Chapter 54
***Remington***
“Get off me!” I spun around, ready to attack whoever was grabbing me from behind, and saw Jake with his face set in stone.
He shoved me towards the door and I stumbled over a rug before catching myself and preparing to get back into the fray.
I wanted to rip that stupid fucker’s face from his skull.
Boone ran at me, holding Memphis in his arms. She was limp, with her head and arms hanging loosely. The sight of her body so lifeless cleared the bloodlust from my head and I moved out of the way so he could run past me. I saw Wells on top of Charlie, punching him in the face over and over again.
Jake grabbed Wells by the back of the neck and jerked him to his feet. “Go! You leave now or you’re going to be trapped here answering questions for the cops. Memphis needs you.”
Wells looked around wildly, searching for her. “Where?”
“Take the car. Leave the gate open and I’ll handle this shit.” Jake pointed to Jackson cowering in the corner. “Who the fuck is this one?”
“Memphis’s brother. He doesn’t go to jail. Keep him somewhere safe until I get back.” I ran out of the house and saw Wells already climbing into the backseat.
Boone threw the keys at me when I looked into the back and saw Memphis’s still unconscious body in his lap. He was holding his fingers to her wrist while scowling. “Drive.”
I flew into the city, breaking every traffic law. The image of Memphis’s limp body scorched through my head nonstop and I banged my fists on the steering wheel as fear overwhelmed the rest of my emotions. “Talk to me! Is she okay?”
“Systolic pressure is high. Her pulse is racing. I don’t see any signs of trauma, but that doesn’t mean a fucking thing. How much longer?” Boone barked out everything he said, all signs of the calm surgeon gone. “Jesus, Wells, that isn’t your blood.”
Wells’ voice was dark as he responded. “I’m only sad there isn’t more. He tried to get her brother to hurt her.”
“He got what he wanted.” Boone growled. “How much longer?”
Instead of answering, I took a turn going way too fast and squealed to a stop in front of the emergency room entrance. I left the car running as I jumped out and ripped open the door for Boone.
He passed her body to me and I felt just how limp she was in my arms. My heart sank as crippling fear nearly kept me standing frozen.
It was only Wells shoving me towards the door that got me moving.
I ran into the emergency room and saw Boone already speaking with a couple of nurses.
The waiting room was full of people, but the nurses spotted Memphis and came running over.
Everything moved so fast after that. Wells and I had to wait while Boone used his ins with the different doctors and nurses to stay in the back with Memphis. Sitting in the waiting room with a ton of people shot my already frayed nerves so Wells and I waited outside.
“Car’s gone.” Wells rubbed his hand down his face and looked at the blood smears without saying anything.
I didn’t respond. My head was being split in two by a headache unlike any I’d ever experienced before. Worry and fear for Memphis and the confusion and anger from finding her brother in our house, touching our mother’s things, twisted me up until I couldn’t figure out what I should do.
“She didn’t deny any of it. Right? Did I miss it? Maybe I just didn’t hear her deny it.” Wells rubbed at his knuckles and looked over at me, feeling like my younger brother more than ever.
A deep ache radiated out from my chest. “She didn’t deny anything.”
“I don’t understand.” He looked out at the night around us. “Which part is fake? The kid she’s carrying isn’t fake. The sex isn’t fake. Her feelings...her feelings can’t be fake. I mean, she cares about us. Nothing anyone can say will make me believe otherwise.”
I squatted against the brick wall behind me and let my head rest against it. “I don’t know.”
“Her brother...that kid isn’t okay. None of this is okay.
” Pushing away from the wall, Wells pulled out his phone and looked at the screen.
“I know a few people from a long time ago who became rehab success stories. I’m going to find out the places they went and start looking into it.
The second you see Boone, just shout and I’ll be back. ”
I lifted my hand and watched him walk away. My younger brothers were taking control and I was crumbling against a dirty sidewalk in downtown Chicago.
When my phone rang, I fumbled it out of my pocket and cracked the screen before managing to answer it. “What?”
“Charlie Brennan has been charged and arrested. A cop buddy of mine will keep me updated about any changes when he goes before a judge.” Jake swore. “And I’ve got one high as a kite kid brother who thinks he killed his sister and won’t stop hitting himself. Tell me she’s okay.”
I swallowed around a lump in my throat. “I don’t know. Boone’s in the back with her. Wells is calling around to find a rehab for Jackson. It won’t take long once he picks one.”
“That shit stain Charlie has a rap sheet as long as my dick. He’s mostly a petty criminal, but he’s bad news.
” Jake sighed, and I knew he had more information that he was hesitating to share.
“Her other brother, the one not locked in a bathroom right now, he’s doing time at a prison in Georgia for theft.
He’s been in for a few years and has another several to go.
I saw she’s only called one number the entire time she’s been here.
She calls her brother weekly. Every week at the same time, down to the minute almost. She had something set up at the prison before she left to come here.
She paid to have a certain amount of money put on his books each week.
It’s not much, but it’s more than most guys ever get. ”
“Why are you telling me this, Jake?”
“Because I think you need to hear her out before you make any decisions. I listened to that asshole for far too long before the cops took him away and he tried to paint Memphis out as this career criminal, but it’s bullshit, boss.
She’s a good woman. She’s still taking care of her fuckup brothers while seemingly doing anything she can to survive.
” After hesitating for another moment, he cleared his throat.
“I don’t know a lot of people who would give up five years of their life, Remy, especially when the only big purchases she’s made in years have been for her brothers.
She’s not greedy. She didn’t sign up to be bred for five years for herself.
Even the most basic of checks that I ran while sitting here showed that much. ”
“I’ll call you if anything changes here.” I hung up the phone and pulled my arm back to throw it at the brick wall as hard as I could. Watching it shatter into a hundred tiny pieces made me feel marginally better.