Page 125 of Kane's Awakening
I realized I’d met him at one of the Christmas parties the law firms held each year. He was Michael’s paralegal.
As Jackson recounted the story, Gabriel whimpered and leaned forward to rest his face in his hands. His small frame shook before he began full-blown bawling. The sound was gut-wrenching and raw—the cries of a broken heart.
The biggest guy, one I didn’t recognize, pulled Gabriel into his arms and held him to his chest.
“It’s okay, lil bro,” he said, rubbing Gabriel’s back. His large, muscled body reminded me of Kane. “He’ll be okay.”
“I’m nothing without him, Zack,” Gabriel cried into his shoulder.
“Don’t say that.” Zack’s eyes flooded with tears, but he held them back.
“So, you saw Kane get shot?” I asked Jackson, wishing like hell I’d heard him wrong.
He nodded, causing his brown bangs to fall across his brow. “If he hadn’t been there, I don’t know what would’ve happened. Not even sure I’d be here right now. The gunman was about to shoot me, when Kane called out to distract him. Then, he took the bastard down.”
Zack looked over at Jackson and shared a concerned look with him, one I recognized. It was the desperation in his eyes that called to me. If I would’ve looked at myself in the mirror in that second, I was sure I’d see the same one reflected in me.
Were they together?
My unasked question was answered when the guy went over to Jackson, held his face in his hands, and kissed him.
I averted my stare, in no mindset to see such affection. I sent Anna a text, explaining all I knew, and then my eyes focused on the time on my phone. It seemed like it’d never change, as if I’d forever be frozen in that minute of fear and anxiety, waiting on news about the man who held my heart in his silly hands.
If he really did cheat on me, I didn’t care anymore. I only wanted him to be okay. We’d work through anything else, because I couldn’t stomach the thought of not having him in my life.
Please be okay, I silently begged.
I called his parents next, and when his mom began crying over the phone, so did I. She wanted details, but I didn’t have them.
“We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Scott said into the phone, as Tracy was too frantic to answer me.
When they arrived about an hour later, Tracy ran over and hugged me, her small frame rocking with her sobs. Scott followed behind her, and even though he wasn’t crying, his expression was one of a man who was barely hanging on.
Hours passed before we got any answers. At least, that’s what it felt like. One dead, one in serious condition, and one that was fair. From what Jackson had told me, I suspected the gunman was dead, but as for the others… I knew it was selfish of me to hope Kane was the one in fair condition.
He wasn’t.
One of the bullets had penetrated something called the pericardium, which the doctor explained was the sac around his heart. That caused blood to fill the cavity, put pressure on his heart, and cut off oxygen-rich blood to the rest of his body. When he’d gone into surgery, he’d started going through cardiac arrest.
Tracy pressed for more information.
I zoned out a little during the explanation. Perhaps the shock was taking hold of me, but I fell backward and thankfully landed in the chair.Compressed heartandcardiac arrestkept floating through my head—how the bullet pierced near his heart… any closer would’ve killed him.
Panic seized me, and I started hyperventilating. I feared I was about to hear he was going to die, and it took both Zack and Jackson to calm me down.
The doctor then clarified to Kane’s parents that the fluid had been drained and Kane was receiving oxygen and medications to help increase his blood pressure. As for the other bullet, it had entered his abdomen, damaging areas of his small intestine.
“Can we see him?” I asked the doctor, steadying my nerves and standing back up.
“Not at this time,” he answered, shaking his head with a regretful gleam in his hazel eyes. My desperation must’ve come through loud and clear. He was young, so I pegged him as maybe a resident surgeon or physician, someone who was still training. “He’s still in surgery.”
Gabriel asked questions after that, and as he did, my mind drifted again. My gaze went to the ER doors that led to the rooms, and I wanted more than anything to go through them and find Kane. To let him know I was there and loved him.
What if I never get the chance to tell him?
“Can we see Michael?” Gabriel asked, gripping Zack’s hand so tight his knuckles were turning white.
The man agreed and took them back with him. I followed, but I felt awkward going into see Michael, so I hovered by the door in the hallway.
