Chapter 48 Caden
CADEN
The first crack of a bullet pierced the air, and I was already running. The second crack and I was almost to Grae. But she was already falling.
I dropped to the ground next to her, my hands hovering over her body, not wanting to hurt her.
Some part of me was aware of Lawson and Roan checking Eddie for a pulse next to us.
“Caden,” Grae croaked.
“I’m right here. Where does it hurt?”
She had a slice across her neck. It wasn’t deep, but it was terrifying, nonetheless. Scratches decorated her arms in angry patches of red. And her eyes were unfocused.
“Everywhere,” she rasped.
“We need to get her to Doc,” I snapped at Nash and Holt.
Holt jerked his head in a nod.
Lawson looked up from Eddie’s fallen form. “He’s gone.”
There wasn’t a single part of me that was sad about that.
Law looked at Grae, worry etching itself deep in his expression. “I’ll stay with the body and wait for reinforcements.”
“I’ll stay with you,” Roan added.
I leaned over Grae, brushing the hair from her face and pressing my forehead to hers. “I’m going to pick you up.”
“Mm-kay.”
Her voice sounded far away, and panic lit through me. Her insulin pump beeped, and that panic turned to terror.
Holt bent, fumbling with the pump. “It’s out of insulin. She must be spiking.”
This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t lose her. Not again.
My arms slipped under Grae’s body, and she cried out in pain. I froze, my gaze jerking to Nash.
His jaw was so tight he likely cracked a molar. “We have to do it.”
I moved then, Grae’s moans slicing deep as I lifted her into my arms and stood. Her head rolled into my chest. “Gigi.”
“Mmm?” she mumbled.
“Need you to stay with me. Open those blues.”
Grae fought to open her eyes. “Feel funny.”
My steps came faster. “I know, but we’re gonna get you some help.”
“Love you, Caden,” she whispered, then her head went completely slack.
“Gigi!” I gave her a slight shake as I picked up to a run.
But there was no response. There was nothing at all.
The waiting room was full to bursting. Kerry and Nathan sat clutching each other’s hands.
Lawson stared down at his phone, most likely getting updates from Aspen, who was watching the kids.
Maddie clasped Nash’s hand, trailing her fingers over his arm in a comforting pattern.
Holt had his arm wrapped around a red-eyed Wren.
Roan glared at the wall opposite him. Jordan and Noel sat quietly, both pale with shock from the news about Eddie.
The grief and anxiety were palpable. The emotions swirled around the room, grating against my skin and making me twitchy.
I pushed to my feet, unable to take it anymore. I strode out of the waiting room and into the hall. I couldn’t leave, but I couldn’t stay either. So, I paced. Up and down the hall, counting the linoleum tiles as I went. Blue. White. Blue. White.
Grae’s face flashed in my mind: her skin unnaturally pale and clammy, her breaths shallow.
Memories slammed against the walls I’d tried so hard to keep up—memories from all those years ago when I’d almost lost her.
“Caden?”
I turned at the sound of a familiar voice. “Mom?”
She hurried over to me, wrapping me in a hug. “How is she? Have you heard anything?”
I shook my head. “The doctors are still working on her.”
Mom released her hug but took my hands. She searched my eyes, clearly not liking what she saw there. “I’m so sorry.”
My ribs twisted in a painful vise. “I don’t think I can take this.”
She squeezed my hands. “You can and you will. You’ll stay strong for Grae until she can be strong for herself.”
“It’s my greatest fear.”
Mom’s brows pinched. “What is?”
“That I’d lose her the way I lost Clara.
” It was the first time I’d truly given voice to the thoughts that’d tormented me for so long.
I knew why I’d stayed away from Grae after her diagnosis.
It had felt too precarious to remain close.
But it hadn’t done me any good. Because Grae had already buried herself deep.
So deep no amount of time or distance would ever get her out.
“Oh, Caden,” my mom said, pulling me into another hug. But, this time, she didn’t let go. “I knew it marked you.”
“It marked all of us.”
Her hand rubbed up and down my back in a way she hadn’t done in years. “We can’t let losing her keep twisting us up and forcing us into making all the wrong decisions. Clara would never want that.”
“I know,” I rasped.
“Loving people means exposing ourselves to the worst kind of pain.”
My arms jerked around her.
“But it also gives us the greatest beauty we’ll ever experience. Can you honestly tell me you’d trade even one second with Grae to escape this pain?”
I pulled back, meeting my mom’s eyes. “No.”
She squeezed my arms. “Because you love her.”
“I wasted so much time trying to keep her out.” My words were barely audible, just a faint, raw whisper.
My mom pinned me with a stare. “But you aren’t going to waste any more.”
“I asked her to marry me.”
Mom beamed, her eyes going glassy. “I can’t wait to plan that wedding.”
That startled a laugh out of me—the last sound I would’ve expected. “You and Kerry both.”
Footsteps sounded in the hall, and I turned to see a man in scrubs heading toward the waiting room. I instantly moved in that direction.
He stepped inside, looking around the space. “Grae Hartley’s family?”
Everyone instantly stood.
“I’m Dr. Jones. I’ve been taking care of Grae.”
“How is she?” Kerry croaked.
He turned his focus on Grae’s mother. “She’s stable but hasn’t regained consciousness. She had several superficial wounds that we cleaned and stitched, but the greater issue right now is that she has been in ketoacidosis.”
Kerry let out a strangled sound, pressing into her husband’s side.
“We’ve got her blood sugar back in range. Now, we just have to wait for her to wake up. We’ll have more information then.”
“Can I see her?” I said the words before I even knew I’d thought them.
The doctor turned to me. “We can have one or two people in the room at a time. It’s up to you who goes first.”
Kerry sent me a wobbly smile. “She’d want to wake up to you.”
That burn was back in my chest. “Thank you.”
The two words were barely audible, but the sentiment was there.
The doctor nodded and motioned me out of the waiting room. I followed him down the hall to a bank of elevators.
“We have her in ICU currently so we can keep a close eye on her, but she’s breathing on her own.”
I wanted that to reassure me, but the truth was I was too damn terrified, so I simply nodded.
When the elevator doors opened on another floor, Dr. Jones led me down another hall, punching a code into two double doors. He guided me through a maze of rooms until he stopped outside an open door. “Talk to her. It might help.”
I swallowed, trying to clear the lump in my throat, and then I moved inside. The smell of antiseptic nearly took me out at the knees. Memories of countless days spent with Clara as she underwent treatment. Memories of sleepless nights by Grae’s bedside. But I forced my feet forward.
The sight of Grae did me in. Her body looked so tiny in the massive hospital bed. Her face so pale. She had gauze wrapped around her neck, and wires protruded from beneath her hospital gown.
But I didn’t let myself stop. Not until I sank into the chair next to her bed.
I gingerly took her hand in mine, lifting it and pressing my lips to her skin. “I’m right here, Gigi. I’m not going anywhere.”
It was a vow. An oath.
The tears came as I watched her chest rise and fall. I didn’t try to stop them; each one held all the love I felt for the woman beside me. I let them fall onto our joined hands, hoping they’d magically bring her back to me.
I slid my hand into my pocket and pulled out the necklace I’d carried with me for eleven years.
Ever since the EMTs had taken it off Grae to place paddles on her chest and shock her back to life.
I laid it over our joined hands. Some part of me believed holding on to it for so long had brought her back to me once. I just needed it to do it again.
My lips ghosted over her hand. “Need you, Gigi. Please, don’t leave me.”