“Code blue OR one. Code blue OR one,” a monotone voice called through the speakers.
I watched in horror as so many doctors and nurses sprinted past the open waiting room door, disappearing through the same double doors his doctor had just left through.
Dylan was in trouble. Dying maybe. I gripped my friends’ arms, trying to keep myself from falling over as the bright hospital lights swirled around me. They held me up, and a strong pair of arms came around us.
Ryan led us back to the chairs, then he knelt in front of me. He grasped my face firmly and forced me to look at him. “He’s going to be okay. Don’t you dare give up on him or underestimate him. Dylan is going to fight like hell to get back to you. You understand?” I nodded as best I could with him holding my head in place. As though just realizing what he was doing, he snatched his hands away like I’d burned him.
Before he could move further away, I launched myself out of my seat and into his arms. He caught me easily and stood. I couldn’t hold back anymore. I sobbed and wailed. He held me tight, and I wished it was Dylan instead. Would I ever be in Dylan’s arms again?
41
Dylan
My throat felt like I’d swallowed broken glass, my head felt like it had been beaten with a hammer, and my body felt like it had been run over by a truck. Or dropped from a tree. Fuck, everything hurt. But I was alive. For a minute there, up in that tree, I hadn’t been sure we’d make it.
“Dylan?”
Juliette’s sweet, scared voice broke through the haze, and I tried to open my eyes.
“He’s awake!” she called out, the sound piercing through my brain.
“Sorry.” She gently grazed her hand down my arm, and despite the blinding light and just as blinding pain, I forced my eyes open to see her.
Juliette leaned closer, her other hand tracing my jaw. She tried to smile at me, but her lips quivered instead. I tried tosmile back to show her I was okay, but I coughed, and fire seared through my throat. I closed my eyes against the pain.
“Water,” I croaked.
Juliette lowered the oxygen mask and held a straw to my lips. It stung going down, but felt so good.
“Hey, good to see you awake, brother,” Liam said from the other side of my bed.
I opened my eyes and slowly turned to look at him. “Benji? The baby. Is he okay?” I rasped out.
“He’s good,” Liam said. “He was on oxygen and they’re monitoring him, but looks like he’ll be fine. Sarah’s good too. She’s already been discharged. Ryan is with them now. We’ve been going back and forth to keep an eye on them.”
My eyes drifted back closed, and I relaxed for the first time since I saw that fire.
“Looks like you took better care of them than yourself, jackass,” Brady said.
I didn’t have the energy to respond. Instead I turned my head to find Juliette with her red eyes and puffy face smiling at me as tears streamed down her face.
“I’m okay,” I mouthed.
She nodded, the tears coming faster as she gripped my hand tighter. She was settled into the chair next to me with a pillow and a blanket, looking like she’d been there for too long already.
With peace in the knowledge that Sarah and Benji were okay, Juliette was by my side with her hand in mine, and my brothers were here to look out for us, I drifted back into oblivion.
42
Juliette
Iheld it together for a few more minutes until I felt his hand go slack in mine, and then I lost it.
He’d woken up. He’d looked at me and said he was okay. For two excruciatingly long days, I didn’t know if I’d get to see those beautiful eyes ever again, but I did. I choked back a sob, but I couldn’t stop the shaking that took over my body. I didn’t want him to see me like this when he woke up again—and now I knew that he would. Thank God.
“Come here, Juls.” Liam said, tugging me out of the chair I’d been in since Dylan was brought to this room. I let him pull me up and into his arms. “He’s okay. Better than okay.”
I nodded against his chest, gripping his shirt like he could hold me together and keep the overwhelming fear at bay.