Peony

I hate hospitals. The smell of them. The lights, noises and sounds. It’s all too much.

Kaiden’s on a private ward, in a private room. Or he will be, once he’s out of surgery.

“What happened?” I whisper, collapsing into the hard plastic waiting room chair. Private or not, it would seem all the money in the world can’t make waiting for news any more comfortable.

“His dad…” I wait for Zie to say more but he doesn’t. Nothing comes. I glance up. Axel is glaring at him.

“What, man?”

“You shouldn’t tell her. Keep your mouth shut.”

“I’m one of you aren’t I?” I demand, jumping to my feet.

Axel looks me over, takes in my fierce stance and nods once.

“Sorry, Peony. You’re right.” He sighs, sinks down into a seat and holds out his hand for me. I cross over to him and the second I slide my hand into his, Axel surprises me by tugging me down onto his lap. He wraps his arms around me and holds me for a moment as if taking strength from me before explaining. “Kaiden’s dad is a piece of shit. He’s mostly out of town on business but whenever he comes back, if he’s had bad news or lost a deal or something, he takes it out on Kaiden.”

I hold my breath waiting for whatever’s coming next.

Zie comes over and sits beside us, taking my hand in his.

“I don’t understand.” I frown, turning to Zie. “He beats him?”

“Yeah…and other stuff,” he hesitates.

“Like what?”

“It’s not important.” Axel interrupts. “You just need to know that this time his father used a knife. Kaiden’s in a bad way.”

“How bad?”

“Technically, he died. Again.”

I suck in a sharp breath. I remember Kaiden teasing me when we were younger, claiming that he was called The Spirit because he died and was brought back to life by doctors. I thought he was joking, but as we became closer, I discovered it was true.

I guess I should have known what his father was doing. Kaiden sneaks into my room most nights now to escape his shitty life at home. I stupidly didn’t think to push him for answers whenever he refused to talk about it. Maybe if I had, he wouldn’t be in this situation now.

“And now?”

“Now they’re working on bringing him back to us, Peony. So we wait. We wait and we pray.”