Page 11 of Freeing Souls

I sit up straight again, wanting to soothe Grayson, but Cade speaks first. “Calm down, Grayson. Rage will be too worriedabout everyone else to be overly concerned about my face, and if he is, then I will just brush him off. As for Ryker, that was a temporary room. He’ll probably be here for a bit after surgery, so they will put him in his own room.”

Before Grayson can respond, the main doors slide open, and Gabe walks in, running a hand through his tousled hair. His shoulders are tense, and he has a frown on his face as he rounds the corner. “Atlas?” I ask, standing up.

“He’s here. They took him straight back to surgery. It’s not good.” He shakes his head as he takes a big breath. “They said they won’t know anything for sure until they can get a closer look at it–”

“At what?” I ask, slightly frantic. I can feel my heartrate picking up as dread settles deep in my gut. Grayson and Cayden, who must have stood right after me, each lay a hand on me, and it helps to keep me anchored. Still, I can’t take my eyes off Gabe.

“A rod.” He grimaces. “It looked like a piece from the bike lift we had in the garage. It was sticking out from his chest area. I don’t know more. He didn’t have a pulse at first, but they got it back before they even left the club. Lincoln said he was stable the whole ride over.”

Sucking in a breath, I mumble, “Brielle?” I can’t even imagine how terrified she must be.

“She’s here. Raven, Stone, and Carly brought her separately. No one will leave her alone,” Gabe says before asking, “What do we know about Ryker?”

“He’s still in surgery. No updates yet,” Cade says before Grayson or I can say anything.

“Okay, let’s go find the others, and I’ll make sure they know where to find us for updates about Ryker,” Gabe states as he gestures for us to follow him.

Grayson starts to follow, but before he can get far, I grab his wrist. “Grayson and I need some caffeine, so just text me where to go, and we will be over in a few,” I tell Gabe.

Pinching his lips together, Grayson stares at me, clearly not wanting to go, but he doesn’t contradict me either.

After Gabe and Cade take off, I pull Grayson with me and follow the signs to the cafeteria. I grab two water bottles for us and then find a corner table in relative seclusion.

“Are you not going to say anything?” I ask after Grayson sits, quietly fidgeting with his water bottle.

“What do you want me to say?”

“Literally anything would be better than silence. I’m sorry we upset you. Things did get out of hand. I was not handling things well—”

“So you fuck Cade when Ryker, someone we all love, could die? Because that’s what matters?” Grayson hisses.

I do my best to hide my shock at Grayson swearing and realize what this is about. Cade is right; it isn’t about us. “You’re scared you might lose Ryker,” I state. When his eyes shoot to mine and he opens his mouth to speak, I shake my head and keep going. “We are all scared. Three people we all care about deeply were hurt, and it has been up in the air how they are doing. Everyone is going to handle that in different ways.”

I chuckle. “Surprisingly, Cade is the most put together. He hasn’t shut down on us. He has been calm and collected the whole time. I, on the other hand, haven’t been. I had some very shitty thoughts when I first got here with Ryker. Then, I let those thoughts get the best of me. He woke up for a minute, you know?”

Grayson’s eyes widen slightly, and he shakes his head as I swipe the stray tear from my cheek. “Yeah. It was just for a minute. I didn’t go to him. It’s all he wanted. But I was so stuck in my head, I didn’t go to him before he got pulled into theemergency surgery. I will forever regret that. I let my demons get the best of me, and I’m pretty sure if I hadn’t been panicking so hard, I would’ve just booked it and left the hospital all together. Cade pulled me out in his own special way.”

“He kissed me,” Grayson blurts out, his eyes wide and filling with tears as he stares at me, waiting to see my reaction.

As much as I would like to fly out of the chair and hug Grayson, I don’t. I stay silent and let him get his thoughts together.

Taking a deep breath, he finally continues, looking at the other people wandering around the area. “Before, when he walked me to the tech room. He kissed me, and I felt whole. I felt like I had all of you and I was getting more of him, and somehow, our weird relationships were all going to come together and be perfect. But, the explosion happened, and it felt like an omen, Like I let myself get too content with things. Then, the one person I would normally have in my corner telling me my thoughts are ridiculous was the one hurt. I felt like I was out of control, and then it felt like I couldn’t function without Ryker. I mean, he has been my best friend for years; he has been there dragging me out of my shell, supporting me, allowing me to just be me. Doing things without him never even occurred to me. Even when you came into our lives, he was still there. Ryker brought us all together. Ryker brought Cade and me together. I’m scared, and I let the fear turn into anger at you guys.”

Reaching across the small table, I take his hands and make sure I have his full attention. “Something I am learning and I think we all have to learn is that it’s not just us. We have so many people now. When things like this happen, we have to lean on everyone. Come to Cade or me. Go to Rage, Noah, Nerds. Everyone is here for you. We are all here for each other. Ryker’scrazy ass may have dragged us all together, but it’s up to us, together, to make it last.”

Grayson smiles softly, but before anything else can be said, my phone buzzes on the table. We both glance at it to see a text from Cayden—they have updates. “We should probably go,” I say as I stand.

We walk over to the garbage can to toss our water bottles, but before I can leave the cafeteria, Grayson grabs my wrist and spins me towards him so we are chest to chest. I glance up at him as he cups my face and gently kisses my lips before pressing his forehead against mine. “I’m sorry.”

“I love you,” I tell him, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“I love you too,” he murmurs. “Everything is going to work out.” I’m not sure I fully believe him, but I give him a tight lipped smile and nod in agreement anyway.

Chapter Five

Ryker

“Anything new?” a soft, feminine voice asks quietly. I try to peel my eyes open, but I think someone placed weights on my eyelids; they feel so fucking heavy.

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