Page 41 of Myla: The Hawthornes

“He’ll be glad we’re here,” Lou said softly.

Security had met us at the emergency room entrance, and we stood there waiting for a few minutes while they spoke to Gray. Eventually, they waved us on, pointing to another set of elevators.

“This place is a maze,” Frankie muttered as we piled onto the elevator.

“Fuckin’ hate elevators,” Bas grunted.

Frankie started jumping as soon as the doors closed.

“Knock it off, asshole,” he bitched, reaching out to press down on her shoulder and keep her feet on the floor.

“You’re such a baby.”

“Yeah, tell me that when we go plummeting to our deaths.”

“There are three floors,” Frankie replied dryly. “I think we’ll be okay.”

The doors opened, and all of us were silent as we filed off. The elevator opened up to a short corridor followed by a waiting room where Cian’s aunt Ashley was sitting on a couch, a little book in her hands.

At the sound of our footsteps, her head shot up and her eyes widened. “Sebastian!”

“Hey,” he replied gently, moving away from our group as she got to her feet.

“Cian didn’t tell me you were coming, you sweet boy,” she said as Bas engulfed her in a hug.

“We didn’t tell him,” Bas said easily. “He woulda tried to stop us, I would’ve ignored him, it woulda been a whole thing.”

“You’re right about that,” she said, pulling away with a sniffle. “You’re soaked.”

“Hit a little rain,” Bas muttered.

“No kidding.” She looked up at us and smiled.

“Hey, Aunt Ashley,” I greeted, moving forward.

“Hi honey,” she said, rounding Bas to get to me. She pulled me into a tight hug before pulling away to hug everyone else.

“Cian here or at Aoife’s?” Bas asked as we found seats.

I perched at the end of mine, my knee bouncing.

“He’s here,” Ashley said with a smile that looked a little too much like a grimace. “He’s back with Richie and Aoife.”

“How’s Richie doin’?” Brody asked. It was the first time he’d spoken since we stepped inside the hospital.

“He opened his eyes a couple of hours ago,” Ashely said quietly. “But we’re not sure if he was actually conscious or not. Honestly, I don’t know what the hell is going on. But he’s not any worse, thank God for small mercies.”

“And Aisling?” I asked softly.

Ashley gave a small nod, her eyes unfocused. “She’s okay. Back at the house, hopefully sleeping.” She looked around at us. “I can’t believe you’re all here.”

“Well, brace,” Bas said, putting an arm around her shoulders. “There’s more of us coming.”

“Well, shit,” Ashley mumbled, looking around. “We’re going to need some sleeping bags. I’ll call Ronan—”

“We got some hotel rooms,” Frankie said quickly.

“Club takes care of its own,” Gray assured her quietly. “You got enough on your plate. We’re just here to pitch in where we can.”

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