Chapter 31
His sleep shattered like glass—first a crash and then a clatter.
Liam surfaced from oblivion slowly reluctantly.
It was instantly familiar, his body recognized being dragged from REM, and he knew he was in the on-call room.
He opened his eyes, expecting to see a nurse or resident in a doorway.
Instead, he blinked as the room revealed itself with moonlit geometry, slashes of pine shadows on the ceiling, and the faint pink glow of embers still smoldering in the hearth.
His senses came to life one by one, the scent of vanilla and citrus, his arm heavy with the weight and warmth of Frankie’s body, and the delicate sprawl of hair arcing across the pillow like a spilled ink stain.
He cursed under his breath, the sound muffled by the thick log walls, as he stood. The cold hit his naked skin instantly, the mountain air even sharper at this hour. He found his sweats by the woodstove and tugged them on as he padded, half-blind, to the door.
His groggy brain was still waking up as he flung the door open.
Outside, the porch light illuminated a single male figure.
Frankie’s brother, Niko, stood alone. His mouth was working, trying for words, but his hands were shaking, and his lips were cracked from the wind.
Liam didn't let him inside. For one thing, he didn’t want Niko to see Frankie.
For another, the energy radiating off Niko made Liam want to brace himself.
He took in Niko's behavior with a kind of surgical detachment, an ER doctor’s triage of a scene that didn’t compute, because Niko had never shown up at Liam’s door looking like terror had hollowed him out from the inside.
He felt a small, sour jolt of dread, he’d never seen this kid look anything but arrogant and invincible, not in all the years he’d known the twins.
He catalogued Niko’s shallow breaths and the adrenaline glaze in his eyes. This was an imminent crisis, not drama.
“What is it?” Liam’s voice came out rougher than he’d intended, like a threat rather than a question.
Niko met his gaze for half a second before looking away again. “Something happened,” he said, his voice cracking.
Liam’s brain, still catching up, flicked through possibilities.
“Is it AJ?” he asked, panic already beginning to ignite.
Niko shook his head, jaw clenched so tight it seemed fused. “It’s your dad.”
It was a phrase he’d heard Niko use at least a dozen times with Tristan depending on the situation, sometimes as a lifeline to get them out of trouble when Dr. Sterling showed up on the scene to save the day when they’d done something stupid, or as a warning of the noose that would hang them when they’d fucked up and broken a rule and Dad came home early.
Only this time Niko didn’t say it with familial fear or schoolboy idiocy.
He said it like a nuclear bomb had landed, and there was nothing left of the house but ashes and glass.
“My dad?” Liam heard himself repeat.
“Mom said when they got back to the cabin after the reception, he complained about being tired and said he wanted to lie down. She went to take a shower, when she came out, he was on the bed. She couldn’t wake him up.
” Niko’s voice quivered around the words, and for a split-second Liam saw Niko as a little kid, the one who used to build Lego fortresses and eat nothing but string cheese and grape juice.
“She called an ambulance. They took him to Pine Ridge. She went with him. I had to… We kept trying to call you, but it kept going to voicemail. We thought you were at home, but you weren’t.
I drove back here because…I didn’t know where else to look. ”
Liam’s fingers curled into fists at his sides, the cold slicing into him, the wind so brittle and sharp it made his eyes water. “He’s gone. He’s dead.”
“No. What? No!” Niko shook his head. “They said it’s his heart. They’re doing tests, but my mom wants you there. Tristan needs you there. He needs you.”
The world compressed to a single axis, Niko’s voice the only thing tethering Liam to earth. He felt dizzy as he inhaled and swallowed, his throat prickling raw. “Okay.”
“Do you know where Mouse is? We went to her cabin. Everyone’s trying to find her. Mom is freaking out. We’re trying her phone but—” Niko looked over Liam’s shoulder and Liam watched all the color drain from his face.
He glanced back and saw Frankie’s dress hanging over the chair with her underwear and bra beside it.
Fuck.
Liam moved to the side, blocking the doorway with his body out of pure instinct, but the damage was done. Niko’s jaw flexed and his eyes narrowed, and for a moment Liam wondered if he was going to say something, but Niko just glanced down at his feet and then met Liam’s gaze again.
“Everyone’s at the hospital,” he said, his tone detached, businesslike. “If you want a ride—”
“I’ll drive,” Liam’s answer was immediate.
Niko nodded again and then turned and started down the steps. He glanced over his shoulder. “You should hurry.”
The porch light bounced off the dusting of frost on the walkway, the hush of the mountains all around.
Liam didn’t watch Niko leave. He closed the door as quietly as he could and felt the sudden vacuum of cold air in the room.
For a moment he just stood there, heart pumping a thick, metallic panic, before the rest of his body caught up.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Frankie sit up in bed. “Was that Niko?” she managed, pulling the quilt tighter around herself.
Liam was already heading to the bathroom. “My dad had to go to the hospital.”
“Hospital?!” She sprang up. “What happened?”
He was pulling out clothes from his duffle bag as Frankie padded into the bathroom, the throw blanket wrapped around her.
“Your mom said that when they left the reception, my dad said he was tired. She took a shower, and he decided to lie down. When she came out, he was non-responsive. They called an ambulance, and she went with him.”
“What was wrong with him? Is he okay?” she asked as she pulled on her underwear and then snapped her bra in front of her at her waist, shimmied it around to her back, then pulled it up in place.
“They said it’s his heart. That’s all the information I have.”
“Why didn’t they call you? Why didn’t they call me?”
“They tried. There’s no signal here. They thought I was at home. I wasn’t. They tried you at your cabin, you weren’t there.” Liam took a breath. “Niko saw your clothes. He knows you were here.”
“Oh, okay.” Frankie looked at her dress then back to his oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants, her two clothing options.
“Do you want to go to your cabin to grab clothes?” he asked as he stepped into his running shoes.
“No.” She opted for his sweats, rolling the bottoms before slipping on her heels. “It’s giving Rihanna.”
He sighed with relief that they wouldn’t have to make another stop and grabbed his keys and phone.
They left the cabin and headed down the walkway.
He knew he was walking fast, but Frankie, being Frankie, was not about to be left behind, she was keeping up even in her heels on the wet stone walkway.
He was not going to have her break an ankle trying to keep up with him, so he bent down.
Without saying a word, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and he carried her piggyback.
“This was when I fell in love with you,” she said quietly in his ear as he carried her down the path.
“What?”
“The day that I fell from the tree and hurt my knee and you rode up on your bike and then you carried me piggyback to the house, that was the day I fell in love with you, if you were wondering.”
Warmth exploded in his chest, and it spread through his entire body. Hearing her say those words felt like a hug for his soul. Knowing that someone had loved him that long. All that time, he was sure he was unlovable, someone had loved him, the best person in the entire world loved him.
The silence loomed big enough to be another passenger in the car on the 30-minute drive to Pine Ridge.
The highway was empty but for wildlife skittering along the shoulder, a coyote, some deer, the red flash of a fox’s tail under the moon.
Liam kept both hands on the wheel, knuckles bloodless.
Frankie, in the passenger seat, now barefoot pulled his hoodie over her legs and tucked her knees up to her chest. She stared out the window, chewing the drawstring of the sweatshirt, as if the motion might slow her pulse.
He appreciated her not making small talk.
Every five minutes or so, she’d reach over and touch his arm, letting him know she was there for support.
The hospital sign cut through the night with its own brand of cold, fluorescent light.
He parked in the visitors’ lot for the first time, where the spaces radiated out from the main entrance like spokes on a wheel.
Frankie slid her heels back on and tried to smooth her hair, but it sprang away from her hands in wild spirals.
She wound it in a bun on top of her head as they walked at a brisk pace, in silence.
Inside the ER waiting room, everything was both familiar and wrong.
The air held that signature blend of antiseptic, old coffee, and recycled anxiety.
Zeta, was on as night charge nurse, and the first to spot him as they entered.
She made a beeline for Liam, her face the neutral mask of a professional bracing for family.
Frankie veered to the left, intercepting her mom, who rushed towards him with Yaya by her side.
He saw Niko and Tristan were there too, both with the shell-shocked look of men who’d spent the last hours pacing and cursing.