Chapter 26
Gage
Tuesday evening meant relaxing with Logan at his place.
It was my turn to take a day off, and since I’d had little to do, I’d taken a half day.
We’d mostly run errands, enjoying time spent together and doing a bit more to Erin’s room.
She was due to move in next Friday, and Logan wanted everything perfect for her. He was such a good big brother.
I carried in the last bag and set it on the bed. The room looked great painted green, and I could see traces of Asher’s influence here and there. “You really did buy things Asher told you to.”
“Damn right I did. When an expert offers free advice, I take it.”
“I’m not remotely surprised. I think—” My phone rang in my pocket.
Pulling it free, I looked at the screen and immediately groaned.
Cooper.
Logan glanced at the screen too, and his expression became closed off, almost unreadable. “He still calling you when he’s in trouble?”
“Less now, but yes. After his stint in jail, he sent a sorry text, so I unmuted his number. I had this feeling he might actually be doing some reflecting, and if so, I don’t want to discourage him.”
It was, granted, entirely possible that was wishful thinking, but Cooper had never apologized to me in his life. I’d figured it couldn’t hurt to give him the benefit of the doubt.
But calling? I didn’t know what to do about him calling me.
I stared at my phone for a long moment, debating whether to answer it or not. The call ended, then immediately rang again. Normally, he’d call, and when I ignored him, he’d text and rant about how I was a bad brother. He’d never before called back-to-back.
Some spidey sense tingled, telling me this was important, how it was vital I took this call. Against my better judgment, I answered. “What?”
A sob answered me, and my foreboding feeling only intensified. He sounded distraught, and that was never a good thing.
“Gage.” Cooper’s voice trembled, thick with tears. “Gage, he’s dead. He’s dead and I don’t know what to do.”
For a moment, just a moment, I forgot every trace of anger I held toward Cooper.
All I could hear was his panic, how distressed he was, and my knee-jerk reaction was to help.
How could I do anything else when he sobbed?
I hadn’t heard him this distraught in a decade, at least, and I hoped to god I never would again.
Listening to him cry actively felt like someone jabbed me repeatedly in the chest with an ice pick.
Autopilot engaged and I immediately turned, snatching up my keys, because this was genuinely bad. I didn’t have details, but I knew I had to help. I just had to. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself tomorrow if I didn’t go now.
I caught Logan’s eye, and he must have seen from my expression this was bad. He immediately got up and headed for the door, plucking the keys from my hand as he moved. I almost resisted on reflex, but then he looked me right in the eye and I could see everything he didn’t say aloud.
You’re in no state to drive, let me help those eyes said.
I couldn’t fight him when he was here trying to support me, and he was right. I was shaken and probably shouldn’t be driving. I was so grateful my boyfriend didn’t need me to spell anything out. I gave him a quick, helpless smile before shooting out the door. I turned my attention back to Cooper.
“Cooper, I need you to slow down, start from the beginning. Start with telling me where you are.”
“Are you coming?”
“Yeah, I’m coming, but where are you?”
“I don’t…I don’t exactly know? I’m…I wasn’t driving, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. I’m a little drunk right now. I’m…I think we’re on Grand River? We were heading toward Kensington Park.” He hissed, like he was in pain.
I now had a location, although that was a long stretch of road, and parts of it weren’t very populated. “Are you hurt?”
“A little. My whole right side hurts. Arm’s probably broken, it hurts to breathe. The car overturned. I barely got myself out. Jesse’s not looking good, Dwayne’s out cold but he’s breathing, I think he’s okay.”
“So this was a full car? And you weren’t driving?”
“No, Billy…Billy was driving. He’s dead, he was shot.”
How the fuck was he shot while driving?! No, that answer could wait. “Listen, I want you to hang up with me—”
“NO!” The word was panic.
Right, that wouldn’t fly. “Can you get someone’s phone? Anyone’s phone, and call 911? You’ve got to get help for your other friends.”
“I…yeah. Yeah, I can. Uh, hold on.”
I threw myself into the passenger seat of the Jeep and told Logan, “Head toward Kensington Park, get on Grand River to do it. He’s somewhere along that road.”
“Got it.”
Logan, bless him, took off out of his driveway like a bat out of hell.
“Got Jesse’s phone. I’m calling 911.”
I stayed on the phone with Cooper, switching to speaker so Logan could also stay abreast of the situation.
I listened as he told the 911 dispatcher what happened and where approximately they were.
He was rattled—he had to stop and repeat things or go back to make more sense of what he’d told her.
Shock was a hell of a drug, and I had a feeling Cooper was more hurt than he’d let on.
Hell, he might not even realize how hurt he was, if he was high on adrenaline and drunk to boot.
I also felt rattled, barely holding myself together.
Knowing Cooper was in trouble, serious trouble, made my heart bleed.
Dammit, this was why I wanted him to get clean, to avoid situations exactly like this one!
How could he not understand I’d helped him so many times because I loved him and didn’t want him hurt?
Would it really take this road of hard knocks to beat it into him?
I didn’t know if my heart could handle Cooper taking the rough road.
My heart shivered with fear and dread, even knowing my brother was alive with help on the way.
My hand found Logan’s thigh, and I kept it there because touching him grounded me. I wished we could hold hands, but his Jeep was a manual, and he needed his hand to shift gears. He clasped my hand a few times when he could, squeezing gently in support.
I felt so thankful for him, I didn’t even know how I’d pay this back.
A few times Cooper would pause and go “Gage?”
“Still here, still on my way.”
My assurance was enough every time, and he’d go back to talking to the dispatcher.
It felt like an eternity, even with Logan speeding the whole way, but we finally arrived.
It was obvious we were at the right place, as two ambulances, a fire truck, and three cop cars were all on scene.
Logan slowed, coming to a stop, and I was out of the Jeep the second he’d braked.
A cop tried to intercept me, and I knew I had to explain to get past him.
“My brother’s in that accident.”
“You Gage?”
“That’s me.”
“Come with me, then.”
The cop seemed to accept Logan being with me, as he didn’t say anything, just led us past the traffic cones.
I saw a horrific scene as I hastily followed.
A sedan lay on its right side, and from the roof, it looked like it had completely barrel-rolled until it came to a stop.
My god, Cooper had survived that? The back window was completely blown out, as were the side windows, which wasn’t too much of a surprise.
It must have been terrifying having the car flip.
It horrified me just looking at the wreckage.
Hell, just the sight of the scene nearly scared me sober.
Relief hit me again that Cooper had somehow survived, but pity for his dead friend and those hurt welled up in my chest as well.
There was another car, also on its side, farther ahead, which was a surprise to me. Cooper hadn’t mentioned any other car on the phone, but then again, he was beyond rattled.
Sirens blared, but the main noises were all the first responders calling to each other and people crying or trying to speak.
I saw Dwayne, who was still out cold, being loaded onto a gurney.
Jesse was also unconscious, and rescuers were carefully extracting him from the car.
The first responders must have just arrived on scene if they were still pulling people out of cars.
Cooper sat in the back of the ambulance, being examined by a paramedic, and he was not a pretty sight. Tears streamed down his face, his eyes were bloodshot, his shirt was a disaster from blood and tears. He looked like he’d survived some war zone. The second he saw me, he reached out a hand.
I headed straight to him, hugging him to me, and it was like my touch was all he needed for the dam to burst. He started sobbing in my arms, and I held him tighter.
I couldn’t find the words to say “It’ll be all right,” because nothing about this situation was good.
He’d lost a friend tonight. That ghost would ride with him for a long time.
I was selfishly glad it wasn’t Cooper who’d been killed.
The paramedic tapped my arm to draw my attention. She was around my age, dark hair in a ponytail, with a very no-nonsense air about her. “Sir? Your brother needs an X-ray. I suspect he’s broken this arm.”
She’d been splinting the arm, so her remark made sense. “Can I ride with you?”
“Sure, but we need to load him in and go.”
I turned to Logan, and he promised, “Right behind you.”
“Thanks.” I seriously had the best boyfriend in the world.
I coaxed Cooper up into the ambulance. The EMTs got him situated on the gurney and an IV hooked up to him, which was honestly a great idea.
He was probably dehydrated between all the drinking and crying.
I sat on the little bench next to him, the doors were hastily shut, and we were off almost immediately.
“What about Jesse and Dwayne?” Cooper asked the EMT.
“We’ve got another ambulance on the way for them, should arrive any minute.”
I heard the sirens of another ambulance. “I think we just passed them.”