Page 58 of Rise By Sin

“He’s tough. He escaped. He’s not going to stop fighting now,” I told her as I fought to keep my own emotions in check. Losing Colt would break me too. He was my brother in everything but blood and my life would never look the same without him in it.

Jack pushed open the door to the waiting room and Kylan was running at us instantly. He stopped when he saw it was us and I saw the disappointment cross his face momentarily. He had hoped we were a doctor with news.

The guy looked even worse than he had the evening before. He was even paler and his eyes were glassy with tears. He was wearing sweats, a ratty sweater and his sneakers weren’t even a pair. One was black and one was blue. If I didn’t believe from meeting him earlier that he loved Colt, I saw it now.

“Ava? What happened? Are you okay?” he gasped as he dropped down to his knees before her and placed a hand on her knee.

“I’m fine. Just tired and in pain. Have you heard anything?” she asked as she placed her hand over his and ran her other up and down his arm, trying to soothe him.

“No. They…the nurse…she said he’s been stabbed. She said something about internal bleeding but I…I don’t think I was listening properly. I’m so scared he won’t pull through. I can’t get him back just to lose him again,” he said shakily. I wondered when the last time was that he had eaten or slept. His hands were shaking badly and the dark circles around his eyes were deep.

“We are not going to lose him. He knows we’re all here waiting for him and he won’t go without a hell of a fight. He has promises to keep, remember?” Ava told him and he nodded shakily. He stood and rubbed at his eyes with the heel of his hands.

“You both need to try and rest while we’re waiting,” I told Ava and Ky as I looked between them. Colt was going to lose his shit when he woke up to find the two people he loved in the state they were.

“I can’t rest. I’ve barely slept since Ava told me Colt was missing,” Ky told me.

“Me neither. Can we get coffee?” Ava asked as she looked form me to Jack.

“I’ll go. I’ll see what I can find other that that crap that comes out of a machine,” Jack offered as he gave me a questioning look. I nodded to him, assuring him I’d stay with them both while he was gone.

Deacon arrived a few minutes after Jack walked out. He helped me to persuade Kylan to actually sit and stop pacing. Ava settled nest to him and she chatted quietly trying to reassure him and keep him calm. Jack returned with coffee from the cafeteria downstairs. It was shit, but better than the sludge from the machines.

Finally, after two hours of us all watching both Ky and Ava with so much worry, they both fell asleep, Ava went first, with her head resting on Ky’s shoulder, which meant he had to actually sit still, and moments later he was out too. I just hoped that once they both found out Colt was out of danger, and set their eyes on him, they’d relax enough to eat and sleep the way the both desperately needed to. Even though I barely knew Kylan, I felt the need to take care of him for Colt, knowing how important he had to be to him.

“Ava’s using a wheelchair now?” Deacon asked in little more than a whisper as he looked to Jack and I from where he sat opposite us.

“She told us she uses one at home, but we had to push her to use that one. She was in so much pain and dead on her feet. Once this is over and Colt is safe she needs to get a few days of rest,” Jack explained.

“She’s even paler tonight,” he sighed as he looked over at her.

“How serious are you about her?” I asked, unable to hold it in any more. I saw the way he watched her and looked at her. I felt the genuine care and concern in his words when he spoke with her, and fussed over her, but how much could he really be into her? He hadn’t known her a week! She’s been ours for years.

“What do you want me to say, man?” he said as he turned to me with annoyance. “I barely know her, but I’m serious enough to know I’m not walking away unless she tells me to. I like her, and I’ve never felt for a woman the way I do her. Maybe it won’t work but I want the chance to try with her. Are you going to keep trying to stop that?”

“Listen, this isn’t the time or place to be talking about this,” Jack told us both.

“No, maybe we should clear this up here and now,” Deacon said, his stare never leaving my face. He was such a contradiction. On the outside he was a mountain of a guy, even more built and slightly taller than me. He was intimidating as hell if you didn’t know him, but knowing him I also knew he wasn’t aggressive or intimidating at all. I had seen him with Ava, how gentle he could be with her and the easy way in which he could put her at ease while also making her feel safe. But there in that moment, as he started at me with determination and some challenge in his eyes, I was pretty sure he’d throw down with me if our conversation came to blows. He was a complicated guy to work out and I didn’t like that. I was good at reading people. It was a skill thatmade me a fucking great detective, but I just couldn’t get a good read on Deacon.

“Ava is ours. We fell in love over a decade ago and nothing has changed that. If you think you can sweep her out from under us, you’re wrong,” told him flatly.

“She doesn’t belong to anyone, and Ava will make her own decisions about what she wants. If you love her like you say, then you know that as well as I do. And I do believe you love her, that both of you do, and I’ve heard her say she loves you too. I have no intention of trying to steer her away from either of you. We’ve already been through this. I just want the chance to date her and get to know her. If it works out between us, then yeah, it will obviously turn into a complicated with the three of us and one of her, especially since you seem to dislike me so much,” he said as he pointed a finger at me. “Is it so wrong to just see where things go, if that’s what Ava wants too?”

“No,” Jack spoke up. “It’s not, not if it’s what she wants and I think it is, Mason. You have to stop being an ass to Deacon and let this happen. Ave knows we love her, and I don’t think she wants to walk away from us. She just has feelings for Deacon too. She needs both of us =, right? That’s what we always said.”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“Well, maybe she needs Deak too,” he told me and I found myself nodding. I knew he could be right. There had to be a reason our closed off girl had trusted Deacon so easily and built feelings for him. I couldn’t take that from her, even if I wanted to.

“I’ll try,” I agreed reluctantly. “But if you hurt her I will bury you somewhere no one will ever find your body,” I added menacingly as I glared at Deacon.

Before Deacon could even form a response the door to the waiting room was thrust open loudly, waking both Ava and Ky instantly.

“Colt MacMillan’s family?” the doctor asked as he looked around at us all.

“Yes!” Kylan gasped as he shot to his feet and raced across the room. “I’m his fiancé and that’s his sister. How is he?” I looked to Ava and realized she was struggling to move the chair herself, so I walked over and pushed so she was beside Kylan.

“He’s out of surgery and stable for now. We’re keeping him under close observation for tonight as a precaution, but I don’t foresee any serious complications,” the doctor explained and Ky and Ava cried out in relief simultaneously.

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