Page 68 of Our Blood, Our Pain

“Who’s this?” I ask.

“Sorry, it’s Tim. Jenny’s friend. Look, we are at the ER. I found Kai today at home; he’d been stabbed. Jules, he’s in a pretty bad way, he’s lost a lot of blood, and they’ve just rushed him to surgery. Jenny needs you here.”

Time freezes, where I’m standing in an open field of nothingness. Like a cool breeze that drifts over me, I become numb. Kai’s been stabbed. Kai. My Kai. I swallow hard and try to focus on moving my body, to answer Tim, but it won’t cooperate.

“Jules? Did you hear me?” Tim says.

“Yes. What's the name of the hospital?”

“Lang Grove Hospital. We’re on the third floor waiting area of the ICU.”

“On my way.”

I turn to see Simon standing at the doorway of Kai’s room.

“Kai’s been stabbed. Gotta get to the hospital.”

“What? Is he okay?”

“No. I need to get there.”

“You can’t drive. Let me call D and I’ll come with you.”

“No.”

“Yes, now get your shit together and meet me out front,” Simon says as he calls Dima on his cell.

As Simon explains to Dima what’s happening, I stare at my phone, pondering whether to listen to Kai’s voicemail. Later. I need to get to him.

“Lev and Ivan are gonna go with you. They're waiting out front.”

“Why do they both need to come? I thought you were coming?”

“Dima needs me here. Besides, I think D is worried you’ll spiral. Thinks you need extra protection from starting shit.”

“Whatever, I just want to get to Kai.”

As I briskly walk to the front door, I hold onto the handle, trying to compose myself. I’m a thread away from snapping. I need to hurt someone, I need to find the fuckers who did this. And most of all, I need Kai alive. Otherwise, I’ll lose myself. I know it.

Walking to the front of the main house, I see Lev, Dima, and Ivan waiting for me, gathered around Lev’s jeep.

“Call me if you need help. Don't go too crazy; you're not protected over there like you are here,” Dima says to me, and I appreciate the gesture. He isn’t an emotional guy, but this is his way of showing support.

“Crazy? You haven’t seen crazy when I find the fuckers.”

“Like I said, call if you need assistance,” he says, before patting me on the back and walking back into the house. Seb is standing at the doorway with Aaron. While Seb looks sad, and conveys it with the small smile he sends my way, Aaron is on the verge of losing his shit. The guy oozes violence when he is like this, cold eyes, tight lips, and his focus one hundred percent on Lev. I bet they had an argument about whether he could come before they came outside. But this is my vengeance. I’ll paint the fucking town red, spread the cunts’ innards across town, all to show you never touch my man and if you do, you will pay in blood and pain of the worst kind.

Just before I get into the car, Seb comes over to me. He doesn’t speak at first, and from the way he rocks on his feet from foot to foot and stairs down at the ground, he’s giving off major nervous vibes.

“What is it, Seb? I don’t have time to hang around.”

“I promised I wouldn’t say anything, but with what’s happened I regret it.”

“Regret what?” I ask, keen to move this conversation along.

“Kai told me a while ago that he had issues with that gang he hung around with. They were angry when he left. Well, more than angry. They said if he went back home they’d hurt him.”

I stiffen. The pure rage that courses through my body has my back stiffen like a shard of ice. He knew.

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