by Rye Hart
I rounded the corner and gathered her off the floor as I took stock of Mark.
He was hooked up to oxygen with a flood of I.V.’s running in and out of his arms. He was completely unconscious, with drips and medicines being pumped into every inch of his body. The sight was startling and I felt Kyra turn herself into me and all I could do was continue pressing kisses into the top of her head while I held her tightly.
Kyra began crying massive heaving sobs into my chest. She soaked my shirt while the doctor talked to me, trying to get above her wailing. He told us Mark had a stroke and that the heart attack was because of the stress the stroke put on his system. The doctor said he would be recovering for months, if not years, and that we would have to wait in the waiting room until they could set up his room in the intensive care unit.
I scooped Kyra back up into my arms and cradled her close while she fisted my shirt and sobbed.
My brothers arrived one by one and, each time they did, I recounted what happened to Mark. They all gathered Kyra into their arms, peeling her from me. I didn’t want to let her go. I wanted to hold her and shield her from all of this. I wanted my steady breathing to prompt her to steady her own and each time they fucking passed her around, I got angrier and angrier.
But I knew she needed their support. I knew she needed us all right now.
“What am I gonna do?” Kyra asked breathlessly.
“We can’t answer that,” I said. “But whatever you choose, we’ll be here to support you. All of us. No matter what.”
All my brothers agreed with me but the moment was short-lived.
“Kyra? Kyra! Where are you!”
I watched her hop to her feet at the foreign sound but the moment the guy came around the corner, I recognized him instantly. All my brothers were confused as to who this strange man was, but I knew him. That dirty blonde, slicked-back hair and those green fucking eyes. The arrogant, narcissistic way he held himself. His expensive-ass suit that was tailored to his body. He looked like a fucking chimp.
“Landon,” Kyra said. “How in the world did you—”
“I couldn’t leave you here,” he said. “I can’t leave this city without you. I got a hotel room in a little bed and breakfast and decided to go by your father’s place. But a police officer was there, telling me the man that lived there had a heart attack. I came as soon as he told me.”
It was fucking Landon.
The guys all narrowed their eyes the moment Kyra said his name. We watched this asshole pull our Kyra into his arms and kiss the top of her head. Just like I’d been doing.
The action made me sick to my fucking stomach.
“You guys,” she said as she turned to us. “This is… um…”
“Landon Avery, Kyra’s fiancé. You must be the Trent Brothers. Kyra’s told me so much about you all. How you guys took care of her after her cousin died.”
“Mother.”
“Yes, her mother,” he said. “Thank you so much for being with her during this time.”
Holy fuck, this asshole was relentless. Her fucking cousin? Was he shitting us? Was Kyra actually thinking about picking this narcissistic prick over us?
I felt the red-hot jealousy coursing through my veins. I hadn’t felt this kind of jealousy even when we all shared Kyra that night but seeing this Landon asshat wrap his arms around her, when we all knew he wasn’t good enough for her, burned my soul.
“Did you really find out by going to her house?” I asked.
“I called and confirmed with the neurosurgeon on my way here,” he said. “The doctor told me he’d been officially admitted and was critical.”
“Wait,” Kyra said. “The doctor just told you that? Without being family?”
Good girl. Smart woman. Give it to him.
“He’s an old family friend,” Landon said. “I was just concerned. That’s all. A part of me was hoping it wasn’t your father. That someone else had been in the house and Matt was simply a bystander.”
“You mean Mark?” Blake asked.
“Mark, yes.”
Kyra didn’t seem convinced but the words that flew from his mouth next changed the expression on her face completely.
“I want to take care of him, Kyra,” Landon said.
“What?” she asked.
“I want to help your father. He’s in a very bad position and I have access to some of the best medical resources in the nation. Kyra, the top neurosurgeon in the country is on my speed dial. I’ll spend whatever it takes to get your father better.”
“Are you serious, Landon?” she asked.
“Very,” he said. “I can pay for top-notch care. The best doctors. All of it. I can move him anywhere he needs to be at the drop of a hat. Please let me help.”
The look on her face showed me she was actually considering it and it was like a punch to the gut. I knew Kyra and her bond with her father. He was all she had left, in a way. Yes, she had us, but we weren’t her father. I knew she would want what was best for him and it was obvious Landon wanted to give that to her. I was sure he had an ulterior motive. With men like him, there was always a motive. But Kyra was so innocent and she was in such a desperate position. Who the fuck was I to judge her decision?
This man was handing her whatever her father fucking needed and I couldn’t blame her if she went back to him.
But as all my brothers watched her face morph, I knew we were all thinking the same thing.
Don’t fucking do it, Kyra. Be with me. I could take care of this. All of it.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - ETHAN
I woke up with an ache that crashed through my body like a fucking eighteen-wheeler. I sat up from the chair I was slouched in, arching my back, trying to get it to pop. I’d spent the entire fucking night in the waiting room of the hospital, staying with Kyra since she refused to go home. We all had, really. We took shifts staying up with her since she couldn’t sleep. I was in charge of getting everyone breakfast when I got up so Harper could take a fucking nap and, as I stood from my seat, I threw my back around and heard it crack.
It trickled all the way up my spine and I couldn't help but sigh with relief. Holy fuck, these chairs were uncomfortable but it was all we could do since Kyra insisted she wanted to stay here. Of course, that asshole Landon went back to his comfortable bed and breakfast nook to catch a snooze, which only served to prove why the fuck Kyra shouldn’t take him up on that offer. I didn’t give a shit if it would do her father wonders. That asshole didn’t care about her or Mark.
Hell, the fucking douchebag didn’t even know the man’s name!
Around three o’clock that morning, Kyra woke us all up to tell us Mark was stable. But even then, Kyra still insisted she stay. We all hugged her close, drawing her into our arms and getting a piece of her before we watched her travel back down to Mark’s room. We all wanted to see him, to see how he was doing, but this was time Kyra needed with her father.
Because even though he was stable for now, things could always take a turn fast.
Now that he was stable and I had tagged Rowan so he could get some rest, I went out to the store to get us all some things.
“Rowan.”
“What?” he said, groaning.
“Call me if anything changes, okay?” I said. “I’m heading out to get something.”
“The fuck? Whatever, man. I’ll let you know.”
“I’m serious,” I said. “If anything happens—”
“Holy shit, just get outta here. Mark’s stable. Landon won’t be by because he’s a dick. We’re good. Go. And bring back some fucking coffee, would ya?”
I smiled and headed for my motorcycle, cranking it up even in the dead of winter. There wasn’t a thing that could keep me from riding this thing around, though I wasn’t sure how I was bringing everyone coffee back on it. The truth was, I had yet to get Kyra a Christmas gift and, now that I’d sold that last bike I was repairing, I had the money to get her something nice.
And what was exactly what I was
going to do.
I was standing outside of the only jewelry shop on this side of town. The clerk was unlocking the door while I stood there, gazing at the articles in the window. He asked me if I was looking for anything in particular and I told him I would know it when I saw it.
Then, I simply walked around.
There were diamonds and emeralds. White gold and rose gold. Pearls and bracelets and onyx stones and dangling earrings. All of it was beautiful but none of it screamed Kyra. She was delicate. Powerful. Unassuming in her intelligence and humble when it came to her strength. My brothers and I might be strong but she was our rock and I wanted something that communicated that.
That communicated her unassuming beauty as well as her strength.
Finally, a bracelet caught my eye. It had a delicate, rose gold band that housed what looked to be little infinity symbols. They were all connected by a delicate rose gold chain that glistened in the lighting of the store but between each of the infinity symbols was a bold onyx stone.
It was perfect. Delicate but strong. Beautiful but bold. It shouted Kyra to me but, before I could point it out to the clerk, my phone rang in my pocket.
I fished it out as quickly as I could and put it to my ear.
“Rowan, is everything okay?”
“Ethan, where are you?” Kyra asked.
“Kyra?”
I held the phone out and saw it was her that was calling and my heart began to speed up as I put my hand over the receiver.
“Dude. This bracelet with the infinity symbols and the onyx stones. I’m gonna be back to get that tomorrow. Can I lay it away?”
“I can do that for you. Just need your card to file it under.”
I fished out my wallet as I propped the phone up onto my shoulder.
“I’m out getting coffee and doughnuts for everyone,” I said as I handed the guy my card. “Do you want anything?”
“No. Just you. Please get back soon, okay?”
The mere fact that she said she wanted me both caused me to shiver and to panic.
“Kyra, what’s happened?” I asked.
“Just please hurry, okay? The doctor wants to see all of us in half an hour.”
“I promise I’ll be there. Do you hear me? I’m coming, Kyra.”
I nodded my thanks to the clerk as I hung up the phone call and raced out of there. I zoomed down the road, driving through a place and picking up doughnuts as well as a shareable container of coffee. I stuck it all into the holding compartment on the back of my bike before I raced back to the hospital, took the elevator up to the floor and ran back into the waiting room.
I ran in and dropped everything down with two minutes to spare and everyone started digging into the doughnuts. The coffee was flowing and the sugar was permeating the air, but I realized Kyra wasn’t eating anything. She was simply sitting in a chair and staring at the wall, so I went and sat down beside her.
Without saying a word, she reached over and took my hand and I could feel her trembling with fear.
“It’s gonna be okay,” I said as I leaned toward her. “Your father’s gonna be just fine.”
I placed a kiss on her forehead and I could’ve sworn I heard her sigh with relief just a bit.
“Mark Lancaster?” the doctor asked.
We all hopped up as he entered the room.
“Good, you’re all here,” the doctor said.
“What’s going on with my father?” Kyra asked. “Why did you call all of us here?”
I couldn’t help but look around the room and notice that Landon was nowhere in sight and I honestly wasn’t sure what that meant anymore.
“The good news is, your father will recover,” the doctor said. “But he’ll have some impairments with his speech and his movements for a while. Sometimes, it’s only weeks, sometimes, it's months and, sometimes, it’s permanent. But he’s going to live.”
Even though that was wonderful news, I could see the tears welling in Kyra’s eyes. I knew her mind was whirling faster than she could process things and we all stared at her and waited for her reaction.
I held her hand tightly while she slowly processed what the doctor had said.
“Will he ever take care of himself again?” she finally asked.
“It depends on how well he recovers but, in the beginning, he’ll need help, and a lot of it.”
That was when Kyra’s legs bottomed out. She dropped to the floor and I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close to my body while she sobbed. I pulled her close to me, feeling her tears soaking my shirt and my lips migrated to the shell of her ear while my brothers tried to hold themselves back.
“It’s gonna be all right,” I said into her ear. “We’re gonna get through this and I’m gonna be here. From start to finish. Okay?”
I felt her nod into me and I planted a small, delicate kiss to the top of her head.
“Kyra?” the doctor asked.
“Yeah?”
“We’ll be keeping your father for monitoring over the next few days. You should go home and get some rest.”
“I can’t do that,” she said, shaking her head. “I can’t leave him here.”
“It’ll take us hours to prepare him a room on one of the regular floors and he’ll most likely be unconscious until then. You need to get yourself some sleep, especially if your plan is to take care of your father.”
“Of course, that’s the plan,” she said. “Why the hell wouldn’t that be the plan?”
“Kyra, the doctor just wants you to take care of yourself,” I said. “You can’t take care of someone else if you’re too tired to do it.”
“I’m not leaving him here,” she said.
“One of us will stay behind,” Chance said. “If that’s what you want.”
“No. What I want is to stay here with my father.”
“Doctor,” Chance said. “We’ll make sure she goes home and rests.”
“Chance, shut up. I’m not leav—”
Before I could protest, Chance reached out and took Kyra’s hand from mine. He tried to lead her down the hallway but, when she fought him, he scooped her up into his arms. Her legs were flailing and I could hear her crying, begging Chance to put her down as he carried her. I tried to follow. I tried to gather her back up in my arms and convince everyone that right now, she needed to be with her father.
But fucking Blake stepped in my way and held me back while I watched Chance leave with a crying Kyra in his arms.
“What the fuck, Blake?” I asked as I pushed him off.
“You know she needs rest,” he said. “You know Chance is just doin’ what’s right by her.”
I was pissed. I could feel my face flushing in anger. I could feel my fists balling up at my side while my entire body hummed with jealousy. But I also knew Blake was right. Kyra needed rest, whether she took it willingly or whether we had to make her do it.
Either way, there was nothing I could do. Chance was gone around the corner with her and I was left with my brothers to stay here.
Suddenly, I didn’t fucking want any doughnuts either.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - CHANCE
Kyra didn’t talk to me for most of the car ride and I couldn’t blame her. The moment she started refusing rest, I knew one of us would have to intervene. If she was going to have the strength to take care of her father like I knew she wanted to, then she was going to have to rest.
We all knew that. We just didn’t like having to make Kyra follow orders.
“I want you staying at our house to rest,” I said. “I want to keep an eye on you.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I don’t wanna be alone anyway.”
“You know I care about you, right?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“And you know I’m always going to be here for you, right?”
“Of course,” she said.
“I promise, no matter what, I’ll help you take care of Mark. I’ll help your father recover, no matter what it takes on my end.”
> “I can’t ask you to do that,” she said breathlessly.
“You didn’t ask.”
I saw her wipe some tears away before her shaking hand landed back into her lap. I wanted to reach out and take it but the way I’d carried her out of the hospital stopped me from touching her. I wasn’t sure how she would react to my skin against hers right now and I wasn’t sure if I could stomach her pulling away from me like that.
We pulled up into the driveway of our house and I moved to get out of the truck. But Kyra’s touch stopped me in my tracks as she grabbed my arm.
I turned back to her, wondering what was wrong. I prepared myself for an argument. I prepared myself for her to try and convince me that I had to take her back to the hospital. I readied my body for the yelling and the tears and the anger but, instead, her hands cupped my cheeks. Before I knew what was happening, she had pulled my face closer to hers and our lips crashed against one another’s in a long, passionate kiss.
I felt her lips rolling into mine, her tongue sliding across my lips as she begged for entrance. My cock began to harden against my pants as I kissed her back, opening my mouth to her as I tasted her upon my tongue. I reached around and cupped the back of her head, pulling her close to me as I soaked up her body heat. She was still trembling with exhaustion and shock and every single part of me screamed to stop this encounter.
But, just before I could, she broke the kiss and whispered into my skin.
“Thank you so much.”
With my cock pressing against my jeans and her lips only a breath away from mine, I opened my eyes and found hers. I pressed one more kiss to her lips before she slid out my truck and I willed my erection to go away as I followed her into the house. Now was not the time to be thinking about all the things I wanted to do with her but, soon, I didn’t need a pep talk to get my dick to calm down.
The motorcycle barreling up the driveway did that for me in an instant.
I whipped around just as Kyra went to open the door of our house and I saw Ethan jump off his motorcycle. I saw that look in his eye. That wild look that told me he was no longer thinking straight. Kyra tried to come back over to me but I held my hand out, signaling for her to stop while my eyes connected with Ethan’s.
