Chapter 21 #2
Yeats tossed the bag onto the bed near Sebastian’s feet. “We’re getting you out of here, partner.” His voice held a gruff tenderness. “Those nurses look more scared of your gunshot wound than anything else. Seems bullet holes and blood aren’t exactly their daily routine around here.”
Sebastian reached for the bag, his stomach grumbling in protest. He shifted uncomfortably, the fabric of the hospital gown a constant irritant against his skin. A low growl escaped his lips as the pain flared again. “Starving.”
“Got subs from La Rosa’s waiting in the truck,” Yeats replied, his voice softer now.
A knot of worry tightened in his gut. He pulled out the jeans, never happier to see a pair of faded blues in his hands.
“Caitlyn?” he blurted, not caring about the jeans nearly as much.
Days had bled into each other since Caitlyn walked out of his room.
Her shock and hurt burned into his memory.
She hadn’t returned. His calls went unanswered, his texts disappearing into a void.
Yeats’ brothers from Soldiers of Christ sent him reports, ensuring him Caitlyn and Owen remained safe.
Yeats scratched his beard. “No, Seb. Alison says she took a few days off.” His voice paused, indecision in his eyes, then said, “Silas is dead. They found his body floating in the river along Route 15.”
The news slammed into Sebastian, the breath catching in his throat. Dead? Caitlyn. Owen. “How long ago?”
“Two days,” Yeats said, dropping his voice to a whisper and stepping closer. “Police are keeping it quiet. Seems the Ghosts are missing two other members. One found dead shortly after Silas, and the other vanished.”
“Who was with him?” Sebastian pressed, his mind racing.
“Blue and Grover. Blue’s dead, too. Figured you want to know, in case it changes your plans.” Yeats glanced at the doorway, his eyes wary.
Sebastian threw the thin hospital blanket off his legs, the movement sending a fresh wave of pain through him. Gritting his teeth, he ignored it. “Pull the curtain. I need to get dressed and find Caitlyn.”
“I’ll find a nurse to unhook you, but first, let’s talk about Sammy.”
At the mention of his sister, a jolt of fear went through him. “What about Sam?”
He tried to reach for his phone and check the security cameras, but Yeats picked up the phone first.
“She misses you, Seb,” Yeats said, holding the phone from reach. “She talks about you, tells everyone about how proud she is of her brother who’s in law enforcement, but I see it in her eyes. The worry, the... something else.”
Sebastian scoffed while trying to maneuver a leg into his pants.
“She’s got a life of her own. Showing up after all this time, without warning?
No.” Sebastian clenched his jaw, a tug of war raging inside him.
Didn’t Yeats think he ached to see his sister again?
He watched her on the security cameras, but the fear of making her a target, of disrupting her life, kept him rooted.
“Look,” Yeats pressed, frustration creeping into his voice. “Give Cat some time. She’ll come around. And Sam... She’s your sister. Don’t you owe her the chance to see you again?”
“Not if it means putting her in danger.” Sebastian huffed.
He spent the last few days lying in this bed, having way too much time to think and worry.
Caitlyn not answering him was nearly killing him.
If not for Yeats sending men to keep an eye on her, he might have ripped out his monitor wires yesterday.
“What happened in Johnstown?” Yeats asked in a tone which said Sebastian wasn’t leaving this room until he came clean.
Sebastian’s grip tightened on the pants, his knuckles whitening. “A woman died. I failed to protect her. She had a child that’s now being raised by a relative.” Sebastian’s voice grew rough, pieces in his chest tearing apart.
“You got the guy who did it, right? You took down the club, and they can’t operate again,” Yeats said.
Sebastian nodded, a lump forming in his throat.
“Then you didn’t fail.”
Memories of Audra ripped him in two. “She wanted a better life.”
“What makes you think that baby doesn’t have that? What makes you think she didn’t want what was best for her child? Was she mad at you? Did she beg you to save her?”
Sebastian shook his head, blinking back the months upon months of sorrow and regret.
“Then you haven’t failed,” Yeats repeated, this time stronger. “The darkest night can lead to the brightest dawn. We don’t always understand the path, and God always gives us the choice of turning around or choosing a different way, but there’s always a plan, Seb. Stick with the plan.”
Something dark and haunting flickered through Yeats’ eyes. His friend never spoke of his time with the Rangers, but Yeats hadn’t come home on his own, not like Sebastian. He chose to come home. To protect his family. Caitlyn. Owen.
No, Caitlyn wasn’t going to drop her truth bomb, then avoid him.
Audra was brave, even in the last moments of her life.
She protected her son, and without her, the evidence needed to put an end to the Sharks would never have surfaced.
He understood Caitlyn needed to protect Owen.
Without those past events, he wouldn’t have found Caitlyn and Owen and the one thing he missed most—family.
He had a family to protect now—that is, if Caitlyn would forgive him, and they could start over. No more lies. No more hiding the truth.
Sebastian managed to put the other leg in his pants and slid off the bed to pull them up under his gown.
The monitors behind him beeped unhappily with his movements.
A sudden clatter from the hallway broke the tense silence and startled him.
His heart hammering in his chest, he said, “Get me out of here.”
“I’ll find a nurse, but you got to swear to me, Seb, you’ll see Sam before you go into hiding.”
Dropping the gown and staring down at the wires stuck to his chest, Sebastian said, “Who says I’m hiding?”