“… his tibia has a compound fracture. He’s had surgery. Metal plates and screws were needed to align it, and he has an air cast fitted. That’s the boot. He has broken ribs, which we’ve wrapped as there isn’t much else we can do.”

“Oh God...”

“He also has a broken jaw. Thankfully, it’s a minor fracture so he’ll be uncomfortable, but it will heal on its own. Mr. Reigns has lost four teeth, he’ll have to visit the dentist for repair. Apart from that, it’s mainly cuts and bruises. Mrs. Reigns, your son will need quite a few months of recovery for his leg. And physical therapy. But he will recover.”

“And the other one? Caden’s friend?”

“I’m afraid he didn’t make it. He bled out at the scene.”

“Oh God.”

Fuck!

Pain radiates through my body, there’s not an inch that doesn’t throb. Even breathing hurts. A thick metallic taste coats my mouth.

Casper. I can’t seem to catch my breath as I remember him turning up. Opening my eyes to an empty room, panic slices through me and I start coughing. A nurse rushes in and presses a buzzer, then tries to sit me up.

Another nurse hustles in almost instantly. “Breathe, Mr. Reigns. Here, take a sip of water,” she tells me when I’ve managed to control myself. Tentatively, I sip as she holds the plastic cup to my lips. It’s warm, but it soothes my throat.

“My friends, my brother,” I wheeze out.

“Just keep calm, and we’ll find out what we can.”

My heart flutters like birds wings as I try to calm myself. People describe a heart as thumping, beating and battling in your chest. Mine doesn’t feel like that, the fluttering is so fast and so faint, I’m concerned that at any minute it’s going to stop.

“Please, tell me something,” I urge.

She smiles down at me softly and taps my forearm. “I do know your brother is okay as he was here yesterday.” She frowns. “Unless you have more than one brother?”

“No,” I answer trying to shake my head, quickly hissing at the pain.

“Be careful. You’ve been through the wars, Mr. Reigns—”

“Caden. Please.”

Smiling again she nods. “Caden, I’m Lucy.” I try to offer her a smile in return, but it hurts my jaw. “It’s early, around six am. Your family will no doubt be here soon,” she says continuing to smile. “Another nurse told me they had to basically be kicked out last night.” Lucy giggles. “Anyway, the doctor will arrive in a moment to go through your injuries.”

“My friends?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know,” she replies sadly.

The door swings open. “Mr. Reigns, glad to see you awake, and with us.” An older man strides into the room with purpose. “I’m Doctor Hicks, how are you feeling,” he asks, his tone even, his body language indifferent. Despite making me feel like just another number, he also brings a calm with him.

“Peachy,” I grind out.

“Good. Good,” he says, and I roll my eyes. “So, you’ve see the air cast.” He nods to my booted leg. “You had to have surgery which resulted in metal plates and screws because you had a compound fracture in your Tibia, that’s the bigger bone in the lower part of your leg. You’ll make a full recovery, but you will always beep going through airport security.” He laughs, and I want to stick my booted foot up his ass. “You’ll probably feel uncomfortable across most of your body.” He looks over my form, and I want to shout, ‘No Shit Sherlock,’ but my jaw aches too much to talk unnecessarily. “You have two fractured ribs, a minor fracture on your jaw, and you’ve lost some teeth.”

What the fuck does some mean?

“You had a slight concussion which we monitored. It hasn’t given us any cause for concern, though.” He reels the words off like practiced lines in a play. “Of course, there’s bruising to a high proportion of your body as well as cuts and grazes, but you will survive. Physical therapy will be required for your leg. Time and patience will be needed for the rest of you.”

“Can you tell me about the others?” I whisper, my jaw resisting the movement.

“Others?” Dr. Hicks asks, his eyebrows dipping with confusion.

“I wasn’t alone.” I gingerly sweep my arm down my body as my voice trembles.

His head jerks back. “Oh… I can’t comment on the others. I’m sorry, patient confidentiality.”

I decide not to reply, partly because I’m in pain, but more so because I have nothing to say.

There’s a white clock on the wall, it’s ticking backward, or at least it feels like it is. I’m desperate for someone to arrive—Tarrant, my mom… Casper. I’ve been trying not to think about him, desperately trying, because every time I do, I stop breathing. I’m so scared, so damn scared he’s not okay. I remember the conversation my mom had with a nurse. I know someone died. What’s freaking me out is that I must know that person… I might even love that person.

“Caden…” The unmistakable deep growl pulls me from staring at my hands, which are entwined in my lap, to the figure in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

Tarrant stares back at me, his eyes calculating my state, concern lingering like a stalker. He has a scab forming over his eye and a slight bruise on his right cheekbone. Apart from that, he looks perfect, unharmed, and I loosen a little of the imaginary rope constraining my body.

He moves slowly to my bed, pulling the chair alongside it out, and turning it to face me. He sits, studying my face.

“Tell me,” I croak out, cupping my aching jaw. I know by now I must need some meds, but right this moment—when he tells me what happened—I need the pain to exist, I need it to cling to.

Tarrant winces at my voice and obvious pain, but he nods in understanding. With no words or explanation, my brother automatically knows what I need.

“Someone saw you at the field.”

I frown but remain silent.

“Seems the group that tracked you down… that did this…” He tugs at his hair. “They were Tim, his brother Todd, and some friends from their new college. The same one we played football against the day before.”

My eyes widen, and Tarrant clamps his jaw shut, grinding his teeth.

“They were in old man Potts’ diner. A local went in, and apparently old man Potts was talking to his wife about you not being on the team anymore. The local piped up that he’d seen you over by Archers Field taking photos.” Tarrant shrugs. “Guess that was all Todd needed. Opportunity. He grabbed his buddies and went to find you.”

“You came,” I whisper.

The muscle in Tarrant’s check jumps more than once as he contains himself, and his emotions.

“Aaron called me.”

My stomach clenches. “What?” I murmur.

“He called me. Said he’d just had a call from Tim. Apparently, after what happened the other day, they expected him to fall in line with them, to join in. Instead, he called me, explained they were going after you, apologized about a million times until I told him to shut the fuck up. Shit!” Tarrant rubs the back of his neck, and I want to shake him, I want him to get it out. “Damn near crying he was. Couldn’t believe what he’d done to you. Said he was going to make things right.”

I feel tears burn in my eyes. Aaron was always a good guy. I’m not sure what has kicked him off his path over the last few months, and no matter how pissed I was about what he did the other day, I also know that wasn’t him. Not even a little bit. I’m pleased he chose the right path, that he basically saved my life. I know I’ll forgive him, and thank him and I’ll mean every word.

“I saw Casper turn up.” The wobble in my voice doesn’t go unnoticed by Tarrant.

“I called him while I was on my way to the field. I wanted to make sure you weren’t with him. That Aaron was legit. To be honest, I already knew in my gut Aaron wasn’t lying, but I needed to do something on the five-minute drive. It felt like five fucking hours, brother.”

“So Casper… is he okay?” I almost don’t want to ask, but I have to know.

Tarrant lets out a long breath. “He is. But, he got arrested, Caden.” His eyes narrow. “Did you know Coby is his cousin?”

“Coby?” I reply.

“Yeah, you know my friend the hockey player.”

“No.” I frown. “I didn’t know they were cousins.”

Tarrant shrugs. “We were all taken to the police station.” He looks at my booted leg and frowns before staring out the hospital window. “Well, everyone who didn’t need to come to the hospital.”

My heart squeezes, and the pain in my body seems to ramp up.

“Casper’s mom called Coby to help him with a lawyer. I’m pretty sure he’ll be fine, as it was self-defense, but he’s with the lawyer right now. He’ll be here to see you later.”

Slowly bringing my hand up to my chest, I put a tiny amount of pressure over my heart and jerk as my ribs scream in pain. “He’s okay?” I need confirmation.

Tarrant smiles, and then quickly frowns. “He is. He’ll be here as soon as he’s finished. He was so fucking angry when the cops took him in. He would have been released much earlier if he hadn’t of put up such a fight.” Tarrant rubs his hand back and forth over his head. “We thought you were dead, Caden… he…” Tarrant coughs, closes his eyes and pushes his finger and thumb onto his eyelids. With a small shake of his head, his shoulders drop, and he looks at me again. “Casper lost it. He was a fucking machine. It took four cops to stop him fighting, to drag him away, and he wasn’t just fighting one guy either.”

“There were six of them,” I choke out.

“Solomon came, too.”

“Solomon?”

Tarrant nods. “Yeah, Aaron called him, too.”

“He did?” I don’t know why I keep questioning what he’s telling me. I swallow hard, and tears gather on my lower lids as I try not to think about where I’d be right now if Aaron had chosen to do nothing.

Tarrant nods. His fists are clenched, the knuckles blanching across his stretched skin.

“I… I might have died if Aaron hadn’t…” my breath stutters. “He saved me.”

Tarrant drops his head, resting his chin on his chest. His shoulders rise, and he seems to hold his body still for ten seconds before I watch his shoulders drop, his head swings up and the pain on his face, the sadness in his eyes, it takes my breath away. “He’s dead.”

Hammering, fluttering, collapsing in on itself, my heart does it all as my brain tries to process his words. I can’t speak as tears streak down my face.

“Aaron came to the fight. He arrived just after me and brought Solomon. We kicked their asses because of him. You’re okay because of him. Shit. They stabbed him, Caden. Todd stabbed him.”

Choking erupts in my throat and chest, and the pain intensifies both physically and emotionally. Tarrant jumps up grabbing my water, he helps me sit up, waiting for me to calm down. Then, holding the straw that Nurse Lucy added to my water, he lets me sip like the water will somehow wash away the ache, which at this point simply feels like a part of me. I shake my head over and over, my jaw screams at me with every movement, but I can’t seem to stop.

Tarrant puts the water down, and tenderly cups both my cheeks with his hands. “Stop, brother. There’s nothing any of us could have done. Todd is obviously unstable. Aaron…” He glances away swallowing then turns back to me. “Todd stabbed him eleven times. He bled out on the side of the road.”

A strangled noise expels involuntarily from my throat. “Morgan.”

“Is with Laura and Max. Worry about you right now, you still need to recover.”

“Todd?”

Tarrant’s face hardens. “The cops have him. He won’t be free anytime soon.”

“Mom?” I whisper.

“She’s at the house. I asked her to let me come here and tell you what happened. Mom would have been too emotional. Then there would be two of you.” The corner of his mouth quirks, but I don’t react. I feel numb. More than anything, I want Casper.

“Can I borrow your cell? Call Casper?”

He frowns. “You can’t call him right now. Let him sort out his legal situation, then he’ll be here… trust him… trust me.” It’s a plea, and so I silently agree. “Get some rest, you need it.”

Again, I give Tarrant no answer, only close my eyes and hope my dreams give me a reprieve.