Page 57 of Rise By Sin

“I already sent him a text. Hell meet us at the hospital.” Jack pulled me into his side and wrapped his arm tightly around me. “Can you do this right now, Ave? You’re barely staying upright?” he questioned, and I hated that he was bang on the money. I was struggling to stand.

“I’m doing it no matter what. Colt asked for them to call me. He wants me there,” I told him stubbornly.

“Then at least tell me what we can do to make it easier for you.”

“My pain is bad tonight…in my legs and back, and I’m struggling to get my balance,” I admitted.

“She also threw back almost half a bottle of scotch, which I’m sure isn’t helping her stay on her feet,” Mason added and when I looked up he was stood in the doorway in a pair of jeans and a hooded sweater emblazoned with ‘NYPD’ across the front.

“When?” Jack asked as he looked to me expectantly.

“I’m not wasted. I have a high tolerance with all the meds I take. I’m fine,” I argued.

“We agreed you’d stop the drinking?” I hated the way Jack was looking at me like he was disappointed in me.

“Can we just get to the damned hospital? This can wait. Colt can’t!” I snapped.

“Fine, but we will be talking about this, Ava. Things need to change if any of us are going to make this work,” Mason threatened, and I gulped, dreading that conversation.

“Great. Can’t wait for the intervention,” I quipped with an over enthusiastic thumbs up. It was my automatic defense. I didn’t want either of them to feel my shame and embarrassment I was feeling for being caught that night. My drinking had always been private before. There’d been no one to rebuke ne for it or even care. Having the issue pulled out into the light made me feel like a naughty child. I hated it, but I also knew Mason was right – things had to change. Colt was alive and I had to be there for him through out whatever he had to deal with a result of all he’d been through. I had to try harder to get my shit together. No more hiding.

CHAPTER 18

MASON

As soon as we walked through the entrance of the emergency department I pulled a wheelchair from the bank near the door and spun it towards Ava who was stubbornly refusing any help as she struggled like hell to walk on her own, leaning so much weight on her stick Jack and I were terrified she was going to wind up toppling over it.

“Sit,” I told her, my tone brokering no argument. I was so fucking worried about her. I knew she was tough as nails mentally, but physically there were days I was pretty sure she shouldn’t even be getting out of bed. Add to that how hard she constantly pushed herself and she seemed to be weakening before our eyes with each day that passed.

She was constantly in so much pain and I wished more than anything that I could just take it on for her. It tore me apart knowing there was so little we could do to help her. There had to be more than could be done to make her comfortable on those tough days she had told us about, and that we were witnessing more of the longer she was with us. None of it changed the way I felt for her. I loved her. I had loved her for over a decade and she was mine no matter what, but I did fear I was going to lose her if things went on as they were.

“I’m not a dog!” She snapped at me.

“No, you’re a stubborn woman who is exhausted and in agony. Either you get in the wheelchair or I pick you up and carry you. Choose now because there’s no way Jack and I are watching you struggle any longer,” I told her in my most dominant voice, praying she would actually listen and just relent.

“Just use the chair, love, please. You said you use one at home anyway. How is this different? Mason’s right, you’re too exhausted to keep pushing tonight,” Jack added more gently.

Ava dropped the mask she had put up the second I had pulled the chair out, and all of her bravado fell away as her insecurity and fear showed through clearly. She started to chew on her lip as she glanced between us.

“I…I don’t want Colt to see me like this,” She admitted quietly, and instantly Jack moved to hold her. This was why our dynamic worked so well. I was a bossy asshole who loved control. Sure, I could be gentle when Ava needed me to be, but I wasn’t great at it. Jack liked control too, but he also had a softer, nurturing side that he thrived in, and that Ava needed at times. Between us we could give her everything she needed, which was how neither of us had ever even thought about trying to start something with her alone. She needed the both of us as much as we needed her.

“Do you plan to stay and be here for Colt now we have him back?” Jack asked softly. He had his arms wrapped around her as she pressed her face against his chest.

“Yes, of course.”

“Then Colt will find out about the shooting and about your injury. He’s going to see you on your good day and you bad because that man misses nothing and you know it. You can’t hide this from him anymore, Ave, and you don’t need to. Colt loves you. He would never think any less of you or what everbullshit has you so scared to tell him what happened. Do you hear me?”

“I just want to see him,” she uttered and I could hear how tight her throat was. She was fighting tears again and it broke my heart. I hated the hell she had been through, and was still struggling to push through too. We needed her to just let us in so we could at least help her to fight, but she w=really was the most stubborn woman.

“Then let’s go and find him, okay?” Jack told her as he turned her so she was before the wheelchair. He held onto her as he lowered her down to the seat and I sigh or f=relief left me when she just settled into it and lifted her feet onto the pads for them.

I leaned over her and kissed her temple softly as I spoke, “Thank you, baby. I can’t stand to watch you hurting.”

She turned her head and looked up at me, then placed her hand over my stubbled cheek and just held it for a moment. She smiled just a little and it was enough for me to relax just a little. I knew she was still in pain, but the fact she had allowed us to coax her into the chair gave me hope that she might one day stop fighting every time we tried to help her.

Jack asked at the reception desk about Colt and we were shown to a waiting room on the surgery floor. A nurse explained that Colt had been stabbed multiple times and was going to be in surgery for a while. She assured us a doctor would update us as soon as possible, then left us. She couldn’t even tell us if he was stable for now, or any of the reassuring words I knew Ava needed to hear.

“St-stabbed?” Ava squeaked as she looked back at me with glassy eyes.

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