But he wasn’t a stranger. His eyes were home to me, they were everything, and I saw the fear that blazed in them as clear as the sky on the frosty winter morning I’d brought his brother home.
This might kill me.
If it hadn’t already.
“Tell them I love them?”
“No.” Logan got close enough that I realised he smelt exactly the same as Locke, just without the smoke. “Tell them your fucking self.”
26
LOCKE
I fuckin’ hated this hospital. Three times in the last five years I’d sat in this godforsaken A&E department, waiting to hear if someone I loved was dead or alive, and I was sofuckin’over it.
Overcome, I slumped forward in the seat, pressing my face into my hands.
Beside me, Mateo palmed my shoulder, but he had nothing to say. Out of the unfortunate souls keeping me company, he knew how I felt better than anyone.
Orla.
She still wasn’t back from wherever they’d taken Cam to get patched up. Cosshewas his next of kin, not Saint who stood like a statue at the window. Or Alexei, who was—actually, I had no idea where Alexei was. I didn’t know shit. Cos I wasn’tNash’snext of kin, and neither was Orla. Goddamn it, we were waiting on Rubi before this strict as hell hospital would tell us anything, and he was still an hour away.
Saint kicked the wall.
The thud of his boot made me jump. I raised my head, bracing myself for him to storm out, but he didn’t. He had nowhere to go. None of us did until someone told us what the ever-loving fuck was going on.
“At least your kids are safe.” Mateo knocked my shoulder again. “Hold on to that.”
Hold on to what? Nicky’s wide, traumatised eyes? Willow’s tear-streaked face as I’d shut her in the back of the police car taking her home?
They’re alive.
Thanks to Nash.
Thanks to Cam.
But at what fuckin’ cost?
I stood and moved to where Saint was quietly losing his shit by the window. He’d sunk into a crouch. I fell into the seat beside him and pressed my fist to his arm. No words. I didn’t have any; neither did he.
Mateo’s phone buzzed.
He took the call, repeating the nightmare we’d found ourselves stuck in. “They brought them here. Cam’s in minors. Nash was critical at the scene. That’s all we know.”
I rubbed my lips.Critical at the scene.I knew what that meant—I’d seen it a thousand times. It meant there was every chance he was DOA and they were waiting for Rubi to get here to tell us. But it also meant there was a chance he’d stabilised since then. That he was fuckin’fine, and despite knowing the odds of survival for a biker vs HGV collision, I clung to that sliver of hope with both hands.
He’s alive.
My gut told me that and I believed it.
I had to, or I’d scream.
Mateo hung up the phone. “Folk. He’s going to stay with the others and the kids for now. But he’s ready to go if you need him.”
I took comfort in the fact that Folk wasn’t already here. That my wise and perceptive friend believed there was a chance he didn’t need to be.
“You want coffee?”