2. Sparkless

Chapter Two

SPARKLESS

S hould she have walked out on Gage the way she had? No, but her mind was all over the place right now. Emotions were erratically jumping from one point to the next without any logic to guide them.

She mindlessly flipped through hundreds of messages left on her phone while sitting outside the hospital. The senior associates of her crew were looking to her for their orders, Rebecca was checking in, and some of her allies were sending their fucking useless thoughts and prayers. Layne didn't have any answers for herself, let alone anyone else. The messages went unanswered. Before she tucked her phone away a new text popped in.

GAGE

Are you okay?

LAYNE

What do you think?

GAGE

Please, come back up here.

We're in this together and I can't help if you won't let me.

Layne wanted to ask him why she should bother returning to that cold and depressing hospital room, but she realized that she wasn't the only person in pain. Gage found himself watching his big brother struggling to live just as much as she was.

She spent several more minutes convincing herself to go back inside. Yesterday, she would have kicked her own ass, but today? She had lost that spark that made her want to put up a fight.

"You are the spark that keeps my heart pumping blood through my veins."

Her eyes squeezed shut, expressing a few more silent tears as the pain tore into her heart a little more and the memory of Joey's words drove into her shattered soul.

"I will love you so hard for the rest of your life that you won't ever have to worry about losing that spark."

Inhaling a shaky breath, she mentally scolded herself for perhaps loving him too fiercely. If he hadn't been so wrapped up in loving her back, maybe he wouldn't have stepped in front of her. Alternatively, she wondered if this was happening to her as punishment for having not loved him enough. Maybe getting fucked at the altar in church could have been God's tipping point, too.

Quickly, her fingertips pushed the tears off her cheeks as she readied herself to go back inside. Every muscle in her body felt triple its weight, making the process of standing more challenging than it should have been.

On her way back through the main entrance, a vaguely familiar face was just leaving and captured her attention when he spoke up. "Ms. O'Reil—I mean, Mrs. De Luca?" Detective Adams smiled apologetically.

She stopped in her tracks to look at the man, struggling to recall his name. "Hi…"

He saved her from having to fumble for his name. "Detective Adams, we spoke earlier."

Right. When she was wallowing in the thoughts of her husband's presumed death, he had been interested in getting her retelling of the tragedy.

"I'm sorry, I don't have anything that can help you." The verbal apology was the best he was going to get out of her. She simply didn't have enough energy to muster up a fake smile for the sake of appearing polite.

The detective immediately shook his head. "No, I understand. I just wanted to make sure you got my contact information in case you do have anything you'd like to share." Though he had previously given it to Gage, he had a suspicion it wouldn't get passed along. He dug into his suit jacket, pulled out his business card, and extended it toward her.

Hesitantly, Layne took the white piece of cardstock from him. She gave it a glance front and back before sliding it into the pocket of her black pants. "I already told you that I didn't see a damn thing." Irritation started to rise in her voice.

He nodded at her. "Just hold onto that in case you ever need it." His face filled with empathy before he added, "I hope your husband makes a full recovery."

Layne muttered, "Thanks," before she turned and left him standing in the entryway as she found her way back upstairs to join both her guys waiting for her in the ICU.

When she walked into Joey's room, Gage wasn't present. The only other person in there was a nurse who was changing out one of the bags hanging from the metal stand next to Joey's bed that dripped into his IV. The young raven-haired woman was about Layne's age and gave a polite smile. "I will be out of here in just a second."

"It's fine, do what you need to." Layne went over to the empty chair at Joey's bedside, plunked down into it, and the nurse was out of the room as quickly as she had stated.

Both of Layne's hands took a tight hold of Joey's hand at his side and rested her face on it while she closed her eyes. She quietly whispered, "I feel like I've given you all the spark I have left in me, and it's still not enough."

The swell of emotions crept up on her again and she buried her face into the cheap hospital-grade blankets as she suppressed a sob. Her shoulders shuddered as they soaked up the cries and screams she wanted to unleash.

A hand came to the back of her head reassuringly. "It'll always be enough, Layney." Joey's hoarse voice spoke through his grogginess as he opened his eyes to see her clutching onto his other hand while visibly upset.

Her body stilled, wondering if she had fallen asleep again or if she had just devolved into hearing things. When she lifted her head, she saw his heavenly brown eyes staring at her. She choked on another sob, but this time one of gleeful disbelief.

"Joey!" She released his hand and immediately stood to lean over and smother his face and mouth with her kisses of relief. The tears that were still fresh on her face fell onto him as she pressed her face up against the tattooed bird wings on the side of his neck in an attempt to latch herself onto him in a hug.

He lightly returned her kisses but struggled to hold back his winces of pain as she leaned against him. His hand rubbed her back reassuringly. "I told you it would be okay." Joey's last couple of words fought through a groan of his body's reminder that he had been shot in the goddamn chest and undergone a major surgery.

Hearing the discomfort in his voice she eased up off of him. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Shaking his head in a lie, he gave her a light smile. "Never."

Using the bottom of her sleeve, she dried her face off until just the red splotches left behind from her tears remained. Her glossy hues stared at him in disbelief that he was awake and talking. Before more questions could be asked, the door opened, and Gage walked in with a handful of snacks.

Not only was Gage surprised to see Layne had returned, but Joey was awake. He juggled the food in his hands, nearly dropping an apple to the floor. "Hey, man! Fuck, you gave us a hell of a scare."

He set the food down on a small table quickly before going to the side of Joey's bed opposite of Layne. Relief filled his face as he looked at his brother and bent over to give a partial hug with a gentle pat on Joey's shoulder. Joey's hand returned a tap to Gage's bicep.

Layne smiled, unable to come to terms that this was real as she looked at both Gage and Joey. Finally, she pulled herself away enough from Joey's side to ease back into her chair, her fingers lacing with Joey's. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got shot." He smirked, seemingly he hadn't lost his sense of humor.

She rolled her eyes and tried to suppress the smile still tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Thanks, smartass." Layne sat there, simply staring at him, overcome with gratitude that he hadn't been eliminated from her life.

The three of them sat there talking about everything and anything except for the person responsible for the assassination attempt on Layne. She didn't dare to even think his name and instead opted to focus all her thoughts and energy on Joey's road to recovery.

"When you get back home, I'll make sure we have plenty of your favorite snacks stocked up and whatever else you need," she reassured him. He wouldn't be leaving here for a little while, but having him back home with her was something she could look forward to.

Being happy to just be on this side of the dirt, Joey grinned as he watched Layne make plans for all of them. He had a second chance at a life together with her, and hell if he was going to waste it.

Gage took a sip from his bottle of water. "I hate to bring the mood down, but before we start making too many plans, we should talk about the obvious here." His eyes looked at Joey first, looking for his agreement.

After a deep inhale, Joey winced as he sat up a little straighter in his bed, fumbling with all the fucking tubes and wires attached to him. "What do we know?"

Her eyes darkened with a glare at Gage for bringing up the topic she had been actively avoiding. "We don't need to talk about this." Layne knew she couldn't ignore this forever, but she wanted to stay in this bubble of happiness a little while longer.

Joey couldn't pretend to understand what she was going through given her brother was responsible, but he did recognize the signs of her internally shutting down if they didn't tread carefully. "Layne, you can't ignore what he did."

Gage chimed in with his opinion, "We don't know what the hell else Liam is up to."

She lashed out with a spark of anger for the first time since the incident. "I'm not fucking ignoring it! I'm going to take care of it!" Immediately, her sharp tongue and even shorter temper had her sinking down into her guilt.

The past twenty-four hours had taken its toll on her. The sleep deprivation, the highs, and lows, and all the stressors that had her running on fumes by this point. Layne put a hand to her forehead and dragged it down over her face as she squeezed her eyes shut in frustration.

"Layney…" Joey's soothing voice spoke her name, attempting to pull her back from spiraling.

She didn't make a move from her current position as her thoughts began to swallow her whole.

Standing from his seat, Gage came up behind her rubbing his hands over her shoulders. "Look, now that Joey is awake, why don't you get some rest and we can pick this up later, hm?" He leaned over and laid a kiss on the back of her neck directly against the curves of the shamrock inked into her skin.

Stubbornly, she shook her head. "No, I'm fine." She had been using that word a lot, and it was the furthest thing from the truth. Layne didn't want to rest knowing her idiotic brother was out there; knowing her nightmares would taint her memory of what should have been the happiest day of her life.

"Come here." Joey's hand tugged on her wrist, drawing her hand away from her face. When she opened up those beautiful green eyes, they were shaded by sheer exhaustion. He didn't have much room to shift, but he gave her enough so she could at least perch on the edge of his bed. His arm pulled her down to his side, his strong arms squeezing her tightly.

Layne lay there in his embrace wishing she could bottle up the feeling of him for eternity. Remaining vigilant of his injury, she laid her arm across his stomach. His hold on her helped to relieve some of her tension.

Joey pressed several kisses across her temple. "Go home, let Gage take care of you, and get some rest."

"I can't," she murmured against him.

"Yes, Layne, you can. I need you to. I didn't fight like hell for you to run yourself down." His fingers lifted her face by the chin. "You're going to need the rest. When I get out of here, my cock is going to be making up for lost time." He grinned playfully before he closed the gap between their mouths. Passionately, he locked his lips onto hers like he hadn't tasted her in years.

It was enough that when she finally came up for air, she was already looking a little more amenable to listening to reason.

"I love you. We will be back as soon as we can, okay?" Layne stole one more kiss from him to hold her over until they returned.

While she pulled away to gather her things, Joey looked at Gage. "Don't?—"

His little brother cut him off, "I know. I've got her."

Gage waited for Layne to collect her things before leaving the room with her.

Once the two of them left, Joey exhaled and leaned back. His brows pinched together as he winced in pain, his hand lightly resting on top of his chest. He had done his best to mask the injury's toll on him for Layne's sake, but holy fuck. This brush with death and coming to terms with his own mortality had him seeing things in a very different light than he had ever before.