Page 1 of Heart Strain

1

Holden

As the guy—Jace? Jami? Justin? It’s a J, I think—pulls me into his apartment with a laugh and his mouth on my neck, my phone rings. I ignore it at first, but Julian? whispers against my neck, “You gonna get that?”

“Mm,” I grunt as I pull him closer to me with one arm and reach into my back pocket with the other to grab my phone. Seeing an unknown number with a Baltimore area code, I debate for a second on answering.

“Either shut it off or answer it, baby. I wanna taste you.” He slides down to his knees, messing with my zipper, but that strange tightness in my chest I’ve been fighting all night returns with a vengeance and I know I have to answer, I know something’s wrong.

Pushing Jake? away, I answer the phone as I say to him, “Just a minute,” then into the phone, “Hello?”

“Hello, I’m looking for a Mr. Holden Weston,” a female voice I don’t recognize says.

“Speaking.”

“Mr. Weston, you’re listed as the next of kin for a Mr. Hendrix Weston,” she says as my stomach drops, my chest tightens painfully, and my heart beats so erratically I can barely hear her over the sound of my own pulse. “I’m sorry to inform you, sir, but there’s been an incident and—”

“Is he alive?” I choke out as I fall onto an armchair behind me.

There’s a pause on the other end. “He is, but… he’s in surgery right now at Grand Meadow Hospital. You… you need to be prepared.”

“No,” I whisper as tears fill my eyes, making my vision blurry.

The woman’s voice is soft, but it doesn’t make the blow hurt any less. “He was injured in the line of duty. He took three bullets. One went clean through his thigh, another…”

I drop the phone as my whole world crashes around me.

Arms wrap around me, arms I don’t recognize, but I cling to them as I sob.

“I have to… I have to fly home… my brother… he was shot… he…”

“Shh, give me your phone. Who can I call to help you?”

“Gavin,” I whisper. He’s the only person I know that ever comes through.

As this guy I don’t even know pulls up Gavin’s number, I take the phone to make the call myself. When he answers, I whisper, “Drix has been shot.”

“Where are you?” he says without hesitation as I hear rustling in the background. “I’ll pick you up and we’ll get you on a plane.”

“Thank you, Gav.” I close my eyes and let James? take over the conversation and give my best friend directions to his place.

* * *

Five hours later,I’m in the waiting room at the hospital. They won’t let me in to see my brother. They haven’t told me anything except they’re trying to get the bullet that’s lodged against his spine out with minimal damage. And that the chances of him making it out of this alive are slim. One of Hendrix’s fellow police officers asked me if there’s anyone else they should call. But there isn’t. Our parents are dead—died in a car accident the end of our senior year of high school—our grandparents died when we were young, and neither of our parents had any siblings. Hendrix is my only family, blood related, anyway. And now I might lose him, too.

Holding back the tears that want to fall, I focus on the word search book in my hand that Gavin insisted I take with me. I focus on it, pushing all other thoughts out of my head as I search for word after word, but I’m getting antsy. Why aren’t they telling me anything? I don’t even know what happened to him.

I wish I wouldn’t have told Gavin not to come with me. He’d wanted to, but I needed him to stay home and take care of Peanut, my sweet pit bull who I miss already. If Peanut was here, he’d climb on my lap and let me hug him and cry into his fur. And I really fucking need a hug.

I pull out my phone and call Gavin even though it’s five in the morning, and as I knew he would, he answers on the third ring. “How is he?”

“They haven’t told me anything yet. He’s still in surgery, I think,” I say quietly so I don’t disturb the other people in the waiting room.

“That sucks, man.”

“I know.” I sigh, long and heavy. “I’m sorry I woke you up, it’s just…”

“You should’ve let me come with you. It’s not too late for me to get a flight. I can be there in a couple hours.”

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