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He groaned the entire time, but I didn’t feel one goddamn ounce of pity for the fucker or how my hold on him might hurt his ribs.For Teresa, however?My damned heart broke at the thought of what lay in her and Alex’s future.
While I laid him on the bed and removed his coat and shoes, she retrieved wet towels from the bathroom.
“Who did this to you?”she asked quietly, focusing on cleaning up his face while I stood back, hands on my hips.Scowling.My gut clenched.
He didn’t answer her.
“I don’t know, and he wouldn’t say,” I offered what information I had—absolutely nothing.
I’d walked out on Kellen for this fucking man, who didn’t deserve the tender love his wife showed him or my cursed loyalty for that matter.
She hissed at finding the bumps on his head.“JJ…”
“I checked his eyes,” I assured her.
“Would his pupils look messed up from a concussion if he was high?”
I wasn’t sure, and his mutterings and slipping in and out of consciousness wasn’t promising.
“He needs to go to the hospital,” Teresa said, her voice shaking.
She was right—I should have taken him there immediately regardless of his insistence I not.
“Call Janie.”
“She’s already on her way,” Teresa said, leaving her husband’s side to toss the bloody towels onto their bathroom floor.A sob ripped from her, and I moved quickly to gather her up in my arms.
My throat thickened as Alex lay unmoving, his wife trembling in my arms.
“I—I can’t do this anymore, JJ.He’s…not right.Hasn’t been for weeks.”
“When Janie gets here, she can stay with the boys, and I’ll drive you and Alex to the hospital.We’re going to get him the help he needs, okay?”
Sniffling, she nodded against my chest.
I didn’t have time to text an apology to Kellen for another five hours.
Alex had a small concussion, definite drugs in his system, but he was lucky to be alive, considering the cracked rib that had been centimeters away from puncturing his left lung.
That whole not giving shit about hefting him over my shoulder?It had been a stupid fucking move.I could have seriously injured him.
Teresa slept on a chair beside Alex’s hospital bed while I slouched in one across from her, feeling like absolute shit.Guilt ate at my insides, and not just for my rough treatment of Alex.
Kellen would never forgive me for choosing my friend over him once he found out.He might get it—understand if I was allowed to explain—but from what he’d told me about Xavier, I expected that sense of abandonment had hit him hard as fuck.
Especially after whatever had gone down that had prompted Kellen to call me in the first place.
I’m sorry for leaving like that.I’ll explain as soon as I can, I texted him.
One step at a time.
Shoving my cell back in my pocket, I closed my eyes, telling myself I would help Alex get clean again and see him through to the other side so I could be completely free to pursue something with Kellen.
If I hadn’t fucked up whatever chance he had been willing to give.
Chapter21
Kellen
