Chapter 9 Gavin
GAVIN
Everyone in the waiting area jumps to their feet when we hear the noises coming from Ari’s room, and my stomach sinks when the nursing staff comes running. One of the nurses forces Keon from the room, and it’s chaos as the door shuts in his face.
Keon turns around, and it’s like his knees give out. I’m over to him in three steps, catching him before he hits the floor. He wraps his arms around me, holding on for dear life, and I lead him out of the hallway. Tyler pushes in behind him, lending him his strength.
Keon has been with Ari the longest, which is why he’s second in command. Ari and Keon have had many ups and downs, according to the stories I’ve heard. I feel like my heart is being ripped from my chest, so I can’t imagine what Keon and Tyler feel.
Axel steps up beside us and wraps his long arms around us all.
It’s so quiet in the waiting area that you can hear a pin drop.
Keon’s body is shaking, and I know it’s from all the emotions coursing through him.
We stand huddled together until one of the doctors steps into the waiting room.
We look up expectantly, but he looks grim.
“There’s no easy way to say this, but his organs are shutting down. His body has been through so much. We’re doing everything that we can, and we aren’t giving up. However, I think it would be best if you start saying your goodbyes.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Axel says gruffly, trying to hold it together.
With a brisk nod, he disappears around the corner. I can’t say goodbye to Ari. He saved me from myself. He never let me sit around and wallow in self pity. No matter how bad he pissed me off, I get it now.
“Baby brother.” I whirl around at the sound of Ghost’s voice, and he pulls me from the guys into his arms.
“Fuck, it’s good to see you.”
“You should have called.” Ghost hugs me tighter, and I feel a tiny body curl into my side. I wrap my other arm around Bridget’s shoulder as she tries to hide her sniffles.
“I didn’t want to bring you guys into this mess. It happened so fast.”
“We’re here now,” Bridget says quietly, and that’s when I look up. Ghost’s whole family is there with food and drinks for everyone. Just like that, the dam breaks and a sob bursts from my chest. Ghost holds me tighter, locking one hand on the back of my head.
“You don’t have to do this alone,” Ghost whispers. “We’re here for whatever you need.”
My hands clutch at him like a goddamn lifeline.
If it were up to Grant, we never would have had this.
He hated how close we were growing up and did everything he could to keep us separated, because deep down he knew we would band together against him.
It happened much later in life, but we did.
We took that motherfucker down together.
Ghost lets me get my shit together before he leads me to a chair.
“What are they saying?” he asks once we’re seated.
“Nothing good. They don’t think he’s going to make it out of the coma.”
“Then they don’t know Ari,” Sean says, flopping beside me.
“I saw that man take three bullets. One to the shoulder, one to the leg, and one to the stomach. He kicked that fuckers ass for that. He passed out directly after, but he recovered.” I chuckle at that, which I know was Sean’s intention.
“All I’m saying is, if you guys start giving up on him, he won’t have a reason to come back. And he will come back.”
“He’s right,” Ghost agrees. “They told us the same thing after you got shot. Nurses and doctors kept telling us we needed to make peace, but we refused. You woke up, Gav, and so will he.”
Just the mention of the gunshot has me rubbing my chest over the spot which has turned into a habit. It’s like any time someone mentions how close I came to death, I have to touch it to remind myself that I’m really here. “We’re trying, but it’s getting damn hard.”
Ghost’s eyes land on someone and he cocks his head. “Who’s that?”
I follow his line of sight. “Tivon. He apparently grew up with Ari. It’s a long story.” I look around the waiting room and raise a brow at Ghost. “Where did your wife go?”
“Her and Les went to see Jason with Caden.”
Just seeing how easy Ghost makes his relationships work gives me hope for what we’re starting, but we don’t have any of this without Ari. “Kira’s up there too.”
“Hm. Something else you didn’t tell me about.”
I grimace. “Yeah. I’ve been a little distracted.”
Ghost chokes on a laugh. “I can tell. I can also tell by the way your little boyfriend is staring at you that things have progressed.” My eyes immediately find Tyler’s, not even needing to ask who he’s talking about.
“He knows.”
“It’s about damn time. When did you finally grow the balls to tell him how you felt?”
I laugh. “I didn’t. He told me in his normal Tyler way.”
“I’m happy for you, brother. Don’t be afraid to lean on them.” I raise my brow, and he rolls his eyes. “I know that’s rich coming from me, but they showed me that I can lean on them.”
“I know, and I’m trying.”
The machines from Ari’s room start blaring again, making the nursing staff bust ass down the hallway. I drop my head in my hands, unsure how we’re going to get through this.
Pull the plug.
I look at the doctor like he’s grown three heads.
“Pull the plug? You haven’t even given him forty-eight hours!
” They spent all night trying to keep Ari alive.
Every time we thought he was in the clear, his machines would start going off again.
After the last time, the doctor had the nerve to tell us that we needed to let Ari go.
“You aren’t doing anything for him by keeping him alive, besides making him suffer.”
Most of the teams cleared out when the doctor approached us. It just left me, my team, Kira, and Jason, who they let come down here since he’s the “husband”. “Suffer?” I growl. “You’ve already written him off!”
“I’ll give you some time—”
“We don’t need time,” Keon cuts in. “The answer is no.”
“I really need—”
“I think you need to walk away.” Kane’s voice has us turning his way. He has his arm tucked securely around Kira, looking like he could spit nails. “They have told you no repeatedly. You’ve made your opinions known.”
“Sir…” the doctor trails off from the look on Kane’s face.
“He is their family. We were already aware that he would struggle in the beginning.” Kane gently leads Kira into Keon’s arms and walks to stand beside us.
He tucks his hands in his pockets, and even I have to admit, he’s scary as hell.
“But if you bring up taking him off life support again, you won’t live to tell another family member that.
” The doctor’s face pales. “Your only job is to keep that man alive. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir.” The doctor hurries away and Kane turns to us.
“I’m not happy how things…transpired with you all and my sister, but I can see now how much you care for one another.” Kane pauses and tilts his head to the side. “That’s not to say I won’t cut you open if you hurt her, but I’ll leave you alive. For now.”
Kane walks away, and I make the mistake of looking at Tyler.
His face is red, and he’s biting his lip to keep from laughing.
That’s all it takes. We both lose it laughing, making Keon look at us like we’ve lost our fucking minds.
The situation isn’t funny, but sometimes you have to find the fun somewhere.
We both gasp for breath and start all over again until we’re laughing so hard that no sound is coming out.
“Are you guys okay?” Jason asks, just as confused as everyone else, and that sets us off on another round. “Uh, I think you guys need sleep.”
Still chuckling, I wipe the tears from my cheeks. “You’re probably right.” We’re going on being up for almost forty-eight hours. We were bound to lose it at some point.
Kira walks over and grabs both of our hands. “Why don’t you go to Chelsea’s for a couple hours? Everyone else has rested but you guys.” Tyler opens his mouth, and she silences him with a kiss. “We’ll call if anything changes. Now go. That’s an order.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tyler quips.
Tyler bends Kira at the waist and lays a kiss on her that makes Kane growl.
I kiss her softly when he pulls back and grab Tyler’s hand.
We walk out to the parking lot and climb into one of the SUVs.
I get behind the steering wheel, and we just sit there for a few minutes.
With a sigh, I finally fire the car up and pull from the parking lot.
Neither of us say a word on the drive, each of us lost to our thoughts.
When we pull into the garage at Axel’s, I’m so fucking tired that I barely drag myself from the car.
Tyler keys in the code for the house like a zombie, and Chelsea is standing on the other side with a small smile.
“I got one of the upstairs bedrooms ready. There’s clothes for you guys to change into when you wake up. I promise I’ll call if I hear anything.”
We kiss her on top of the head and go upstairs. Tyler pauses inside the room with a sigh. “I need a shower.”
“Me too.”
“Come on.” Tyler leads me to the en suite bathroom, and we strip silently.
I turn on the water and we step under the spray. We take turns washing off, rinse quickly and go back to the bedroom. We collapse in the bed, still naked, too tired to do much else.
Tyler moves over to lay on my chest, and I wrap my arm around him. I feel his lips on my shoulder, and it makes me smile. “What are you doing, Tyler?”
“Nothing.” His lips continue down my chest, and I smack his ass when he sucks my nipple into his mouth. “I just need to feel…something.”
I understand what he’s saying. Once you get so much bad news, you just feel numb.
I roll over on my side and pull his body flush against mine.
Our lips meet in a heated rush, telling each other without words how thankful we are to still be alive.
Tyler starts moving his hips, making his cock rub against mine.
“Please, Gav,” he whispers against my lips. He should know by now that I would do anything for him, no matter how tired I am. There’s so much going on around us that we just need this closeness right now.
I roll over to search the bedside table, knowing that they probably keep lube everywhere.
When I turn over with a bottle, Tyler plucks it from my hand, flips the cap and starts pouring it directly onto my dick.
When his hand closes around me to rub it in, my back bows. “I need to get you ready first.”
Tyler has other ideas, of course. He sits up on his knees and throws his leg over my waist to straddle me.
His hand disappears behind him and when he bites his bottom lip, I know exactly what he’s doing.
“I’m more than ready.” He’s positioning my cock at his asshole before I can respond, and I grab his hips to stop him.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I need you inside me.” I’ve seen Tyler desperate when I was trying to take things slow, but this is a different type of desperation.
It’s like he’ll shatter into a million pieces if he doesn’t get me inside him right this instant.
I let my grip on his hips loosen, and he sinks down enough so the head of my cock pops inside him.
Tyler shudders from head to toe, and then bears down so I slide the rest of the way.
When I’m fully inside him, he sighs. “I needed this so bad.”
Tyler wraps a hand around his cock and braces his other hand on my chest. He starts rising and falling, rocking back and forth, and I can’t take my eyes off him.
He’s fucking gorgeous, and he’s mine. I sit up so our chests are flush together, and we move slowly together.
It’s not like our usual fast, hard fucks.
This is two people coming together as one.
“I love you, Sweetheart,” I whisper against his lips.
“I love you, too.”
Tyler kisses me slowly, and I slide my hand between us to take over stroking his cock.
He shivers and kisses me harder. We rock together until our movements start picking up speed.
Tyler moans, and I swallow it up. I can feel my release slowly building, and with the way Tyler’s moving, he isn’t far behind.
With a groan, I feel his cum hit my chest and my hand.
Tyler lowers fully onto my cock and does something sinful with his hips, pulling me to finish inside him.
I lay back on the bed, bringing him with me. It might be selfish, but I’m glad we took a second to ourselves.
So we could pretend for a little while that our world isn’t falling apart around us.