Chapter Thirty-Five
Dean
Hours earlier
“G! G! Please, God—Help him!”
I winced at the hoarse plea coming from the blonde beside me. The man I was supposed to hate—no, I did hate—was in my arms as I carried him to the chopper. The hospital was about a mile down the road, but time wasn’t on his side right now. Collin was fading in and out of consciousness.
Gwen came rushing to us, and all the doubts I had about her hesitancy around Collin went out the window.
My woman got to work. She checked his pulse while walking with me, her eyes bouncing back between his face and the wound.
Once we got him on the stretcher, she pulled his soaked clothing off him.
“No! Let me go! Gwen!” Kay screamed from behind me. Without taking her eyes off the injury, she ordered whoever was holding Kay back to let her on. The woman scrambled into the helicopter, breathing heavily.
“Gwen—”
My baby girl raised her head and looked her best friend in the eyes. “I’ve got him, Kay.”
A broken sound came from the woman’s mouth, and I instinctively wrapped my arms around her as the chopper lifted into the air. I rocked Kay back and forth, trying to soothe her. Her body was trembling, and she kept mumbling Collin’s name over and over.
Chanting it like a shattered prayer.
Getting everyone off the chopper was a blur.
Waiting in the ER, blur.
When the on-call doctor came to us, his face grim, I cursed as he told Kay there was nothing he could do. His heart suffered a rare injury. He said the best we can do was to “make him as comfortable as possible.” I gave Gwen a squeeze and brushed past Sullie and Dom as they came rushing in.
“Dean, where are you going?”
I turned to the small group surrounding a broken girl, a girl hanging on by a thread as the love of her life’s soul hung in the balance. When I looked at Karina’s face, all I saw was Gwen’s…five years ago, when a gun was pressed to my head.
Guilt washed over me like a cold midnight rain.
“I’ve got to make a call.”
“The bullet hit his heart.”
There was a strange tug on mine as James’ words settled over me. I looked up from my crossed ankles to find the agent running a hand through his hair. I suppressed a smile. It was good to have the old James back. He wasn’t gone for long, but it sure as fuck scared the shit out of me.
He had been at the stadium dealing with the aftermath of the explosion—though it was minor, two innocent people were still injured.
Their hospital bills would be sent to me.
Sullie said the Crew managed to get a lot of people out before the bomb went off.
The local PD was demanding to have the remaining men—the living ones—who came with Romano brought into custody.
James’ director had been dealing with politics for the last six hours.
The girls were downstairs in the ER with Karina. Before the devil got sent back to hell, he mentioned he had sent some men to—
I shook my head and suppressed a low growl.
There was so much shit to deal with, but the first thing we had to do was to make sure Collin survived.
“How did you find that out?” I asked, raising a brow.
He shot me a look. “How do you think?”
Casey.
I rolled my shoulders, groaning slightly at the stiffness. “Is that legal?” Not that I gave shit. I wanted to know the state of Collin too. I would have gotten the information somehow.
“Probably not. HIPAA and all,” he murmured before pulling out his phone to answer the call coming through. “Garner.”
I watched as he paced back and forth in front of me. We were outside the secure hallway where Collin was. Prisoners weren’t allowed near the general public.
But should Collin be in there?
A lump in my throat formed, and I found myself staring at my boots. There was dirt on them, along with the blood—Stevens’ blood. It was hard to miss. He was practically drowning in it when I found him and Kay…
Jesus.
She was covered in his blood. At first, I thought it was the shock of it all, but she was fighting for him.
Jer told me to kill him if I saw him…and I was loyal to the man who took care of my girl and our son for five damn years.
But seeing Karina cry out for the man beneath her, calling for God to grant him mercy, telling me that she wasn’t living on this Earth without him…
It was the same way Gwen and I felt about each other. Our souls weren’t tied together—they were welded together. What kind of man would I be if I took that love away from someone else? I took it away from Gwen for five years, and it was a miracle we found our way back.
“Dean.”
“Hm?” I looked up to find my friend looking at me with a curious look on his face. “What?”
“Are you alright?” What a question.
“I will be.” That was the truth; there was still a lot of shit that we had to work through. I lifted my chin to James. “Quantico?”
He blew out a breath and looked down the hall. “Ian Matthews just officially confessed everything.”
My brows rose once more. “Everything as in?”
“Every single murder Kevin committed and the use of illegal drugs. He also gave up the location of Matthews' warehouse near the Canadian border.”
“I sense a ‘but’ in there.”
He rubbed a hand down his face. “He wanted full immunity for Kevin and protection for their mother.”
“And?” I prompted, folding my arms over my chest. I was the last person to be handing out judgment, not with the blood on my hands.
“Someone is going to have to go to prison, Connors. You and I both know that,” he sighed. My immunity deal was signed and sealed. I would have to pray for my sins when I joined Romano in hell someday…but I would live the life I was destined to first, with Gwen and our son.
I nodded solemnly. “Kevin?”
“Unfortunately, that isn’t up to me. That will be the jury’s decision.”
That was going to be one hell of a trial.
“Where is he?”
James’s head snapped in the direction of Kay’s voice, and I cleared my throat.
“What the fuck is she doing up here?” he asked in horror.
I shrugged, knowing damn well I was the one to send that officer down to retrieve her.
Our blonde friend came into view, not looking any better than when I found her in the tunnel.
Her face was splotchy, her blue eyes red, her eyelids swollen from crying.
Her straight hair was up in a messy bun, held up by my baby girl’s scrunchy.
Warmth washed over me.
That's my girl.
Always taking care of everyone.
Kay’s jeans were covered in dried blood, her t-shirt stained as well. She looked like an extra on a cheap, overdone horror movie. James opened his mouth to talk, but she beat him to the punch by getting in his face.
“Collin is the one who saved Haley, you arrogant son of a bitch!” she seethed, getting into his face, shoving her finger up at him. “He is a fucking hero! He saved Haley and countless other women and children, yet you had him locked up here?”
The agent’s eyes went wide but only for half a second. He gently lowered her arm. “Karina, you aren’t supposed to be up here,” he said, his voice conveying he was trying not to lose his shit. He had a soft spot for Haley’s girls. Just like me. We were fucked.
“Fuck a cactus!” she snapped and turned to me.
I raised my brows in question. “You hurt him, and I’ll gut you like a fish,” she hissed, baring her teeth to me. Geez, she was even talking like the fucking hitman.
“I haven’t touched him, Kay. I promise,” I swore. Her features softened a fraction, and I gestured to the door. “Be my guest.”
She stepped up to the door, fully ready to yank it open, but stopped short. A Black male doctor, with short hair stepped out. He was wearing green scrubs that didn’t match the hospital’s uniform gray ones, looking down at the tablet resting on his palm, his dark brows pinched together.
“Excuse me,” Kay murmured and tried to slip past him. He raised his head and took in her appearance, likely checking for injuries.
“Ah, you must be Ms. Jones. Mr. Stevens is expecting you,” he said, his smooth voice seeming to calm her. He gave her a small smile and gestured for her to go in.
“Oh—uh, thank you,” she whispered and ducked into the hall, the officer trailing behind her.
The doctor turned to me, and that smile turned sad as it spread further across his face. “I would have preferred a phone call years ago. You know, just to tell me you weren’t actually dead,” he drawled, tucking the tablet under his arm.
I smirked and tilted my head. “I was a little busy, man.”
“Yeah, no shit, Connors,” he deadpanned before looking to James. He held his hand out. “Dr. Derik Stevens, cardiologist.”
“Agent James Garner,” he replied, shaking his hand. “How do you and Dean know each other?”
“We played baseball together in high school,” Derik answered, slapping my hand. We did our usual shake.
Just like riding a bike.
“Ah.” His eyes dropped to the engraving on Derik’s scrubs. “You don’t have privileges here. You’re from Dallas?”
“Correct, and I do as of ten minutes ago. They are prepping the OR for Mr. Stevens,” my old friend replied, clapping my back. He looked at me. “Though I wish it were under better circumstances, I appreciate you calling me.”
“You're the only man in the word who can handle this,” I replied and looked to the door before adding, “I’m sorry this was the first time I did.”
The words of the ER doctor echoed in my head. There’s not much we can do for him.
One look at Kay’s face, I knew I had to do something. Derik Stevens was one of the best cardiologists in the country, specializing in rare heart conditions and traumas. He also happened to owe me a favor.
I scoffed. “Thanks for coming on such short notice and not punching me in the face when you got here,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.
He nodded once, his jaw tightening. “Well don’t get your hopes up too high, Connors. I still might. That jaw of yours looks like it needs to be broken.”
“I’ll let you break my jaw when you finally admit your feelings for Alyssa.” Alyssa was his best friend and one of the top cornea specialists in the south. They met in medical school and have been stuck like glue ever since.
Before he could speak, the asshole doctor from the ER walked up to us and glared at me. I smiled, giving him a bright grin. I had been waiting for this.
He must have just gotten the news that Collin Stevens was no longer his patient.
“You don’t get to pull strings here because you know how to play baseball, boy! That was my patient! How dare you?”
I clenched my jaw and stepped to him. I had at least a foot on him. “Do me a favor? Find me a fuck to give.”
“Dr. Moring, how nice to see you again,” Derik drawled, stepping up beside me.
“Fuck you, Stevens,” he sneered as he walked away from us. I shot Derik a look. “What was that about?” I asked, curiosity peaking.
“Hawaii conference. Two years ago.”
“And I thought our lives were a shit show,” James muttered, staring down the hallway where Dr. Moring disappeared.
After a moment, my old friend cleared his throat. “I have to prep for surgery.”
I nodded once. “Be straight with me, Derik. Does Collin have a chance?”
His eyes held mine, unblinking. “I’ll do everything I can.”
I cursed under my breath and pinched the bridge of my nose as he walked away.