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“Let’s go inside,” I said, keeping my tone as soothing as I could. “You okay to do this?”
“Yeah,” he breathed, lost in his head as I was so often. I knew the signs. “I’ve been gone for so long. I haven’t been here.”
I cupped his cheek again, making him look at me just as he often did to me. “You’re here now.”
A sharp nod marked the change in him, and I watched him morph from worried son to the strong man I knew he was. I knew he still worried—that hadn’t left his eyes and his hand still clamped tight on mine. Still, it was as if he’d put on his game face, becoming the unflappable racer who could drive at breakneck speeds, inches from other cars, without flinching.
“Let’s go find our family,” he said.
Our family. I had a mom and dad and a million aunts, uncles and cousins, but yeah… Axel was my family, and I was his. And Benz, Molly, Van and Aston were just as much mine as they were his, too. Just as I’d support him, I’d be whatever the Pendletons needed right now, too—a support, a gofer to grab food and coffee, a stalwart presence. I wasn’t going anywhere.
Van met us at the automatic front doors, not saying a word as he jerked his head then turned to lead us to the family waiting room in the trauma center. We followed in silence. If he’d learned anything in the moments since he and Axel had disconnected, he would have said something. There were no answers to demand from him.
In the waiting room, Aston sat beside Carrington, holding his hand. Van immediately started pacing. Standing only feet inside the doors, Axel pulled me into his arms, holding me hugged to his chest while he surveyed the room. I wasn’t sure he actually took in anything.
I couldn’t say how much time passed before we heard a door slide open to the side of the room. All heads turned to Benz when he came out, looking haggard.
“She’s heading into surgery,” he said to the room in general, but his family were the only ones there. “Her leg’s broke. So is the arm on the same side, and that shoulder was dislocated. They’re doing scans to make sure everything else is—”
His voice broke, and I pulled away from Axel to go to his father. I put my arm around him and led him to a chair.
“We’re here for you,” I assured him. “All of us are here.”
He nodded, squeezing my forearm. “They’re making sure everything is okay…inside.” His face buried in his hand. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. “I have to call the insurance company. Make sure they’ll pay…for things.”
That was random, but I knew his mind probably grappled with anything to keep him balanced.
Axel came over and crouched beside us. “It’ll be okay, Dad.”
Benz cupped the back of Axel’s head. “You don’t know how hard it’s been.”
“I know. But Mom’s better.”
Benz shook his head. “Yeah, thank God. We’ve got loans up to our eyeballs. For the house and the business. All the medical bills…” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Doesn’t matter. As long as your mom’s okay. She has to be okay.”
“What? What bills?” Axel demanded.
Momentarily pulled from his worry, Benz looked at him as if he were crazy. “For her treatments and surgeries, son. Insurance didn’t cover a lot of it.”
Axel shocked gasp rang through the room and stabbed through me, his sharp anguish was so palpable as we realized Darius’ treachery at the same time. He fell back on his butt, with a cry. “No!” His fist hit the carpet. “No! That lying bastard!”
Benz shook his head. “What—”
Axel didn’t say anything, his hand clenched in his hair, his head slowly twisting back and forth while he breathed hard. I thought he might combust right then and there. Horror filled me, my anger almost as deep as his.
My eyes wide, I looked back to Benz. “Darius… Darius made him choose between me and paying Molly’s bills,” I breathed, the words a harsh rasp as they forced past the knot in my throat. “Axel left us all behind, so that the medical bills would all be paid.”
Ax surged to his feet and stormed from the waiting room. I stood, ready to chase him.
“The bills were all supposed to be paid,” I continued, my fingers pressing to my forehead. Oh my God. This was insane…but horrible. So…horrible. “Axel left here, left me, in order that everything would be paid. All this time, he thought you were taken care of.”
“That fucking bastard,” Benz gritted out, jumping to his feet to follow Axel. I knew he meant his brother and not his son who’d just found out how deeply he’d been betrayed.
Sinking into a chair beside where he’d been, I pressed a hand over my mouth. I couldn’t believe this. How could one man rip apart so many lives? Be so…selfishly evil. My other hand splay over my belly. He’d taken more than he even knew.
Twenty-Four
Bristol
