Jackson
“Nah, this will be a good game. We’ve got this. You’ve seen how their team has been playing. We’ll have no problem beating them.” Cord smirks as he sways side to side, rocking his son on his shoulder.
Seeing the guys get married and start families is making me want the same. I can’t wait to officially make Harper my wife and start a family with her. I guess I should make sure she wants that too, but I think we’ve always been on the same page.
I jump up and race towards him, meeting him as he’s exiting his office.
“What happened?”
“Evan showed up… Someone was shot.” He shakes his head like he can’t believe the words coming out of his own mouth.
“Who? Who was shot? Are they ok?” My voice sounds frantic, but I don’t care. I just need to know she’s safe.
“Maddox. He’s at the hospital. I don’t know how he is-”
“I have to go!” I cut him off, already racing towards my cubby to grab my keys.
“Nah, you’re not driving, Jackson. I already pulled my car around. Let’s go.” Charlie places a hand on my shoulder and guides me towards the door.
“Are you sure you can drive? You were close to Maddox too.” My vision is blurring as tears gather. Maddox has always been part of my family. He showed up to every celebration and was there for every milestone. When I signed with the Pit Bulls, he was there cheering me on.
“I am close with Maddox. Stop talking about him in the past tense,” Charlie hisses, practically shoving me towards her car.
The drive to the hospital is a blur. I barely pay attention to anything. I'm too busy praying Maddox will be ok. Not only would it be a hit to lose him, but I know Harper would forever blame herself if something happened to her dad.
I swear, in the blink of an eye, we’re pulling up outside of the hospital.
“Go find her. I’ll park and then make my way up. I want to call Aunt Olivia. I’m not sure if she knows and she’ll want to know.”
As soon as I enter the hospital, Mom’s waiting for me. She wraps me in a hug before silently leading me to a waiting room.
Harper’s sitting in the corner with Cali and Emma. Their heads are bowed and they’re sobbing. Mason’s pacing back and forth while Dad is talking to a doctor with Kelsey at his side.
“Harper,” her name comes out somewhere between a whisper and a sob. When she hears my voice, her head snaps up and she jumps out of her chair. She races over to me and throws herself into my arms. “What happened, baby?”
“Ev-Evan shot him,” she cries, burying her face in the crook of my neck.
Though I really want to know what else happened, I don’t ask. She’s too upset to talk to me right now. I can discuss this with her later on. Right now, I'm focusing on how she’s unharmed and finding out how Maddox is doing.
I lift Harper into the air and she quickly wraps her arms and legs around my body. I take a seat next to Cali, keeping Harper on my lap.
“Hey, Cali, what can I do for you?” I wrap my arm around her shoulders and tug her closer.
“You’re already doing it,” she whispers, nodding towards Harper.
“What happened?”
“Evan came looking for Harper. Mason and Maddox got her out of the kitchen before he came back there. Evan had Emma at gun point when he entered the kitchen but Mason stole Evan’s focus.
They made sure Emma was able to escape, but when Evan’s focus was a little too strong on Mason, Maddox jumped in and surprised Evan.
He got shot in the shoulder. There was a lot of bleeding, but they think he’ll be ok.
He’s almost finished with his surgery now. ”
“What happened to Evan?”
“Well, I don’t think he’ll be a problem. He’s in the operating room…” she trails off and glances at her daughter. “They don’t think he’ll make it.”
I sink back into the chair, taking Harper with me. I hold her close as she continues to cry. I'm sure she feels some sort of guilt over Evan being hurt as well, but she shouldn’t. Everything that’s happened is Dennis and Evan’s fault, no one else’s.