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Riley gives a tired grumble and removes his arm from me as I flop out my arm in search for the phone, answering it without checking who it is. “What?” I growl into the phone, sounding tired and groggy, wishing pain on this person who dared to call me when I am trying to sleep.
“Mia!” My eyes widen, suddenly awake as I sit up, hearing the fear and panic in Ava’s voice.
She sniffles as if she has been crying before saying, “You need to get back here. It’s Hunter.”
We are packedup and in the car in under thirty minutes. I move about in a fog of panic and fear after Ava told me what happened.
She told me how Hunter was found in his car after he had crashed into a tree. I later check my phone to find missed calls from an unknown number. I clench my fist and curse myself for not having my phone with me at dinner. But what good would that have done? I would have known earlier, but it still happened.
She told me that he was found unconscious and is currently in surgery for his injuries, which I didn’t know of.
Riley kept saying kind words, but they were falling on deaf ears as all I thought about was my brother, my only family, and how he was currently in the hospital, and I wasn’t with him. I wasn’t there.
My mind goes on a loop as we drive through the dark streets, checking my phone for any new updates and only able to breath when I see the lights of the hospital as we pull up.
I don’t wait until Riley stops the car before I’m out and racing for the emergency doors, hearing Riley on my heels.
I don’t stop until I reach the desk where a small nurse with a pixie cut sits, her eyes wide as I approach, probably looking like a crazy person as I bark, “Hunter Belfort. He’s my brother, he was brought in earlier tonight.”
The words tumble out in a panicked mess, and I'm not sure if she'll be able to understand me, but her eyes soften with sympathy before checking her computer. I distantly feel Riley’s hand on my shoulder, and I use that to help me feel grounded, to stop me from floating away or crumbling to the floor as I wait for the nurse to give me any sort of answers.
The seconds felt like years until she turns her eyes to me. “It says that he’s still in surgery.”
This doesn’t settle my anxiety, but makes me wonder what is taking them so long, and how bad is it?! “For how long?”
“I’m sorry, darling, but I’m not sure. You can sit and wait, and a doctor will be out to let you know when you can see him.”
I want to yell at her. I know it isn’t her fault and how is she to know that all the family I have is on an operating table, but I still want to yell and scream and kick things.
I have lost my parents and I won’t lose my brother. I know I won’t come back from that.
Still, I force myself to step away from the nurses' desk and retreat, stopping when I hear a familiar voice that I didn’t know I wanted to hear until I heard it.
“Mia!” I turn, Riley dropping his hand from shoulder, as Ava smashes into me, wrapping her arms around me. I hold her like she's a life raft because only she understands the pain I feel right now. Hunter is like her brother as well. We grew up together, so it's fitting to have her here with me.
The warm tears are already rolling down my cheeks as she pulls away, still holding me, and I look into her tear-filled eyes, when she says, “I called Harper and she says she’s getting on the first flight out.”
“They say he’s still in surgery.” My voice cracks as I speak, some panic coming through, and she squeezes me a bit, clearing her throat to control some of her tears.
“He will be fine. They didn’t say much about his injuries, but he will be okay. I promise.”
“You can’t promise that.”
The strength in her gaze wavers a bit, knowing the truth of this, but she opens her mouth to speak as we hear, “Sorry, ma’am, nurse tells me you’re here for Hunter Belfort.”
I spin, feeling Riley and Conner flock to our side as we turn to see a dark-haired man in surgical clothes. “Yes, I’m his sister.”
He nods, accepting this. “Fortunately, his injuries weren’t too severe. He had some head trauma and a broken rib. There was some internal bleeding, but we were able to stop it. With some time and bedrest, he should be fine.”
His smile is tense, but I can’t stop the smile from taking over my face at hearing those words.
He will be fine.
“But,” the doctor says, my nerves automatically on edge at those words, “we ran some tests and it came back that your brother had been intoxicated when he crashed.”
My mind instantly flashes back to that day at Ava’s, when he was drinking and left to walk home. I had known that he was drinking, yet I wasn’t there for him. I wasn’t there to stop this.
“Can I see him?” I ask and the doctor’s gaze drifts just over my shoulder as he says, “He’s resting right now, but you can go back with him. But let us know when he wakes up because I think they want to speak to him.”
