38. Parker
38
PARKER
H ope lost consciousness halfway to the hospital. I nudged her arm to wake her up, but the jostling only made her head lull limply until her body slumped to the side and she banged her face against the passenger side window.
The loud thwack didn’t even cause her to stir, and fear lodged itself solidly in my gut.
“Hope?” I growled. “Hey. Don’t you dare?—”
I tried to check her pulse as I drove with one hand, but I couldn’t extend far enough across the cab of my truck to reach either her neck or one of her wrists. “Dammit.”
No longer sure if she was dead or alive, the last few miles of my trip were the most terrifying minutes of my life, and I swear my own heart stopped beating in my chest.
When I made it to the emergency room entrance, I slammed on the brakes and threw the truck into park before lurching over the console to check on her.
When I felt the flutter of what I thought was a pulse, I heaved out a sob and scrambled from the vehicle to vault around to her side and open her door. She slid out toward the pavement, and I had to catch her in my arms, cursing the whole time as I tried to resituate her enough to carry her as I walked.
The front doors slid open for us as we approached, and I entered, shouting, “I need help!”
The receptionist looked up and immediately rose to her feet when she saw my expression.
“She won’t wake up,” I choked out.
“Triage,” she called into the back. “We have a possible code blue.”
She disappeared from view for a second before a pair of double doors opened to the side, where the nurse reappeared with a gurney, waving me forward.
Two guys wearing scrubs hurried out behind her just as I was settling Hope on the bed.
“How long has she been unresponsive?” I was asked as they crowded in to check her pulse and shine a light at her pupils.
“Uh.” I backed away to give them room to work. Raking a hand through my hair, I stuttered, “Ten, uh, f-fifteen minutes maybe. But she was talking nonsense before that. She couldn’t move right. Her face turned bright red, and her fever spiked. Then she started puking blood.”
Too upset to explain more, I covered my mouth with both hands when one of the guys started chest compressions.
“Any substance abuse?” the other man asked. “Drugs? Alcohol?”
It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me. “What? No. No.” I shook my head, unable to take my eyes off her still face as they attempted to resuscitate her. Finally, I had the presence of mind to add, “Liver failure. She has liver failure. Her doctor’s name is Kepler.”
“Alright, let’s get her into the back,” the other guy ordered, and the one who’d been asking the questions glanced at me, saying, “Stay here. We’ll get an update back to you shortly.”
They disappeared through the entryway with both doors swinging shut behind them.
I stared at the closed portal in a daze, hoping to God that hadn’t been the last time I’d ever see her alive.
“Sir?” the receptionist said, jarring me from my stupor. “Could you answer some questions so we can admit her?”
I shook my head dumbly. “I don’t—” Feeling lacking, I realized I knew very little about Hope. Her name and birthday were probably it.
But the woman only nodded in reassurance. “Just fill out what you can,” she said, handing me a clipboard. “We’ll get the rest of her information later.”
“Okay.” I took the forms. “Okay.”
Remembering that Hope had stashed her purse in the center console of my truck before we’d gotten on the boat earlier, I went back outside to fetch it. While I was there, I parked the Ford somewhere else and sent a harried text to Alec, commanding him to get to the hospital as soon as fucking possible.
After returning to the waiting area inside, I broke into Hope’s purse to get a list of her prescriptions and information from her driver’s license and health cards.
I had already turned the clipboard back in and was pacing relentlessly when Hudson and Faith came barreling through the emergency intake doors, looking as if they’d been yanked out of bed and had thrown on the first clothes they’d found.
Spotting me, they rushed over, and I hurried to meet them, relieved to see familiar faces.
“Shit, man,” Hudson accused, shaking his head and pressing a hand to his chest. “What the fuck is going on? We thought you were dying.”
I merely blinked at them for a moment, not able to make sense of their presence. Then I asked, “What’re you doing here?”
Hudson’s jaw dropped.
He and Faith exchanged a confused glance before Faith answered, “You group texted us, telling us to get to the hospital ASAP.”
“I group—?” I squinted, not understanding. “What?” I shook my head. “No. I texted Alec. I just need Alec .” Glancing around, I demanded, “Where the fuck is Alec?”
“Well, he was part of the group text,” Hudson said, shaking his head in confusion. “I’m sure he’s on his way too. Now what the hell is going on? Who’re we here for?”
My mouth moved, but I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t say the words, couldn’t voice the fact that Hope was in trouble and might already be gone.
Black spots stole my vision, and I wavered unsteadily.
“Whoa. Hey!” Strong fingers gripped my arm, steadying me. “Ohrley,” Hudson’s voice commanded. “Look at me, bud. Focus. Right here.”
I blinked at him, my breathing picking up pace as the panic mounted. But my sight had just cleared enough to bring his face into sharp detail when the doors that had taken Hope away opened again.
I whirled out of Ivey’s grip, thinking someone was returning with some news. But only a woman in scrubs who I hadn’t seen before stepped out to call another patient’s name to admit them .
“Fuck.” I gripped my head and paced some more. My hands started to shake so hard that when I looked down at them I had trouble believing they were my own fingers, and I shuddered out a hoarse sob.
“Parker?” Faith asked in a small, concerned voice, reminding me that she and Hud were still there.
I glanced at them, but my chin only trembled, letting me know I still wasn’t going to be able to talk if I tried.
Raina arrived next, her hair in disarray. She wore sweatpants and an overly large Stallions shirt that she’d probably stolen from Foster.
Hurrying over as soon as she spotted us, she looked right at me as she demanded, “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
I stared back bleakly, still feeling too twitchy to speak, so Hudson filled her in for me. “Apparently, we’re waiting for Alec to show before he can talk.”
Raina frowned in question. “Alec?”
Two more people rushed into the emergency room. Turning my attention to Damien and Oaklynn, I lurched their way.
“Where’s Younger?” I demanded.
The two stalled short, blinking at me before Oaklynn answered, “He, uh, was right behind us, riding with Keene and Xander. Why? What’s?—”
I didn’t give her a chance to ask anything else. I diverted my attention to the glass walls. And when I saw Keene making his way up the sidewalk, leading Alec and Xander, I rushed outside to intercept them.
“Hey,” Keene called when he saw me. He picked up his pace to meet me, but I veered right past him, only seeing Hope’s brother.
“Alec.”
My voice was quivering like crazy, and when I reached for him, both my hands fumbled as they tried to latch around the front of his shirt.
He faltered, glancing at the others in question and clearly wondering why he was my focus instead of anyone else. But then he reached out as well, gripping my arm as I clutched his shirt tightly.
“I’m here,” he assured softly. “What’s wrong?”
My breathing had escalated, and it took me a moment before admitting, “I—it—it’s Hope. I couldn’t get her to wake up, and they took her back doing chest compressions. I don’t—I don’t know—I don’t?—”
The others had followed me outside, and they all gathered around, gasping and turning to each other in worry as Alec shook his head and said, “Holy shit. Hope ?”
I nodded, still finding it hard to talk. I couldn’t stop fucking shaking.
“What was she—what happened? Was she in a car accident?”
I shook my head and bowed my face to grit my teeth, still holding onto him in an attempt to steady myself. “No. She—she woke up with a fever and was barely able to say a straight word like she’d had a seizure or something. She was confused, vomiting, had no idea where she was, and she—she thought I was her mom once. Then she passed out, and I couldn’t get her to wake up again. I—Jesus. She?—”
“Hold up,” Alec broke in, waving his hands. “You’re talking too fast. What—?” He shook his head. “She woke up… where ? Did you stumble across her at some party? Do you think someone drugged her or?—”
“No.” I squeezed my eyes shut for a second to calm myself down. “I thought it was just seasickness at first. When she got queasy, I laughed.” Jesus. What the hell was wrong with me? She’d been dying, and I’d laughed . Grinding the heels of my hands into my eye sockets, I sobbed, “I fucking laughed.”
“So…her appendix burst? What ?”
Shuddering out a breath, I dropped my hands and looked at Alec. “Her liver’s failing again,” I uttered hollowly and wiped a hand over my dry burning face.
Alec’s mouth fell open. “Wha— what ?” He squinted at me as if I’d lost my mind. “No.” He shook his head and slunk a step back. “Wh—How would you know that? And seasick? Why was my sister on the water with you this late at night?”
I licked my lips and set my hands on my hips, bowing my head slightly. Closing my eyes, I took a calming breath before looking up again. All our friends had gathered around to listen. They were watching me. Waiting to hear the truth.
“I—” My voice quivered harder than usual as my gaze sought Alec’s apologetically. “She didn’t want you to know. She?—”
“Wait!” Alec boomed, lifting his hands and shaking his head, not comprehending. “ What ?”
I gulped. “She told me she had five years left, but I don’t—I don’t think that’s true. I don’t think she even has that much time.”
Alec squinted at me. “I don’t—her liver’s failing again? But why would she tell you that? And what were you even doing with her?”
When I froze, realizing this was the moment I lost my best friends, Hudson seemed to catch on first.
“Oh, fuck,” he breathed. “Ohrley, man. You didn’t.”
“He didn’t what ?” Alec demanded, glancing between us before his eyes widened in horror. “Oh shit.” He stepped toward me threateningly. “Why were you with Hope?”
I shook my head at him in despair. “You know why.”
“Son of a bitch,” he hissed. “You fucking slept with my sister, and now she’s here ? What the hell did you do to her?”
“I didn’t—” I started brokenly, lifting my hands, but an orderly had stepped outside.
“Excuse me,” she interrupted. “Is anyone here for Hope Langston?”
Alec and I turned together, lurching forward.
“That’s me,” Alec told her, lifting his hand to call attention to himself, only to swing out his arm and bar my way in the next breath. “No.” Turning an icy glare toward me, he warned, “If you step foot inside that hospital, I swear to God, I will punch you in the face.”
“Then punch me,” I said, shoving his arm away. Because no fucking way was I staying out here while she was in there. Except, the little bastard stepped into my path, determined to keep me out.
“Alec,” I growled, losing my patience. “Can we do this later? I’m not staying out here.”
My gaze swerved desperately to the waiting orderly, and my expression broke. Chin quivering, eyes watering, anguish exploded from every facet of my being.
“Come on, man.” I wanted to respect his wishes. I was in the wrong, I’d fucked up; I knew that. And I cared about him. I didn’t want to hurt him, but— “I will not stay out here while she’s in there.”
Alec’s lips parted with surprise, and he pulled his face back before he furrowed his brow and glanced toward the others. “Just keep him away from me.”
When Keene nodded, Alec rushed to the waiting orderly.
I started after him, only for Keene to step into my path.
I pulled up short, scowling as Damien and Hudson stepped in beside him, all of them barring my way.
“Alec goes in first,” Keene told me in no uncertain terms, and the other two nodded.
Glancing between the three of them, I snorted. “Are you fucking serious?”
“Dude.” Hudson exhaled with a sympathetic breath and shook his head sadly. “You fucked his sister. Behind his back. That’s like breaking a cardinal rule.”
“So that’s it,” I spat. “Everyone’s just Team Alec now?”
“Hey, you screwed up,” Keene said. “You screwed up bad .”
“And you don’t care if—Jesus.” Of course, they didn’t care.
Gripping my hair, I gnashed my teeth, restraining myself from swinging at them because logically I knew they were right. But I still wanted to plow through them like a bowling ball, and I didn’t care how they fell, as long as it was out of my way.
This was it, I realized.
This was the moment I’d feared would happen since Hope had asked for that first orgasm. They were all going to turn on me. I was about to lose everyone.
It was a shot straight to the solar plexus, and yet I couldn’t even focus on it. I needed to hear how she was. I needed to be with her. And I needed everyone to get the fuck out of my way right fucking now.
Past my wall of brothers, I saw all the women follow Alec into the hospital for an update, and I choked out a sound of fear. What if she hadn’t made it?
Dammit. Forget friendship. I was about to start punching when Damien murmured, “He’s in,” and he took a step back to finally let me go.
“Just stay on the opposite side of the room as him,” Keene warned as I blew past him and sprinted to the doors.
Inside, I plowed to a stop when I spotted Alec and the women gathered around a man in a white coat. I wanted to stride forward and hear the news straight from the source. But I suddenly couldn’t move. A knot formed in my gut, and an eerie tingling crept over my skin.
Damien, Hudson, and Keene hung back with me as if they could sense the ominous doom as well.
Needing support, I reached out and clutched Keene’s shoulder hard.
He glanced over in surprise, then slowly reached back and gripped my shirt, comforting me.
And then it happened.
I knew the moment they got the bad news. Alec pressed a fist to his stomach and bowed slightly, while Xander lurched forward to grab his arm. Raina gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. Oaklynn sank numbly into a nearby chair. And Faith turned to look for Hudson.
“No,” I said, tearing myself away from Keene to clutch the top of my head in order to keep from hitting something. “No.” I turned away, feeling sick.
But Hope was okay; she had to be okay. I wouldn’t accept any other update.
When the doctor left, Alec and the women all looked directly at me. I felt rooted in my shoes as Hope’s brother finally moved and started walking toward me. Slowly and defeated.
I shook my head harder and harder the closer he got. His gaze never left mine.
“No,” I told him, my eyes burning.
He paused in front of me, looking dazed. “That was Dr. Kepler,” he said. “She’s being prepped for surgery right now because there was, um, fluid on her brain. They’re going to put a shunt in to drain it.”
She was still alive, then?
Relief flooded my veins so fast it left me dizzy. “So—” I stepped forward, still trembling, not sure why I couldn’t turn the fear off yet.
Alec’s face flooded with grief, and he shook his head, stopping me in my tracks. “Her liver’s done, man. She’s not making it out of this hospital alive. Not without another transplant.”
I gaped for a moment, trying to make sense of his words. “Then we’ll get her another transplant,” I said.
He shook his head. “She’s not—” His voice broke. “She’s not far enough up the list yet. And they—they told me I can’t—I can’t save her this time.”
When tears streamed down his cheeks, I lifted a hand, halting him. “No. I said I’d get tested. We were going to see if I was compatible. Tomorrow .”
Alec only winced. “You won’t be.”
“What?” I shook my head. “How do you know?”
“Because I know what she needs, and you don’t have it.”
But Hope hadn’t said anything to that extent. She hadn’t?—
Fuck. There’d been a lot she hadn’t said, like how far gone she already was.
Realizing she never thought I’d actually be able to donate anything to her—she’d always known she was going to die—I lost it.
I backed up, dry heaving and unable to catch a decent breath before my back hit a wall. Choking on the sobs, I sank down onto my ass and gripped my head in both hands as I rested my elbows on my knees.
Alec eased down beside me, pulling his own knees up to his chest and hugging them close before he rasped, “You’re him, aren’t you?”
I shook my head, finding it hard to concentrate. “What?”
“About a week after she came to town, Hope told me that she’d fallen in love with someone. Someone she claimed to have known forever but never really thought of that way until recently when something changed between them and—” He snapped his fingers. “She said it happened in an instant.”
I clutched my chest, feeling pressure close in around me from every direction. But Alec’s words filled me with a kind of weight I’d never experienced before.
“I thought she was talking about some stranger back in Ohio. I thought that’s why she’d come to Texas, to run from her feelings. But—” Turning to look at me, he said, “She was talking about you. Wasn’t she? You’re the orgasm king.”
“Alec,” I tried to explain, but he lifted a hand to stop me.
“She asked you to keep her condition from me.”
When I nodded, he furrowed his brow. “So you just—you did it? You kept it from me for her? You were more loyal to her than you were to me?”
Fuck. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I thought I’d been protecting him too by keeping it under wraps. But I knew what he said was true, even as I tried to deny it to both of us. “No,” I rasped, shaking my head and too afraid to admit the truth.
But Alec waved a hand. “It’s okay,” he told me calmly. “It’s really okay, Ohrley. She’s always needed someone who would put her first. Someone who’d be more loyal to her than they were to anyone else. She’s never gotten that before.”
When I squinted at him, not understanding, he reached over to grab the sleeve of my shirt. “I’m sorry.” Looking at me with Hope’s startling blue eyes, he shook his head. “I didn’t understand. I thought it was just about sex, and you were sleeping with her behind my back because—because I don’t know why. Because you’re you. I thought you were treating her like you usually treat women. I didn’t realize you had actually fallen in love with her right back.”
Panic clutched my throat from the overwhelming emotion flooding my system. My only course of action to escape it was deny, deny, deny.
So I shook my head and whispered, “No.” But I was breathing too hard for it to be in any way believable. Tears wet my cheeks. I was unraveling at the seams. The world felt like it was imploding around me.
“No,” I gasped.
Alec shook my shoulder. “It’s okay,” he repeated. “I know you. Once you actually let a person in, they’re safe with you. You’d do anything for them. I’m glad you let her in. Okay? I trust you with her heart.”
Ah fuck. Face heating, I wept bitterly, turning into a sobbing mess.
“I didn’t mean to,” I finally managed to say. “I didn’t mean to fall.”
Alec only smiled through his own tears as if he understood. “Yeah,” he agreed softly. “I didn’t want to like her either. But…” He shrugged helplessly. “It’s Hope. She has a way of pestering you into caring about her.”
I gave a shaky laugh and nodded in agreement. “That ain’t no shit.” But the laugh only turned into a hoarse moan a moment later. “Christ, Younger.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “I can’t lose her. I can’t?—”
He leaned closer, and I pressed the side of his face into the side of mine. Around us, the rest of our friends stood in respectful silence, letting us mourn together until the doors opened, and a winded Thane raced into the waiting area.
He skidded to a halt when he reached us, and his gaze stopped solid on me and Alec.
“Oh, God,” he rasped, shaking his head and setting a hand on his brow. “Hope?”
I didn’t even ask how he knew, I just nodded.
Shoulders slumping, he came over and plopped down next to me, and that seemed to let the others know they could swarm in as well. Keene sat on the floor beside Alec, and the rest crowded closer.
“How bad?” Thane asked.
“It’s her liver,” Alec told him. “She needs a re-transplant or she’ll die, probably in the next couple of weeks. Or days.”
Hearing him say days made me suck in a sharp breath and shudder. I closed my eyes and knocked my head back roughly so the pain in the back of my noggin would distract me from the pain in my chest.
Thane smoothed a hand down my arm in support and calmly answered, “But you can donate another sliver, right?” he asked, speaking to Alec. “The last part grew back inside you within a few months after the first time, didn’t it? So you should?—”
“They already told me no,” Alec cut in, his voice dull and lifeless. “I can’t donate twice.”
“Shit,” Thane breathed. “Then what about that big list thing? She’s on a list, right?”
“She’s not far enough up to get one in time.”
“So we’ll find someone else.” Thane’s voice grew determined. “We’ll all get tested. We’ll—we’ll find someone. Right, guys?”
When I opened my eyes, I discovered all our friends nodding their acceptance. “Hell, yeah,” Keene murmured. “I’ll get tested right now.”
Oaklynn clutched Damien’s arm as she spoke for everyone else. “Of course, we will.”
“What does it even take to donate?” Thane asked Younger.
“Uh.” Alec sat up straighter and wiped his face before nodding. “Okay. So you need to be between the ages of eighteen and sixty, have a BMI of less than thirty-two, pass a mental and physical exam, not be pregnant.” He nodded along with himself as he tried to remember everything. “No chronic infections or cancer or any other malignancies. But the kicker will be compatible blood type. Hope and I have O negative, and the only compatible type for that is another O negative, which covers only like seven percent of the?—”
“O negative?” I uttered, sitting up in surprise. “Are you fucking kidding me? I have O negative.”
Alec didn’t seem very encouraged. Wincing at me, he added, “And… You have to be free from substance abuse.”
My eyebrows lifted. “Excuse me?”
“You’re kind of an alcoholic, Ohrley. Giving her your pickled liver would be like giving her poison.”
“So what?” I argued, growing pissed. “We should just let her die? Fuck that. If I can save her?—”
“But would it really be saving her?” Alec countered. “Or just giving her yet one more liver that’ll crap out in another five years?”
“Then we’ll find her another one in another five years,” I cried, unable to believe this. I could save Hope. Why was he arguing with me? “Jesus. I can save her now .”
“You smell like a brewery just sitting there,” he persisted. “You can’t do it.”
“That’s only because I spilled a drink on me earlier. I’m fine. I?—”
“I said no.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I boomed, not backing down. “You just want to let her die, then?”
A small clearing throat caused the two of us to whirl and pin our attention to Foster’s cousin who was hesitantly lifting her hand into the air and cringing. “I—I have O negative blood too.”
“Xander,” Raina breathed in worry, going to her side and clutching her arm supportively.
Alec gaped for a split second before stuttering, “Are—are you sure?”
I bumped his arm. “Shut up and let her talk.” But as I turned my attention to Xander, all I could think to say was, “Are you sure?” Because apparently, her alcohol-free liver would be better for Hope, and I wanted Hope to get the best.
Xander nodded, glancing around at everyone as if frightened. But she answered, “Yes. Definitely.” Her gaze sought Alec. “I mean, your liver grew back, right?”
“Uh, yeah.” He bobbed his head as he pushed to his feet. “Yes, it did.”
“And you seem fine today,” she added as if trying to talk herself into the idea. “It didn’t seem to impact your life too much.”
“Not at all.” He stepped toward her as if to reassure her. “I was back at it again as if nothing had happened within half a year. And the scar fades. I mean, you’ll always be able to see it, but—” He lifted his shirt to show her a J-shaped scar on the upper half of his abdomen that had to be a good six to eight inches long.
Xander reared back, her eyes flaring with worry. Then she swallowed thickly and rasped, “Oh.”
Raina took her hand. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
Still looking terrified, Xander tore her gaze from Alec’s scar to glance at the rest of us, where we held our breaths and waited for her answer.
“She was nice to me,” she said, nodding. “I want to help.”