Page 7 of Freeing Souls

“Harley–” he starts, bringing his free hand up to caress my arm, but it’s too much, and I don’t want to break down right now, so I jump up and cut him off.

“Don’t. I’m fine. You just worry about getting better.”

Ryker drops his hand and glares at me as I step back from the bed. He opens his mouth, but I speak first. “The nurse was going to find out about Sugar. Maybe I should go find them and check in. Grayson is with him, and I’m sure he is wanting to know how you are doing.”

“Harley, babe–” I shake my head, staring at the floor, thanking whatever stopped Ryker from saying more. I just can’t handle talking right now. I know I will eventually have to deal with it all, but at the moment, I would prefer to just pretend everything is fine. My stupid confusing feelings can take a back seat.

But with the way these guys force those feelings to the front of my mind with just a simple look, I don’t know if I will make it. At least for now, Ryker seems to understand, but looking at his scratched up face, worried eyes, and almost angry expression is too much, so I keep my eyes firmly planted on the ground.

That is, until Ryker sucks in a sharp breath and the machines start beeping wildly. Jerking my head up, I find his face scrunched up in pain until it falls to a blank look like he has just vanished from his body. The room swarms with people yelling out things that sound like barely breathing…hemorrhaging…needed that CT…

My back collides with the wall as my breathing comes faster. I can’t stop staring at his lifeless face even as they roll him outof the room. “Miss? Hey, miss, you need to breathe.” Someone grips my shoulders, but I jerk out of the hold and move away from them.I can’t breathe.“Is there someone I can call for you?”

Grabbing my phone from my jacket pocket, I call Cade as quickly as my shaky fingers allow. The second he answers, I break.

“Cade–” I gasp as my chest grows impossibly tighter.

“Baby girl?” his raspy voice questions.

“He–they–Cade, fuck.”

“Hey, baby girl, breathe for me. What’s going on?”

I gasp before getting out, “He stopped breathing.”

The tears break through, and I can’t hear anything he says as I sob uncontrollably. I feel soft fingers grasp the phone and gently take it from my hand as I slide to the floor, bringing my knees to my chest, and rock back and forth.

I can faintly hear the nurse speaking, but I block out whatever she is saying as my mind berates me for being so heartless and broken.

Cayden

I listen to the nurse explain Ryker had internal bleeding and he is now going into surgery to fix it. I breathe out and walk over towards Rage standing by the carnage from the explosion, gesturing for him to walk away from the others when he notices me.

We head over towards the corner of the parking lot where it’s a bit quieter and I click my phone over to the speaker. “Thank you for letting me know. Do you know if there is any update on Colton? He would’ve been brought in about the same time as Ryker.”

“Yes, I was coming to let Harley know. He is downstairs in our emergency room. Looks like he has a broken foot and some bruising. He did hit his head pretty hard, so they are going to put him in a room for the night to keep an eye on him, but after he gets his cast tomorrow, he will be good to go home,” the nurse explains.

“Great. Thank you. Can you hand the phone back to Harley?” I ask.

“Um–I’ll just put the phone on speaker and set it next to her. She is still in Ryker’s room but currently is on the floor. I am going to give her some space and shut the door. But I would recommend someone get here for her soon.” We hear her talking softly to Harley and then the door clicking shut a moment later.

I glance at Rage, whose brows are drawn down in concern at the quiet sobs and gasping breaths through the phone.

“Harley?” Rage asks quietly, but she doesn’t respond.

“Harley? I’m going to come get you, alright?” I tell her as I watch Rage bring up Grayson’s number. I was planning to stay here and help with whatever I could, but the thought of Harley being in distress makes me want to sprint to her. “I’m going,” I tell Rage, who just nods in agreement and tries to call Grayson while I click my phone off speaker and run towards Noah to grab his truck keys from him.

“I’m on my way there, Harley. I’ll stay on the phone with you until Grayson or I are with you,” I tell her, even though she doesn’t respond. I can hear her uneven breathing as she cries, probably panicking.

Driving much faster than I should, I make it to the hospital in half the time it would normally take. Keeping the phone firmly pressed against my ear, I find out what room Ryker is in and make my way up there. I don’t say anything else to Harley; I just listen to her trying to breathe as she panics, and my heart clenches the longer it takes me to get to her.

“Harley?” I walk into the room and find her huddled against the wall with her knees drawn up to her chest, her face tucked between them. Her phone rests next to her feet, and I hang up before squatting down in front of her. Running my hands down her arms wrapped tightly around her legs, I speak softly. “Baby girl, Ryker is okay. He is in surgery, but they said he is going to be okay. Can you look at me?”

When she doesn’t move or acknowledge anything I say, I grip her arms and pull on them until her hold loosens and I can get her to look at me. Still, she doesn’t really look at me. She looks through me with a vacant gaze. “Harley, talk to me. Did you hear what I said?”

She blinks slowly, more tears falling down her face before she speaks in a detached voice. “I can’t do this.”

“Do what?” I ask as a new feeling settles in my gut. Fear? Worry?

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