Page 155 of Undisputed Chaos
"Are you okay?" he asked, pulling back to examine my face with worried blue eyes so similar to my own. "Did that fu—psycho—hurt you?"
I couldn’t resist a smile.
Crew knew better than to curse around me; he was perpetually my baby, but now it just proved this was indeed my baby brother.
"I'm fine," I assured him, my hands automatically moving to check him over like I had since he was small.
I found a small bruise on his shoulder and another on his wrist, but otherwise he appeared unharmed.
My big sister instincts kicked in anyway. "What about you? Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"Just bruises," he said dismissively, but he rolled his left shoulder gingerly. "Nothing I can't handle."
Jax approached, placing a gentle hand on Crew's shoulder.
"Kid's tougher than he looks," he said with genuine admiration. "Gave those assholes hell even when they had him outnumbered."
"Language," I scolded automatically, then caught myself.
After everything that had happened, worrying aboutJaxswearing, of all people, seemed ridiculous.
Crew grinned at my reflexive response. "Seriously, Isla? After the day we've had, you're worried about bad words? I’m literally graduating this year.”
I ruffled his hair, which made him duck and swat at my hand. "Some things never change, dummy.”
Crew glanced at Jax, who nodded, and his expression darkened from the laughter we just shared.
“I should have seen it coming.”
He looked between Adrian and me, frustration clear in his voice.
"I got a text from some random number claiming to be Adrian. Said he needed help planning a surprise for you."
I frowned. "A surprise for me?"
"That's what I thought was weird," Crew continued, running a hand through his messy hair.
"The message was so... boring. Like, formal and stuff. None of Adrian's energy.”
Adrian's lips twitched in amusement.
"But I figured maybe you were being serious about planning something special," Crew went on, his voice growing angry.
"So I went to the park like the message said. I should have trusted my gut when something felt off about the whole thing."
"Don't blame yourself," I said firmly, reaching out to squeeze him closer. "Noah planned this. He used you to get to me."
Crew nodded, but I could see the guilt still eating at him.
"When I got there, those two guys grabbed me before I even knew what was happening. Noah was already there, ranting about fixing you or something.”
His hands clenched into fists. "I tried to warn you when he made me call, but he kept the phone away from me."
"You did everything right," Adrian said quietly, his voice carrying that dangerous edge that meant he was thinking about Noah again.
"You protected her the best way you could."
“I still felt helpless," Crew muttered, then looked up at Adrian with worship.
