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“Last night, Cole came home pretty quiet, and he was grumpy as hell,” she explains, her voice barely above a whisper. “So I asked if something was wrong, but he just shrugged me off and walked away. Later, I put on this little red lingerie set that left not much to the imagination”—she slides her hands down her body suggestively—“but he didn’t even notice!”
Bella snickers softly before catching herself, as if realizing this isn’t an ordinary story.
Alisha continues, “So I confronted my man, threatening to take away his naughty shower time unless he talked to me.”
I look up from the tray full of heart-shaped cookies with pink frosting when she doesn’t continue to find Emma’s and Alisha’s faces tight with worry. My pulse quickens at their expressions, a thick tension weighing heavily in the air.
My throat tightens as I force out the question that I’m almost afraid to hear the answer to. “What’s going on, girls?”
“Brian’s sick,” Alisha blurts out.
My blood turns cold.
“What do you mean by sick?”
The girls exchange a sorrowful look before Emma says, “You should ask Nick and Cole—”
“Where are they?” I croak out, mouth dry.
“In his office,” she whispers in reply.
Needing answers, I pivot around and step into the corridor, and sure enough, muffled voices drift from my brother’s office. Just as I’m about to barge in, I stop cold when I overhear my brother speaking of Brian.
“Until Brian gets released, Darius will be in charge of Six-Pack. How did you sleep, Cole?”
“How do you think? Our best friend is in the fucking hospital after nearly dying?”
I place my hand on the wall, steadying myself as a bone-chilling fear explodes inside of me.Brian. Hospital. Dying?
“As soon as he’s released, we can—” Nick begins, but I don’t let him finish.
With all my strength, I forcibly push open the door. My brother blinks and Cole inhales sharply. They stare at me as I stand on the threshold, steaming.
Cole runs his hand over his face. “Shit.”
I step forward, letting the girls come in behind me.
“Tell her and Bella, Nickolas,” Emma says, walking to her husband.
My brother runs his fingers through his hair and looks away, deepening my suspicion. I clench my fists and narrow my eyes at him.
“What’s wrong with Brian?” I demand.
Cole, who is the most forthright, stands up, towering over us in the room, his expression unreadable yet serious. “He’s in the hospital,” he states bluntly.
Terror rises within me as his words sink in and my hands grip my hips tighter. I urge for more information, my voice trembling slightly. “Why? What happened?”
Nickolas answers quietly, guilt written all over his face. “He collapsed at the gym yesterday. There was something wrong with his heart and they had to rush him to the hospital.” He takes a deep breath, squeezing Emma’s hand so hard it almost hurts to watch. “I had to get his mother... We almost lost him.”
Pain drills through my bones hearing those words and I turn to look at Cole. His watery gaze tells me this incident brought back memories of his father’s death. Cole witnessed his father, who was once a gifted pianist, die on stage of a massive heart attack.
The wave of panic that fills the room is palpable and I force myself to ask Nick the dreaded question.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Nick looks away from me, shame written all over him. “Brian asked me to wait until he’s back home.”
A wave of hurt crashes over me knowing he wanted to keep this hidden, but I try to push it aside and focus on getting answers.
