Chapter Twenty-Four
McKayla
It had been two hours since the paramedics wheeled Erin away from us, and every second of it had crawled by painfully slow. The adrenaline that had gotten me through finding her at the motel had worn off nearly an hour ago, leaving me shaky, emotionally drained, and running on fumes.
I sat curled sideways against Push in one of the uncomfortable blue waiting room chairs, my legs draped over his lap while his arm stayed wrapped around my waist like he thought I might fall apart if he let go for too long.
Maybe he wasn’t completely wrong.
Across from us, Anchor sat leaned forward with his forearms braced on his knees while Pearl rested against his side. Prime and Shay had taken over the corner near the vending machines, Shay curled into his side while he absently rubbed his thumb over her shoulder.
Piney, Cross, and Vin had spread out across the rest of the waiting room like a group of giant tattooed gargoyles who looked wildly out of place beside elderly women reading magazines and tired parents carrying sleeping kids.
Every once in a while, somebody glanced nervously toward our side of the room.
We looked like we either belonged in a prison documentary or were about to rob the hospital pharmacy.
I rested my forehead against Push’s shoulder and stared at the floor tiles. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Erin tied to that bed again. Pale. Bruised. Completely still.
I swallowed hard.
Push’s hand slid slowly up and down my back. Not soft and overly comforting. Just there. “You need water,” he muttered quietly against the top of my head.
“I had water.”
“Three sips isn’t having water.”
I sighed. “You’re becoming annoyingly bossy.”
“That implies this is new.”
I lifted my head enough to glare at him weakly. “You know what? Fair point.”
The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
That tiny almost-smile from him was becoming my favorite thing in the world, which felt a little insane considering where we were sitting and why.
Shay leaned farther into Prime and glanced me gently. “How are you holding up?”
The question should’ve been simple.
It wasn’t.
I rubbed both hands over my face and exhaled shakily. “I don’t know.” My voice sounded rough even to me. “I found her. That should feel good, but…” I swallowed hard. “She looked so bad.”
Silence settled heavily over the group.
Nobody tried to bullshit me with fake positivity or tell me everything would definitely be okay.
Push’s arm tightened slightly around me. “She was breathing.”
Bare minimum reassurance.
Very Push.
I looked up at him. “You know that your version of comforting people is aggressively gruff?”
His eyes dropped to mine. “You still leaning on me?”
I blinked once. Then sighed dramatically. “Damn. Good point again.”
Piney pointed at Push from three chairs away. “He’s on a roll today.”
Cross stretched his arms over his head. “I’m just trying to figure out how the hell we ended up in a hospital after starting the day with hot dogs.”
“That was your fault,” Vin informed him.
“My fault?” Cross looked offended. “I made lunch.”
“You yelled at McKayla about ketchup like it was a felony.”
“Because ketchup on a hot dog is disgusting.”
“It’s a condiment, not a war crime,” I muttered.
Cross pointed at me. “Wrong.”
“See?” Piney said. “This is why people kill.”
Anchor rubbed both hands down his face. “Can you idiots not talk about killing people in the hospital waiting room?”
“That feels fair,” Prime muttered.
Despite everything, despite the fear sitting like concrete in my chest, I laughed quietly.
Push looked down at me immediately when he heard it.
“You okay?”
“You ask that every ten minutes.”
“Because every ten minutes you look like you might bolt into surgery yourself.”
I leaned my head back against his shoulder again. “I just keep thinking…” My voice trailed off.
“What?” he asked quietly.
I stared at the opposite wall for a long second before answering. “She’s going to meet you.”
Push frowned slightly. “What?”
I looked up at him. “Erin.” My throat tightened a little. “She’s going to wake up eventually, and she’s going to meet you.” A tiny laugh escaped me. “God, she’s going to lose her mind when she finds out I ended up with a biker on a haunted island.”
Pearl immediately grinned.
Shay covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
Push’s eyebrows lifted slightly. “Ended up with?”
I pointed at him. “Don’t get cocky in the hospital.”
Anchor groaned softly. “Jesus Christ.”
Pearl elbowed him. “Oh, hush. They’re cute.”
The waiting room doors opened suddenly, and every conversation died instantly. A doctor stepped into the room pulling his surgical cap off as he looked around.
My stomach dropped straight to the floor.
I was out of my chair before he fully spotted us. “That’s my sister,” I said immediately.
The doctor nodded once. “McKayla?”
“Yes.”
The entire club stood behind me almost automatically.
The doctor looked mildly startled seeing what appeared to be half a motorcycle gang looming behind me, but thankfully didn’t comment on it. “She made it through surgery.”
The breath punched out of me so hard my knees nearly buckled.
Push’s hand immediately landed on my lower back.
The doctor continued talking while my brain scrambled to catch up.
“Your sister had significant internal injuries. We found a laceration to her spleen causing internal bleeding, likely from blunt force trauma.” He glanced down at the chart in his hands.
“There were also signs of prolonged dehydration, malnutrition, bruising, and restraint injuries on her wrists and ankles.”
My stomach rolled violently.
Oh God.
“She lost a lot of blood,” he continued, “but we were able to repair the damage surgically. The next twenty-four hours are important, but right now…” He gave me a small reassuring nod. “We expect her to recover.”
Recover.
Recover.
The word hit me like a freight train.
A sound tore out of me before I could stop it. A loud, emotional whoop that echoed through the waiting room. “Oh my God!”
Before I even realized I was moving, I threw myself at Push.
He caught me instantly and his arms wrapped around me hard enough to make me feel anchored to the damn earth while relief crashed through me so violently I started laughing and crying at the same time.
“She’s okay,” I choked out.
Push actually smiled this time. Full and real and devastatingly gorgeous. “Yeah, baby,” he said roughly. “She’s okay.”
Then he kissed me. His hands locked around my waist and he spun me once off the ground while I laughed breathlessly against his mouth.
When he set me back down, he kissed me again slower this time, his forehead pressing briefly against mine.
Behind us, Piney made gagging noises.
Pearl laughed loudly.
Anchor muttered, “For fuck’s sake.”
I wiped at my face, still half crying and half laughing. “She’s okay,” I whispered again.
Push brushed his thumb beneath my eye. “Told you she was in good hands.”
Before I could answer, another voice suddenly echoed through the waiting room.
“What the hell have I missed?”
Every head snapped toward the hallway entrance.
Bob sat in a wheelchair, looking pale as death but very much alive, while Skull stood behind him, gripping the handles.
The entire waiting room froze.
Piney blinked hard. “No fucking way.”
Cross pointed. “You’re supposed to still be in bed.”
Bob looked down at himself. “Technically, I am.” He gestured to the wheelchair. “Just a smaller one.”
Skull shook his head slowly. “This asshole threatened to leave against medical advice if I didn’t bring him down here.”
Bob looked around the room again, taking in the tears on my face, Push holding me against him, and the stunned expressions from everyone else.
Then he frowned. “Seriously,” he said. “What the hell did I miss?”