Chapter 26

TWENTY-SIX

SILAS

Because I fucking love him, okay?

Way's words echoed in my head like the steady beat of a bass drum. As soon as my brain caught up with my mouth, I called out for him, but he was already driving around the curve and out of sight.

"Knew it," Landry said triumphantly.

"Fuck you!" I wanted to punch him in the face, but I shoved him instead. "What the fuck was that?"

Landry's eyebrows lifted as he caught his balance by grabbing Dev's outstretched hand. "You're welcome? At least someone got one of you to admit the truth. Jesus. We haven't even been in this time zone, and we could feel the tension between the two of you."

Bash sighed. "You should go after him. Tell him you love him, too."

"Who says I love him?" I snapped. "And who asked any of you for your help here?"

Kenji shook his head but knew better than to say anything. Landry did not know better. "You asked us to come help, if you'll recall."

"With the event," I growled. "Not with my fucking love life."

Zane smirked. "I can always tell when you're super-peeved because you play fast and loose with the f-word."

"You're all a bunch of assholes," I continued, ignoring him.

Bash had the decency to look apologetic. "But you do actually love him."

"I'm divorcing him in a fucking week," I insisted, grabbing at my chest.

Kenji made a face. "Are you? Because you've been sitting on the paperwork for a few weeks now."

"I… I… I just couldn't find the right time to ask him about it. Tell him. To tell him about it."

Bash frowned. "It's obvious you don't want to divorce him, Silas. So figure it out. Yes, you live in New York, and he lives in?—"

"The back of beyond," Landry suggested.

Bash ignored him. "But that's not insurmountable."

"Not now that you have satellite internet," Kenji said.

Zane dragged the toe of his old suede trainers through the gravel. "There's plenty of room here for a private landing strip."

Dev's eyebrows lifted. "He's right."

"Don't be ridiculous," I said with less conviction than I'd intended.

Bash placed a hand on my shoulder. "Work out the details together. The important part is communication. Talk to the poor guy. Tell him he's not alone in having real feelings here."

"You make it sound so fucking easy."

Bash got that dopey look on his face he always got when he thought about his partner, Rowe. "Maybe it is. Maybe loving someone is the easiest thing in the world once you stop fighting it."

Landry made a gagging sound while Kenji rolled his eyes. I tried not to sound like an asshole. "Rowe isn't straight. Rowe isn't trying to carry an entire fucking town on his back in addition to holding his own personal financial head above water. I can't talk to Way now. He's in the middle of his big event. He's been working toward this for months."

Bash's hand squeezed my shoulder affectionately before he pulled away. "Okay. Then we wait. In the meantime, we nail this exhibition and make these AdventureSmash people believe there's no better place on earth for their races than Majestic, Wyoming."

"Damned right," Zane muttered.

"Shit yeah," Landry added.

"Agreed," Dev said.

Kenji just tapped something into his phone. A moment later, he gasped and looked up at me with wide eyes. It was the kind of look that made my stomach drop. "What?"

"It's… hang on…"

I walked over to read the phone over his shoulder.

The headline of the news alert made my blood run cold and the breath seize up in my lungs.

Active shooter holding hostages in busy NYC ER.

"Surely that's not…" I began, having to remind myself there were many busy emergency rooms in the city. But before I could get the words out, the article came up, and I spotted the name of my sister's hospital.

My brothers stood around me, all staring at the small phone screen in shock.

Bash was the first to speak. "She's probably not even on shift."

Landry nodded. "You said she's been working a lot of nights lately. Maybe?—"

"She takes extra shifts around holidays," I said woodenly. "Like Fourth of July."

Dev's soft voice was aimed at Kenji. "What can you find out?"

Kenji shouldered us away and began typing. I pulled my phone out and tried Camille's number with shaking hands. It went straight to voicemail. I pulled up the location app to see where she was. It was something we only used to help each other find a lost phone, but there had been times I'd used it to make sure she'd gotten home safe after a late shift when worries had overwhelmed me.

It showed her in the ER.

My legs felt like they were going to buckle. "I can't… I… how do I find out…"

Bash grabbed me and sat me on the edge of the porch, shoving my head down between my knees. "Give Kenji a minute. He'll find out what's going on. You know he can find out anything."

Waylon. I need Way here.

But he couldn't be with me. Not now. He had the town to think of.

I heard audio from someone's phone, a news reporter speaking in a clipped voice, fading in and out behind sounds of emergency vehicles. "…what we know so far. Reports of a masked gunman… drugs and… staff are barricaded…"

Kenji's voice was clear as he spoke over the tinny sound from the phone. "She's assumed to be one of the hostages. Three ER docs, five nursing staff, and several patients are being held in a blocked-off area of the ER. There are reports of gunshots, but they're not sure how many people have been injured."

I jumped up and paced the small area in front of the porch, feeling useless and hating it. "I… I want to go. See her with my own eyes. Be there in case she needs me?—"

"Then go," Bash said.

I pushed a hand into my hair. "But the exhibition's tomorrow. Way will think I abandoned him?—"

Landry shook his head. "Nah. Way will understand. He loves you, remember?"

"Come on." Zane pulled a key fob from his pocket. "I'll go with you."

Kenji met my eyes. "I'll arrange the pilots. The plane's still on the tarmac from our arrival. All it needs is to be refueled."

Bash could tell I was unsure. "Go. We'll stay and take care of Way and the exhibition. Whatever he needs."

The others nodded and agreed, the brotherhood coming together for a common purpose, as we had so many times before.

"Okay." I gave Bash one firm nod. "Okay, I'll go. I should call Way—" I hesitated, glancing in the direction of town. I had no idea how many meetings he had this afternoon, how many last-minute things to arrange, but I knew it was a lot. As badly as I wanted to hear his voice, I didn't want to distract him at this critical hour.

"We'll let him know," Bash promised. "As soon as he comes back from his event prep. And we'll tell him we're here for the duration. We'll take care of it, Silas."

I knew they would, but I still felt like my heart was being torn in two.

"Tell Way I'm sorry. Explain that if it wasn't Camille?—"

Zane grabbed my arm and yanked me toward his rental. "He'll understand. Let's go."

I'd been in the air for an hour by the time Kenji managed to get an update to me. My sister had been shot and was currently in surgery to repair the damage. The gunman had been apprehended, one security guard had been fatally wounded, and three other hostages had been critically wounded like Camille.

By the time I got to the hospital hours later, I was weak and shaky from fear. Camille was out of surgery, but security was so tight it was nearly impossible to get to her room. Thankfully, Kenji had managed to get in touch with the head of the department, who met me at one of the security checkpoints and personally led me to her room.

"She's still super sleepy from anesthesia and additional sedation. They're keeping her a little sedated overnight to help her rest and stay still. It's perfectly normal. She came through the surgery just fine. She'll need physical therapy and obviously psychotherapy, but I promise the hospital will be on top of making sure everyone gets the best of care."

I barely listened to him as he continued to try to reassure me. My sister looked so small and pale in the hospital bed. I knew she'd be a total pain in the ass to her medical staff as soon as she came out of the sedation, so it was probably a good thing they were keeping her asleep for now. The worst part of it was not being able to tell her I was there, that she wasn't alone, that I loved her.

"Anyway," her manager continued, "they're not going to let you stay tonight. Security is super-tight as you can imagine. If you want to leave her a note, you can use this pad of paper here, and I'll tell the nurse to make sure she gets it as soon as she wakes up. Then you can come back at eight tomorrow, and I'll make sure they let you in for another visit."

I opened my mouth to argue, but the nurse who'd come in to check Camille's IV must have seen my expression because he gave me an understanding smile. "She's going to sleep all night anyway, but I'll be sure to tell her you were here the minute she wakes up, I promise."

When I finally let them lead me out of the room and away from my sister, I pulled out my phone to text Way and check in with the brotherhood to see if everything was all set for the exhibition opening in the morning. Unfortunately, my phone battery was dead from all the frantic calling, texting, and headline-stalking I'd done on the trip east.

I managed to flag down a taxi to head home. When it dropped me off in front of my place, I ducked into a nearby bodega to grab some food before finally entering my building and greeting the doorman.

It was with a lonely, heavy heart that I made my way up to my apartment. I missed Way's beautiful face, his reassuring smile, and his strong embrace.

As I entered my front door after two months of being gone, I wondered how it was possible to return to your own place while it felt like your true home was hundreds of miles away in a stand of aspen trees and nestled in a curve of the Majestic River.