Page 124 of Kings Fear No One
I look over at Mace, who’s gone borderline catatonic at his best friend’s side.
I’m not sure if he’s about to break down from the prospect of losing him or go on a murderous rampage. Knowing my baby brother, probably both.
The moment becomes a whirlwind. Police and paramedics flood the scene within minutes.
Cash is transported to the local hospital. We’re left to loiter in the waiting room while he goes into emergency surgery to remove the bullet lodged in his chest.
Mace won’t stop pacing the area, swearing under his breath. I step up to the plate, trying to be the support he needs.
“He’ll be alright,” I say. “You heard the ER nurse. It didn’t pierce any major organs. Once they remove it and he’s out of surgery, he’ll be in the green.”
“It never should’ve happened in the first place!” Mace spits. Veins dilate in his neck, his fists clenched. He paces another leg around the room. “It’s those fucking Saints! This shit’s over! We fucking annihilate them. No mercy.”
Silver rises from the waiting room chair he’s been seated in. He grips Mace by the shoulder in the same vain effort to calm him down. “How about some fresh air?”
Mace shrugs him off. “Don’t fucking touch me! This isn’t a joke!”
“Nobody said it was. But what use is exploding in the middle of an ER waiting room?” Silver asks.
“You might be acting prez, Silv, but you damn sure ain’t Tom.”
I scrub a hand over my face and turn my back to the rising tensions. I can’t think straight with so much racket, so much fucking chaos around me. Cash was shot but I’m the reason they were targeting the Steel Kings in the first place.
It was Abraham seeking revenge. Possibly the Barreras. Maybe both.
They’re not gonna let up ’til one of us comes out on top. ’Til I crush every last one of them.
I step outside for the fresh air Silver had suggested. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I discover I’ve got six missed calls and fifteen text messages.
Almost all from Teysha.
“Shit,” I mutter under my breath.
Everything’s happened so fast over the last twenty minutes there’s hardly been time to process it all.
Teysha answers before the first ring’s even over. “Logan,” she gasps, “Logan, someone broke into the apartment!”
“What?!”
“The door was open and… and the place was trashed inside. Everything turned over. Furniture broken. Things ripped off the walls.”
“Teysha, get the fuck out of there!” I yell, charging forward. “I’m coming to get you!”
“We left. We went to Korine’s place… but Ozzie just called her. Cash was shot?”
My muscles ache, contracting tight. I close my eyes. “Yeah, he’s in surgery.”
“Korine’s in hysterics. Her mother too. We’re on our way.”
I hang up to the rustling noise of Teysha and the others piling into the car. I’m halfway convinced they need to stay where they are and half certain they should be with us. But there’s no telling them to stay put. Not when Cash has been shot.
“This is a fucking mess,” I swear under my breath.
It’s early morning by the time Cash is out of surgery. The ER nurse emerges from flapping doors to let us know he’s in stable condition. Two of us are allowed to see him. Mace and Korine make the most sense. The rest of us hang back and breathe for the first time in what feels like hours.
Exhaustion sets in. We look around the room and come to the same silent conclusion—it’s been a long fucking night and we’re all spent.
Teysha and I head home in strained silence. She’s nodding off in the passenger seat. I’m caught between the fatigue that weighs down my eyelids and the rage that’s bubbling under the surface. How can I rest when the Chosen Saints have once again come after somebody I care about? How the hell can I take a breather when Abraham’s still out there?
