Braxton (Station 47)

Chapter 5

FIVE

brAXTON

Hayes and Rhett have left by the time the nurse, LeeAnna, opens the door to our little room and my sister, Kaydence comes rushing in with wild eyes. Those crazy eyes, as I like to call them when I tease her about how damn dramatic she is, land on me and her whole body sags in relief. She freezes for barely a second to get her bearings before running over to me and throwing her arms around my shoulders. She practically has to climb me, considering she’s almost a foot shorter than me, but she doesn’t let that deter her a bit.

Even knowing I’m so much stronger than she is, she has no trouble yanking me down to her level and I have no choice but to wrap my arms around her waist. The second I do, her body shakes with a sob and I lean back to look down at her. “What are you doing here, Kay?”

“ What am I doing here? ” She shrieks, dropping her arms so she can cross them over her chest. “Where else would I be? Hannah texted and said I needed to get here, that you needed me. Did you not tell her to contact me? And, why didn’t you just text or call me yourself ?”

I have to wait for her to stop and suck in a breath before I can respond, because she sure isn’t letting me speak. And, damnit , why did Hannah have to call in the calvary? Kaydence is physically incapable of being calm, and the last thing I need is her flying off the handle when Tina’s parents get here.

“Okay, calm down, crazy.” Hawk snickers from behind Kay, because he knows that one, she is crazy, and two, she doesn’t like being called crazy.

As expected, Kaydence shoves me, even though she knows it’s not going to do anything but hurt her arms, and glares up at me. “I’m not crazy ,” she growls.

Yup - called it .

“Look, I’m sure Hannah told you I was fine, right?”

Her pissed off expression doesn’t change a bit. “Yeah, she said you were physically fine. That still leaves a lot of things that could be not fine .”

Yeah, okay, I can kind of see her point, but still. Before I have a chance to answer, two small arms wrap around my thigh and I look down, shocked to see Nathan almost hiding behind me and looking up at my sister questioningly. This kid has absolutely no fear, no shyness around any of us. Knowing that he feels so secure in himself and the people around him warms something in my chest that I suspect is my heart. I can’t help but smile down at him as I run a hand down his soft hair.

“Who you is?” He asks her, voice still husky from his nap.

When I look back over at her, Kaydence’s eyes are wide as saucers, flying up and down between Nathan’s face and my own. “ What the actual f—” she whisper shouts, barely managing to cut herself off from saying the curse word I’m sure Nathan would spend the rest of the night repeating. She aims a quick look over at Hawk. “Can you watch the… him for a few minutes? I need to talk to my brother.” Her glare is turned on me, but while my groan is loud, Grayson just nods his agreement, a small smile lifting one side of his mouth. He’s been around my sister enough times to know she’s about to hand my ass to me and leave me bruised and bleeding, metaphorically if not physically.

Once she has his agreement, her fingers wrap around my wrist, the sharp tips of her pointy ass long nails digging into my skin as she drags me from the room.

Not a single word is said as she leads me out through the waiting room and her grip doesn’t lesson until we’ve made it outside, around the side of the hospital closest to the door, but out of the flow of people.

“You better start explaining. Right. Now .” Her eyes spark with anger and I can’t hold her fiery gaze, so I look away. That only makes her more irritated, and I wince when she snaps, “Braxton Michael Andrews! Explain .”

The word is a vehement demand while the way she says my name is terrifyingly familiar. It's the way she’s always said it when I've done something she doesn't like and is about to lecture me about whatever it is. The perfect I’m the big sister and I know what’s best for you voice. Considering the amount of times I’ve fucked up, I don’t know why she’s shocked that this is the outcome. Especially when she tried to give me the “sex talk” at thirteen, something I’m still traumatized from. Luckily, Tom was way better at it when I was twelve. I still shudder when I hear the words penis and banana.

"What the hell is going on, Brax?” I know her brain is going about a hundred miles an hour while she tries to make sense of what she saw, but again, is she really surprised this happened? Or is she just surprised it took this long.

This is not the way I would ever want to have this conversation with my older sister, but Hannah hasn’t left me much choice. We’ll definitely be having words about this later, even though I know her loyalty is to my sister first and me absolutely dead last.

Before I get a chance to think through what I want to say, Kaydence grabs my arm and shakes me, or at least, she tries to. “Braxton!” Her voice is still barely a whisper, truly more of a hiss, but the irritation in it comes through quite clearly.

She wants to scream at me, but there’s no way she’ll do it as long as we’re in public, so I guess at least I can be thankful for the fact that she doesn’t want to draw attention to our little sibling drama playing out in the parking lot. Doesn’t help with my own annoyance over having to explain this to her. It would be so much easier if she would just ask me straight out if he’s mine. I’d rather just confirm what she already knows than have to explain myself and what happened.

“He’s my son, Kay,” I finally explode in exasperation. “What do you want me to say, exactly? It’s not like that isn’t obvious when you look at him.” Now I'm the one sounding frustrated and annoyed, but the fact that she's asking when anyone could tell exactly who Nathan is to me with just one look pisses me off because I know she just wanted to make me say it. I love my sister beyond anything, but god , she pisses me off more than anyone ever has or could.

It doesn’t help that she's looking at me like she can't believe what I'm saying, even though her brain is telling her it's true and I know any second now she’s going to start lecturing me on the importance of wrapping it up even though clearly that train has left the station and did it a long time ago.

Before she even gets the chance to start, I hold up a hand to silence her. “Yeah, I know. Condoms are mandatory. Wrap it or don’t tap it. I know all the stupid sayings and all the warnings you gave me over the years. Clearly, even wrapping it before I tap it—“ My eyes roll at the stupidness of that statement “—doesn’t always work, and you’re about 5 years too late anyway.”

Kaydence paces away from me, practically stomping back and forth in a line with her head in her hand and muttering things like “Why me?” and “My brother is a freaking idiot.”

Gee, thanks sis.

I give her the time I’m sure she needs to come to terms with the fact that not only do I have a kid, that means she’s an aunt… again, if you count Hannah’s kids who also call her Aunt Kay.

When she finally stops pacing and making me nauseous with the way she moves, Kaydence stops in front of me once more and stands, shaking out her hands and letting out a deep breath like she’s still trying to calm herself down.

See… dramatic.

I almost roll my eyes again at her antics, but she moves to the bench behind us and takes a seat, waiting for me to do the same before the questions start.

“Who’s the mom? And where is she? Why didn’t she tell you about him? I’m assuming she didn’t, because I know you, Brax. If someone told you they were having your kid, you would’ve been there, whether you were with her romantically or not. How on earth did this happen?”

She opens her mouth to ask even more questions, so this time, I cover her mouth with my hand, ignoring the way her eyes narrow at the move and the fact that she licks my damn hand like a bratty five-year-old would.

“Gross, Kay,” I tell her, removing the hand and wiping it on my uniform pants. Shit , I should’ve changed them out for scrubs, or better yet, asked one of the guys to bring me my duffle bag out of my locker so I could be a little more comfortable.

Before she can take advantage of the way my brain goes off on a tangent, I try to answer her questions, hoping I’m remembering them all since she asked about fifteen.

“Do you remember that girl I started dating while I was going through the academy?”

Kay thinks for a second before nodding slowly, like she thinks she knows this answer, but isn’t completely sure. “Christy, wasn’t it?” I don’t get the chance to correct her before she does it herself. “No, not Christy… Oh! I remember now. Chris tina .” Her eyes widen and she looks up at me, shock clear in the way her mouth has dropped open and the blood has drained from her face.

That last thing makes my own eyes narrow. It’s an odd reaction to have. She and Tina weren’t super close, but they got along okay, at least I thought so. As much as I want to know what her deal is, I can’t handle any further surprises tonight, so I put that out of my head and instead nod my agreement. “Yeah, Tina. I guess she was pregnant when she moved back to Chattanooga and for whatever reason, she didn’t tell me about it. And, before you ask, I don’t know why or what I could’ve done to make her afraid to tell me or decide I didn’t deserve to know.”

A snarl lifts Kaydence’s mouth, so I rush to tell her the rest. “She was coming to tell me today though.”

“Today?” Kay scoffs, shaking her head in disbelief. “It’s a few years too late, don’t you think?”

And, here comes the part of the conversation I’m really not looking forward to. I haven’t accepted it myself, so telling someone else about it isn’t going to be easy. “Yeah, probably, but Kay…”

Now I’m the one who can’t be still. I’m the one standing, pacing back and forth in front of the bench and running my hand through my hair. My hands yank the strands, needing the bite of pain to center myself long enough to continue. Once I say it out loud, it becomes real and there’s no taking it back.

When I’m ready, I stop, dropping down so I’m crouching at eye level with my sister and taking both her hands in my own. “Tina’s dying.”

Kaydence sucks in a loud breath, tears instantly rolling down her cheeks as she moves her head back and forth in a silent no.

My start of an explanation is interrupted when Grayson walks around the corner and says my name. Both of us look over at him, and he tilts his head towards the hospital. “Christina’s parents just arrived. You should probably get in there before they have a chance to take Nate.”

Shit . I’m so not ready to face them. I can’t even imagine at this point what they think about me. My chin drops to my chest and I attempt to gather what little strength I still have left.

Slender arms wrap around me as Kay guides my forehead to her shoulder. She’s kneeling in front of me on the dirty ground, giving me comfort I need more than anything else and letting me disassociate for just a minute or two before I have to gather myself and walk back into the madness.

Lifting my head, I meet her tear-filled gaze with my own. “You can do this, Brax. I’ll be right beside you the whole time. So will Grayson.”

Kaydence stands, holding out a hand for me to take and do the same. We walk together back to the room where Nathan is waiting, my fingers tightening around hers so much I know it hurts, but she never complains or tries to pull away. My sister might be crazy, but she’s the one constant in my life. Between her and the guys in the firehouse, I’ll never be alone again.