Page 61 of Tandem

Only one person had called me that in passing once, her brother’s girl. I smashed out a reply.

AJ

I’ll tell you if you tell me where my girl is.

The reply dots started to show, then stopped, then showed, then stopped. I slammed my fist into my passenger seat and typed out another reply.

AJ

Fucking tell me where she is!

Bonnie

Hey, lover boy, calm down. She’s at the main hospital in LA. We don’t have an update. The parents are here. No one will be happy to see you when they find out she got mixed up in some bad shit because of you. Jayden knows where you were and why she got hurt in the first place.

I threw my phone onto the passenger seat and drove out of the area, cutting in and out of traffic and going as fast as I could to the hospital where my girl was. I threw my car in one of the parking spots and jogged over to the ER doors. Going inside, Iwalked past a nurse who tried to stop me and tell me I couldn't be here. Then I saw them, her brother and his girl, sitting in a waiting area in the ER, and I walked over.

Jayden stood up, his face looking pissed, and he walked right over to me. “If my sister dies because of you, I’ll kill you, AJ. You would be worth going to jail over.”

I knew he would be pissed, but no one could be more pissed at the fact Rosalie was somewhere in this hospital right now because of me other than me. Glancing down, I met his stare.

“Where is she?” I asked, my mind slowly coming back. Jayden jerked his head to some double doors that went into the exam areas. I made to move that way, when suddenly he grabbed my arm hard.

“No, you’re not going back there right now. You need to tell me where the fucker who called the hit on her is.” His grip was strong for someone who didn’t look like they worked out for a hobby or lifestyle. Jayden Wells probably could get off a mean punch if he needed to. I looked between him and his girl.

“Jabari. Last I checked, his ass was knocked out in the middle of the ring, barely breathing.” I gave them the address, and his girl made a call. She and Jayden got into it a bit, when finally he strode over to a chair and sat in it, fuming. She walked out the doors as I sat across from him so I could keep an eye on the double doors where he said Rosalie was.

I stood there in the waiting room, not able to sit any longer, and started shifting my weight from foot to foot. Then the doors opened, and I saw Rosalie’s mom and pop walk in. Rose went straight to Jayden to sit next to him and talk in a hushed undertone. But Kayden looked around the room, locked eyes with me, and stalked over. I was taller than Kayden Wells by a few inches, but fuck, the amount of fury this man had in his stare right now actually made me tense and ready to take a hit. He stopped an inch from my body.

“What the fuck did you get my daughter mixed up in, AJ?! Why is my little girl fighting for her life right now?” Kayden demanded in a low and deadly tone. I took a deep breath. Fuck, was she that bad? I didn’t think it would be that bad from the photos.

“Someone who had an issue with me, who I was fighting tonight, took it out on her to get me to throw the fight because she’s my girl,” I replied, trying to keep my voice level. Pissing him off wouldn’t get me what I wanted, which was an update on Rosalie. I stood there waiting for his reply. I could see him open and close his fists, and I was preparing to be chin-checked right here. Then he sighed and closed his eyes.

“And did you? Did you throw the fight for her?” he asked as he opened back up his eyes. I slowly shook my head no.

“I couldn’t. There was no way if I tried to leave they wouldn’t have hurt her even more. I did have my guy give him a call.” I jerked my head at Jayden. Kayden looked over at his son and wife. Then he snapped back to me, and I barely brought my forearms up to protect my face as his fist connected with them, forcing me to take a step back to steady myself as his other fist collided with my rib cage. I exhaled a harsh breath.

The darkness crept back into the edges of my vision as I tried to hold back the anger and pain I felt at that moment. I pulled my arms down and readied myself to swing back in defense as Rose and Jayden jumped up. Jayden grabbed his dad’s arms and yanked him back, and Kayden swung at me again. Rose was standing in front of me, pressing one of her slender hands against the middle of my chest and firmly pressing there, pulling my attention from Kayden for a moment and locking eyes with hers. She had the same eyes as Rosalie. Eyes I wasn’t sure I would ever see looking back at me again.

“AJ. Sit down,” she demanded, her hands and stare unwavering. I stepped out of her reach and lowered myselfslowly back into the seat. I was standing by, my mind racing with thoughts of Rosalie laying on the cold, hard ground again from the images I had seen as Kayden stood there and looked at me, tense against Jayden’s hold on him.

“Rosalie is finishing getting her scans. She has five broken ribs and a fractured wrist as of right now. We don’t know what else, but they suspect internal bleeding somewhere,” Kayden got out, his voice full of anger. Shit. My girl was fucked up pretty good. I folded my arms, meeting his glare with my own.

“When?” I asked, and Rose turned away from me and walked over to her husband, wrapping her arm around his. Nodding to Jayden, he let go and stepped back toward the side.

“We should know within the next hour if anything else is seriously wrong.” Rose kept her voice calm and steady. It seemed like she was the only one thinking rationally right now. “For now, all we can do is wait. Come on, Kayden, let’s grab some coffee from the nurses’ station real quick.” She wrapped her arm around Kayden and steered him down the hall. Jayden watched them in silence before returning to his seat. They left for a few minutes, and when they returned, they sat by their son. Kayden just stared down into the cup of coffee in his hands, and Rose hugged him while talking to her son.

After what felt like hours passed, the doors swung open, and a tall, weary-looking man in a white coat walked over toward us. He cleared his throat, and Kayden stood up as I leaned forward. I didn’t like the look on his face, and my stomach twisted.

“Mr. and Mrs. Wells?” the doctor began as Rose stood up next to her husband. They nodded, Rose holding on to Kayden’s arm. “I'm Dr. Micah. I’ve reviewed Rosalie's CAT scans and I have some findings to discuss with you.”

My heart pounded in my chest.Fucking get it out already, old man.

“Rosalie sustained some broken and fracture injuries you were already aware of, and while there are no life-threatening injuries, we did find evidence of internal bleeding.” I looked between the doctor’s face and her parents. Kayden looked like a ghost, his face had gone pale.

The doctor went on, explaining that the bleeding wasn’t too severe, but it was still a cause for concern. Rosalie would need close monitoring over the next few days and potentially another minor surgery to address the issue if it didn’t resolve overnight.

Finally, Kayden spoke up, his voice strained and close to breaking. “What do we need to do, Doctor? We just want our daughter to be okay.”

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