Page 54 of Love and War

My feet moved back and forth, walking.

Pacing.

“What the fuck happened!” Salem’s voice carried through the hospital waiting area.

Stopping dead in my tracks, my eyes land on Salem struggling to stand on two feet.

I couldn’t think, let alone speak as I stared at her.

“Killian Amery!” Salem snapped. “Tell me what fucking happened right now!”

Salem may be tiny, five-foot-four, and honestly looked like she couldn’t hurt a fly. But I watched her take down Killian and Dimitri multiple times, and she’s killed more men than I wanted to think about.

“Kitten, I told you I would keep you updated.” Zane smiled at his girl.

“I don’t want to hear it.” Leaning up against him, he helped hold her off her leg. “She’s my best fucking friend, now tell me. What happened?”

I didn’t fear much, losing Aziza was basically it. But from the pure look of anger radiating off Salem, and the way her glare told me she was probably seconds away from trying to murder me, I took a few steps back, sitting in one of the most uncomfortable chairs.

“I don’t know. We got into a fight, and she left. I went after her, but fuck. By the time I got to her, she had already crashed. I don’t know how. I mean it was raining hard, but Aziza knows how to drive, how to be careful.” I couldn’t look at any of their faces as I spoke. Dimitri and Zane knew all this, probably from my rambling while they took her back.

But finally sitting down and thinking back to how I found her, I have no idea how she survived. How she was able to stay awake the whole time they worked on getting her from her car.

“And you just let her leave?” Salem growled.

“I mean, I don’t know if you’ve met her or not. But she’s pretty stubborn.”

Salem tried stepping towards me, but thankfully Zane held her shoulder back. Refusing to let her go.

“Zane, if you don’t let me go right now, I swear to god, you’ll be lucky we’re in a hospital,” she hissed, but I could see she didn’t mean it. There was no heat in her voice.

When Zane walked out on Salem, he fell into a shell of himself. He was angry about everything; he was destroying himself. Even if none of them wanted to admit it. Salem was the same, she continued going after the men who hurt her family. Only she stopped talking to anyone, including Aziza.

Until she was put in a coma and Zane spent every day and night there. He only left her room to work out a few rooms over. He showered and slept in her room.

When she woke up, it was almost like all was forgiven. Only secretly, you’d find Zane groveling.

“Miss Sinclair’s family?” a doctor called out. Everyone stood stepping forward, waiting for him to speak. “Which one of you are Aziza Sinclair’s family?”

“All of us,” Salem said first.

“Uh, immediate family, please.”

“She said all of us,” I snapped.

“Okay, my apologies.” Flipping through his clipboard, he shuffled on his feet before clearing his throat. “My name is Doctor Collins. I’m one of the attending surgeons working with Miss Sinclair. She came in with multiple injuries, due to the car accident. She came in with a displaced fracture to her wrist, and we were able to remove the bone pieces inside her wrist. Her collarbone had been broken in two different places. Her tibia-fibula had been fractured. Thankfully, it was a small fracture. She has some minor cuts and bruises. We did an MRI and x-ray. She hasn’t shown any sign of brain damage or spinal. She has a concussion that we’re monitoring.”

“When can we see her?” Salem interrupted.

“Visiting hours are over, you can come back tomorrow morning at nine,” the doctor hesitatingly told us.

I opened my mouth to tell him we were going to see her now, but Salem stepped forward stopping me.

“A nurse will be out to collect the paperwork,” he said in a rush before scurrying off.

I don’t know how long I stood there, unable to move. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that Aziza, my girl, was hurting and lying in a hospital bed.

“Her leg…” My voice croaked. “She’s never going to dance again.”

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