I set my phone back down, running a frustrated hand through my hair as I scanned the parking lot again through the plate glass window. Kyle was two hours late returning from lunch, which wasn’t like him. He hadn’t seemed too upset over the whole Ethan thing, and it was completely out of character for him to ignore a text or call from me.

When my phone rang, I grabbed for it eagerly, only to see that it was my brother calling. I held the phone to my ear. “What’s up, Beau?”

“Dallas, is there anybody who can keep an eye on that place for you? You need to get your ass over to the hospital.”

The serious tone in his voice sent frissons of fear skittering along my spine. “What happened? Are the kids okay? Gideon? Lukas?”

Beau spoke a little more gently. “It’s none of our family, it’s Kyle. Gideon is his emergency contact and he was brought in here about an hour ago, from what we can tell. We’re still getting the information sorted, but I know you care about the guy—not to mention the fact that he works for you.”

“Holy shit, Beau. He was on lunch.” I was rambling, unable to process the fact that Kyle was at the hospital now. “What happened? Was he in an accident? He went home to change his shirt and then never came back.”

“Dallas. I don’t know anything, as I said—we are still getting the information. All I know is that he’s unconscious and was unable to speak for himself. They found Gideon’s number under the ICE contact on his cell phone. The insurance card in his wallet also listed Gid as an emergency contact, which is why we’re here. You coming down, or what?”

My brain was finally clicking into gear. “I’m on my way.” Ethan emerged from the yoga studio, on his way out with his bag over his shoulder when I flagged him down. “Hey, can I ask you to do me a solid? I don’t have anybody else I could ask, or I would.”

“Of course, Dallas. What’s going on?” Ethan was an old military buddy of my brother’s, which was how we’d met. I hated to ask him to work the front desk when he was such an introvert, but I needed to go to Kyle.

“Kyle, our receptionist that you ran into earlier? I just got a call that he’s at the hospital unconscious. I need to get over there, but I don’t have anybody to watch this place. Would you mind? I hate to put you in this position, but I’m short-staffed at the moment and…” Ethan held up a hand to silence me.

“Go. I’ve got this. I’ve even got that key you gave me to the front door and if you don’t make it back tonight, I’ll lock up. Kyle needs you more right now than this gym does, I’d say. What about any training clients? I can’t help you out there; I’m not certified.”

I shook my head. “I’ll cancel the rest of my appointments for the day and reschedule them later. The other trainers are responsible for their own clients. All you have to do is sit here and look pretty, answer the phones, and deal with questions from any walk-ins.”

“Fair enough, I can handle that. Now get the hell out of here.” Ethan tipped his head toward the door. “Shoot me a text though, if you don’t mind. I don’t know the kid, but he seemed like a nice guy. I’d like to know if he’s okay.”

“You got it.” I nodded as I grabbed my keys and phone and headed for the door. Once I got in my car, I paused long enough to send a group text to all my clients that I’d had a family emergency and would contact them to reschedule once I was able. Then I set my phone down and got the car rolling.

By the time I got to the hospital, my entire family was there—minus Austin and the babies. I guess he’d drawn the short straw on babysitting duty for today. Kyle was so much like family to us that it didn’t surprise me to see everyone sitting there with worried faces.

Gideon was sitting on Beau’s lap, crying his eyes out while Beau and Lukas consoled him. My heart was in my throat as I turned to Houston. “Why is he crying? Is… I mean… Kyle. Nothing happened, right?” I didn’t know how to verbalize my fear.

Houston shook his head and held up a hand. “He’s alive, but he’s fucked up. Gid is crying because his heart is broken for Kyle.”

“What happened? Was it a car accident? He was on lunch break and never came back.” I moved closer to my brother, sitting down in the chair next to him so that I could speak softly and not disturb the other people in the waiting area.

My brother leaned in and angrily spat out Fred’s name. “That pig is what happened. Fred apparently beat the shit out of him and then dragged him out onto the front lawn. He threw all of his stuff out there and basically left him for dead, or whatever. I don’t know what his thinking was, but you can’t convince me that he was home and was completely unaware of the whole thing going down unless he was part of it.”

My jaw dropped. “How did Kyle end up here then? And has Fred been arrested?”

Houston shook his head. “A neighbor called 911. Fred wasn’t arrested by the officers on scene, most likely thanks to the good ol’ boy network. Unless Kyle wakes up and presses charges, he probably won’t be, either. He told the police that Kyle came home and packed his shit in a jealous huff and stormed out. He says that someone must’ve randomly attacked him on the front lawn while he was innocently in the house. But yet, all of Kyle’s stuff was thrown haphazardly around him from what my friend says. He’s an EMT. He wasn’t on the scene, but I ran into him here and he told me what he’d heard through the grapevine.”

I worked my jaw from side to side as I clenched and unclenched my fists. “I bet if I went and knocked on his door, I’d find good ol’ Freddy-boy with swollen and abraded knuckles. What a piece of shit. Beau and I should go teach that fucker a lesson.”

Houston rested his hand on my arm. “No, forget him. You need to be here for Kyle. Listen, you should know that the guys and I have suspected for a while now that Fred is abusive. I’m pretty sure this is the first time that it’s escalated to this point, but the signs have all been leading here. Dallas, I know you like him, but put that to the side for now. He’ll need you to be a friend right now, not his savior. And the last thing he needs is to see you resorting to violence too, you know?”

As much as I hated to admit it, the little shit had a good point. Before we had a chance to speak any further, a nurse came in and told Gideon that Kyle was in a room now.

“Has he regained consciousness?” Beau asked quietly.

The nurse smiled regretfully. “He did wake up briefly, but he’s been given pain medicine that knocked him out. His injuries have all been treated and surgery isn’t going to be required. That’s really all I can tell you though, without you being immediate family.”

Gideon stood from Beau’s lap and asserted himself. “I’m his emergency person; I hold his medical power of attorney. You can tell me anything, so please tell me what’s wrong with my friend.”

She pulled him out into the hallway to speak privately. Gideon looked shell-shocked as I watched him through the glass, but he held himself together until he came back in and returned to Beau’s lap. Houston and I went over and sat beside them while Gideon quietly told us the extent of Kyle’s injuries.

“Don’t worry, I have the power so they can’t keep us out of his room now that he’s in a private one. So, apparently he’s pretty banged up and his left arm was broken. He also has a couple of bruised ribs, but they’re pretty sure they’re not broken. They’ve set his arm and casted it. He’s resting now, drugged up on pain pills.”

Lukas looked like he was ready to do damage. “That motherfucking Fred. You cannot convince me that he sat inside that house while Kyle got his ass kicked on the front yard and he didn’t hear a thing? And yet, he’s a fucking cop? Yeah, sell me another one, you sleazy bastard. Beau, can I borrow your bowie knife, babe?”

“No,” Beau and Gideon answered in stereo.

“Fine, I’ll think of something, though. That rat bastard isn’t going to get away with this. Kyle is the sweetest guy ever. How could anybody want to hurt somebody that gentle and vulnerable?”

Houston sounded heartbroken himself when he spoke up. “A better question is how Kyle let it get to this point. Why didn’t he see that he was better than whatever Fred was doing to him? The guy has such low self-esteem, it breaks my heart.”

We all went silent, not knowing how to answer that one. I vowed to myself right then and there that I would protect Kyle from Fred and hopefully show him that he did have value.