Page 18 of Greater than the Heart
An hour later, they were standing inside the club as the police were questioning Ford. “Where did they take our hu—son?” Jax asked. He was tired of the bullshit.
“Your son? The suspects are outside on the curb. You think this was an inside job?” one of the detectives asked.
“No, you jackass. Kincade Delacroix. He’s our son,” Jax snapped at the man.
“Look, get Detective Antonio Del Torro to meet us at the hospital. He knows us. You’re all worthless,” Ford yelled as he took Jax’s hand, leading him out to the Expedition. They climbed in and headed toward the hospital.
“Should you have stayed there?” Jax asked.
“Fuck it, I don’t give a shit about anything but Cade. Just get us there,” Ford directed, so Jax obeyed.
When they heard the level of his injuries, they were both stunned, but the ER doctor told them it was too early to provide a prognosis. The next forty-eight hours would be crucial.
Jax held Ford as the two of them sat together, crying. If anything happened to Kincade, they’d be lost.
Four days later, Jax woke first. He turned to see it was six o’clock, and he was pissed they’d slept so long. Ford was still asleep, and as tempted as he was to leave him home to rest because sleeping at the hospital had been awful, he knew the blond would be pissed if he did. He leaned down and gently kissed his husband’s lips, happy to hear a humming. When Ford’s eyes shot open, Jax smiled. “Morning, babe.”
“Morning, love. Any word?” Ford sat up in the bed. Jax grabbed his cell to see a text from Andria, the night nurse.
Your son woke up at about 3:00. Dr. Crosby’s been called. He’s still sleeping because we gave him a shot for the pain in his arm. I’m going to hang around. See you soon. Andria
Jax couldn’t help but slap Ford’s leg. “He’s awake. He woke up at three. I knew we should have fuckin’ stayed.”
They’d been there every day to watch over Cade, but the one night they’d allowed Cleveland and Griffon to push them out of the room to go home, they hadn’t been there for Cade when he needed them.
“Hey, boss,” Cleveland greeted as he strolled down the hallway where Jax and Ford were standing outside Cade’s room waiting for the resident to check him over so they could return to their vigil.
“Hey! How was the vacation?” Ford greeted them with hugs. Jax joined them because the couple was close to Cade, and they’d been missed.
Griff giggled, much like Cade. “We eloped because that wedding shit was too much. Don’t tell Winnie, okay? Cleve’s gonna go over to her place in the morning to talk to her, but we thought we’d relieve the two of you so you could go home. I heard from Brady the club’s closed, so we have nowhere to be. How long have you two been here? You look like shit, by the way,” Griff pointed out. Jax didn’t doubt it.
They introduced Griff as Cade’s little brother and, apparently, Cleveland as Griff’s husband. The two friends were given permission to spend the night so Jax and Ford could get their first night’s sleep since Cade had been shot.
“Let’s just get cleaned up and go see him. Come on.” Ford took Jax’s hand and dragged him into the shower. They quickly cleaned up, neither bothering to shave.
After they were dressed, they grabbed extra clothes so they could be ready to spend the night until they could bring Cade home. Jax popped off a quick text to Katrina.
He’s awake. We’ll meet you at the hospital. Jax
The two men hopped into the SUV, and Jax drove them to the hospital, staying just under the speed limit. It was just the beginning of rush hour, for which he was grateful. He held Ford’s hand the whole way.
“He’s gonna be fine, baby.” Jax kept repeating the phrase over and over, as much to soothe himself as his husband.
After an hour’s worth of instructions, they brought Cade home on Sunday morning. The neurologist had ordered a few last-minute tests before release, so they had to wait, but Jax was happy to have his younger husband home where he belonged.
Jackson carried him inside because the doctor had mentioned there was some residual weakness on his right side from the concussion. Since Cade had a broken arm, crutches were out of the question, so Jax would be his personal pack mule until Cade was one hundred percent. It was no trouble at all.
After he settled Cade on the sectional in the great room, Jax sat down next to him. Ford was in the kitchen making tea and toast because the meds Cade was taking for the pain in his arm made him nauseous. “So, tell me what happened. We haven’thad a minute to talk, really. I want the details, Kincade.” Jax was trying not to be demanding or intimidating, but he couldn’t hide the worries that had consumed him for a week.
“I… Oh! Guess who I ran into? Vance Blake—Special Agent Vance Blake. Remember him from the shelter? Tall, redheaded kid? Anyway, he’s an FBI agent who was undercover there, along with Kevin, remember Kevin? Short Asian guy, really muscled up?”
Jax smiled. “Okay. Put a pin on that for now. Tell me what happened when you went into the club, please?” This time, his request was much calmer.
Ford walked in with a tray and placed it on the coffee table, handing the two men each a cup of tea and presenting the toast to Kincade, complete with strawberry jam just as he liked it. “What are we talking about?” Ford’s concern was etched on his face just as it had been since the incident.
Jax was certain the blond was blaming himself for the break-in and Cade’s injuries. He’d kept the club closed since it happened, and Jax knew Ford was deciding whether to keep it at all, but it was too early for those types of decisions.
“I’m trying to get Cade to tell us what happened that morning. We’ve heard pieces of it from the cops, but that one fucker at the scene seemed to think you were in on it and something went wrong,” Jax remembered. It pissed him off when he’d heard it the first time, and it didn’t make him any happier as he remembered the interview he and Ford had had to sit through.
