Page 148 of The Price of Forever

“We’ll be there right away.”

The phone went dead, and I heaved a sigh. I wasn’t looking forward to this conversation. I’d failed the brothers at every turn. I hadn’t kept Jordan safe. I’d let her walk right into Eli’s house party, for the second time. And at her urging, I’d been complicit in her taking a stupid risk.

My knee bounced as I waited for…something. Anything. I wasn’t leaving until I had some news about her, that was for damn sure. I rubbed my eyes again, thinking back on the past twelve hours. She’d been so insistent on going in there alone. But why?

My brain was exhausted from poring over the details.

Axel, Damian, and Trace filed into the waiting room less than a half hour after I’d called. They looked bleary-eyed but determined. I stood.

“Have you been in there?” Axel asked, in lieu of a greeting.

“They won’t let me in since I’m not family,” I said. “Visiting hours are starting soon, so I was hoping you could get the updates from the doctor.”

“What happened?” Damian asked, his gaze dropping to my hands. “And who did you murder?”

I clasped my hands behind my back. I couldn’t admit to them who I’d subdued…much less why. “I accompanied her to a party last night. It got a little wild. She had an admirer who spiked her drink and took things way too far. I intervened before he was able to act on his desires, and I made sure he couldn’t act on them again for a very long time.”

Axel pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked like he was about to say something, then he shook his head. “Okay. Let’s get in there.”

The brothers gathered at the nurse’s desk nearby, speaking in hushed tones with the woman on duty. Axel and Damian were led back through secure double doors a moment later, and Trace returned to my side.

“Only allowed two at a time,” he said, sinking into the chair beside me. He paused. “Did you spend the night here?”

I nodded, unable to look at him.

“You want some coffee?”

“I wouldn’t say no,” I told him.

He squeezed my shoulder. “Let me go hunt down some caffeine. Then maybe you and I can go back next.”

Trace returned to the nurse’s station then strode off in the direction she pointed out, leaving me alone in the waiting room once more. I stared at the doors leading into the ICU, worrying over what came next. I needed to assume, for my own sanity, that Jordan would wake up at some point. It was too easy to entertain the worst outcomes, but I wanted to focus on the best-case scenario, in which she woke up and everything was fine and there was no long-term damage.

But the likelihood that I could avoid the brothers finding out that we went to Eli’s house seemed nil at this point. My stomach knotted up as I contemplated what I might say to defend our decision. Everything that came to mind sounded crazy, delusional even. But I couldn’t admit the one piece of information that would allow it all to click into place.

Trace eventually returned with two lidded cups of coffee. I thanked him and sipped tentatively, still watching the ICU door. He eased into the chair next to me.

“So who was the attacker?” Trace asked. So much for casual conversation. “Anyone we know?”

My heart sank. I sipped again, thinking about how to answer.

“Someone I’d like to never see again.” It seemed honest enough.

Trace rotated the cup back and forth between his hands. “Why did she want to go to that party last night?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. I just wanted to make sure she was safe.”

Trace nodded, a heavy silence filling the air between us.

Damian pushed through the double doors from the ICU, his face drawn. He offered a grim smile as he approached.

“She’s awake,” he said softly.

I covered my face with my hands, trying to mask the surge of relief. They’d see how much she meant to me, how close we’d gotten, on my face, so I took a second to compose myself before I cleared my throat and straightened.

“Thank God,” I said.

“She was roofied,” Damian went on, studying something on the floor as he spoke. “But they found traces of another drug that accelerates the effect of Rohypnol. So she got a double whammy. They want to keep her in the hospital tonight too for observation.”

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