27. Oliver
Chapter 27
Iwake up warm and comfortable, and then the day comes crashing down on me. I sit up with a gasp and wildly look around the ER waiting room. I’m curled into Toby’s lap, and he gives me a sad smile.
“You fell asleep, Baby.”
I rub the sleep from my eyes. “Any news?”
Toby’s smile drops, and no one else will look me in the eye. “Nothing yet. He’s still in surgery.”
“How long have I been asleep?”
“A couple of hours,” Leland answers.
“Has anyone heard from Aiden?”
Toby shakes his head. “No. Vince and Zac just left to retrace Cass’ steps. We’ll find him.”
“I don’t understand,” I whisper, trying like hell not to start crying again. I must have passed out from sheer fucking exhaustion.
“Toby Pierce?” Toby’s head snaps up at the sound of his name, and I scramble off his lap when I see a doctor. Toby stands beside me and grabs my hand like a lifeline.
“That’s me.”
The doctor pulls a dark blue scrub cap off, showing his sweaty gray hair. “I’m Dr. Bartlett. Mr. Masters is out of surgery and in recovery. We’ve done everything that we can. It’s up to him now.”
“How bad was it?” I ask.
“He had severe internal bleeding, a ruptured spleen, a broken femur, pelvis, and arm. His clavicle was fractured as were several fingers. He also has severe bruising on his face and most of his body. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but he’s actually lucky. His stature probably saved him from dying on impact.”
“What do we do now?” Toby asks, pulling me into his side. I feel the slight tremor roll through his body and wrap my arms around his waist. Hearing everything wrong with Jace is like a punch to the gut.
“Like I said, it’s up to him now. He’s still on the ventilator and will be until he shows some signs of breathing on his own. The next forty-eight hours will tell us if he’ll make it out of this without any permanent brain damage. He went without breathing for a long time. If he does come off the ventilator, he’s looking at a long, hard road of recovery.”
“When can we see him?”
“After he’s out of recovery and in his room in the intensive care unit. I already gave your name to the nurse’s station, so you can go wait for him there.”
Toby sticks his hand out for the doctor and shakes it. “Thank you.”
The doctor nods and strides back down the hallway. Toby, Leland, and I make our way to the elevators that go to the ICU when Toby’s phone starts ringing. He checks it and stops walking before we can get on. “It’s Vince.” He slides to answer. “What’s up, man?”
I have no clue what Vince is saying, but Toby’s face turns pale. I grab his hand as he staggers back and slumps against the wall. He flips the phone to speakerphone and pulls up a different screen. “Give me the number.”
Vince rambles it off. “What do you want us to do?”
“I don’t know yet. Let me call you back.” Toby ends the call and dials another number.
“What’s going on?” I ask, my voice shaky. Toby ignores me and waits for whoever he called to pick up.
“Where the fuck is he?” Toby growls. “You were the last one to see him.” He flips it back to speakerphone, and I’m surprised when I hear Aiden’s dad.
“He left here around eight last night. He said he was going home to you guys.”
“He never told us he was going there. If I find out you had anything?—”
“Toby,” Mr. Powers said gently. “I swear I had nothing to do with Aiden’s disappearance. We actually fixed things last night. What do you need from me?”
“Nothing.”
Toby hangs up the call and starts pacing, rambling about Aiden going to see his dad, and now he’s missing. Vince and Zac found Aiden’s phone charging on the counter and checked his last couple of messages. There was a struggle in the living room with blood on the floor, and now Aiden is just gone.
“This was fucking Trent,” Toby finally says, his eyes flashing with anger.
“Does Aiden’s apartment have security?” Leland asks.
“Fuck. I should have thought of that.” Toby pulls his phone back up and calls someone else. “Kristian, man, I need your help.”
“Toby, I already told you that I’m not losing my job just so I can help stalk your boy toy,” the deep male voice answers.
“Aiden’s missing.”
“What?” the guy on the other end exclaims. “Tell me everything.” Toby goes through the story again, and I can hear a door shutting on the other end. “I’m on my way to Aiden’s apartment. I’ll get that security footage. We’ll find him, Toby.”
“Vince and Zac are there,” Toby relays. “I’ll let them know you’re on your way.”
When Toby hangs up, he hands the phone to Leland. “We have to get to?—”
“No need to explain,” Leland says easily. “Go to Jace. I can call Vince.”
Toby pushes the button for the elevator, and when the door opens, he leads me in with his hand on the small of my back. When they close, he pulls me into his arms, holding me tight like he needs this as much as I do. I was too caught up in my grief that I forgot that Toby has known these guys for years. He has to be hurting, and he’s spent all his time taking care of me.
“It’s okay to cry, Toby.”
He kisses the top of my head. “I already did. If I start again, I’ll never stop.”
“Do you really think this is Trent?”
Toby’s body goes tense. “I don’t know who else would want to hurt Aiden besides him.”
“This is my fault.”
Toby pulls me away so he can look at my face. “No. It’s Trent’s. You were just working, Baby. You never could have known this would happen.”
The elevator doors open, and Toby leads me to the nurse’s station. He gives his name, and she sits us in a much quieter waiting room. Right as we’re sitting down, a gorgeous woman with brown hair walks in with the spitting image of Jace walking behind her. The only difference is the lack of tattoos and this guy’s hair is streaked with gray.
“Toby,” Jace’s mom breathes. He stands up and pulls her small frame into his arms. “We got the information downstairs. Have you seen him yet?”
“No, ma’am.” Toby pulls back from her only to be pulled into Jace’s dad’s arms.
“You must be Oliver,” she says quietly with a small smile.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“It’s nice to meet you. I wish it was under better circumstances.” She pulls me into a tight hug, causing tears to spring into my eyes. I haven’t had a mom hug since Toby’s mom, and this just makes me miss my mom even more. “You’re adorable.”
“Cassandra,” Jace’s dad says. “You’re embarrassing him.” He sticks his hand out and gives mine a hearty shake. “I’m Ray.”
We get seated in the waiting room, talking about anything and everything to distract ourselves. Toby seems to be avoiding telling them about Aiden, probably so he doesn’t worry them any more than they already are.
Leland comes rushing into the waiting room about twenty minutes later and comes up short when he sees Jace’s parents. “Oli, can I talk to you?”
I follow him out into the hallway. “What’s going on?”
“Kristian has a lead on Aiden. He said it was Trent, and they got a hit off the license plate. They’re following up now.”
“What if he hurt him even worse?”
“According to Kristian, there was someone else with Trent. He carried Aiden from the apartment.”
“Oh my God.”
Leland puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “Vince and Zac are going to keep me in the loop, okay? I’ll update you every time I have information.”
“Thank you.” I pull Leland into a tight hug. “I love you, and I’m so glad you’re my best friend.”
“You know you didn’t need to pull these dramatics just to get me to talk to Vince and Zac, right?” That shocks a laugh out of me, and I know that was Leland’s intention. “Everything will work out. They’ll find Aiden, and Jace will wake up. Oh, and I love you too.”
Leland gives me a sloppy kiss on the forehead and walks back down the hallway. I don’t know what Toby or I would do without him. He’s been a strong presence this whole time, never complaining when Toby asks him to do anything.
I go back into the waiting room and quietly tell Toby what Leland said. He nods in understanding, and we fall back into conversation. Every time that a doctor or nurse walks by, I practically jump out of my chair, hoping they’re coming to tell us that we can see Jace. I just want to see him with my own eyes to know that he’s really still with us. All I keep hearing is dead on arrival, and I can’t convince myself that they revived him.
“Oliver,” Cassandra says, breaking me from my thoughts. “Do you need anything?”
I shake my head. “I’m fine. You guys are the ones who traveled. Do you need me to get you something to eat? Or drink?” I go to stand up, and she pulls me back down in my chair.
“I’m fine, honey.” She pats my hand. “Jace has told me so much about you that I feel like I know you already.”
“He talks about me?”
She laughs quietly. “All the time. I’m glad the boys found you.”
“It’s me that’s glad. They’re…perfect.”
“Jace has scared us our whole lives. He’s always been adventurous, and he’s always been so full of life. When Jace was twelve, he wrecked on a dirt bike. He had to be life-flighted out to the closest hospital. They told us then that he might not make it.” She looks me in the eyes, and her expression is stern. “He made it through that, and he’ll make it through this.”
I take her words to heart and hope like hell that she’s right.