Chapter 23—Maddox
I make the only phone call I need to make to ensure that everyone else is notified. By the time I get my shit together long enough to make the call, the sun is starting to climb and I know it won’t be long before the officers from last night start trying to find me.
Axel promises to handle getting my cell number switched and a replacement phone to me as soon as possible, knowing that they’ll need to get ahold of me and mine is still somewhere in that hotel’s halls. I give him the only information I have—that she was stable when we arrived.
I’ve just dropped the phone down onto the base when the door opens and Tracey walks back in. She gives me a smile, shutting the door softly.
“Can I get some information on your wife? We can wait for the insurance stuff if you don’t have it on you, but they need to know some general information.”
I nod but don’t move my eyes up from their fixed position on the door, willing someone to come and tell me how she is.
I go over the basic information on Emmy. Just talking about her so clinically is making my skin itch. I need to see her. I have to see her.
“Do you know anything?” I question hopefully.
She looks over her shoulder at the door, I assume trying to decide if she should tell me what she knows. “When Dr. Moss comes in, let’s pretend we didn’t have this conversation. I snuck into the exam room with the ruse of needing some paperwork signed. She had x-rays on her arm and leg. Last I heard, they had set and stabilized both and will cast them when the swelling subsides. She’s going to be okay.”
“Jesus,” I pray. “Anything else? Extent of her other injuries?” My eyes wildly scan her face and my heart pounds rapidly. Goddamn it, I need to get to her.
“I’m sorry,” she says and stands. “It shouldn’t be much longer.”
“Her family is coming. Should I be somewhere else so that they can get to me?”
She nods. “Let’s go out to the waiting area. There’s a separate room for family that we can have you settle in. They will be able to find you there.”
It takes me a second to get everything settled with my leg. The pain is better now that I had the time to get off it. Not a hundred percent, but an immense improvement.
My new ‘holding area’ isn’t small, but once everyone arrives, it will be. I walk over to the windows, stuffing my hands into my pockets, and try to reason with my mind. I feel the almost uncontrollable urge to start bulldozing my way through this building until I’m with her. My demons, now recognizing her for what she is—their blessing—are restless without her soothing soul.
It took me so fucking long. I stole years from her—from us—because I was too much of a pussy to take a chance. I still worry that I might unwillingly harm her, but I now believe that we need each other on a greater scale.
Regardless of my fears and concerns, the only way I might ever begin to heal is with her walking each step with me.
“Maddox?” I tense when Axel’s hand touches my back. “You okay, brother?”
I’d love to punch him in the face, get some of this excess energy out, but I know he isn’t asking the ludicrous question for shits and giggles.
“No,” I tell him honestly. “But I will be when they let me back there.”
“I understand. Here.”
I turn and look down at the phone in his hand.
“Called your carrier and had your number transferred over, so if they call, it’s all good.”
“Appreciate it,” I mumble. “Where’s Izzy?”
“At home with Nate. She wanted to come with me, but Nate’s sitter needed an hour to get there. Melissa is bringing the girls and Cohen over before she and Greg head this way. Everyone else should be here shortly.”
I don’t respond, choosing to rather turn towards the window and wait. It shouldn’t be taking this fucking long.
An hour passes before the room is full of everyone who loves Emmy. All worried. Everyone silent. I’m sure they’re afraid to speak at this point, and I honestly don’t know what I would do if they did. I’m hanging by a thread that’s been unraveling for hours.
My eyes close just before two small arms wrap around me. She doesn’t speak—she doesn’t need to—and she just offers me her strength. I’m fine until she starts to hum and I remember when our positions were switched and Izzy needed me to be her strength. Her lifeline when her world was crumbling around her. Before she and Axel finally got past their issues and came together again. Fought their demons and won.
Her heavy belly brushes against me when I shift and open my arms. She gives me a soft smile and moves her body closer. I take everything she’s giving and look across the room where her husband is frowning. Even though I know he’s worried just like the rest of us, that frown is because his woman is in my arms.
“Appreciate it, Iz, but maybe you should get back to your husband now?”
She looks over at her grumbling husband and rolls her eyes. “He’ll get over it. You need me.”
She doesn’t let up. Not when Melissa walks over and joins. Not when Dee shuffles under my arm and burrows close to Izzy. And not even when Chelcie brings up the rear and wraps her arms around the three other girls. Each of them at one time was just as lost as I was. I’ve watched, helped, and cheered silently from the shadows as each of them overcame and thrived with one of my brothers.
Hope. Trust in the unknown. And love. It’s been right in front of me for so long, but I’ve been too blind to see it.
I close my eyes and let my guard down. Then I take the masks and shields I’ve used as tools to keep others out and throw them away. With a deep shudder, my breath catching and my arms tightening around the each of the women in my life who have loved every dark piece of me, I allow myself to break.
Their arms get tighter, and together, they help me hold myself up. Help me let it out without judgment and give me the time I need to express my pain.
I open my eyes, the wetness falling from my lids and rolling down my cheeks. When I meet each of my brothers’ eyes, I see their understanding and support trained my way. All four of them give me a tip of their chins and turn their attention back to each other—allowing me this moment.
Thirty minutes later, the women back next to their husbands—and since Sway walked in during the tail end of their hugs, I just detached him from my body seconds before—the doctor comes into the room.
“The family of Ms. Keeze?” he asks the room.
I move quickly and stand before him. “Maddox. Husband,” I say in way of greeting.
He scans the room before addressing me again. “Is there somewhere we can speak privately?”
“This is her family, Doctor, so anything you need to tell me can be said right here.”
“Very well. Your wife is resting as comfortably as possible at the moment. X-rays show that she has a fracture to her ulna, and although it’s stabilized, the swelling is too great for her to be placed in a cast at the moment. She has also has a transverse tibia fracture. The swelling issue is also present. Both will be placed in a cast as soon as possible. Her throat will be sore for a few days. There isn’t any internal damage. However, she was complaining about the pain. I placed two stitches to the laceration on her temple. All things considered, your wife is a very lucky woman.”
My mind is racing to make sense of her injuries. I understand, at some level, what he is trying to say to me, but I can’t compute it until I see her.
“Do you have any questions for me?”
“I need to see her.”
“She’s just being moved to her room now. How about we take a walk and we can go over those questions.”
I nod and mutely follow behind. He goes over her injuries in more detail and tells me that she will need to be admitted for observation and hopefully her swelling will be down enough for her cast to be placed by morning.
“I understand that you rode in with her, but it’s been a few hours and her bruising had gotten a little worse. Be prepared, Mr. Keeze—she isn’t going to look like the woman you brought in here. The bruising will fade. The bones will heal. She’s alive.”
He gives me a moment. I slow my breathing and will my heart to calm before it beats out of my chest. With a shaking hand, I push open her door and step into the room. When I see her battered face for the first time, a deep rumble bursts through my chest. I push it down and focus on being there for her. Hesitantly, I walk forward. Then I take the chair placed on her right side and reach out for her slim hand. Feeling the warmth against my skin is the green light my soul has been waiting for.
I drop my head to the bed, next to her hip, and press my lips to her fingers.
The bed shakes with my heaving breaths. I let it all out, prepared to stuff my pain back inside when she wakes and be the strength she now needs.
“I love you,” I whisper hoarsely against her skin, closing my eyes tight and vowing to God for the first time in too many years to be the man she deserves.