But I couldn’t say it.
Because he’d murder Trent without hesitation, and I’m not putting myself through this shit to protect him only to lose him over my douchey ex.
We drive for over an hour, and I’m content in Kai’s arms, clinging to him while he peppers kisses all over my face. Drew watches us through the mirror, smiling, and I’m glad he approves.
“Where does Charlie think I am?” I ask, as Drew takes the next exit off the highway.
“He knows where you are. He just doesn’t know Anderson is with us.”
I stare out the window at unfamiliar roads, asking for the umpteenth time where we’re headed. But like all the other times, the guys remain tight-lipped.
We pull into the entrance to a private hospital a few minutes later, and I guess where we are. I bolt upright, my gaze bouncing between my brother and my boyfriend. “Oscar,” I whisper, and Drew nods.
My heart is pounding behind my rib cage, and I clutch Kai’s hand in an iron grip as we walk down the hallway toward Oscar’s room.
“This is it,” Drew says, stopping in front of room four hundred and eighteen.
“You want me to come in with you, baby?” Kai asks, and it’s tempting.
“No. I need to do this alone.” They explained in the elevator he’s still in a coma. I look between them, not sure if they know this. “He took a bullet for me that night. He tried to hold Louis off so I could get away.”
“We know,” Kai says. “And we owe him.”
“He’s my hero,” D adds.
“Mine too,” I whisper.
Kai kisses me sweetly. “Take all the time you need. We’ll be right out here.” He points at a row of chairs against a side wall.
I gulp, nodding, as I curl my hand around the door handle and step into the room.
“Abigail!” Julie, Oscar’s wife, rushes toward me enveloping me in a warm hug. “Oh, my sweet girl.” She grasps my face in her small hand. “Oscar would be so happy to see you here.” She takes my hand, pulling me over to the bed. “Honey. Abigail is here to see you, and she looks as beautiful as ever.”
A messy ball of emotion clogs my throat as I stare at Oscar’s prone body in the bed. He’s got tubes coming out of both arms, and he’s hooked up to a machine. The sheets are folded over just above his waist, and he looks so thin and frail in the bed. His face is a horrid ashen color, and he looks so old.
“You can talk to him,” Julie says. “I don’t know if he hears, but I like to think he does.”
“Hey, Oscar.” My voice cracks as I move closer to the bed, taking his hand in mine. It’s warm to the touch, which is unexpected but reassuring. “I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to visit, but my father locked me away at Parkhurst, and I only returned to town this week.”
Julie looks at me aghast. I probably should’ve been more circumspect. Knowing Oscar, he hasn’t told her much about the fucked-up goings-on at Chez Manning.
“He tried to save me that night,” I tell her. “And I hate that he’s here because of me.”
“Oh no, honey.” She rises, wrapping her arm around my waist. “Oscar loves you, and even if he doesn’t survive this, I know he wouldn’t have any regrets dying to protect you.”
“What have the doctors said?”
“Not a lot. His body has healed, but his mind hasn’t. They don’t know how long he’ll stay like this, and the longer it goes on, the more there is a possibility of brain damage.”
I clutch her hand, hating to think of Oscar suffering like that. “Can I do anything? Maybe get a second opinion? And let me take care of his medical bills.”
“You have already done so much for us, and I can’t thank you enough.”
I stare, perplexed at her, because I’ve done jack shit. There hasn’t been time.
“I don’t know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t sent your young man and his friends to help. Drew, too, of course.”
“I don’t understand.” My brows knit together.
“Oh. Oh.” A light bulb appears to go off in her mind. “I just assumed you sent them.”
“I would have if I’d been here. Oscar is more of a father to me than my father has ever been.”
“He adores you.” She squeezes my waist. “And given how you’ve all rallied round to help us, I can see why.”
“What exactly did my friends do?”
“Drew transferred Oscar here after your father ended his employment and we lost our medical coverage. Then your boyfriend turned up at my doorstep with Sawyer and Jackson. Kaiden rented us a house two miles from here so we could be closer to Oscar. He even arranged for the girls to go to a new school temporarily, and he put far too much money into my bank account.” Tears pool in her eyes. “Sawyer installed a new security system at the house, and Jackson came with me to purchase a new car because Oscar’s car has gone missing.”
“It looks like my brother and my friends have taken care of everything,” I say, hardly able to talk over the lump in my throat.
“They have, and I’m so grateful.” She glances at her husband with fresh tears in her eyes. “To spend every day here with him, knowing I have no other worries or concerns, is more than I could have hoped for. And it’s all thanks to you.”
I shake my head. “I did nothing.”
“Don’t you see that you did?” She presses a kiss to my cheek. “Those boys don’t have an allegiance to my husband. Most of them don’t even know him.” She looks me directly in the eye. “Their loyalty is to you. They did this for you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
I leave Julie with her husband and slip out into the hallway. Drew and Kai have their heads bent together, and they’re conversing in low tones. I hate to break up the renewal of their bromance, but my heart is fit to burst, and I can’t contain it. Plonking myself down on Kai’s lap, I wrap one arm around his neck and drape my other arm around my brother, pulling them both into me. “Thank you for what you did for him.”
“You okay?” Kai asks, peering into my eyes.
“I’m okay. Sad, because I hate seeing him like that and I hate the thought he might not come out of his coma, or come out of it intact, but at least he’s still alive.”
“I called Rick while you were in there. One of his professors at Harvard is a neurologist. He’ll talk to him and see if he can recommend someone to come and give us a second opinion.”
I let go of my brother, wrapping both arms around Kai’s neck. “I fucking love you.” I dot kisses all over his face. “And you are so getting laid for this.”
“Ugh.” Drew scrubs his hands down his face. “I did not need to hear that.”
“Suck it up, D. At least you don’t have to listen to us doing the deed.” I shudder, remembering the nights I heard Jane’s screams all the way from my bedroom.
“Unless we get it on in the back seat.” Kai waggles his brows, and I snicker at the look of abject horror on my twin’s face.
“He’s joking.”