be okay. Just stay with me. You need to tell me off for something. Come on, Noah, just open your eyes and look at me. Don’t . . . Please don’t leave me.” I press my head to his, my tears falling on his face, mixing with his blood. “Please, please, I can’t lose anyone else.”
“Noah! Oh my god!” his mother shouts as hands tug at us, but I don’t budge as more sobs and screams fill the air.
“Please,” I whisper, my entire world narrowing down to him. “Please don’t leave me. I need you.” Pressing my lips to his, I choke on my tears. “I love you. I love you so much.”
He doesn’t respond.
He’s silent and limp in my arms as I hear sirens, just like the night I found out about my parents.
FORTY-NINE
“Baby boy, slow down,” I beg as I scramble up from my bed where I’d been falling asleep until my phone rang. I saw the pictures Mackie sent earlier of him and Noah, and I already printed and framed them. I didn’t expect to hear from him until morning.
“Conan, he’s hurt. It’s bad.” His voice is frantic, and the pure fear and terror in his tone has me yanking on my pants and shoes as I rush to the door, grabbing my keys.
“Baby boy, I need you to take a breath for me. Can you do that?” I ask as I shove out of the door, not even sure if I locked it, but all that matters is getting to him. “Tell me where you are.”
His sobbing voice disappears, replaced by a smoother, articulate one, though there is a slight quake to it. “Hello, Conan. You might not remember me. I’m Noah’s father.”
“I remember,” I mutter, confused as I rush down the stairs, not daring to take the elevator in case it cuts off the call. “What’s going on? Where’s Mackie?”
“He needs you. We are at the hospital.” His voice is tight, and the word “hospital” staggers me. I can’t breathe for a moment asflashbacks of the last time I was in a hospital fill my mind. I said goodbye to my first love, my husband, as I held his hand and watched him go.
“Is he okay?” I ask. “Is he okay?” I shout when he doesn’t answer.
“He’s upset, but he’s right . . . Noah is hurt.” His voice is a rasp, and my terror doesn’t lessen.
Fuck, I want to ask, but it isn’t the time. I just need to get to him. He needs me.
“Okay, I’ll be right there. Are you both somewhere safe?” I ask. I don’t care what his father thinks of us right now. He’s someone Mackie cares about, so I care too, and that means I need to know.
“We are in the waiting room. We’re . . . We’re safe.” I hear crying in the background again, and the sound splits my heart. “My wife . . . she passed out. She’s being treated, but I’ll stay with Mackie.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in five minutes. Can you put him back on?” I request as I sprint through the front door. When I reach my car, his voice connects automatically as I speed from the lot. “Hi, baby boy.” I try to soften my voice as much as I can. “I’m on my way, but I need you to breathe. You’re going to make yourself sick if you keep crying like that.”
“It’s my fault,” he whispers through his tears. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have followed her. She was aiming for me.” He cries harder, and I speed through a red light. I need to get to him. “Conan, what if I lose him?”
“You won’t. Noah is too stubborn for that, okay? He’s in the best place he can be. Right now, he would want to make sure you’re okay, so you need to breathe for me,” I instruct as I take the next turn so fast, my car goes up on two wheels. I manage to get it back under control, and in under five minutes, I’m abandoning it outside the entrance. They can fucking tow it for all I care. Mackie needs me.
Dashing into the waiting room, I search frantically until I find him sitting next to Noah’s father, his hand clutched in his. Hanging up, I drop to my knees in front of him. “Baby boy,” I murmur. His head lifts, tears staining his beautiful face.
“Conan,” he murmurs before he flings himself at me. I grunt fromthe impact, but I wrap my arms around him. He buries his head in my neck as I rub his back and tighten my hold.
“Shh, it’s okay. I’m here now. You’re okay,” I murmur, my heartbeat finally slowing. I’ve only ever felt fear like that once before, and that was the day I lost my husband. I never want to feel it again.
I sit in the chair he vacated, holding him in my arms as I look at Noah’s dad. His eyes are glistening, but it’s clear he’s trying to be strong. It’s his son who is hurt, however, and I know he loves him, so I grab his hand, and his eyes snap to mine. “Can you tell me what happened?” I ask.
He looks at my hand then to Mackie before swallowing. “Amanda, the woman we tried to get him to marry, attacked him.” His eyes land on Mackie. “Well, Mackie. Noah got there in time and took the blow instead. The bottle hit the back of his head and knocked him out. He lost a lot of blood. They said there was a contusion, and he was going for a scan. They seemed worried though, and we haven’t heard anything since. They said the scan would take five minutes and it’s been thirty. I don’t know what’s happening, and my wife . . . she passed out. She just fainted, and I?—”
“Okay, okay.” Squeezing his hand, I kiss Mackie’s head, relieved he’s okay and that Noah was there—a selfish thought, but true. Noah and I would agree we would rather die than have a single hair on Mackie’s head harmed. “Let me go see if there are any updates, okay?”
He nods, looking lost and utterly frozen in shock. I can’t blame him. His kid is in the hospital, as is his wife. Rubbing Mackie’s back, I pull his head up so I can see him. “Baby boy, I need to talk to the doctor, okay? Can you stay here?”
He whines in fear, clutching at me before his eyes close, and he nods. Sliding from my lap, he takes Noah’s dad’s hand again, and when I’m sure he’s okay, I stand and walk to the desk.
